Merry Christmas from the Deep South!
It has been an eventful year for us on many fronts, not the least of which has been due to extreme weather. We began the year with historic drought conditions and ended the year with the “deadly deluge of 2009” in late September. At this point we have exceeded our typical annual rainfall. It started to rain in the spring at levels not seen in 100 years. The state climatologist declared that the drought was over by Memorial Day. This allowed us to wash our cars and water our lawns and gardens without risking a steep fine. The rain continued into the summer, which kept the temperatures below 90 degrees and the humidity and dew points high for the most part. Much of the metro area is still reeling from the flood. We live close to the ground zero areas of the worst flooding – Cobb, Douglas, Fulton and Gwinnett counties – which are bordered by the Chattahoochee River. These areas had 15 to 20 inches of rain which caused the Chattahoochee and its tributaries to overflow their banks. Much of our neighborhood was affected. The golf course and tennis courts were under a few feet of water. Our neighbors across the lake from us had flooded basements. FEMA made some calls there to assess the damage. The town of Austell was probably the hardest hit. Much of this area is not in an official flood zone, so most of the residents were not insured. Even a stretch of I-20 was underwater. Nine people lost their lives as a result of the flood. Our mountain property had 17 inches of rainfall. The extent of the flooding was unprecedented and has been called a “once in 500 year event”. We live about 1000 feet from the Chattahoochee, but did not have flood issues because our house is well above the river and lake levels. At its worst, there were over 500 roads in Atlanta’s northern arc of counties that were closed due to flooding, mudslides and trees down. The only up side to all of this rain is that Lake Lanier is now at full pool. Only a year ago it had been 18 feet below its normal level. In early November our area was hard hit by tropical storm/depression Ida. We had a bit over three inches of rain, but the areas hardest hit in September had six inches of rain on land that was already saturated, so there was more flooding and misery.
2009 was a year for sad and glad tidings. My only aunt passed away on September 2nd due to Alzheimer’s disease. On a happier note, Kristin became engaged on June 13th. She and Jim will be married on the first day of spring, March 20, 2010 in Savannah, GA. Kristin and Jim met at Gulfstream where each is employed. Eric is still busy with his work in Charlottesville. He is contemplating graduate school to earn an MBA degree. Not surprisingly, his top two choices are the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and his alma mater, Georgia Tech. Michael and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary on May 11th. I had two eye surgeries – one in May and the other in July. Each was a laser procedure to maintain normal levels of eye pressure. For the first 24 hours following the surgery, my eyes felt as though I had fallen face first into a pile of pine needles. In the following 48 hours my eyes felt as though someone had stuck their fingers in my eyes. But after that I had no further abnormal sensations.
Our biggest trip of the year was right after the holidays. We spent almost three weeks in South America. For two weeks we were on the Celebrity Infinity sailing between Valparaiso, Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina. The extra time was spent sightseeing in Santiago and Buenos Aires. We went on shore excursions in some of the ports of call. In Puerto Montt, Chile we did the Southern Highway and Reloncavi Fjord which affords a view of pioneer outposts in Chile’s northern Patagonia. The road trip went to Mile 0 of the Southern Highway, Chile’s equivalent of the Alaskan Highway. We rode along the wooded shoreline of the Sound of Reloncavi to Caleta Arena. We boarded a ferry and crossed over the fjord to Caleta Puelche. At the small village of Cochamo we visited the church which is now 100 years old. This area is full of volcanoes, glacial valleys, steep mountains and virgin forests. The tour ended at Lake Llanquihue and Puerto Varas. We had time to walk around the town and saw an Orvis store. Fly fishing is very popular in this area. When we got back to the Infinity, we sailed by the Chilean fjords to Punta Arenas, where we did our own sightseeing of the city on foot.
Ushuaia in Argentina bills itself as the world’s most austral (southern) city. The population is close to 100,000. We toured the city and a lot of the surrounding area, driving along the Pan American Highway to Lake Escondido and the Garibaldi Pass. The pass is at one of the lower elevations in the Andes at 1500 feet. We stopped at a mountain lodge and had a lunch of Patagonian barbecue of lamb. We also stopped at the first prison in Tierra del Fuego, built in 1896. We learned about the construction of the building, the life of the inmates, their work routine and punishment for prison infractions.
The weather was unexpectedly calm as we cruised along the Strait of Magellan and around Cape Horn. This area is notorious for awful weather partly because it is at the confluence of three oceans – the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern. Even though it was high summer in South America, Cape Horn is at low latitude and it is also very windy there, so it felt very wintry. At least it was not fogged in and rainy as it usually is.
One of the more unique “off the ship” experiences was in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. We spent a day at the Punto Tombo Penguin Rookery, which is the largest penguin nesting ground in continental South America. Approximately two million Magellanic penguins make their home there. Because this area is world famous as one of the finest spots to view the penguins, we were able to see numerous penguin families as we walked among the thousands of nests.
We had hoped to do a shore excursion in Punta del Este, Uruguay to see the Ralli Museum and Casa Pueblo, but the weather was uncharacteristically wild, which prevented cruise ship passengers from tendering to the shore.
When the cruise was over we stayed an additional three days in Buenos Aires before flying home. Buenos Aires is the Paris of South America, a truly fascinating city. We toured many of the neighborhoods. One of the more interesting and highly informative stops was at the Eva Peron Museum in the Palermo district of the city. The museum is in a mansion. All aspects of Eva’s life are presented in photos, videos and many of her personal belongings. The food and wine were wonderful and inexpensive. One evening we dined at La Brigada, considered to be one of the best beef restaurants in the country. Its location in San Telmo made for an interesting excursion as this area is quite bohemian. Another evening we went to El Querandi for dinner and an authentic tango show. We loved that.
In March we made a trip to Savannah to visit Kristin, and then we continued to Jekyll Island for a few days. The weather was sunny and in the 70s and 80s, which was nice, since it was colder at home.
We went on a camping trip in May to Davidson River in Pisgah Forest, NC, which is near Brevard. This is a beautiful area, but we could not enjoy it due to record breaking rainfall and cold temperatures. One day the high temperature was only 43 degrees. Fortunately, we have good quality camping gear, so we managed to stay dry. Kristin and Jim joined us over the weekend, so that was a bright spot in an otherwise rainy trip.
The next trip was to Charlottesville in June to spend some time with Eric. We did a lot of winery tours and tastings. We also re-visited Monticello. The house and its history are fascinating. We were lucky to be there at a time when the gardens were full of flowers and vegetables. Unfortunately, there was some rain. We had tickets to tour the house in the morning, and then we spent the rest of the day at the newly opened Monticello Visitor Center. There are numerous galleries that cover all aspects of Jefferson’s life and the construction of Monticello. It is all very well done. We took the time to see it all, so we did not leave Monticello until 6:00 pm. Another afternoon we went to Carter’s mountain which has mostly orchards, but they are replacing some of the fruit trees with grapevines. They have a small winery featuring wine from their grapes. Carter’s mountain is on the edge of Charlottesville and we were able to look down into the city and see the famous UVA Rotunda. En route home we stopped in Boone, NC for the night and did some shopping in the outlets the next day. We drove home along the Blue Ridge Parkway until we exited in Sylva, NC.
We were back in Savannah in July to attend Kristin and Jim’s engagement party. We met their friends and colleagues from Gulfstream as well as Jim’s parents who made the trip from Louisa County, VA. We went on to the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club, a resort in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. It is located between Jacksonville Beach and St. Augustine. We were there in 2008, but hurricane Fay chased us away. This year the weather was ideal so we had a great time.
We just returned from our most recent trip, another camping adventure at Davidson River. Eric and his girlfriend, Amber, joined us over the weekend. Again, the weather was a major factor in the lack of enjoyment. Normally, the weather is sunny and mild in October, but for the first three days it was rainy, windy and cold during the day, and each of the five nights it was at freezing or below. The lowest temperature was 29 degrees outside and 33 degrees inside the tent. Since we were well prepared for the cold, sleeping in the tent was not a problem, but cooking on the camp stove and eating outside were difficult and unpleasant. For as bad as the first three days were, the last three days were gorgeous. Weather aside, we did a lot of day trips to Hendersonville, Du Pont State Forest, Waynesville, Lake Toxaway, Cashiers, Highlands and Gorges State Park. We had hoped to ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway between Asheville and Cherokee to see the fall color, but the parkway was closed due to rock slides, mudslides and a foot of snow that fell in the Shining Rock Wilderness, which is at 4500 feet elevation. There was also a very bad car accident when a car with two passengers slid off the road and plunged 80 feet over the side. A day later, we heard that the passengers survived, but they were pretty banged up.
Eric remained in VA for Thanksgiving, but Kristin was able to come home. We went “mother of the bride” gown shopping on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. The first foray into formalwear was a success. Kristin helped with the indoor holiday decorating. We have scaled back with the decorating in recent years because we have been at Disney World for a week in mid-December, where holiday decorating is at its best. We will be there again this year. Kristin’s fiancé, Jim, and Eric’s girlfriend, Amber, will also be along, so this will be our time for the six of us to be together. Kristin and Eric will still come home for Christmas.
We hope you have happy holidays and a good year in 2010.
