The little Inn by the wayside

[Railwaymodeler]

Hi everybody! Been crazy here for the longest time.

Biggest news is that Maria and I are engaged and have a baby on the way!

I don't remember if I already mentioned here that we are engaged, but she is about a month and a half along in her pregnancy.

Lots more going on, it looks like early in 2012 we will be moving to Wisconsin from here. She wants to start our family up there, though there is a church in Chicago she has her heart set on for getting married in.

[Chroelle]

CONGRATULATIONS RAILLO!!! So good to hear from you, and then with such GREAT news!

I have no idea how Wisconsin is, but if she wants to bring up your family there, then that might mean that it is a good place to do so!

Took a Google tour of it just now to see what it is like, and it seems like a pretty decent ... well...state.... What town does she aim for - close to water, deep-in-land?? It's kind of funny to go see the towns where everyone lives on Google maps to see what their daily views are - and most of the time you realize just how different places are.

[eMTe]

That's some serious news. I remember you talking about engagement, but not about a child! Now it's obvious why youve been so silent in recent months. Congrats!

I dont know much about differences between Illinois and Wisconsin, but I believe both states are not that different, after all they are neighbouring. On the other side it's easy for us, Europeans to say so about US states - we tend to forget that average one is similar in size to our average country, so differences in lifestyle, economy and general living conditions might be much much bigger than they seem to be from here.

[Pager]

Awesome news Railio! Congratulations on both accounts. I as well know nothing about Wisconsin, other than it being more North than where I live.
And please correct me if i am wrong, isn't Wisconsin well known for cheese?
My motto is, "cheese makes everything better!"
Except maybe for that cheese that is made from maggots...and head cheese, which isn't really cheese, just the boiled down scrapings of a cow's head.

[eMTe]

Changing topic, but only a bit.

The perfect greenery. Occurs when it can be caught not only by senses, but also by an average digital camera. This is what you get when you visit mountains after long periods of rainfall. You say cheese, I say green makes everything better!

[Pater Alf]

Everything has been said before, so all I can add is another Congratulations Raillo & Maria!

[Chroelle]

Amazing pics you took there eMTe. Speaking of differences - this was propably taken about double the distance of Milwaukee to Wisconsin away froom my apartment, and in Denmark we have absolutely NO mountains, so there is some huge differences right there.

[Railwaymodeler]

Actually, C, Milwaukee is IN Wisconsin. Waukegan here, is about 10 miles from the Illinois/Wisconsin state line. Now, where Maria and I plan to move, is about 350 miles north of here, in North Central Wisconsin.

Illinois is famous for its corruption - the saying now is that our governors make our license plates! The schools and healthcare in this state, frankly, are horrible. Plus, the people are different up north. Here we have a problem with gangs, drug dealers, and things like that. They are near nonexistent up there.

[Chroelle]

I meant to write Waukegan and not Milwaukee. My bad.

Well Illinois does have a long reputation over here as well as being a state with lots of crime. Dont know if that was simply built on the whole Mafia-period of the 30's or what???

[Chroelle]

Just tried to see where 560 km's (350miles) from my apartment would take me, and I think I was a bit off. It seems It was double the distance - 560 kilometers from my apartment is well into the Czech republic or even Austria, which these pics could very well be from. If they are from Poland, then it would simply prove my point even more!

[eMTe]

You can type "Limanowa" in Google and youll get there. I think it is a bit further than 560 though.

[Chroelle]

Getting Google directions says:
1,115 km, 11 hours 52 mins

But in pure linear distance it looks like less. See the red's. The blue is driving directions...
It actually looks very much like EXACTLY 560.

[eMTe]

Well, if the blue line is 1115 then the red one must be around 950 or so...

[Zyx]

Google Maps does have a Distance Measurement Tool...

EDIT: This thingie shows how far 560km is from Copenhagen. Stockholm, yay!

[eMTe]

I wonder how Curly found that Czech Republic and even Austria can fit in this circle...

Btw, Ive found the probable place where above photos were taken, first one who guesses which photo was taken into which direction gets free beer for one week on my tab. It's quite easy in fact, I was standing on the square observation tower, so the directions are pretty much your usual NESW.

I feel Ive just invented new forum game.

[Pater Alf]

North, East, South, West?

[eMTe]

No.

[Chroelle]

I wonder how Curly found that Czech Republic and even Austria can fit in this circle...

Look at the measurementline in the bottom of my photo - measure it, and then measure the length of the red line I drew... It should more or less fit. Weird stuff this...

[eMTe]

Indeed weird. But who believes internet in these days.

[eMTe]

Forget my last words... One day (because it's dead easy) of free beer for the first person to spot what Curly and, in consequence, me, did wrong...