Greenville Marriott

The rainy remnants of Ida continued to follow us North to Greenville, SC. It was so gross out that I refused to leave my somewhat unsanitary feeling hotel room. The next morning we loaded into a pretty nice theatre at Furman University. Mixed among our regular collection of middle-school and high-school students was a small band of 11 local university students. But ...

My daughter, Julie, her friend, Heather, and I went hiking at Table Rock State Park July 31. We hiked all the trails. It took 6 hours to do to the Pinnacle Mountain Trail, Mill Creek Falls Spur, Mill Creek Pass Trail, Ridge Trail, and the Table Rock Trail, plus 3 falls, 1 cut chin, and 1 bee sting, but we made it.

Planning Trip-4 weeks til we leave on Trip, Planning how long at different segments of trip.
Itinerary as of today:

Week 1- Arizona and Southern Utah including Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Bryce and Zion Canyons.

Week 2- Eastern ...

... oh, and this blog. Did I mention this is procrastination at its best? I did accomplish a little already this morning in that I spoke with an actual human being at my student loan company and was able to come to a pretty agreeable solution for how to start paying those buggers off. I have a feeling I'll be doing quite a bit of long-distance job hunting from Italia. As it turns out, you can't put off those payments forever. Anyway, here's to the beginning of the rest of my life. Ciao Italia!

... area who can give you all the insider knowledge so to speak. Indeed when you have locked your keys in the car (first time ever! I hasten to add) it pays to be on someone's drive and not in a car park, with someone who has suitable 'gadgets' and friends to assist you and not stranded by yourself somewhere. Thanks Larry & Bill. Our first 'excursion' was to a nearby strawberry farm - the pick your own kind ...

... in others (i.e. the suite furniture - bed was okay!). The television was okay - but they could stand to have a LOT more channels to view! The internet connection was horrible! It was wired and was down 90% of the time that I tried to connect to it. The restaurant/bar was very good (chocolate martini to DIE for!). The young lady that waited on me was fantastic! The food was good (small portions but that's okay) and the layout of the bar - with ...

... Main Street which reminded me of a European villa. The Hyatt is very nice and we all went to a Wings restaurant in the evening. I think it was the most fun all of us have had whilst on the trip. The Blood Connection people were very nice and entertaining. I met the CEO and his wife and had a great time with my co-riders- we all had a relaxing evening. I am so fortunate to have this oppurtunity and am enjoying it very much.

... to this event for so long and it has certainly left us with memories we will never forget. Tomorrow we head off for the Smoky Mountain National Park and are looking forward to seeing this very popular tourist attraction.

... Carolina First Centre to register for the Wing-Ding and found a car park rapidly filling with Goldwings of all colours and models. Lots of trikes as well. Once the locals discovered we had come ...

... commercials. If you are ever in their neighborhood, I highly recommend that you visit them. They have many programs for all ages, and we enjoyed the ride in a 'Safari' bus (they have several old school buses that they've cut out the side windows and built in a shelf/window sill, and then they took out the seats and built in benches in the middle back-to-back so they face out each side) and the busses are all painted with wild colors and/or animal stipes/spots, etc. They ...