Cruise Booked!

It's official!!!  Brian and I are booked on Emerald Princess on May 23, 2012 for:

11 days Scandinavia & Russia Roundtrip From Copenhagen

Our ports include:

Oslo, Norway
Aarhus, Denmark
Warnemunde, Germany
Tallinn, Estonia
St. Petersburg, Russia (overnight)
Helsinki, Finland
Stockholm, Sweden

I am so excited!!!!

Road Trip from Chicago to Charleston - Day 5 - 9/11/11

Boone Hall Plantation

We had to leave to drive home on the last day so we went to Boone Hall Plantation before we left.  This place is famous for the Avenue of the Oaks.

Several movies have been filmed here, most recently, The Notebook

We enjoyed a nice day taking a tour of the home and grounds before getting back in the van and heading home to Chicago.

Road Trip from Chicago to Charleston - Day 4 - 9/10/11

Relaxed afternoon followed by Ghost Tour

On Saturday, we spent the day separately boys and girls.  Dave and Brian went golfing while Kim and I did some shopping and took a carriage ride tour of the city.  We went to Charleston Crab House for dinner and Brian got quite the meal ...

After dinner, we did a Ghost & Graveyard Tour that actuallt took you inside a locked graveyard after dark.  I caught some orbs on camera ... can you see them?



Road Trip from Chicago to Charleston - Day 3 - 9/9/11

Fort Sumter

We took our friends to see Fort Sumter, followed by a day at Folly Beach.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera at the beach ...

We went to dinner at Poogan's Porch that night and went to the Rooftop Bar at the Vendue Inn for drinks.  We had a fabulous time and the weather was just perfect.





Road Trip from Chicago to Charleston - Day 2 - 9/8/11

MY BIRTHDAY!!!!

My 29th birthday started with the end of the road trip at the Irvin House Vineyards and Firefly Distillery on Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina.  The place is very off-the-beaten-track and the power was out when we arrived but it was a highlight of the trip for all of us.

The vodka tasting was only $6 for 6 tastes and they have a wide variety to taste.

Dave, Kim, me and Brian enjoying ourselves in the tasting room ...

Then, next door to taste some Mescadine wine ...

I have to say, the wine is not really my flavor, but since there are only a limited number of grapes that can grow in that climate, the wine was interesting to taste.

We followed up our visit to the vineyard with a few of my Charleston favorites.  We checked into King Charles Inn, had some drinks, and went to dinner at Slightly North of Broad (SNOB) before taking a walk down to the Battery.



Road Trip from Chicago to Charleston - Day 1 - 9/7/11

The Road trip begins

We set out from Chicago at about 7:00 in the evening.  

We hit some traffic along the way...

By dawn, we were coming out of the mountains

And we stopped for breakfast at Cracker Barrel where my friend Kim and I played a little dress up