travel | matching tracksuits

Chicago Walk

Saturday 05 October 2024 | 0 Comments

A 6:30 flight that necessitates a 4:15 wake-up time might get you to Chicago with a lot of time left before the 5:00 wedding that’s the reason for the whole trip, but it also drains you just a bit before anything even starts. Still, this morning’s trip was completely painless: easy parking at our local Greenville airport, quick check-in, smooth security check, on-time boarding and takeoff started the trip off stress free if not a little tired. Things went just as smoothly in Chicago when we arrived, so that put us downtown with a lot of time, a little cafe nearby, and no real commitment other than to explore the city.

We made it to the hotel without much problem (Chicago seems to be the city of Saturday traffic jams), took showers, and headed out for the wedding. Pictures from that coming only tomorrow…

Real Estate

Tuesday 03 September 2024 | 0 Comments

While we were in Charleston this weekend, we saw a lot of houses that would come with seven- or eight-figure price tags were they to go on the market. It's fairly common in the Battery area. In fact, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find something under $800,000.

And then we noticed this condemned building. Likely well over a hundred years old, it has certainly had better days.

The siding has completely deteriorated on one side of the structure.

to the point that the wall insulation and in-wall plumbing is visible.

Continuing around the back, I saw the back steps are completely wrecked,

and the entire back corner of the building is completely open to the elements, missing part of the roof and part of the wall.

Had the house been moderately maintained, it would be worth at least a six-figure sum even if it needed extensive renovation. Had it been meticulously maintained, it would likely fetch close to or even a little over a million dollars. But to do that requires resources, requires money -- as the truism goes, one must have money to make money. One falls on had times but is still determined to keep a property in the family (only imagining a previous owner's situation) until is no longer a possibility.

Whatever the story, all that's left to do is demolish the building.

Labor Day Weekend 2024 Day 2

Monday 02 September 2024 | 0 Comments

Labor Day Weekend 2024 Day 1

Sunday 01 September 2024 | 0 Comments

Labor Day weekend for many years meant one thing for our family: a weekend with dear friends at their lake house outside of Charlotte. This is the first time in probably six years that we haven’t gone.

Instead, we decided to spend the weekend in Charleston. It’s a favorite destination. There’s the beach at Isle of Palms.

It has lovely streets and historic buildings.

There’s Hyman’s Seafood, which has the most amazing deviled crab on the planet.

Return to the Tallulah Gorge

Sunday 21 July 2024 | 0 Comments

Returning Home

Friday 05 July 2024 | 0 Comments

We drove over the Lions Bridge one last time today heading home. That's the only picture from the day.

That and K's cute obsession with taking pictures of backflow preventers that are so different from what she's used to working with Greenville Water. "Why are they all out out of the ground?" was a common question. No one in the car could answer.

St. Augustine 2024 Day 1

Wednesday 03 July 2024 | 0 Comments

Morning

The shells on the beach just at the edge of the surf were visible for only a few moments before the white bubbles and turbulence hid them again.

In the brief time I could clearly see them in the shallow water, it was obvious most of the shells were only fragments, often smaller than the smallest coins, slivers well on their way to becoming grains of sand. Every now and then, a shard would catch my eye, and I would think, “I might try to grab that one” just before incoming wave hid them once again.

By then it was too late: once the water cleared up, the tide would have tkane the shard so far away from its original position that finding it was all but impossible. Another might catch my eye, but then the process would simply repeat itself.

To get a shell required calm and patience followed by a paradoxical ability to move quickly when needed. Hesitation meant the loss of the moment. In some ways, that’s a metaphor for live in general for many people. Everything is about getting the right moment, and when that fails, increased stress is the outcome.

Yet the older I get, the more I realize the error in living like that and the unnecessary stress it causes. Yes, I might not get that exact shell that I wanted, but there were plenty of other shells that were just as lovely, often more so.

Evening

In the evening, after we'd spent a few hours back at the Airbnb, after we'd spent some time downtown and had dinner, we headed back to the beach.

I took a few pictures:

and the Boy took a few pictures:

A short walk to end a lovely day.

And we got home, and I saw the fantastic news from the Tour de France: Mark Cavendish got his record-breaking 35th stage win, assuring him the historic title "The Greatest Sprinter of All Time!"

Almost as enjoyable as watching the win itself was seeing the other riders' reaction to the amazing win.

Previous First Day

St. Augustine, Day 1

Tampa to St. Augustine via Gainesville

Tuesday 02 July 2024 | 0 Comments

We left our lovely hotel room with an incredible view to head to St. Augustine for the second half of our Florida vacation. It's the second time we've been to St. Augustine as a family, the third time for the kids and me. That is to say, we really like St. Augustine.

Along the way, we made perhaps the most important stop of the whole week: a few hours in Gainesville. What's so special about Gainesville? Well, it has a fantastic Korean restaurant, as we discovered for lunch. And rocker Tom Petty is a Gainesville native. But neither of those was the real reason we went to Gainesville. Our primary motivation has to do with our daughter, who is going to college in about a year. Going to college in about a year. Her number one choice of colleges: University of Florida, which is located in -- guess -- Gainesville. She wants to study bio-engineering, and Florida University has one of the best programs in the nation for that.

So we stopped by for a tour of the university. I tried not to talk too much or take too many pictures. The Girl remained relatively quiet during the tour. But we came away with a positive impression: the parents are happy with some of the safety programs the university implements; the Girl is happy with the college as a whole, especially one of the enormous chemistry labs we got to take a peek at.

Afterward, we headed to St. Augustine and our lovely Airbnb spot: a bungalow in an absolutely beautiful part of town. Walk to the end of the street, and this is the street we see:

Yes, that's a peacock taking a stroll down a Live-Oak-lined street. It's positively bajkowy.

Lovely houses as well. And the peacock? They're from Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park, an ethnographic museum literally at the end of our street.

We weren't planning on visiting any real attractions while in St. Augustine, but since it's just down the road, we're thinking we might. We'll definitely visit the Cuban coffee cafe down the street.

A games night rounded out our evening: our Airbnb has several entertainment options, including a ping pong table. Poor K gets knocked around in board games, card games, and our front-yard badminton games, but she really knows how to play ping pong.