22 hours...3 planes, 3 trains, and 1 bus

Wow, it took a long ass time to get here, but Zach and I are finally in Europe! We were worried for a while with all that volcano ash nonsense, but luckily that shit cleared. Unfortunately, the plane ride was 9 hours as they had to divert around the ash cloud.

Once we arrived, it was pretty easy to figure out the local public transportation to get to our hotel. Exhausted from being up for 22 hours, we took a 2 hour nap (any longer could have messed up our sleep schedule)--then headed to the local Biergarten. We attempted some very bad German whilst enjoying 1/2 liters of Hefeweizen and locally made Bratwurst.

Today we went to InterZoo (pet trade show), the whole reason we were able to come to Europe. We spent the day visiting current important vendors just to say hello, and they were very surprised we came all the way from little 'ol North Carolina. Thus, we made some relationships a little stronger today methinks. Anyways, that's the boring part of the trip-work-but we decided one day at the show was sufficient--hey, we showed up, now we can expense the flights! Oh and by the way, all the big booths at the show had bars and were serving beers at 10am!

Zach and I headed to the same Biergarten from last night as we were tired and wanted to get something good to eat early so we could start tomorrow early. Low and behold, the same dudes were drinking there from yesterday--as well as some loud drink young Germans enjoying a football (soccer) game. The best part was a old man of about 80 that was also there yesterday, who when he leaves the place, rides his electric scooter straight up the middle of the road, thus slowing traffic to make way for him-and he smuggles his own booze to enjoy along with his beers. Zach and I dubbed him as our hero for the day--I wish I had the camera ready for a picture, but I missed my chance, oh well.

Well, nothing too exciting yet as we just go here and spend the first day at the trade show. But tomorrow we shall be exploring Nuremberg and all that it has to offer. Here's a couple of pictures that we've taken so far--just Zach and I enjoying our first beers in Germany.

Auf Wiedersehen!




oh you can see the old dudes wheel chair in the above pic...nice

Rain, Mico Brews, Rain, Waterfalls, and more rain

It rains in the Pacific Northwest in case you didn't know. It has been raining for one week, since we hit the northwest coast of California! Oh well, that's how they roll in Oregon. But I must say that it does have an amazingly beautiful coast. It really reminded me of the movie Goonies for some reason...in the picture above where I'm pointing, can't you tell I can practically make out where One-Eyed Willie's ship came out of that cave?

Our main goal was heading to Portland, OR to see an old fraternity friend of Zach's. We took the coast route until we heard a forecast the proclaimed a "special wind event"--to define that in Oregon terms, that would be gusting winds up to 70 mph, fuckin' event indeedely-do. So we went to some Sea Lion caves on the coast and got the hell outta there right afterwards. If you haven't driven an RV before, it's like driving a billboard--25mph gusts will move your shit a few feet sideways if you don't have a death grip on the wheel.

Portland is a rockin city--I highly recommend going if you like beers, I like beers. Zach's friend Ken and his lovely girlfriend Jennifer were wonderful hosts. They took us to some great drinking spots--Henry's 12th Street Tavern (over 100 taps!) and Deschutes Brewery. Both were awesome, but Deschutes made a Belgian brew that was 9.5% alcohol and was named "Streaking The Quad"--which ensued many quotes from Old School out of us and the bartender. They also have a beer called Mirror Mirror that has 11.5% alchol, so this place is good if you like bang for your buck buzz wise. We also had the pleasure of meeting Jen's bird Pico, who was really cute and entertaining.

After sleeping off the beers of the night before, we headed to the Columbia River Gorge along the historic Columbia River Highway. We stopped several times to check out the falls and take some hikes.

So that's all for now, we're currently in Fruitland, Idaho enroute to Yellowstone in Wyoming. We plan on hitting up Crater Moon National Monument on the way!

Going to California...

I went dark for a while....sorry about that. My laptop is having issues, making blogging a bit difficult. But It seems to be working now, so I'll update y'all.

We visited our friends in Venice Beach--didn't take any pictures, this was kind of a break from the RV trip. We drank, made merry and that's about it ;). Venice Beach, Playa Del Rey, and Santa Monica are most definitely different from the LA that I know. There was much more of a chill, bohemian vibe going--which was welcomed. I admit, when I think of LA, I think of all the cheesy celebrity this and that-Venice Beach was a great place to hang out.

Next we headed up the CA coast and stopped at the Hearst Castle, then hit the 17 mile scenic drive in Carmel. Then we hopped over to wine country, hooray! Wine country is absolutely beautiful--the vines, the hills, the wine! We played it safe and hired a driver--which rocked as they were having discounts--so we were able to get a limo which was fun. After that we actually treated ourselves to dinner out and a wonderful French restaurant-Angele.

What stuck with me the most was the drive from Napa on Rt. 128 back to the coast. It wound throught the hills/mountains after taking us through Napa county into Sonoma country. Wine country just aches to be driven through if you have the chance.

The last big thing to do in California...the redwoods! Unfortunately it rained this part of the trip, but that's okay--the rain actually made the forest quite enchanting. I half expected fairies and knomes to come out of the forest. I had seen the redwoods before, but Zach had not--and we both were in awe. They are larger than life and make for an amazing hike through the forest. We camped in the Humbolt Redwoods state park--among the redwoods, which would've been a lot cooler if it wasn't pouring so we could make a fire.

Whew--so that was California. We're currently in Heceta Beach, Oregon--on our way to Portland, OR.

Interesting first day

Getting started this morning was interesting...

The windshield washer fluid was not working so we spent the first 2 hours that we were supposed to be on the road--at an RV service station in Wilmington. Luckily after that, and a small scare that the fridge wasn't working, we were off!

Zach and I are spending our first night right outside of Charleston, SC. When we arrive, the hot water tank didn't seem to be working, fun times. After an hour on the phone with support, we got it working and all is well hopefully.
So a kinda rocky start to our first day, oh well. The adventure is just beginning!

okay...1st video. Yeah...a little rough, I'll get used to it. But we pick up the RV tomorrow, hooray! We have to drive all the way to Raleigh to get it from Cruise America.

Watch the video, I say ummm ....a lot. So for a fun drinking game, drink every time I say um or look around and not at the camera.

Ahhh the beginning

Okay, I guess I'll make my first post. So this blog is going to be about my travel experiences. I LOVE to travel and my husband and I are going X-country and back from April 13ish tp May 20ish. The purpose of all this is to let my friends or anyone for that matter check out where I am and what I'm doing.

I'll be posting videos and whatnot to document some of our days...so look out! It should be verrrry interesting...as I am generally kinda nuts.