time and space: It Was The Summer of 2012

WHEN: Summer 2012
WHERE: South Carolina, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona

It was unintentional.

As happened last summer, I have taken a blog hiatus this summer. I don't know why, but I have had little motivation to blog these past two summers. By the time Memorial Day rolls around, my mind turns to activities outdoors, and time spent inside on the computer seems like a waste. I'm distracted. Uninterested. Not too busy to blog, just..."over it".

This summer and last, I have wondered if I would continue to maintain my blog. I did last year and, as it appears for now, it has survived again. Come September, I feel a huge pressure to resuscitate my blog. Last year that meant subjecting you the reader to a photo dump. And that's exactly what it is again this year. When pictures are worth a thousand words and you have 4 months of life and memories to abbreviate, photos are a blogger's best friend. Just don't say you weren't warned.

Enjoy...

The summer began with some technological upgrades. After my camera of 6 years quit working in April, I got this Nikon. I loved my Canon and everything about it. I would have used that camera for another 6 years if it would have lasted. What's worse, is after owning this Nikon for 4 months now, I've never really taken the time to learn all the bells and whistles...

...and that's probably because of this other technological upgrade (iPhone 4). After owning my old ("un-smart") phone for 3 years, I was beginning to be bullied towards taking the plunge into the smartphone world. It was bad timing. The camera on the iPhone is 5 megapixels, the same resolution of the Canon camera I bought 6 years prior. My new phone has been convenient, but it has done little to help me learn my new Nikon camera.

This was the first picture I took with my iPhone. This was June 1...our anniversary, the beginning of our vacation, and the start of the "smartphone summer".

For the second year in a row, we headed to Wisconsin with Stacie's family for a week-long escape to this private country getaway.

Beautiful, relaxing, peaceful, and refreshing...just with family. A great way to start the summer.

We fell in love with this place last year and were so excited everyone's schedules allowed us to do it again this year.

The highlight (for the boys) were the miles of wooded trails throughout the 200-acre property.

Some of a boy's best friends...

...as you can see.

Also useful for family portraits

Stacie and I sure loved spending time with our niece and nephew. It was great to get back and spend a relaxing week with family. Wish we could do this every month.

Then it was back to Charleston and the heat. Although July was the third warmest on record for South Carolina (and record warmest for the country), the rest of the summer was average. I already miss these triple-digit heat indices.

The best place to beat the heat?

We only had two beach days last summer. By Memorial Day this year we had already gone 4 times.

Before we knew it, it was the Fourth of July.

Bang!

Since the Fourth was on a weekday this year, we spent the following weekend downtown to really acknowledge the holiday.

We chased pirates, walked the cobble streets, breathed the salt air, admired the southern charm, and soaked in the history. Downtown Charleston always amazes.

Stacie says she hates all the gargoyles on the doors downtown...but not enough to refuse posing with them.
(I think she likes them.)

Though we considered it, we didn't eat here (Husk), but it is on our list.

The restaurant has been on some other (important) lists as well.

And right next door is the first restaurant (Poogan's Porch) we ever ate at in Charleston, when we visited in 2009 with friends.

And for the first time ever, we got one of the coveted swinging benches on the harbor pier. Stace was soaking it up.

And for another first, we saw the first snake in our backyard this summer (black racer snake). We saw all of these critters in the same afternoon. Thankfully, the black racer is not poisonous.

However, this guy (the Southern Copperhead) is poisonous (and well camouflaged), and we had the "pleasure" of seeing him in our backyard a couple weeks later.

Thankfully, we haven't seen anymore snakes in our yard since.

In July, we got a couple home upgrades.
(I enjoyed he contractor's orange truck.)

Our new ceiling fan in the living room - a must have for the Charleston summers.

We were especially excited to add a glass door to our front door. This door is the only source of light downstairs on this side of the house.

Towards the end of July, my parents flew down to spend a week with us.

We love being tourists in our own town and, sadly, often times we don't venture out until we have visitors.

One of our first stops was the Old Provost and Dungeon (c. 1771).

Inside, we toured the same rooms George Washington did when he visited Charleston in May 1791.

We all signed the "Declaration of Independence"

And toured the damp, dark dungeon

Pirates, including Blackbeard, were not uncommon in and around Charleston during colonial times. Some were confined within the dungeon we toured.

This is the current door knob to the house George Washington stayed in during his visit.
(A little shout-out to the Brass family.)

We drove south from Charleston with my parents and spent a couple days navigating through South Carolina and Georgia. This is one of the beaches in Hilton Head, SC. It was our first time to Hilton Head but it won't be the last. This beach was too crowded for our tastes, but the city was beautiful.

Our final destination was Savannah, GA, which was also a first-time visit for all of us.

Our hotel downtown that we found on Hotwire.

And the view from our 6th-floor balcony.

Stacie likes these kinds of pictures...

...but hates these (pictures I steal when she isn't looking/ready/willing).

Well I love 'em!

The first (and only) night, we drove out to Tybee Island for a sunset dolphin cruise.

The marina was relatively in the middle of nowhere. It had an island village feel to it - perfect for a summer getaway.

A beautiful evening for a boat ride

I'm not a fan of Jimmy Buffet, but his music comes to mind here.

Our boat for the 90-minute cruise

This picture does no justice. We saw dozens of dolphins, often times right next to the boat. We definitely got our money's worth on this dolphin cruise.

I think they enjoyed the cruise

This is a bad shot, but off in the distance is Fort Pulaski (from the Civil War). One of the oldest known pictures of a baseball game was taken here (and is currently displayed here), back in 1862.

Cockspur Island Lighthouse

Sunset on our cruise. The "small" silhouette in the center is the 997ft. container ship, MSC Stella. Ironically, we had seen this ship leaving Charleston Harbor the day before. It beat us to Savannah.

Don't be fooled. We were rather upset with each other right before my mom snapped this picture. I'm sure it was my fault. :)

Walking along the Savannah waterfront

Watching a container ship cruise up the Savannah River

Outside Savannah's Candy Kitchen

This place had room after room after room of every kind of sweets you can imagine (ice cream, candy, cake, praline, caramel apples, you name it), built inside a 150 year-old stone-wall storefront.

(NOTE: none of us bought anything here. How's that for control??)

Walking through Savannah in July...not the coolest of activities

We made a quick stop by Paula Deen's restaurant/store but didn't eat here. We would have had to book a reservation days in advance to get a table.

We drove back out to Tybee Island before we headed out of town. The miles and miles of open marsh rivaled the corn and soybean fields we all grew up around. They were the most expansive of any marshes I have ever seen.

Our visit to the beach was quick, but it was our first time to a beach in the state of Georgia.

Of course, the 2012 London Olympics. That consumed our attention every night for two weeks.

Volleyball was probably our favorite

This is the dining room table we bought last month (with the white chair option on the left). It is being delivered October 27. One month down. One month to go.

This was the first and only time we made it to the Summerville farmer's market. It's a shame we haven't gone to more.

Nothing special here...except that I was descending a bridge into the clouds at sea level. I felt like I was in San Francisco.

The 94th PGA Championship was played here in Charleston in August, at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island.

Stacie, my coworkers, and their significant others (and dogs) went to Folly Beach one Friday night to watch Indiana Jones on the beach. All 3 of them have Yorkies (two are 4-month-old puppies). You could say we went just as much to see the puppies as we did the movie.

The clouds really did look this ominous. Movie night had been canceled the previous two nights because of the weather. Thankfully, these clouds were all bark and no bite.

However, these clouds (Hurricane Isaac) did mean business. Thankfully, all we got in Charleston was a lot of rain.

7.36 inches

And this is what it did downtown (The Market, August 28, 2012)

Which usually looks like this (July 7, 2012)

We celebrated our 5-year anniversary on June 1. A few weeks ago, Stace handed me this (empty) lip gloss and told me it was the lip gloss she bought for our wedding. Where have the past 5 years gone?

We ended the summer with a trip out west to Phoenix with my side of the family.

We arrived a day early but spent the next day at the resort adjusting to the 3-hour difference and 2:00am (eastern time) arrival the night before.

It wasn't hard to relax

For the 5 days Stacie and I were out there, we spent most of our time at the resort. We happily took it easy.

Canadian license plates, we are used to. Mexican plates, not so much.

And this, we could definitely get used to. I could never convince Stacie to move to this oven of a city, but I've dreamed of living here since I was a kid.

We got to see our nephew, Rhee, for the first time since Christmas.

How cute is he?

It was great to see family again, especially my grandma that I hadn't seen in over 6 years.

Tough choices at the Cheesecake Factory

We enjoyed spying on this little guy during his naps. He is all about the outdoors, but the 100°+ heat knocked him out by early afternoon everyday.

Old Town Scottsdale, like something out an old western movie.

Reenacting the "yellow trio" picture from Leta's wedding shower in 2008.

The original (June 2008)

August 10, 2005 September 3, 2012

This store in Old Town Scottsdale was a high priority on my list of places to visit during vacation.
You know how I am about time and space.

During a stop at Walmart, I saw my first 80" TV. Then just last week I saw a commercial for the new 90" class TV (also from Sharp). You heard right, NINETY INCHES. That's a 7ft.6in. diagonal width!

I love desert vegetation

Just like his mother I guess...happy when he's shopping.

We found some fellow Packers fans...

...and Hawkeyes fans.

We even found corn rows, in the middle of the desert.

The last day we drove out of the city a little to Fountain Hills...

...aptly named, for its 560ft. fountain.

Stealing a picture with the mountains on our last night.

The fam (with Uncle Leo taking the picture)

The sky tram bridge at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport is the first mass transit system built over an active runway and the first that a Boeing 747 can pass under.

Despite our 2.5-hour flight delay, I was a happy camper. I spent an hour photographing and videoing flights on the tarmac (only until my batteries ran out).

I could watch planes all day

The Arizona Cardinals plane?

This is the video I got of the Cardinals plane landing, before I knew it was that plane.

At the Phoenix airport in 2005

And in 2012

I love airports

After a 2.5-hour delay, it was finally time to fly home. Vacation was over. Summer had come to a close.
(I may have shed a tear, at least inside.)

Did I mention I [heart] everything aviation?

(LEFT: flying over Theodore Roosevelt Lake northeast of Phoenix)

(TOP RIGHT: convective thunderstorm south of Pampa, TX)

(BOTTOM RIGHT: descending through the clouds in Atlanta)

Then I, who never suffers from jet lag or anything to do with flying, suffered insomnia the next several nights. This night I slept from 9:30-11 then was wide awake until 2:30am. The day after we flew back, I threw up at work, which was the first time I had threw up in years.

The end of summer, the beginning of football.season.
We went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the first regular season Packers game, since it was not broadcast on our regional cable channels.

We lost the game (at home) and I spent 10 seconds in the women's restroom while we were there. Stacie witnessed the whole thing from our table, and thankfully there was no one in the restroom. All around bad/awkward way to start the football season.