The Kieffers - Travel

We went back to Ohio

chad — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 07:20:33 +0000

Family:

Chrissy Hynde summed up my experience pretty well in the song My City Was Gone.

Downtown Toledo hasn't changed much since my last visit four years ago, but the town of Sylvania is growing like crazy. More and more housing developments are being planted in fields where corn and soybeans once grew.

My parents have put their house on the market and are packing up to move closer to my sister in North Carolina. Most of my mom's side of the family is still in or near Toledo. My cousin Derek and his family are now the only remaining Kieffers in Northwest Ohio, where my great great great grandfather first settled after coming from Germany in the 1820s.

This was Owen's first trip to Ohio and he and Ryan kept busy watching the squirrels and developing squirrel-like habits? Amy and I are still finding acorns in their pockets. We had a nice birthday dinner out to celebrate my sister's birthday and all of us spent an afternoon at the Toledo Zoo.

I was able to hang out with my Dad, Dominic, Derek, J., and Steve to watch a lot of the NCAA tournament and had breakfast with my old friend Brian Green, his wife Jean, and son Avery. Apologies to Tim and Molly in Cincinnati who I had planned on visiting before developing a bug (Hope you had a great time in NYC!).

Our trip back was smooth and we're happy to be away from the midwest's gray winter skies and under the bright blue sky of New Mexico. View picts from the trip.

Trippin' in NYC

chad — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 06:58:19 +0000

Family:

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to New York City. The primary purpose of this trip was to meet up with a group of folks that I've been working with on the Gallery Project. I've posted the Gallery bits about the trip on my other blog but want to share some personal thoughts and memories of NYC. This post is to share my thoughts on visiting NYC for the first time since 1991.

In '91 I interned as a graphic designer at Henry Dreyfuss Associates. It my first time professional experience and it was in one of the prestigious industrial design studios in the world and it was my first time living outside of Ohio. Everything seemed bigger in life and it was a huge confidence builder and had a huge impact on shaping what I do today. I had decided to work at Dreyfuss rather than IBM in Atlanta because I wanted to work in a multi-discipline design environment. At Dreyfuss, I absorbed a lot about the industrial design process while I learned the ropes of graphic design as applied to consumer products. But most of the fun during this time in NYC was had hopping from bar to bar in the Greenwich Village throwing darts and shooting pool.

While in New York I turned 21 and saw some incredible concerts. My commute to work was cross upper midtown from E. 60th (right across from the Queensborough bridge) to W. 55 between 9th and 10th Avenues. I'd walk 57th or Central Park South and go by FAO Schwarz, the Plaza Hotel, and Carnegie Hall, among others. It was an incredible experience and I shared it with some really fun people. Nearly fifteen years was too long between time spent in NYC.

Going back, I was worried that the pace would be too much for me. I'm living at a fairly relaxed pace here in New Mexico but New York just seemed to suck me right into it's quick current. My only regrets about this visit is that it wasn't longer and that Amy couldn't be there with me :-( Hopefully I'll return to NYC soon and will have Amy with me to take it all in.

Kieffer Family Reunion '05

chad — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 17:15:04 +0000

Family:

It's been quite sometime since I've posted anything, it's been a busy summer. To break my online silence, here's a long over due report from the Kieffer family reunion. Yes, the "Northern Kieffers" and "Southern Kieffers" descended on Sunset Beach, North Carolina for a week of fun at the beach. My sister did a great job finding a rental that 13 of us could fit into. My mom and dad broke in their new RV at a nearby campground and parked a couple of spots down from Uncle Bill and Aunt Peg's rig. The rest of the Kieffers stayed at cousin Marc's rental home which was on the inland-side of the inter-coastal waterway. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too humid. It was a picture-perfect week with lot's of time at the beach, a quick trip down to Myrtle Beach, and some crabbin' at cousin Marc's. Ryan found some great shells, a few hermit crabs, a sea slug in a beautiful conch shell, and I found a live starfish. Of course all of us were scorched the first day with Ryan getting the worst of it. Owen had a blast playing with his cousin Kadin and Kari. Amy and I enjoyed catching up with my cousins and meeting some of their kids for the very first time. The trip made us realize how much we miss family and what a complete goof my cousin Jimmy can be. Check out the picts from the trip!