The Tobacco Trail

We got so lucky yesterday!!! Not one drop of rain on our silly heads or hats or caps or whatever. Today it has been raining since we got up, and still is as most of us are heading off to bed - but nobody is really upset about it - because we all know North Carolina really needs it.

Well, yesterday we finally hit the Tobacco Trail. Someone at my Dad's work had mentioned the words Tobacco Trail to him before, but since he doesn't smoke anymore it didn't really strike the appropriate root of interest with him. But boy, what we have been missing:

This trail takes off more or less behind a mall near where we live, and then takes you all the way to beautiful DownTown Durham. My Daddy had been to one of the newly renovated areas for a Dinner before, and I guess he thought that was about the extent of making Durham pretty, but what a surprise we had yesterday; many many areas are popping out of nowhere everywhere that could make you believe Durham is a really cool place to live.

The Tobacco Trail is really really great. My Daddy could even take it to work (if he ever gets his act together). The Tobacco Trail is an old train track converted to a bike slash walking slash jogging path, and it is simply amazing what wonders some well spent tax dollars can do. You may have thought only Europeans get out and walk, jog or bike in great numbers (well, we all know the Americans have the Jogging part down better than any other nation on this globe), but it was simply great and very refreshing. Lots of people were out on this trail and everyone seemed to be really enjoying it frequently - it didn't feel like a tourist attraction at all - if felt like a utility trail - and I tell you, it sure looks like a great trail for training for your next long distance run.

We were a total of eight in our group, and my sis and myself had to share the space in our two kid trailer, and once we got out all the drinks, snacks and books and started taking of our shoes and socks, it did get a little cramped in there.

We rode all the way to Durham, had a fantastic brunch at Elmos Diner (who is maybe only related to Donald Duck and doesn't share anything else besides being a duck with Donald). And on the ride back everything was wonderful until I woke up my sis. I didn't get yelled at right away, because it sure wouldn't have helped the situation while my sis thought that the end of the world had come, but I did have to acknowledge in the end that it had been a pretty bad idea to wake her up after she had slept so sweetly for such a sweet while.

Like I said, we made it back to the cars without one drop of rain, and it was such a mild and humid day, that it really didn't feel like December at all. Great timing and great idea guys! I'm all up for it again!!!

I heard some mumblings about trying one of those attach-a-bike thingies in the future (for me!!!) - I can't wait to see if that plan will pan out anytime soon.

Happy Trails to all of you.
LUC

Why I run!?!

Because I can, because I CAN, BECAUSE I CAN!!! I just love running. Running in circles, running down the hill, running up the hill, running for no apparent reason, running for the sake of running! Running is just great!

Back when I was living in Barcelona, I used to go running with my Daddy all the time, but that was when I would still sit in the Baby Jogger, and Daddy and Pablo would actually do the running. Since my Daddy even back then wasn't all that strong (or because Pablo was running so fast) they would take turns pushing the Baby Jogger, but then again, that's what being friends is all about, isn't it? Yeah!

So, a couple of weeks back I ran in my first race. I didn't have time to write about it, but I figured now was a good moment to make up for it. My great Daddy actually ran the 1 Mile race with me. We started off running really fast, but then my Daddy cautioned me to conserve my energy and so we slowed down a bit. That was quite a good idea, because I later needed all that conserved strength to finish the race running. Beside stopping once for stretching the race went wonderful. The funny part of the race was (it was a neighborhood race - a Family Run so to speak) that for no apparent reason half the kids were sent down the wrong street - so they dispersed into the neighborhood without really knowing where to turn after having been told to run in the wrong direction (by accident I presume). But fortunately we were running next to some people who knew (and who had cell phones!) and this is how we ran 1 Mile and 1 Mile only. Close to the Finish Line Mommy was already waiting for me and we all finished the race together. I actually won a Free Movie Ticket for finishing (and I think Daddy got one, too). Maybe I can go see a Movie with Daddy - wouldn't it be great if they showed the Jungle Book, I would love to see this Movie on the big screen!!!

Gotta go! C U later!
LUC

Down the tube...

Guys! Yesterday we went hiking around the neighborhood, and there is a lake nearby that has an overflow system! Daddy wanted to convince Mommy that all the excess water is pumped to Lake Jordan, because of the extreme drought conditions in North Carolina, but after we did the appropriate inspection we realized that it is a manual bleed-off valve, and what Daddy was thinking is probably nothing more than SPECULATION!!!

Someone at work had asked my Dad what the water restrictions were for Orange County, and when I checked this morning I realized that Chapel Hill is still at Stage 2!?! Strange when everybody else (especially Durham!!!) is at Stage 4 and thinking about Stage 5. For those unbeknown to the topic of mandatory water conservation Stage 4 means that all industries shall reduce their city water consumption by 50%. And for those new to the English language shall = must! No kidding here! Right now Durham has 39 days of guaranteed water supply remaining. 39 days. Count them buddy, because no more showers for you after February 3rd. Better get that extra supply of deodorant now, Stinky (might wanna pick up some extra bottled drinking water, too)..............



Anyhow, the large piping for the excess water bleed-off is not exactly the playground anyone needs to be visiting without their parents or the appropriate official, but since I couldn't find an official anywhere Daddy was good enough - and he does take pretty good pictures.

Today it is raining. Yeah!!! It certainly can't rain enough around here. We may go outside and try out our new Matschhosen (for those of you new to the German language this translates to: pants for dirt! ... or dirty pants... that's a fun word to be screaming out loud! DIRTY PANTS. DIRTY PANTS....BETTER GET YOUR DIRTY PANTS BECAUSE WE ARE GOING OUTSIDE).



Ha ha, I just placed a small battery charger next to my Daddy, and he mistook it for the mouse and tried to use it as the mouse - boy what luck he had moving the cursor around with the charger. NONE!!!



Ciao!
LUC

REVOLUTION

Alright, this is it.

I am taking over.

I have just spent the last four days straight with my Dad... he's on vacation or something... and I must tell you, that poor dude has no time to write a blog. So, that's it. No more of this: "Gee, if I only had time to write", or his other poor ass excuse: "If I had only taken a picture to go with the story!" - it's over Pap - you write no more - you been hanging out here toooooo long, buddy.

SOOOO, let me fill everyone in on my story. It's Christmas season 2007, I turned three sometime this past summer, and have been living in the United States of America for the last six months or so. I had a really good Thanksgiving break at Lake Norman. My Daddy was hanging out with this other Dad, they were fixing up an old deck or something - really crazy, because it took them the entire break, and there was still no water to float it in when they were done. But anyhow, I had a really good time with my mom and my sis, and the other mom and her three kids. Those two crazy ladies took us on a canoe trip across Lake Norman, so that we could have a picnic on someone's sister's deck, that was in much better shape then the one my Daddy was working on with that other guy.

My sis has been quite the trooper, and she is trying to pick up on all my tricks! Most of the time I don't mind. But boy brother, the things I dreamt about doing when I was her age, geee, no problem for her, buddy.

So, it has been a wonderful time to be alive. I love it when my Daddy sits down with me and we get creative.

And I guess he loves it, when he gets out with Mom, and they go mountain biking.

Man, everytime I upload an image, it's screws up my formatting and puts the last pic first! Anyone got a fix for that???

Well, I am getting out of here. I'll be back soon, this is my own here revolution. Wish me luck and I will keep you going with pics and stories.

Since it is the jolly Christmas season, please allow me to leave you with a picture I took last night.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

LUC

Charlie's birthday...

Since my Daddy is really eager to have more blogs published, but never seems to find the time for it, I am taking the liberty to write this blog for him. Today we went to my friend Charlie's birthday party in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Charlie is one of my buddies from preschool, and he turned three today! Oh, and what a great party it was.

This morning when I woke up and ran into my parents bedroom together with my sister Lya, Daddy seemed a little bit groggy. Apparently he drank a few beers at our neighbor's party where someone had turned 40! Just imagine, 40!, ancient, isn't it? I have no idea how old my Daddy is, but there was a lot of talk about my generation, his generation and your generation at the party - and there were a lot of questions about the year 1967! I wonder why? There was also a get to know quiz, because everybody had turned in a sentence that was a unique description of something about them - there were things like somebody starting the week in Kenya, someone else hanging out on the beach in Hawaii with Baywatch moms, someone being on the Board of Directors of the local water company, someone breastfeeding during a marathon...I think Mommy and Daddy had a really good time, one of their friends started asking for cigarettes after her husband had left, and naturally she had continued to drink liberally...I think my Daddy suggested that she should run around the block three times and then do 25 push-ups, whereafter for sure she would be rewarded with a cigarette...it was all good fun. When Mommy was ready to leave she almost left Daddy behind as the neighbor implied that she leaving didn't necessarily mean that he had to leave also - but they did walk home together afterall. Two other friends walked home with them, too - this is such a cool neighborhood with everybody living so close to each other - but...let me get back to the important part of this blog: Charlie's birthday party:

...Mommy is going to bed already, she is meeting a few girls at 7:00 in the mornin to practice for her Ramblin Rose triathlon... Anyhow, after a short drive to Pittsboro we were pretty much in the woods, and the gravel road was taking us further and further into the woods until we finally had arrived! This was a pretty cool place. There were lots of trees, big boulders (rocks so to speak) and there was even a river nearby that Daddy quickly hiked to while everybody else was busy. The best part of the party were the games. We hammered some nails into a piece of wood; we used powerdrills to tighten some screws, and then we built wooden planes that everyone let fly around everywhere.






Charlie also had some pretty cool sit-on-top toys. I especially liked the tractor:

After I had gotten a pretty good handle on the tractor Charlie allowed me to try his birthday present, a Kawasaki Ninja! Now this is a fun toy!

It was just a great party - everybody got along great. Charlie liked my gift, too, and the present unwrapping session was just fun for everybody. Soon enough it was 5:00 o'clock, and time for everyone to go home. On the way home we stopped at the Performance bike store in Carborro, and bought Mommy a kick stand for her bike so she can easily stand up her bike when it is hooked up to the trailer. Mommy is a crazy woman when it comes to her bike and our trailer. This week she picked me up from preschool with Lya already in the trailer as it was pooring rain, and then we rode home on pretty busy streets. Lya and I cuddled up really close to each other the whole ride home - boy was I happy when the garage door opened and we finally pulled into save and known territory - I guess we won't be doing that again anytime soon...

alright my friends, I have to go to sleep now. My Daddy promised to build a boat out of Lego with me first thing tomorrow morning, so the sooner I fall asleep, the sooner it will be tomorrow morning. Time's a waste'n...miss you all a bunch. Would be nice to go to another Calçotada sometime in the future. Special greetings to you, my friend, Victor - drop me a line if you should ever read this.

The South Loop - or why I bike...

it's tremendous, but I never would have thought that it could be so strenuous to keep going this here diary friend of mine...especially when you got friends that are so much better at it, and even promote your own diary to old friends...by now some 15 kids have probably looked at this here diary and thought...how lame, a couple of breakfasts and a boating trip on a pond? Well, my latest excuse is that I meant to post so many blogs, but could never remember to bring the camera to take pictures to go along with the blog...ja ja...well, this one will have to do without pictures. The South Loop out at Beaverdam just north of Raleigh is my new love affair. When I rode it for the first time probably a couple of months ago, I couldn't believe that something so cool could exist so close to home - this is liking having Tsali in your backyard I was thinking - and it really is, but let me rewind to the beginning. A week ago my buddy John called me at work as we were getting ready to meet for a Friday after-work ride. Beaverdam had closed because of a drizzle, so Chapel Hill back behind the Highschool seemed to be where we were going to meet. But once I had gotten into the car I just couldn't get excited about it, so I called John again and we decided to meet out at Lake Crabtree instead (no, not to go boating...to go Mountain biking Stupid). It was a great ride down history lane. This is where we used to go ride a lot when I was still going to State (North Carolina State University) and the trails actually have much improved since then. To favor much needed after work conversation that had nothing to do with work we opted for the fireroads (I always get a kick out of thinking: "Yeah suckers" when we cross over Interstate 40 and see all those cars downthere most of the time stuck in a traffic jam). To our pleasant surprise we noticed that the fireroads had gotten a new edition and after crossing the creek we were actually able to continue and do a beautiful loop.

Anyhow, after a great ride we headed back to Chapel Hill, stopped at the grocery store to pick up a six pack and some salad, and then met up with the rest of the family who was just getting ready to take a bath. Once the kids were in bed, John and I ate (pasta, what else) and then mellowed out until it was time to call it the quits.

So the South Loop is what brought me here. The last time I had met John out there after work I had had the same grand idea of driving there on backroads in order to avoid Friday afternoon traffic...I came so close to getting lost again (Old Weaver Trail Road went off to the right, and Old Weaver Trail Road continued straight ahead - so where do you go???) - but once the off to the right didn't look right, I turned around and everything worked out - puhhhhh, still took me 30 minutes to get to the trail though. Once ready to go ride we figured to better leave the cars outside of the trail gates (they close at 7:30 pm) in order to buy us another 30 minutes of riding time (the park closes at 8:00 pm) - easily done and off we were to the left, dropping into the woods over a little wooden bridge. I guess what's so great about the South Loop is its speed; it's just such a fun and fast trail that I always end up wondering how long it can keep on going like this. At first it's pretty much a regular singletrack with some roots, some ups and downs, some left and rights, a nice little wooden bridge over there, but then it turns into one big drop after another, the trail narrowing down at times to a foots width, with no ground to fall on on its right side, then there is a tree trunk on the right, that has the top third of it chopped of so you can ride over it (for more than two canoe lengths (= 10 meters)) - today I fell on the first attempt - and then you got those great views of Falls Lake jumping out of the bushes here and there...about a third of the way into the ride I notice that I had lost my water bottle...and decide to turn around to go look for it - once I have ridden so far back that it is stopping to make sense, I turn around again to try to catch back up with John, and sure enough, after another rapid descent and almost falling of my bike...there is the water bottle...peacefully laying on the ground just to the left of the trail. It feels nice to take a sip of water after all that - but then the race begins. In my attempt of catching back up with buddy John I push so hard that every other turn I wish for my protective pads that I didn't bring, and the water bottle in the drink holder becomes a pathetic fixation as I am wondering when it is going to fall out again. I keep reminding myself not to forget to put a smile on my face - because this is about the only thing I would want to be doing right now. But John is nowhere to be found, the harder I peddle, the bigger the burning gets in my lungs, the less time there is to drink water - and where is that smile? over and over again the smile turns into another eye brow raising facial expression as I barely miss tree after tree. Finally another good uphill and I start cheering myself on: hep, hep, hep, hep...and sure enough, at the top of the hill there is John smiling and saying:"Well, I figured it's seven o'clock and you must have been getting closer!" Wow, we have already been out here for an hour. Not too much daylight left this time of year (late September) and about 20 minutes later we are forced to break out our headlights - much to our liking though - night riding is a whole other aspect of mountain biking that makes it even more lovable. Back at the vehicles the ranger stops by to chat and kindly request from us to not park our vehicles just outside of the gates, but also shares some fun stories about novice bikers getting stuck on the trail and crawling out in the middle of the night desperately asking for help from a ranger that came out to start looking for them. Apparently there also is a local mountain bike club that organized night rides last year...something we may have to look into. This time Johns off to Greensboro to spend the weekend with his brothers, but the kids are just happy when I get back to the castle and throwing a ball around in the shower/bathtub is really what life is all about Dad, not riding a mountain bike.

So long my friends, get out there when you can!

at last...one more breakfast!

between two kids, a wife, a double new job and looking for a house I all too well forgot that there maybe friends out there desperately waiting for another post. I guess I would have to tell them about this blog first, but what fun would that be, especially with all but now three blogs posted. Well, dear diary, we can almost rename you...letters to Pablo. How are you amigo!

Anyhow, once we pick up speed, we will be blasting through the universe with so many blogs posted u won't know which one to read first. Soon I will have to travel overseas for a business trip and will be stuck on a plane for something crazy like 12 or so hours - that may give me time to write something useful like our friend Pablo always does...but until then it will just be stories right out of life...reflecting back onto them.

So we did manage to go to breakfast again with Johnny, and it is always so pleasant to do it. An American breakfast is an American breakfast, and nobody seems to mind to stand in line for it and wait a good 30 minutes. After all, where else can you get your coffee refilled 23 times with a smile? Lucky Luc was a happy camper when he had the tractor all to himself just outside of the breakfast palace (palace = another word for place).

Then we went back to the fleamarket where the weekend before we had spotted a desk - though back then Raoul wasn't convinced at all - but what wonders a week can do and how much sense some reasoning that didn't make sense at the time can make when you look at it again or really listen to it like you should have the first time: but judge for yourself - is this a smart desk or what!?!

We didn't have any money left for a chair, and who wants a chair anyway when the guy selling it says something like: "If you want it cheaper than that, why don't you go to Walmart"...bargaining is not what it used to be...where did I put the picture of that guy.


To Luc's dismay the train he obviously was waiting on never came by, so we promised to drive along the tracks until we would see one (yup - these are the kind of things you actually do when you have kids - it all makes sense when you think about where all that free time that you didn´t have before actually goes). But the lucky charm was on our side that day. After the almost life ending disaster of not seeing a train we cut the deal that we would drive over the tracks (on a regular railroad crossing of course), and just as we cut the corner to do that, the barriers came down because a train was coming. A TRAIN WAS COMING. Oh what joy. So there we are sitting at the crossing, waiting for the train, and soon enough it shows up, and why not count the wagons: one, two, three, four, five...thirteen, fourteen....twenty-two, twenty-three.....thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine.......sixty-four, sixty-five....eighty, eighty-one, eighty-two....ninety seven, ninety eight, ninety-nine....one hundred-two, one hundred-three, one hundred-four, one hundred-five, one hundred-six, one hundred-seven, ONE HUNDRED-EIGHT! The big smiles on our kids faces were priceless. Who could have asked for more. Life can be so simple and so great.

Well people, getting ready to move into the new hood. Talk to you again soon.

Rowing on Lake Crabtree...

this fun activity we actually got into last Sunday, I just haven't gotten around to publishing it...but since amigo Pablo has linked our site on his, I better get going with more stories than just breakfasts at infamous places...

Anyhow, last Sunday we decided to drive out to Lake Crabtree near RDU airport (actually right behind it) and although it has been 8 years since I lived in Raleigh, we hit the right exit on the first try. Driving into the park brought back many memories of bike rides, playing Frisbee on the field, or just laying out on the grass...today it was a beautiful day and before we went out onto the Lake Luc had to inspect the playgrounds and Lya certainly didn't mind. The playgrounds were really nice (while being completely deserted - this is always still a shock to me after moving back here from Barcelona - I guess it still surprises me to see so few people everywhere).

After running up and down the platforms, sliding down the slides, peeking out through plastic bubbles, and turning wheels, we walked out to the dock and boat rental building, picked up our life preservers, and got everybody into the row boat. Right there at the dock mosquitoes were present in the hundreds (causing everybody to relentlessly spray around with their bug spray) but once we got out on the water this at least no longer was a problem.

The attention span of our 1 year old girl Lya and our 3 year old son Luc didn't last very long and quickly caused us to become more inventive (for example ropes turned into snakes that continuously had to be thrown overboard). Especially Lya didn't turn out be the sailor we would have liked here to be - but fortunately she did come around in the end after we had noticed that she was sweating tremendously under her life preserver (we had also managed accidentally putting her life preserver on Luc and his on her).

In the end we did stay out for about an hour and Sabine was all smiles once we got done and everybody was still in good spirits.

Breakfast at Big Eds in Raleigh...

This is it, the beginning of our blog, the very first, the very shortest probably.

We are counting four weeks now since we moved to the United States. We have settled in into our quaint furnished apartment in Chapel Hill, and Sabine has already made a few friends in the neighborhood.

This morning we met up with Johnny and Killer in Raleigh, to have breakfast together at the infamous Big Eds...where you can eat brains and red eye gravy... When I had parked the truck I made a quick 4$ Dollar donation to the city (unfortunately I didn't get a receipt), and then we met up with Johnny and Killer in front of Big Eds, where a Jazz band consumed Lya and Luc's attention. The very friendly trumpet man of the band put pink beeds around Lya's neck, and green ones around Luc's - we were ready for breakfast.

After breakfast we short cut through what must be the biggest construction site in Raleigh right now (the new convention center) to get to some sort of Health awareness event where they had those big jumping things for kids and were giving away free stuff like tissues, rubber spiders, sparkling sodas and so on. The best thing of it all were the friendly Raleigh firemen who let Luc sit in the fire truck and peek into a real ambulance.

A quick stop at Killer's new office to moderate the deposition of the mulch (je je) / that was it for the kids and we drove back to Chapel Hill with both kids passed out in the back.