Blogs from Maryland, United States, North America - page 48

Thursday, December 21/ BWI Scott & I were married on December 9th, in Key West, Florida. During the festivities, we were frequently asked where we would be going for our honeymoon. Having traveled extensively over the 6 1/2 years of our life together, we decided to head somewhere different for our romantic getaway. To a hotel built of ice & snow... The ICEHOTEL is situated in the village Jukkasjärvi, 200 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden. The heart and backbone is the River Torne flowing freely through the unspoilt wilderness. Covered with a meter thick ice layer winter time the river is the source of all our art, architecture and design. The pure water and the steady movement of the river creates the clearest ice possible." -http://www.icehotel.com/ HONEYMOON (Miriam Webster) Etymology: from the idea ... read more

Joanne & Wes are on the Road Again in their Schooner. Traveling from Ballston Lake, NY to Florida. Sunday, spending the night in a Cracker Barrel. We learned that the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain allows RVers to overnight in their safe, lighted parking lots; so here we are. The restaurant has a cutesy general store and lots of folkish touches. The lot is quieter than the Flying J truck stops that we have stayed at and the food is more personalized and down homey. This stop, near exit 98 off I-95 in South Carolina, puts us within 260 miles of our goal, St. Augustine, Florida. Taking a backward look at our trip, this was a driving day from Virginia. A fun food stop was for Tex Mex fare at South of the Border. What a kitschy, ... read more

One of the things that we really don't experience in Australia, is Autumn colours (or as they call it here in the US- "fall"). There are of course some trees which are deciduous- many I think that are introduced species, but most of our trees are Eucalypts and therefore, are evergreen trees. I had heard so much about the firey colours of "fall" in the US and Canada, and last year, when I started to see the odd leaf change in Florida, I mentioned to Clinton that it might be a good idea for us to drive up into the Carolina's to check out the trees along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Unfortunately, I didn't realise that the few leaves I was seeing change in Florida were the odd confused ones. The trees change gradually across the ... read more

Arriving in the evening, Dan greeted me carside to help me bring in my bags and give me the kind of tour where all you have to do is stand in one spot and turn in a circle to see the wonderful and quaint apartment of Dan. Huge big screen TV on the fritz, but luckily stuck on the Sports Center channel, we sat down and caught up with small and tall talk. This buttal and rebuttal continued until his neighbor and girlfriend arrived. Quickly changed, I joined them to meet another couple, married couple, at the movie theater to see Fandangoed Borat on it's opening night. Wow. Yeah... It was surprisingly racial and forward in a lot of its statements. It was what I would call offensive and grotesque humor. You couldn't help but laugh ... read more

Hello to everyone around the world, to friends we have met from many countries who have returned home, friends still in Jacksonville, friends on other overseas postings, and friends and family back in Australia. Hopefully I got you all. Please know that we think of you often, no matter how busy we are. For any who do not know, the basic update is that we are still in the USA, but have now moved North to the state of Maryland. Clinton is on a new posting and is about to start a new job. Check out the map to the left to see where this all is in relation to each other if you are interested. It is FREEZING here! Literally. Down to 37F or 0C overnight last night. Welcome to Maryland. For our move, we ... read more