Renaissance Charlotte Southpark Hotel

The journey home began at 6AM Venice time and even with only a one hour layover in Munich we arrived in Charlotte at 6PM est time (midnight Venice time!) a very long day. We had a trendous trip and Aunt Sue and Guido were the perfect hosts and tour guides. I almost feel like going right back but that will have to wait for now probably June 2011. The weather was cold and at times rainy so some of the things you would routinely do were just not possible.

Excited and ready to leave. The forecast does not seem very promising but it will be great to see Sue &amp; Guido again. We leave Charlotte at 5:30 PM and should be in Venice at Noon (Italian time) Wednesday. I will try to send photo's as we take them as well as update this blog. I loved this when Chris and Liana used it . <br>

... does not make for a pretty show. But, the cast was great, made due, and put on a good show despite our wonky lights and effects. They really are a great group. Plus, some of our student helper crew members were adorable ("Sasha Fierce" and "Smeyes" as we lovingly dubbed them). <br><br>Aside from that mini-drama, everything's going well. The group is great, we're all still laughing and getting along which is good. :)<br><br>More from the NC coming up soon!<br>

I thought that I would post this picture of me and La Poderosa just before I left for the west coast a couple month's ago. She had to be sold in LA:( What an amazing bike for 700 bucks. She got me through one of the most amazing adventures that I've had to date. As soon as I can get my computer that has all the pics on it online I will have a boat load of stuff to post from this trip.<br><br>

So I just set up this blog thingy. Computers and stuff like this are not my forte. I will try to update with some images of my travels as I get a chance. I am leaving for Istanbul, Turkey in a couple days. So i am practice packing to get things down to as little as possible. I am hoping to hitchhike ...

Sarah and Ken were waiting for us, as we deplaned in Charlotte North Carolina.They had caught a flight from Detroit to Charlotte, the meeting place for our international flight. <br><br> It seems so exciting... and odd, too. Seeing familiar faces outside the ...

... earlier in the week.<br><br>The next day (Sunday) I woke up and rode up to Inman SC to visit my old roomie, Derek. We just watched a few moives and hung out. Its pretty boring there he said...So this morng i woke up early and headed off to Charlotte NC. It was only 70 odd miles. My buddy Malcolm lives here with his old lady and their granddaughter. The little girl is really cute, she made a sign for the front door that said "welcome, Roy". LOL We just went to lunch ...

WW and I drove across western NC. Got to a town called Statesville and went into J&amp;R Cigars, billed as the World's largest cigar store. They ain't lying. BIg ol' CHurchills for $3 (or less).<br><br>We camped at Lake Norman, land donated to the State of NC by the Duke Power company as long as the state let them leave their nuke there. No pics. Suprisingly nice campground.

... those events once the commence. Tuesday-Flight Follies: I flew into SFO to be warmly welcomed by Brendan, Maya and Anna in Baggage Claim, we all were flying in that day along with Jill who got delayed due to the Pilot of her plane having a heart attack and had to do an emergency landing in Chicago, good times, I also had my own experience as we were starting our descent into SFO, the landing gear comes down and the all of sudden, the plane just goes straight up, we go up about ...

Today was kinda cool. We picked up my dad and stepmom at the airport last night, and today they wanted to see the Charlotte area. They ended up being as excited about the area as we are. We just drove around and looked at neighborhoods, then we went downtown to drop Albert off at work for a couple of hours. He was just finishing up some loose ends for this office. The rest of us had lunch and then ...