Europe Trip

[Sniper62]

welp, i'm finally going to Europe...My dad and I have been wanting to go for more then just a few years and it looks like its going to be this summer. We leave mid next month and will be there for 10 days. We are planning on hitting, england of course, france and normandy beach, paris, and finally berlin. I was also wanting austria and the eagles nest but he doesnt think that we will have enough time. He originally wanted to rent a car and drive to all these places but now hes thinking that the drive times are going to be too much...so now ive got to plan our trip out.

Yall got any tips on where/what we should see while we are over there? It would ne cool to meet up with some of yall dambusters that liver across the pond too if possible!

[Cono]

To be honest, you could spend 10 days in each of the cities/areas you mentioned and still be left wanting.

Personally, I would cull that down to just a couple of areas/cities like London/Normandy or Normandy/Paris, especially if you have plans to travel again to Europe in the future.

If you do go all out, don't drive. You'll spend all your time in the car, especially if you go to Berlin, Bertchesgarten and Austria. There are cheap, discount airlines in Europe that are very good. Ryanair, EasyJet, etc. Don't forget about the train system. It is GREAT!!!! Also, tour companies. I'm not real big on them you're a slave to their schedule but it is an option.

Also, think about going in the winter (low season) or early Spring or Fall (shoulder season). My preference is the shoulder seasons.

I lived for two years over there on the company's dime. I traveled just about every weekend/holiday and covered more than 20 countries (those that I didn't cover as an Army brat). I saw a lot, more than most, including Europeans. Yet, I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. So much history, so little time and money.

Do you have specific interests or a particular focus for this trip? Churches, museums, archaeological sites, beaches, battlefields, nightlife, parks, culture, cemeteries, etc.

Have fun on your trip!!!!!

I'm heading back over there (Ireland) most likely in Fall, 2016. Already been there, but loved it, and mainly will be acting as chaueffer and tour guide for my sister and others.

[Pegasusbelgar]

Oh good lord Snipples raiding europe!

There are many places to visit around europe and Cono given you some ideas to get started. As for England there some nice museums and events you can go to.

I checked for some airshow listings in May and there is a VE Day Anniversary Air Show held at IWM Duxford on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th May which might be around the time you could be in England. Further info here. http://www.iwm.org.uk/events/iwm-duxfor ... y-air-show If you are staying in London it is only a short trip via train.

In London it self I would visit the Royal Air Force Museum based in Hendon - London.

Other things to see and do which might take your fancy, most are free entry like the imperial war museum, HMS Belfast and the Royal Artillery Museum are also worth a look. http://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do ... ry-museums

Travelling around London is fairly easy and you can get a all day rail pass for the underground.

Not sure what my plans are will have to see if I can spare a day and possibly meet up.

[Sniper62]

To be honest, you could spend 10 days in each of the cities/areas you mentioned and still be left wanting.

Personally, I would cull that down to just a couple of areas/cities like London/Normandy or Normandy/Paris, especially if you have plans to travel again to Europe in the future.

If you do go all out, don't drive. You'll spend all your time in the car, especially if you go to Berlin, Bertchesgarten and Austria. There are cheap, discount airlines in Europe that are very good. Ryanair, EasyJet, etc. Don't forget about the train system. It is GREAT!!!! Also, tour companies. I'm not real big on them you're a slave to their schedule but it is an option.

Also, think about going in the winter (low season) or early Spring or Fall (shoulder season). My preference is the shoulder seasons.

I lived for two years over there on the company's dime. I traveled just about every weekend/holiday and covered more than 20 countries (those that I didn't cover as an Army brat). I saw a lot, more than most, including Europeans. Yet, I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. So much history, so little time and money.

Do you have specific interests or a particular focus for this trip? Churches, museums, archaeological sites, beaches, battlefields, nightlife, parks, culture, cemeteries, etc.

Have fun on your trip!!!!!

I'm heading back over there (Ireland) most likely in Fall, 2016. Already been there, but loved it, and mainly will be acting as chaueffer and tour guide for my sister and others.

wow, now it all seems kinda of daunting lol i think it was decided that we would take a flight from london to normandy area, then a train to paris, then another flight to berlin. my dad wants to visit the area where our family is from, about 3 hours north of berlin then we fly back to london from there.

We both are WWII enthusiasts so pretty much anything to do with that and just seeing the area in general. I'm needing to put together things that we can do at each location but ive been stuck doing other stuff atm. hey, ive got like a month left right?

[Sniper62]

Oh good lord Snipples raiding europe!

There are many places to visit around europe and Cono given you some ideas to get started. As for England there some nice museums and events you can go to.

I checked for some airshow listings in May and there is a VE Day Anniversary Air Show held at IWM Duxford on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th May which might be around the time you could be in England. Further info here. http://www.iwm.org.uk/events/iwm-duxfor ... y-air-show If you are staying in London it is only a short trip via train.

In London it self I would visit the Royal Air Force Museum based in Hendon - London.

Other things to see and do which might take your fancy, most are free entry like the imperial war museum, HMS Belfast and the Royal Artillery Museum are also worth a look. http://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do ... ry-museums

Travelling around London is fairly easy and you can get a all day rail pass for the underground.

Not sure what my plans are will have to see if I can spare a day and possibly meet up.

lol i know, right! id like to visit some of those factories that we've all bomb so many times!

I think we are planning to be in london/area for abut 3 days...those air museums and air show looks like a great idea to go check out! I've got to do a bit more digging around, but im sure, like cono said, you could spend all your time at one place and still not see it all.

I'm trying to decide if we should plan it out in such a detail to have everything thing booked and just walk into places or just go on a whim and book hotels as we go along. I'm kinda leaning toward the later, but feel like we will get screwed money wise...we shall see.


i wonder if i can create some kinda plan/guide on google maps to help visualize it all. where exactly are you located peg?


thanks yall!

[Kizmet]

Get in touch with Ted and Airborg.

[Pegasusbelgar]

I based in a town called Didcot so im about 50 mins away by train.

Also i dont know if its possible to get in touch with Scott im sure he love to meet you and show you the dams, i believe he lives near one in germany.

Yeah Airborg would be cool too.

[Sniper62]

I need to look up their emails and see if i can get a hold of them. It would be neat to finally meet those guys.

As i figure things out a bit more, ill know what kinda times ill have in london. from the looks of it atm we arent going to be in town long enough to go to the VE air show i wanted to and planned for it but i guess they have some friends there that are going to show us around that monday we get in so now ive gota shift everything to the right by one day...


here are a few maps i put together:

Map 1
Map 2

im surprised that we can get most of the flights for like 60-70 bucks! the most expensive one is from berlin down to where the eagles nest is but id guess thats because its in a small airport. I've still gota figure out what we are doing at each site and purchase the plane tickets ahead of time but it looks like the rest is going to be on a whim.

[Cono]

Don't forget to report back to us on how your trip went when you get back.

If you do manage to go to Hitler's Teahouse in Bertchesgarten, you'll find some French inscriptions on the walls and someone will probably tell you a tale about the French army being the first to get there toward the end of WWII in the ETO. Remind them that not only was the French army not the first to get there, but that De Gaulle, Leclerc and French army needed the U.S. Army's help to get there second. And, only after we let them back into their own country.

[Kizmet]

Call me before you leave caleb. Hope you and your dad have a hell of a good time. Lots of pics and updates along the way on the we site. Tell your dad I said hello.

Please wash and dry any sheep you molest along the way. Don't ride em hard and then put them up wet. Wool smells terrible when it is wet.

[Cono]

Hey Sniper,

Did you make the hop? If so, did you make it to all the places you were hoping to go?

[Sniper62]

Hey Sniper,

Did you make the hop? If so, did you make it to all the places you were hoping to go?

Oh ya, we made it and it felt like it was over before you knew it! We did lots of new adventures but I didnt get to do everything that I was hoping to.

We got into london on a sunday morning. My dad's friend picked us up from the airport and he took us to his place. We went to a 400 year old pub for breakfast, just the fact that it was 400 years old was pretty awesome. That's older than america! can you imagine how many people have been through that place and all the things that those walls have saw? It's pretty crazy to think about. Anywho, we all got a full english breakfast and I must say it was pretty friken good! and Im not much of a breakfast person haha

After that he took us out to the country side to some little village where a famous painter lived and made some of his paintings. Then we went into london and it was the complete opposite of what the country side was ha. They brought us around to a few of the tourists spots and we got to see a lot of cool stuff. We stopped and got a drink in a pup, we sat around drinking for a bit just to relax. That was about it and the next day we flew out to the Normady area.

Leme tell ya, that morning at the airport was nutz...it was the craziest airport that we dealt with the the entire trip and we went through eight different ones haha. There we learned that an American carry on was not the same as a European carry on bag. I was able to get all 10 days worth of clothes in my carry on, but with the small jets they used for their cheap flights, the overhead bins were just too small. European carry ons are about the size of a backpack lol. we eventually got to france and picked up out rental car. Driving wasnt too bad, we busted out the old fashion map and drove from Deauville all the way over to Pointe Du Hoc and worked our way back toward Bayeux, we spent the night there and then drove to Cean in the morning as our train would be leaving from there to head to paris. I really wish we woulda spent another day in the normandy area, there was just so much to see that we only got a fraction of it in one day. Seeing the craters from the big guns on the ships and the bomb blasts were amazing! It's hard to imagine that anyone survived that barrage. Going down into the bunkers that were there was a pretty eerie feeling just knowing that the view you were seeing was what they looked at on that morning...to tie it all together the entire day was a wet and rainy one with overcast. So that added to effect of seeing all of that. Id like to find some movies with the Pointe Du Hoc in it, I didnt really know much, if anything, about it before we went through it all. The American memorial at Omaha beach was pretty amazing, I'd say it was even better than Arlington. The crazy thing is whenever we got back to the states I had to fly out to Oregon for work and while sitting and waiting for my plane to come home, there was a large group of WWII vets that were going on a WWII tour of DC. As we were sitting there waiting, I tried to talk to one of the guys about his experiences but all I could really get out was that I just got back from see all they went through over in Europe and said thanks, after that I was just too emotional to keep it up. Just being there and realizing all the men that laid down their lives for us is almost mind blowing, seeing all that they were up against and they continued to fight is amazing. I'll definitely be going back there some day!

The train ride to Paris was actually pretty nice, we paid the extra 10 bucks for "first class" tickets. It was worth it, there were only about 10 of us in an entire train car. They didnt even check our tickets when we were boarding! We thought that was odd lol From the moment we got off the train and tried to make our way to the hotel it was crazy. Paris is a fast paced city and everything was so compacted. We eventually got to the hotel which turned out to really just be apartments that they rented out, it worked out well for the price and what we got so all three of use stayed in one and they had their own separate room. We took a Hop on Hop off bus for the city tour, it was actually pretty nice because there were recording that played while the bus went from stop to stop. There is so much history in Paris, thats the thing I liked about it. I hated the city itself but learning and seeing the difference histroy objects was the cool part. Of course the day that we were there the Louvre was closed ha! What are the chances right? My dads wife wanted to spend more that one day there so I didnt schedule our flight our until the next evening so we were able to come back the next day and make our way through the Louvre. It was pretty amazing to see some of the art that you only see on TV like the Mona Lisa, but unless you were an art nut, it was just art galleries upon art galleries. It was cool to have gone through it through, I woulda been upset if we didnt do it. The other thing we didnt get to do was breakfast on the Eiffel Tower... We made it to it at the end of our first day there but we kinda had to rush seeing it due to the buses only running for so long. I will say that it doesnt seem as big as it is in all the pictures you see of it. Once we actually started to get near it, the thing is huge! So that was a pretty cool fact to learn about it.

Berlin was alright, I wasnt sure what to expect for Berlin and we did the hop on hop off bus tour again there but it was nowhere near as good as paris. If so much wasnt destroyed during the war, then it might have been pretty cool with all the old building and such. But we were expecting a lot more about the war and where things happened and where other things were. From that point of view it was pretty disappointing. You could tell they didnt want to talk about it and mostly everything on the tour was about was the Berlin Wall. I learned a lot about it but that wasnt the reason for me being there so it was eh...I can understand that the war was a bad mark on them as a people and they try to push away from it all. So, if you look at it from that point of view, then it makes sense not to see as much as we thought we would. You could definitely see the change going from paris to berlin, it seemed to get more european. The things you expected to see where there, it was just a lot different. Berlin wasnt bad but Id go back to the other places before I wanted to go back. The next day we actually traveled SE of berlin, we planned on making it to Prague and back but we didnt quite make it there. We ended up stopping in a small village, Herrnhut, where one of the great christan pastors first began. It was an amazingly beautiful place, we spent most of the day there just walking around, eating at a small pub where our waitress was dressed in traditional wear and everything. It was actually some really good food there as well!

After exploring Germany, we flew down to Berchtesgaden. This, was the best experience of the trip for me. Even though we didnt get to do nearly all the things I was wanting, it was still pretty awesome. The entire time we were there it was overcast and rainy. We stayed at this amazing resort up in the mountains just outside of town, this place was the best hotel I've ever stayed at. It was pretty dam expensive but it was worth it. If I ever get married again Id defiantly go back there for a honey moon. all the hotel staff were dressed up in traditional dress and it just added to the entire experience. We were planning on going up to the eagles next the next morning but there was too much snow!! Wtf, snow in may? Yup, they said that was pretty common. Some days it would clear up so that people could go up there but not the two that we were there. There was a few feet of snow and with the weather how it was, there was no chance for us. Just being up in the mountains was pretty cool though, if there were no clouds it must look beautiful! We would get a glimpse of the mountains everyone in awhile, but that was nothing compared to if it was a clear day. We had planned on flying back to london the next day but we changed our schedule around to spend an extra day down in the Alps. It was a good decision even though we didnt get to do everything we wanted to do. So, this is another place Ill definitely be going back to someday. The next day we went to Dachau, talk about a humbling experience. Again, just seeing what these people went through, its a pretty crazy feeling to see and be at the place that all that happened.

After that it was a day trip back to London and we flew out the next morning, the flight wasnt bad at all. The plane was actually pretty empty and I got a whole row to myself the entire flight, no complaints there. I've gota go back through, they talked about going in a few years but instead going to see southern europe...we shall see how that goes.


I've still gota upload all the pictures, I'll be going to FL next week so I can link up with my dad and his wife to get the rest of the pictures.

[ODonovan]

Here I am hearing Florida mentioned again.

Well, there has been more rain here in the past couple weeks than I have EVER seen, and I've lived in central Florida since 1965. I'm not talking about a huge storm and flooding, but just overcast and rainy all day with thunderstorms; day after day after day.



-Irish

[Cono]

Hey Sniper,

Did you make the hop? If so, did you make it to all the places you were hoping to go?

Oh ya, we made it and it felt like it was over before you knew it! We did lots of new adventures but I didnt get to do everything that I was hoping to.

We got into london on a sunday morning. My dad's friend picked us up from the airport and he took us to his place. We went to a 400 year old pub for breakfast, just the fact that it was 400 years old was pretty awesome. That's older than america! can you imagine how many people have been through that place and all the things that those walls have saw? It's pretty crazy to think about. Anywho, we all got a full english breakfast and I must say it was pretty friken good! and Im not much of a breakfast person haha

After that he took us out to the country side to some little village where a famous painter lived and made some of his paintings. Then we went into london and it was the complete opposite of what the country side was ha. They brought us around to a few of the tourists spots and we got to see a lot of cool stuff. We stopped and got a drink in a pup, we sat around drinking for a bit just to relax. That was about it and the next day we flew out to the Normady area.

Leme tell ya, that morning at the airport was nutz...it was the craziest airport that we dealt with the the entire trip and we went through eight different ones haha. There we learned that an American carry on was not the same as a European carry on bag. I was able to get all 10 days worth of clothes in my carry on, but with the small jets they used for their cheap flights, the overhead bins were just too small. European carry ons are about the size of a backpack lol. we eventually got to france and picked up out rental car. Driving wasnt too bad, we busted out the old fashion map and drove from Deauville all the way over to Pointe Du Hoc and worked our way back toward Bayeux, we spent the night there and then drove to Cean in the morning as our train would be leaving from there to head to paris. I really wish we woulda spent another day in the normandy area, there was just so much to see that we only got a fraction of it in one day. Seeing the craters from the big guns on the ships and the bomb blasts were amazing! It's hard to imagine that anyone survived that barrage. Going down into the bunkers that were there was a pretty eerie feeling just knowing that the view you were seeing was what they looked at on that morning...to tie it all together the entire day was a wet and rainy one with overcast. So that added to effect of seeing all of that. Id like to find some movies with the Pointe Du Hoc in it, I didnt really know much, if anything, about it before we went through it all. The American memorial at Omaha beach was pretty amazing, I'd say it was even better than Arlington. The crazy thing is whenever we got back to the states I had to fly out to Oregon for work and while sitting and waiting for my plane to come home, there was a large group of WWII vets that were going on a WWII tour of DC. As we were sitting there waiting, I tried to talk to one of the guys about his experiences but all I could really get out was that I just got back from see all they went through over in Europe and said thanks, after that I was just too emotional to keep it up. Just being there and realizing all the men that laid down their lives for us is almost mind blowing, seeing all that they were up against and they continued to fight is amazing. I'll definitely be going back there some day!

The train ride to Paris was actually pretty nice, we paid the extra 10 bucks for "first class" tickets. It was worth it, there were only about 10 of us in an entire train car. They didnt even check our tickets when we were boarding! We thought that was odd lol From the moment we got off the train and tried to make our way to the hotel it was crazy. Paris is a fast paced city and everything was so compacted. We eventually got to the hotel which turned out to really just be apartments that they rented out, it worked out well for the price and what we got so all three of use stayed in one and they had their own separate room. We took a Hop on Hop off bus for the city tour, it was actually pretty nice because there were recording that played while the bus went from stop to stop. There is so much history in Paris, thats the thing I liked about it. I hated the city itself but learning and seeing the difference histroy objects was the cool part. Of course the day that we were there the Louvre was closed ha! What are the chances right? My dads wife wanted to spend more that one day there so I didnt schedule our flight our until the next evening so we were able to come back the next day and make our way through the Louvre. It was pretty amazing to see some of the art that you only see on TV like the Mona Lisa, but unless you were an art nut, it was just art galleries upon art galleries. It was cool to have gone through it through, I woulda been upset if we didnt do it. The other thing we didnt get to do was breakfast on the Eiffel Tower... We made it to it at the end of our first day there but we kinda had to rush seeing it due to the buses only running for so long. I will say that it doesnt seem as big as it is in all the pictures you see of it. Once we actually started to get near it, the thing is huge! So that was a pretty cool fact to learn about it.

Berlin was alright, I wasnt sure what to expect for Berlin and we did the hop on hop off bus tour again there but it was nowhere near as good as paris. If so much wasnt destroyed during the war, then it might have been pretty cool with all the old building and such. But we were expecting a lot more about the war and where things happened and where other things were. From that point of view it was pretty disappointing. You could tell they didnt want to talk about it and mostly everything on the tour was about was the Berlin Wall. I learned a lot about it but that wasnt the reason for me being there so it was eh...I can understand that the war was a bad mark on them as a people and they try to push away from it all. So, if you look at it from that point of view, then it makes sense not to see as much as we thought we would. You could definitely see the change going from paris to berlin, it seemed to get more european. The things you expected to see where there, it was just a lot different. Berlin wasnt bad but Id go back to the other places before I wanted to go back. The next day we actually traveled SE of berlin, we planned on making it to Prague and back but we didnt quite make it there. We ended up stopping in a small village, Herrnhut, where one of the great christan pastors first began. It was an amazingly beautiful place, we spent most of the day there just walking around, eating at a small pub where our waitress was dressed in traditional wear and everything. It was actually some really good food there as well!

After exploring Germany, we flew down to Berchtesgaden. This, was the best experience of the trip for me. Even though we didnt get to do nearly all the things I was wanting, it was still pretty awesome. The entire time we were there it was overcast and rainy. We stayed at this amazing resort up in the mountains just outside of town, this place was the best hotel I've ever stayed at. It was pretty dam expensive but it was worth it. If I ever get married again Id defiantly go back there for a honey moon. all the hotel staff were dressed up in traditional dress and it just added to the entire experience. We were planning on going up to the eagles next the next morning but there was too much snow!! Wtf, snow in may? Yup, they said that was pretty common. Some days it would clear up so that people could go up there but not the two that we were there. There was a few feet of snow and with the weather how it was, there was no chance for us. Just being up in the mountains was pretty cool though, if there were no clouds it must look beautiful! We would get a glimpse of the mountains everyone in awhile, but that was nothing compared to if it was a clear day. We had planned on flying back to london the next day but we changed our schedule around to spend an extra day down in the Alps. It was a good decision even though we didnt get to do everything we wanted to do. So, this is another place Ill definitely be going back to someday. The next day we went to Dachau, talk about a humbling experience. Again, just seeing what these people went through, its a pretty crazy feeling to see and be at the place that all that happened.

After that it was a day trip back to London and we flew out the next morning, the flight wasnt bad at all. The plane was actually pretty empty and I got a whole row to myself the entire flight, no complaints there. I've gota go back through, they talked about going in a few years but instead going to see southern europe...we shall see how that goes.


I've still gota upload all the pictures, I'll be going to FL next week so I can link up with my dad and his wife to get the rest of the pictures.

Glad to hear you had a good time. I used to think about my ancestors and that at some point in my travels, I had crossed paths or had gone down the same road as they had at some point centuries before. Also, thinking about the history of a particular road like the road between Maastrict and Aachen. There is an American WWII cemetery on that road and that road had been used over the centuries by the Romans (Julius Caesar), the Franks, Charlemagne, the French, the Germans and the Americans invading others going either west or east.

I guess you didn't make it to Utah beach and St. Mere Eglise if you only went as far as Pont Du Hoc. The contrast between it and Omaha beach is amazing. Utah was a cakewalk compared to Omaha. I am still amazed that anyone survived Omaha. Like I said, you can spend at least a week there and still not see everything. Did you make it to Pegasus bridge? I went there and listened to a speech describing the battle given by an Englishman. He compared the landings of the 1st British Airborne to the American landings and of course it favored the British. I had some fun with him during that speech after identifying myself as an American. He had a good sense of humour It sounds like you went right down Gold, Juno and Sword beaches. Yea, the cemetery there is AMAZING!!!! They really take care of all the cemeteries. And, the British do as well. I dealt with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission once when I visited a British WWI cemetery in Ieper and noticed that some graves had been vandalized. I took pictures of them and provided the pictures and the info to the Commission. They responded stating that they would take care of it. I traveled through that area a lot and went back about 4-6 months later and it was taken care of. I was glad to see that. Fortunately, in all my visits to American cemeteries, I never saw any vandalism. Recently, there was some vandalism at a British cemetery in Libya. I hated to hear that. Those people are very unappreciative of what the British did for them. I've been to El Alamein in Egypt. I hope they haven't vandalized it.

LOLOL, forgot to remind you to pack light and tight. I guess it's just habit with me. I swear my sister can pack 2 weeks worth of clothing into a cigarette carton box.

Yea, I hate Paris (actually Parisians) as well. Love France though. Having said that, everyone should go to Paris at least once to see all the sights.

Yea, not much in Berlin to see. That city has been completely rebuilt. It was just rubble after WWII. There is still some damage to see, the Gedachtniskirche and Museum Island area. I am still pissed at myself for not going there when the Wall came down back in 1989. I would've liked to have seen East Berlin during the Cold War for the contrast. The family tried to go to the Soviet Union back in the 1970s when we lived in Turkey but couldn't. I went to Russia in 2003 but I imagine the experience was different than during the Cold War.

I love the SE corner of Germany and across the border in Austria. It is gorgeous. The Italian Alps and lakes are great as well. My Dad was stationed at Dachau back in about 1954 as a 1LT. There were a lot of Displaced People (DPs) from WWII during that time and on in to the 1970s and mountains of debris outside of all the German towns due to the clean up. Outside of German towns now you will usually see some hills covered with trees, grass and bushes. Those were created by the debris from the bombing of the towns. The Germans then threw dirt over it and planted on it. And, they still find bombs and human remains from time to time.

Southern Europe? Two words.............Greece and Italy. Dig a hole in the ground anywhere in those two countries and you'll most likely come up with an ancient artifact that'll make that pub in London look like it was built yesterday.

I still tease my parents about the terrible childhood I had being forced to travel all over the world going to ancient sights to look at disassembled rocks and bricks.

Damn, now I really have the itch to get back to Europe!!!! Fall, 2016 is not coming on fast enough.

[Charlie3]

Dang Caleb... I was in Ireland probably around the same time that you were in Europe. It sounds like you had fun. I have been to most of the places you mentioned and I too wish I could go back.

ODonovon, where do you live in central Florida? I'm in Polk County as is Caleb's parents.

Small world.