Dank and Haisy take Georgia!

Monday, September 1, 2014

We made it! SAVANNAH!!!!

Hello faithful followers!
We have arrived in Savannah and are getting to know the next stop on our journey together.
The first two days spent here were absolutely miserable. Two record breaking temperature days accompanied us upon arrival. This meant the few minutes we were outside resulted in an immediate rush to get into the next AC'ed place. Hank was questioning his life choices at that point. Since then, the temperature has been much more bearable and we have ventured towards the outdoors- just not for long.
We have been fortunate enough to stay with Tom and Sharon Fischer while we get to know the area. They have been fabulous hosts and great tour guides. Tom is a professor of photography at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design), Hank's new school. He has given Hank the VIP tour. Sharon is a retired school teacher and has much to contribute in Daisy's job search.

Below are some random pictures we have taken over the last week since we arrived.
Enjoy!

Tom Fischer, Daisy and Hank

Hank's new headquarters.

Chandeliers in the photo department. This is the center of the building with classrooms and labs surrounding. Four stories high so these photo-chandeliers are impressive.

Printing lab. 44 inch wide format printers. Yowza.

Sorry this is blurry but here's a camera for Hank to play with.

View of the new bridge connecting Georgia to South Carolina from the photo lab.

Roof top view of downtown Savannah. I'm not sure which is more impressive- the clouds or architecture!

Our new beach. We're home ;)

The rumors are true- the sand is so fine and very soft. Nothing like the pumice stone Tahoe sand.

This plate was at the beach in Georgia- ironic because we considered going to school in Oregon and here we are...with this plate.

Georgia was ready for him.

More to come at a later time when we have more to tell! I hope you have enjoyed the road trip as much as we have.

Love to all,
Hank, Daisy and Chato
Box 5334
Savannah, GA 31414

Louisianna, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida

Ok, so this post is mainly to show a few photos and give a brief explanation of how we spent the last leg of our journey across the U.S.

After leaving Dallas, we continued on to New Orleans. We stayed one night and decided it was not the place for us. The culture is great and the people are unbelievably friendly but we just don't like crowded party towns. Think Tahoe on New Years Eve at the casinos. No thanks. However, we did enjoy the oysters at Acme Oyster house. We also had gumbo and jambalaya. Yum and high fives on the food. We walked around the town and found ourselves at Cafe Du Monde where we tried the famous beignets. Don't get me wrong- they were good but what's the fuss all about? They're just a doughnut.

The next day we left for Tallahassee, Florida. I wish we could say we saw more cool things while passing through four states (in two hours) but it was quick. Mississippi and Alabama... maybe next time.

We arrived in Tallahassee for the evening stop. I love this city. We didn't have the time to really see much here because we were getting antsy for Savannah but this city has much to be explored.

Next stop... Savannah.

Love to all,
Hank, Daisy and Chato

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Dallas

Howdy Ya'll!

Greetings from Texas. We had the wonderful opportunity to spend nearly a week in Dallas with our dear friends and family, the Bloms.

Leah, Hank, Daisy, Ethan, Catherine and Jorik

Our time hear was wonderful as we got to do so many cool things like eat some Texas BBQ where we walked up to a giant grill and said, "I'll have several slices of brisket, two ribs, a chicken leg, maybe some corn and...." then went to a buffet to pick our sides of potato salad, mac and cheese, macaroni salad, etc. BBQ is bigger in Texas.

We went to a water park with the kiddos and spent a day in the lazy river and some fun water slides. Please visit this site for a water park video...

http://vimeo.com/104543155

Ethan celebrated his birthday just a few days early so we could enjoy some delicious Oreo cake.

And found Sponge Bob Mail Box

Cat and Jorik are managing the coolest coffee shop we've ever been to. Very industrial/relaxed theme and delicious chai lattes. So proud of these two!

These are our leaving sad faces....

Cat and Daisy went to "freeze." We got in a machine where they literally make you freeze by surrounding your body in liquid nitrogen. The idea is that it reboots your system and can help with a multitude of things from depression to healing scars on your skin. All I know is that it wasn't terrible but it did get cold. More information on this process that I don't fully understand at: http://www.npr.org/2011/10/15/141336088/cryotherapy-why-pro-athletes-like-it-chilly

Hank and Jorik went to a shooting range. Yay, guns.

And "shooting" of another kind....

Or visiting yet another kind...

The fatal spot....

Mostly, we rested at the house enjoying the pool, the food, and best of all- the Bloms.

Next stop..,.New Orleans!

Love, Hank, Daisy and Chato

Friday, August 15, 2014

Arizona and New Mexico

Aloha All!
Leaving San Diego, we made our first long drive. We left early in the morning and drove straight through Arizona. Our destination being Las Cruces, New Mexico. A mere 10 1/2 hour drive. Chato did excellent!

Once we got to Las Cruces, we went to White Sands National Monument. This white sand dessert made the skiers in us jones for snow! This is an amazing place to visit. Next time we visit, we plan on being there for either sunrise or sunset because it would make for amazing pictures. They also have rangers that will take you on a moonlight walk at night. If given the chance, don't miss this park!

Gotta practice our ski turns...

We then continued on to Carlsbad, New Mexico. Here, we visited Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We went in the evening for their "bat flight." Sitting near the entrance to the caves we sat in awe as 300,000-400,000 bats left the cave at dusk to hunt insects. Unfortunately, they do not allow any electronics in use during this so we don't have photos. However, it was one of the most powerful encounters we have had. The watchers sat in complete silence as the dessert became cool, listening only to the wings flap and smelling the musty smell of air being pushed out of the caverns with the bats departure. The bats leave the cave in a spiral to help each other gain altitude. It was 35 minutes of a steady stream swirling above us. They kept going but it was getting dark and I had a few questions for the ranger... These bats come from Mexico between March and October to give birth. They are mammals that have one live birth per year and produce milk for their young. They are the size of your palm and consume 1,000 insects an hour and can consume their body weight in one evening.

After my ranger interrogation, we turned around to face a beautiful lightning storm. We watched the lightning for thirty minutes and just sat in awe as the lighting struck at least 5 or 6 times per minute. It was beautiful!

The next day we went back to the caverns to explore the caves. We spent a few hours touring this massive cave. The pictures don't do it justice in beauty and size. We descended in the caverns 1.25 miles and the largest room (there are multiple) is the same square footage as 14 football fields. The dessert was 90 degrees but the temperature dropped within the cave to 56 degrees. As we descended, Daisy began shivering and Mountain Man Hank was still sweating. The cool thing about the caverns is that they have a kennel for dogs so travels can bring their buddy and not worry about the dog in the hot car.

Fun fact: The difference between a monument and national park is that a monument is signed in by a president. A national park requires an act of congress.