Driving from Miami to DC

Well, finally I have downloaded my pictures from my camera and I have organized them a little. Here is a picture summary of Carlos' and my trip up to Washington DC from Miami with two stops: Gainesville, Florida and Durham, North Carolina. We were lucky to stay with friends at each stop and these places were very convenient distances to break up our trip. With each stop, we stayed for two nights and got to hang out with our friends and see some cool sights!

On the Florida Turnpike, we stopped for lunch at the Earl of Sandwich. Here is Carlos with his beloved full Montagu!

We stopped in Gainesville and stayed with Carlos' good friend Gustavo. While we were there, our friend Danielle also took us out to see a cool HUGE sinkhole called the Devil's Millhopper.

We also had a fantastic lunch at Panache: The Wine and Cheese Gallery. We shared a tasty reisling-like Austrian wine and I had a melty brie, cinnamon, and apple sandwich -- it sounds weird, but it was good!

We also wandered the University of Florida campus and saw the pretty UF meditation center/chapel -- I think it looks rather elvish!

Our next stop was Durham to visit our good friend from La Selva, Arietta! Arietta has a great kitty named Mango and apparently she really liked us because she only bit us a little bit -- not a lot like most people! Mango likes to squeak at birds on the window sill and to taunt, molest, and kill shrews in the backyard.

Arietta showed us the highlights of Durham, including taking us to a tasty German bakery where we had brunch (I drank a chai latte and ate an almond croissant).

We also visited the Duke campus including the botanical garden (so cool!), the art museum (I liked the Greek art), and the home of the Organization for Tropical Studies!

Our trip was nice and leisurely and we got to see some of our good friends -- now we are busy with everything here in DC. I will make a post soon about some of our adventures.