time and space: All Things Summer

WHEN: June - July 2011
WHERE: South Carolina, Minnesota, Wisconsin

There are reasons my blog is titled "Time and Space" and not the closely related "Punctuality and Space". This is the first time I have blogged this summer! This post is #3 of 3 in a series of posts today, attempting to highlight my favorite season of the year and why it is my favorite.

It has been a quiet summer for us so there has been little to write about. Add in a new (Wi-Fi streaming) Netflix subscription and the enjoyment of not taking time out of my day/week to compose blog posts, and my blog is bound to be in a state of hibernation. I do still enjoy blogging, but I often put way too much time in to the "production" of each post, so I usually get burned out. I always try to convince myself to do smaller and less theatrical posts...but that never happens and I continue the cycle of taxing and unpunctual posts. It really has been nice "taking the summer off" from my blog, but too much has built up now that I had to ventilate.

Our summer has largely consisted of 4 things: a vacation with Stacie's family in Wisconsin, a week-long visit from a friend of mine from grade school, watching Netflix, and heat. The last one in the list has been our entire summer and also one the main reasons summer is my favorite season. (I made, what I think, was a compelling case last summer for why I think summer is - objectively - the best season of the year!) You'd know something was wrong with me if you ever heard me complaining about summer's heat. I live for it! :) I addressed heat in its own post below (post #2 of 3). I have allocated our visits with friends and family this summer for this third post.

We are excited to have my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew here with us in August, then we plan to spend a few days in the mountains near Gatlinburg, Tennessee with our friends from Michigan over Labor Day weekend. We spent the first part of June back in the Midwest with Stacie's family, staying most of the time at a 200-acre retreat center near the Mississippi River in northern Wisconsin. That trip seems like so long ago, even given our quiet summer, but we took with us so many great memories from it and we hope to make it a recurring vacation. It was so relaxing, great to be with family, and just what all of us needed...a break, and an official celebration to kick off summer. We celebrated two birthdays and three anniversaries during that trip as well.

Flying in to Charlotte on our way to Minneapolis in June

Standing on the tarmac at Charlotte, waiting for our luggage.

It was actually Stacie and my first time flying through Charlotte, even after essentially 4 years of living in the Carolinas.

We didn't have a long stay at the airport so we scrambled to get food. Stace went to California Pizza Kitchen but I had to get me some BBQ! Best food choice I've made in all my life. :) This joint (Brookwood Farms, based in Siler City, NC) is a must-eat stop if you're ever flying through Charlotte. Even at the airport, they cook the meat all day, with real wood, over hot coals. I saw the chopped wood with my own eyes in the kitchen. I got the brisket platter (I watched the guy pull it off the charcoal grill, as he sliced me the first few pieces from it), with baked beans, mashed potatoes, and hush puppies, and it was nothing short of AMAZING!! Really, if you even remotely enjoy BBQ and you're flying through Charlotte, you are doing your taste buds, stomach, and attitude a major disservice if you don't eat here. It may just alleviate any stresses you have amassed from air travel and airport security. (There's also a Brookwood Farms in the Raleigh airport).

Saturday we spent the day watching our niece and nephew (Ava & Carter), to let their parents have a date-day and for us to spend some rare time with them. Though their parents may find it hard to believe, they were wonderful for us that day and we really enjoyed our time with them.

I somehow convinced Ava to pose for a couple pictures here, before she ran off to the playground. This was even after we walked back and forth between two parks, twice, trying to decide where to stop! You can see her impatience here, ready to jet off to the slide. :)

Keeping Ava occupied and out of trouble as everyone made final preparations to leave town. (Really, just my excuse to play tea time!)

It was the first time Stacie and I had ever been to Wisconsin together (even after 6 years of dating while living in northeast Iowa).

The beautiful drive along the bluffs of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin

Vacation!
We stayed at a retreat center just outside Stockholm, Wisconsin

One of the many beautiful views from our retreat center

One of the three picturesque barns on the property

I was "hired" as the photographer for the Armstrong family one night. It is no small task to get two little one's attention and capture the whole family smiling and looking at the camera simultaneously.

Cute subject #1

Cute subject #2

My 11th birthday I've celebrated with Stacie Jo :) Truly my favorite birthday present!

"The mule" - one of the 4 ATVs that kept us (the boys) more than entertained all week. Our wives didn't see much of us during the day (especially mine) :)

Posing for a picture in downtown Stockholm on the (cold) day we left. The high in Stockholm was 102° on Tuesday while we were there, but only reached 59° when we left on Friday! Oh, the Midwest! :)

Hot or cold, it was nice visiting Minnesota in the summer for a change. We have never visited in summer since we moved out East, until last month. Usually we visit over Christmas, when Minnesota is a frozen wasteland! :)

Beautiful views on our way back to Charlotte

But not so beautiful on our descent in to Charlotte. Though you wouldn't guess it from this picture, the Charlotte airport had been shut down here due to severe t'storms over the airport (storms were on the other side of plane). As a result, our flight (now low on fuel) was diverted to Greenville, SC. Not good for our original arrival of 11:35 in Charleston. After the diversion and a 45-60 minute wait in Greenville, we took off again for Charlotte and flew through some of the storms, which made for a great show but a very bumpy ride (Stace was not a happy traveler)!

Because of our diversion and the chain reaction of arrival/departure delays at Charlotte, our flight to Charleston didn't leave until after 1:30am! We didn't get home until 3am and got to bed closer to 3:30. Good thing we had the next day off before we had to go back to work!

We came back from Minnesota to the drought plaguing South Carolina and the entire south-central and southeastern United States. This is the pond outside our house before and after our first significant rainfall in nearly two months. Between April 14 and June 14, Charleston only measured 2.1" of rain fall (nearly an 80% deficit for that period). And we were a relative rainforest compared to Texas and other southern states.

What I'd call "significant" rainfall, on my drive home from work June 23

This summer's drought has caused many wildfires in Georgia and Florida. Occasionally the smoke was carried by the winds and would envelope the Charleston area. This often caused the moon to appear orange and allowed you to look at the sun. The picture on the right was the sun one morning on my way to work. There were no clouds, just the haze from the smoke.

My good friend from grade school, Philip, came to visit us from July 1-11. This is one of only 3 pictures we took together those 10 days (and this was at 7:00am, right before he left town). Boys!

Philip joined Stacie and I for (get this) our first trip to the beach since living in South Carolina. It was July 2! We live 45 minutes from the beach and it's a commitment that makes you think twice before going. Company was the motivation to finally get us to the beach this summer. I collected some sand dollars while playing in the surf and brought them home to hopefully use as locally-grown decorative keepsakes.

The Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon (c. 1771)

We headed downtown on July 4th to show Philip the area and watch the fireworks over Charleston Harbor

Horse and carriage tour along The Battery downtown

Let freedom ring (from the bell towers)!!

The steeples of St. Michael's (left) and St. Philip's (right) churches. Unfortunately the steeple's belles were not alive while we were downtown, but you can hear the beautiful bells of St. Philip's here.

Sign on the bathroom door at a candy shop downtown

The fireworks downtown on the harbor were set off from the deck of the USS Yorktown.
(I added the flag to provide a more patriotic feel - that would be one huge flag though!)

We got to Waterfront Park two hours before the show to get good spots

Philip has visited us at every place we've lived in the past 4 years. We have enjoyed the times he has been able to visit and spend time with us.

Enjoying a beautiful summer night near the water

A Charleston Harbor tour on the Carolina Belle

The best place to view the fireworks was on the water

The only half-decent shot I got of the fireworks (which were a mile-and-a-half away from us)

Philip and I went to the beach again the following Saturday (Stacie stayed home) and actually met his brother there who was in South Carolina at the time. The surf was great that day (not common for South Carolina) and we spent 5 hours at the beach. We even had a lot of the beach to ourselves once a thunderstorm rolled in and scared everyone off the beach. As Philip said, "This is my favorite day at the beach, ever!" It was a great beach day. (I'm still peeling, 10 days later) :)