Places I'm Going


Tonight, I board a jet plane and head to....Jacksonville, Florida.

That's right.  Jacksonville. Florida.  In mid-July.  I know you're jealous.  Friends are getting married on Saturday (trust me, nothing less than the wedding of good friends would get us to hot sticky schwül* Florida at this time of year), so off we go. 

*Schwül is the German word for humid, which we learned on our trip to Vienna, because, well, it was a little schwül while we were there.  We were cautioned, however, by several people to be very careful about our pronunciation.  That one little umlaut can change the whole meaning of one's sentence because schwül = humid, but schwul = gay/homosexual.


I've never been to Jacksonville, so I looked it up.

Jacksonville, Florida is home to the largest urban park system in the U.S., the 2nd largest annual Jazz Festival (I'm assuming New Orleans is the largest), the world's largest private collection of original manuscripts and documents (at the Karpeles Manuscript Library), the Jaguars (for football fans) and the New Jax City Rollers (if you're into roller derby).  I doubt I'll see any of these things, but I think it's nice to know.

I've got my tank tops, shorts, sundresses, bathing suit and flip flops packed and, of course, my workout clothes because "training doesn't take a vacation," according to my lovely coach/husband.  At least it'll be easier to negotiate a day pass at the gym here (in English) than it was in Vienna (in German).  Although, I must admit, I did pretty well at the gyms in Vienna and felt quite rewarded when I was understood!  Wie viel kostet ein Tagespass?

It's just a few days but it feels like a nice vacation and I have all the pre-vacation anticipation and lack of focus. Just have to make it through work today.

No computer until mid-next-week, so I wish you now a lovely few days.  Be Back Soon!