Two weeks.

It looks like we'll have keys to our new house on June 20th.  We got the appraisal back which stated the house is worth $110,000.   I'm pretty excited especially since we're buying it for $90,000.  I seriously can't wait to get into our new place since I have so projects planned.  My original thought was to stick to a sort of elegant style to keep in line with the charm of the home.  After some consideration, I've decided I would rather move in the direction of an artistic DIY style.   

Two weeks ago, we took the kids and went to Michigan for a little road trip.  Our first destination was the original Ford plant in Dearborn.  I had an image in my head that Detroit would be highly industrial and extremely rundown.  Instead, Detroit is very much like most neighborhoods in the US.  We then stopped in Belleville (where electronic music was first created) and had lunch at a diner.   We then headed to a nice park that was on the river with a really nice view of the downtown area.  Over all, the trip was very enjoyable. 

On a side note, I’ve also become acutely aware of just how much poverty exists in the US.  Everywhere we go; there are large areas of the city that I wouldn’t even want to get out of my car to pump gas.  Yet, people live in these places every day.  It’s hard to imagine well-adjusted people come out of these environments.  

Last week, we went to Wooster which is a small town just an hour south of Cleveland.  We hung around town going to a bookstore, some antique shops, and took a rest to eat at an awesome BBQ deli.  We then stopped off at a park so the kids could play.  There was a stream nearby and Zola got to play with some other kids in the water. 

 After that, we headed to Loudonville which is another small town.  They had an art fair going on and we spent some time checking out the crafts.  We walked around the city stopping at a couple of shops including an Amish furniture store.  

The next day, we headed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania which I wasn’t expecting to like.  We had driven by the city before but never traveled far inside.  I have to say, I love Pittsburgh.  Ever since we drove through Colorado, I’ve seen very few mountains or even hills.  Pittsburgh is mostly hills so it was nice to drive up high and see over the city.  In many ways I was reminded of the Hollywood Hills and San Diego because of the plant variety and the originality of the different neighborhoods.  There’s a lot of old architecture which gives the city a lot of charm.  I would love to move to Pittsburgh with the exception of one major drawback.  The place is HOT!!  We stopped at the largest park in the city and just walking around was exhausting because of the humidity.

We had talked about going on a European trip next year but we decided to travel to the northeast instead.  The trip is planned during the fall season when the leaves are (hopefully) changing.  I’m fine with bypassing Europe since I still haven’t seen much of the US but have seen quite a bit of Europe.  I’ve been doing some research trying to find the best roads and small towns to travel through.  At the moment, we plan to see Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Jersey over the course of 10 days.  It should be fun.

States I've seen so far:  Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Utah, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington DC, and Delaware. 

Countries:  US, Mexico, Canada, France, Netherlands, Costa Rica,  England, Whales, Belgium, Germany, and Luxembourg.