three letters that to us meant the perfect combination of vacation and home.
Happy times! Our road trip covered a great part of the American South. We saw old places and faces, and also experienced great new adventures. And when you travel the States, you do it the American way. You get a van with a DVD player.
Asleep or awake, Lia enjoyed every American minute (eating Israeli snacks).
Ben was sort of new to the American way of life and had lots to process.
Getting comfortable.
The beautiful American scenery. Was ignored.
Curious George, Ben's favorite, totally scared his big sister.
Our German drivers.
And an American beauty in the back seat.
North Carolina
A road trip looks quite different, when you travel with a bunch of crazy Italians.
Let me just say: these kids clicked. To the extent that you could hear that clicking sound.
Call us nuts, but this is home.
Hard to say who is the most loco.
Yeah, yeah. As I said. All nuts.
And as they all suffer from the same kind of nutness - the peanutness -
they get along so well.
And are tuned to the same wavelength.
Highest level of madness.
The love between the original nuts was overflowing.
Public space? Surrounded by siblings? Never mind.
"Hey you, I love you."
"Yes, I do."
How could we ever leave?
South Carolina
While NC was home, SC was a resort.
It was hard to leave home, but life goes on. At the beach. Just perfect to recover.
And what a beach!
Especially enticing, when your very own Oma helps you build sandcastles.
Heavenly and beachy.
The Isle of Palms. Just a bridge away from ... can you see it, Ben?
Charleston!
In Charleston, no matter how often we visit, we do what all the tourists do.
We book a costly carriage tour. Ben ennjoying the ride.
What else is there to see?
Guess where we are! That bullet hole might give it away.
It's a place with cannons!
Fort Sumter it is.
In South Carolina, history and nature meet to create an eerrie atmosphere.
Our address? The Moorings. Our neighbor?
Mr. Alligator.
But we like to keep our distance.
A pirat on a plantation.
"Grandpa! Look at this!"
Sweetgrass baskets aplenty! A beautiful tourist attraction I fall for every time.
The craft of sweetgrass basket sewing is an African cultural heritage that enslaved African people brought with them and handed down from generation to generation.
Rose Marie Manigault created these. One especially for me.
The Carolinas also have a romantic side to offer. On my personal to-do-list:
Read a novel by Nicholas Sparks. Check. Go out on a date. Check.
With the grandparents babysitting, there is plenty of time to take a picture in front of and then eat inside Lana's Restaurant. Which, surprisingly, is not a tourist trap, but a local restaurant hidden in a shabby part of Charleston. Far away from those tourists that take pictures everywhere.
Florida
Now where else to go?
Let me give you a big-eared hint:
Magic kingdom. Overwhelming.
Now Cinderella said to meet here. Where could she be?
"I said I wanted ONE balloon!"
"I could live here."
It's that mouse again! With his tacky girlfriend!
And then there was this other underwater kingdom.
Also known as Sea World!
Ben, so brave feeding the dolphins. While Lia said: No thanks.
Yet to that thing in the background, Ben said: No. Way.
While this girl, who is scared of Curious George, went twice!
Any scary rollercoaster will do!
And then there was Shamu.
Splash! Thanks, whale!
All in all, a very relaxing and calm stay.
Summary
What a vacation. Big-sized, American, adventurous.
My kids have adapted with such ease, perfect little travellers that they are.
Lia American at heart, Ben American in style, both of them refused to leave.
But hey, there will be more roads to travel. That's for sure.
