Chicago, Il – Springfield, Il – St. Louis, MO – Springfield, MO

Leaving the big city of Chicago behind. We found the entry of Route66. Yeah!

Countryside. Green lush fields. Cows & horses. Relaxed driving. Lots of Harley’s and Oldtimers. Beautiful weather. Temperatures getting higher. Sundae ice cream for lunch.

We get lost and we get back on the historic Route66. Not to get confused with different options out of different years…

We passed Springfield or “the land of Lincoln” – the capital city of Illinois. Illinois designated “Land of Lincoln” as the official state slogan in 1955. Regarded as a great symbol of democracy, Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States (1852) and is honored for his noble vision, statesmanship, humanity, and political skill.

Happy St. Memorials Day! The reason why we had sushi for dinner (the only restaurant with available seats): St. Louis rolls! ♥️

By the way, the USA counts >40 Springfields: the home of the Simpsons (they never defined which one though) & Brad Pitt was born in Springfield, MO. Happy birthday!

A bit about Amish people living in Illinois: apparently they don’t drive cars but horse carriages. They don’t use electricity or phones and tailor their own clothes and dresses like 300 years ago. Men are wearing black hats and beards. We didn’t see any since they are living about 100mi south of Route66.

Hello, St. Louis! I always wanted to be here because of Louise from St. Louis (sex and the city).

The city is beautiful and home to the baseball. St. Louis nickname is „the Gateway to the West“.

In 2006, St. Louis made it no.1 as the most dangerous city in the USA. One year later that status changed to Detroit. Nevertheless, the murder rate is here 3 times higher than in LA (dear mums, don’t worry, we made it and moved on…).

The 630-foot Gateway Arch is the centerpiece of downtown St. Louis— backing up to the Mississippi River and overlooking the Old Courthouse. After we’re done ogling the massive man-made monument from afar, we got transported by tram to the top for a panoramic view that stretches for up to 30-miles. Wow!

The ride up in the little 5-person pod (that looks like something from the future) takes about 4 minutes. From the top we peeked out of the thin rectangle windows to get the spectacular view below.

Cruising on the big river – the Mississippi.

It’s getting hot in here… Hot is when you stop blow drying your hair. Hot is when you appreciate A/C in the night. Hot is when you prio the shade. Hot is when you sweat even you don’t move.

Windows open. Wind in the hair. Cruising along…

A proper BBQ is when even the baked beans are mixed with meat… not for vegetarians.

Happy Memorial Day!

Moving on to Oklahoma next 🖖

The Historic Route 66 is the most famous road in America. The road, which stretches from Chicago to LA in a broad, meandering curve, has been called America’s “Mother Road”.

16 days time to find & drive along the legendary Route66.

We are planning to cross the USA from Chicago all the way to Los Angeles. A road trip of 4000km, passing 3 time zones, 8 states, several climate zones and landscapes.

Route 66 is no longer part of the US highway system, so many parts of it have fallen into disrepair or are basically just dirt roads or routes aren’t even on the maps anymore. So, we are prepared: a special Route 66 map, and we are willing to do some off-roading. Let’s go!

A trip along many different cultures, the past, present and the future, comedy and tragedy filled with stories and history. A road with movies, cowboys and Native Americans, tornados and deserts.

We are looking forward to old motels, endless highways, Art Deco diners, ice-cold cokes & re-fills, Walmarts and burgers. Lol.

Route66: one word and one number = freedom, peace, endless emptiness, amazing landscape, hells angels and police sirens.

We arrived in the USA. The country where you just meet people on the train and they wish you a fantastic holiday. It’s so good to be back. It still feels a little home.

Start of our trip: Chicago. City feeling (staying on 23rd floor), skyscrapers, deep-dish pizza, the very best steaks, jazz & blues. And friends. The loop & the bean. And so the vacation begins.

Chicago – the windy City. The rainy city, the sunny city. We had everything in one day. That’s Chicago how we know it & love it.

Chicago love. We enjoyed every single minute. It’s so great to be back. Dear friends, thanks for being with us!

Jetlag gone. Kind of. Ready for kicking off our road trip: let’s go Route66. All the way from Chicago to Los Angeles. Yeah!

The car is packed with cold drinks and road trip music. Off we go! First planned stop is St. Louis, Missouri. Wohooooo!

Hungry for traveling & seeing friends again, we haven’t seen in a long time. Vacations are locked in. Flights are booked. It took us a long time to 1) decide where to and 2) click that button to book a flight. A luxurious problem & the last 2 years definitely leaving memories… It’s summer time, and the Covid situation is under control. Kind of.

Our required Covid test: negative. Yeah!

Tourist visa: confirmed & printed! Yeah!

Bags packed. Yeah!

Checked in. Not so easy but made it. Yeah!

Our travel destination: USA.

A road trip & meeting friends along the way! We are so excited to be back in the country we lived in. It feels like a very long time ago. Too long. 6 years. Time to be back: steak, wings, cheesecake & burgers on the food agenda. Oh, it’s going to be great! American friends, get ready, we are on our way!

Stay tuned. Bon voyage!

It’s my birthday. One year ago, hubby was brought back home from hospital. This year it’s party time. Together & with friends.

A little beauty program including hairdresser and a 2 hour Thai massage followed by a wonderful 6-course-dinner with hubby. In between I enjoyed taking every single birthday call or message yesterday! I pretty much talked all day – thanks for thinking of me ♥️

Friends for Sunday brunch in our garden. Weather was perfect.

I & we had a fantastic weekend. Thank you!

How do sunny weekends start back home in Frankonia? With a local brewery tour & tasting or learning what a beer & a pork schnitzel have in common. It was a great night out. Happy (early) Father’s Day!

A delayed Mother’s Day celebration.

It’s wedding time! My favorite cousin got married! We had a blast & a hangover next morning. Ouch!

A wonderful weekend back home. Goodbye family, see you soon again! 👋

Sometimes in life, we’re given second chances – opportunities to start over and make something different of our lives or learning to appreciate life after a traumatic (motorbike) accident. That’s us!

Today one year ago, the motorbike accident happened… memories coming back these days…

Every day is a good day for a BBQ or fresh flowers on the dining table! Every day is a good day to stop working on time to enjoy a walk outside! Every day is a good day to be thankful, especially for the simple things in life, we too often take for granted.

Happy 2nd birthday! Every day is a good day to celebrate! Cheers to life and all the beautiful moments we’ve had and we’ll have!

That’s why we sent flowers to the couple who was in the car and unfortunately got involved in the crash. Enjoy them!

The following song was running all day in the radio a year ago… music can be powerful.

⁃ Memories – song from Maroon 5

Here’s to the ones that we got

Cheers to the wish you were here, but you’re not

‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories

Of everything we’ve been through

Toast to the ones here today

Toast to the ones that we lost on the way

‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories

And the memories bring back, memories bring back you

There’s a time that I remember, when I did not know no pain

When I believed in forever, and everything would stay the same

Now my heart feel like December when somebody say your name

‘Cause I can’t reach out to call you, but I know I will one day, yeah

Everybody hurts sometimes

Everybody hurts someday, ayy ayy

But everything gon’ be alright

Go and raise a glass and say, ayy

Here’s to the ones that we got

Cheers to the wish you were here, but you’re not

‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories

Of everything we’ve been through

Toast to the ones here today

Toast to the ones that we lost on the way

‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories

And the memories bring back, memories bring back you

Doo doo, doo doo doo doo

Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo

Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo

Memories bring back, memories bring back you

There’s a time that I remember when I never felt so lost

When I felt all of the hatred was too powerful to stop (ooh, yeah)

Now my heart feel like an ember and it’s lighting up the dark

I’ll carry these torches for ya that you know I’ll never drop, yeah

Everybody hurts sometimes

Everybody hurts someday, ayy ayy

But everything gon’ be alright

Go and raise a glass and say, ayy

Here’s to the ones that we got (oh)

Cheers to the wish you were here, but you’re not

‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories

Of everything we’ve been through (no, no)

Toast to the ones here today (ayy)

Toast to the ones that we lost on the way

‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories (ayy)

And the memories bring back, memories bring back you

Doo doo, doo doo doo doo

Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo

Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo

Memories bring back, memories bring back you

Doo doo, doo doo doo doo

Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo

Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo (ooh, yeah)

Memories bring back, memories bring back you

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, doh, doh

Memories bring back, memories bring back you

Cheers to all beautiful moments in the future! Create memories and enjoy them!

Give your loved ones an extra big hug today!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Vienna is all about coffee & cake, Franz & Sisi, Wiener Schnitzel & Wiener Waltzer, classical music & classical architecture, a city for foodies & art fans… and perfect for us. We had a fabulous girls weekend.

The Hundertwasser Building: an explosion of bright colors, different shapes, unmatched windows, and lines of all sorts.

Grownups turning into children again… enjoying the oldest amusement park in the world: the Prater.

Unique Traffic Lights.

City hunt for the best Sachertorte, Viennese classic dessert that consists of a decadent chocolate cake with apricot jam in the middle.

Not only the emperor’s favorite…

Oh and happy May 1st! The best month of the year 🙂

It’s spring. It’s Dandelion time. Nobody likes them. Especially not in the garden. Except hubby. 2 years ago he tried to produce a beer out of them. That kind of worked out: it tastes disgusting, so beer turned into vinegar. And that one is delicious, actually!

Here are some more interesting facts about the dandelion flower:

The dandelion is the only flower that represents the 3 celestial bodies of the sun, moon and stars. The yellow flower resembles the sun, the puff ball resembles the moon and the dispersing seeds resemble the stars.

The dandelion flower opens to greet the morning and closes in the evening to go to sleep.

Every part of the dandelion is useful: root, leaves, flower. It can be used for food (or beer!), medicine and dye for coloring.

Up until the 1800s people would pull grass out of their lawns to make room for dandelions and other useful “weeds” like chickweed, malva, and chamomile. Wow!!!

The name dandelion is taken from the French word “dent de lion” meaning lion’s tooth, referring to the coarsely-toothed leaves.

Dandelions have one of the longest flowering seasons of any plant.

Dandelion seeds are often transported away by a gust of wind and they travel like tiny parachutes. Seeds are often carried as many as 5 miles from their origin!

Animals such as birds, insects and butterflies consume nectar or seed of dandelion.

Dandelion flowers do not need to be pollinated to form seed.

Dandelion can be used in the production of wine and root beer. Root of dandelion can be used as a substitute for coffee.

Dandelions have sunk their roots deep into history. They were well known to ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, and have been used in Chinese traditional medicine for over a thousand years.

Dandelion is used in folk medicine to treat infections and liver disorders. Tea made of dandelion act as diuretic.

If you mow dandelions, they’ll grow shorter stalks to spite you.

Dandelions are, quite possibly, the most successful plants that exist, masters of survival worldwide (that’s unfortunate for gardeners).

Bee Happy Gardens.

One year ago, it was impossible to cross European borders for a weekend getaway.

We packed our bags for a glamping trip (another one of those trips which got delayed for months due to the pandemic). Dog on board. Bonjour France!

Arrived!

Nestled in a hilly landscape between the River Le Rhine and the Vosges mountains in the Alsace. Bonjour France!

We followed the house rules: do nothing, sleep in and wake up with the sun, enjoy the nature, put some wood in the stove, looking at the rain falling, listen to the sound of silence, afternoon siestas …. It was wonderful!

Weekend mood. Sunday mood.

Hubby developed a new shrimp marinade: olive oil, earl grey tea and IPA mixed with salt & pepper – super delicious!

Slow mornings. Breakfast is served!

WI-FI (uhm…what?)

A little trip to the Alsace villages… super beautiful!

A cup of tea and that book I wanted to read for a while… The sun, rain, nature, a crackling fire – a perfect weekend.