NYC!!!!

so i flew up to NYC yesterday to meet my roommate and to look for a place to live...and guess what? we not only found one apartment, we found

two!! talk about lucky, especially since we are looking on the cheap side. check out the pictures we took from the apartment we will be signing papers for tomorrow...everyone keep your fingers crossed for me that my new address will be NY, NY 80)

So a quick description of the pictures...the top is the outside...duh 80) 2nd is the living room from the front door, 3rd is the living room/kitchen from across the room, 4th is a little cubby area by the bathroom, 5th is the bathroom, 6th is the kitchen bar area, 7th is the kitchen area, all appliance are brand new!!!, 8th is natalie's bedroom, 9th is my bedroom and 10th is the french doors that both bedrooms have.

it's all about Ashton!

3.3.08 toady was another beautiful day in Savannah, by favorite city of the south. Today I got to meet Ashton, my new favorite cousin. He is the most adorable little guy I have ever met, granted I’m probably biased, but he is amazing! Not only can he recite bible verses, but he also has a photographic memory and he is only 3! Everything about him screams Sturgis. If he is what our next generation is like, I can’t wait to meet more! Luckily he is feeling much better, so we were able to play and play and play, I’m exhausted! I also was able to hang out with Michael this evening, which was great as again it had been while since I had seen him. Again a bias, but I am a member of the greatest family! This trip has been amazing for me, not only for personal growth and leisure, but also for grounding me and reconnecting me with so many people. Ok one sappier note…thank you to everyone that has let me stay with them and visited with me on my travels, you guys are awesome!

beaches and southern hospitality

3.2.08 the sun was shinning today and the heat was up! If only I had brought shorts! Ashton was still under the weather so I decided to explore the beach of Savannah. Tibbey Island is your typical eastern beach…it was great to be back after spending so much time on western beaches. I explored the historic lighthouse. It was the first lighthouse that I have seen that you could actually go up to the top. 176 steps later I was able to see for miles around! Mommom, I have another picture for your collection 80) I also enjoyed a nice leisurely walk up the beach. I went looking for sand dollars, which are apparently abundant on the beach, but unfortunately I couldn’t find any. The waves were small, something I have to get use to again, but the beaches were clean and well populated!
After enough of the sunshine I headed to Wormslo, a historical sight in Savannah. It is the ruins of an old plantation. The ruins themselves were a bit of a disappointment as they were not much, but the nature walk was so peaceful and beautiful! It was as though I was the only one who was around…heaven!
I headed back to Aunt Barbara and Uncle Steve’s for Sunday dinner…yummy! By the time I leave Savannah I will have gained any weight I lost during my travels as well as a few more I’m sure! Southern hospitality, if they keep this up I won’t be leaving anytime soon!

Savannah on the river and at night...

3.1.08 I love saturdays! Since I have been traveling everyday has felt like a Saturday, but I really enjoy when I'm spending time with family on a Saturday. The weather was beautiful here in Savannah and Uncle Steve and Aunt Barbara decided we would explore the area...by boat. For those that have never been down this way, there are waterways everywhere! We put the boat in by sling which was a very interesting procedure to watch. I'm use to boat ramps, so this was very different! The waterways were beautiful and there were so many sandbars and island you really had to pay attention. I was shocked to see how the water depth went from 35 feet to 10 feet in the blink of an eye! The water temperature was warm so I was able to get off the boat at one point and go shell hunting. I had forgotten how much fun it was to do this after living out west for so long and there not being any shells. It was a very enjoyable day on the water I was sad when it ended!
In the evening I headed into Savannah to hang out with my cousin Jonathan and to see some of the nightlife. Apparently Savannah is a late night area and the streets definitely got more crowded the later it got. We explored everywhere from City Market to River Walk and had a great time! Jonathan's sporty car caused alot of attention when we were driving around 80) and the window shopping was great even at 1am! When I was growing up I never really got to hang out with Jonathan since he lived down here and I up in Baltimore, so tonight was extra special for me, thanks Jonathan!

Savannah a city of history...

2.29.08 What a great day! Aunt Barbara and I went into Savannah today and took a trolley tour through the city. The city of Savannah has so much history and they are doing so much to restore old buildings to what they use to look like, it is like walking into the past. The tour was great because they gave a lot of history on Savannah’s famous parts, which I don’t remember getting any other time I came to visit the city. Enjoy the pics, more to come…

Atlanta to Midway...boring drive!

2.28.08 Sorry for the delay in the postings, but I haven’t had reliable internet in a few days so I have been typing up the narratives then posting them as I can. Before I left Atlanta for the Savannah area I visited the Martin Luther King National Park and spent quite a few hours wandering around the exhibits and buildings. It is a great exhibit and it was free which was amazing to me because very few things are free now a days! The visitor center was great and offered movies on the civil rights movement and history about MLK and his work. They had wonderful quotes from his sermons; here is one that I really enjoyed…”Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of selfishness. This is the judgment. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?” I also took a tour of the birth house of MLK, which was neat!
Also before I left I also tried to check out the Coca Cola center which allows you to do tasting of their different products they ship to other countries etc, but at $15 for admission and $10 for parking I decided against it…I give them enough money by drinking their product 80)
I left the Atlanta area around 2pm and headed southeast to Midway, GA to visit my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Steve. The drive was very uneventful and unfortunately I had to stick to the highway more than what I would have originally wanted because I wanted to arrive before dark. Luckily my uncle met me off the main road because it is very confusing coming back to their house. Aunt Barbara cooked me my first home cooked meal since I left the Croney’s…ummm, I could definitely get use to the southern hospitality! And I am in the midst of more Lost and Survivor watchers, I may become hooked on the two shows yet 80)

Tallahassee to Atlanta with Destin in between

2.26.08-2.27.08 what a day, actually couple of days! The drive from Mobile to Tallahassee was windy! Benny was all over the road. We missed most of the rain, which is actually a shame because he really needs a bath! The drive was less than thrilling, the excitement was watching the hawks soaring with the wind, trying to figure out what exactly the piece of machinery was on the back of a flatbed truck and guessing how long a turtle has taken to cross the road and how exactly it was that it made it safely across, yes I said turtle. 80) The drive was nice though…the highway was lined with trees, green and red and there were lots of muddy brown creeks and rivers. I actually saw a couple of hitchhikers, which was fun because I haven’t seen any since I left California. The success of the day was crossing the final time zone line so I am officially in the east coast time zone.
Today’s drive wasn’t much more exciting, but this time I chose to stay off the highway between Tallahassee and Atlanta and take a side smaller route. I swear Georgia must have the most churches by square mile than any other state in the US. Is swearing about that a sin? I did see some interesting street names on the way north though…egg and butter road and microwave lane, I wonder who thought of those.
I arrived at Atlanta just before rush hour…yeah! The city sneaks up on you, I kept looking for it and then all of a sudden it was there, what a skyline! There is some very interesting architecture in Atlanta! I wasn’t sure exactly where I was staying, but managed to find a hostel. The staff was super nice since I actually arrived during their closed time. I managed to miss the subway station and walk in 38-degree weather with lots of wind 20 blocks downtown to find the Hard Rock, another shirt for the collection! Yes!!! Talk about cold, but I managed to convince myself that I needed to prepare myself for New York! I did eventually find the subway, actually it’s called MARTA here and it totally reminded me of the San Francisco BART system, but the best thing was that they had nice station attendants at every station that gave really good directions. So based on that and the fact that everyone I have met here I have decided that Atlanta is a very tourist friendly city! For anyone that comes to visit check out the Virginia-Highlands area, very trendy area with good neighborhood bars and restaurants. That’s all for tonight more later…