2185 Kilometers later...

Important Statistics from Andrew and Trudee's Whirlwind Adventure around Estonia:
Number of Picnic Lunches: 7 (we made PBJs each day. Combined with fruit, juice and party cookies, we had a perfect meal once a day)
Number of Nights in Hostels: 6
Number of Hostles I'd visit again: 2
Number of Miles Driven: 1356mi (about the same distance from St.Louis to Salt Lake City)
Size of Estonia: Roughly the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined...and some islands.
Number of perfect glares from old ladies:1 (she had been cultivating it for at least 90 yrs.)
Pounds of fish offered by local merchants: approx. 50lbs of nearly dead herring (if only we'd had a cooler, or no olfactory senses)
Number of priceless looks from little girls: 1 (practically untouched by the rigors of life)
Number of times we got the car stuck in the sand: 1 (a local hero we named "Tiit" saved us...We love you Tiit wherever you are)
Number of times the battery died: 1 (helped out by local punks in Viljandi)
Number of times Trudee blew her nose after getting sick in Narva (Day 2): countless
Number of times Andrew got locked in the bathroom: 1 (I got out...apparently)
Number of parking tickets: 1 (See previous blog about Falck...I hate them)
Where we lost the keys: between the slide and the swing (the most logical place to loose keys, obviously)
Number of times we pushed the car off of a ferry after the steering locked: 1
Number of amazing sunsets: 3 (on Saaremaa, the ferry to Saaremaa, and Parnu)
Number of islands visited: 3 (5 ferry rides)
Number of odd looks, pointings, and giggles recieved: countless (this happens when you have a neon green bilboard on the top of your car advertising a flight to Berlin...in Latvian)
Number of graves driven over: 1 (before we learned how to reverse the car)
Number of kilometers driven by Andrew: aproximatley 30 (thanks Trudee...she taught me how to drive a manual transmition...i'm really bad)
Number of Estonian songs Trudee and Andrew learned from the radio: 3
Number of times we got lost: Was there a point where we actually ever really knew where we were going? (we spent a lot of time on what might be loosely considered as roads)


This is Mabel. She was the third member of our rag-tag band of Estonia-Travelers. She's a foreigner too...from Latvia. We acquired her presence through a rental agency that cuts the price of your car in half if you agree to drive with a bilboard on top. There are sooo many people in Estonia thinking about flying to Berlin now. There would have been even more had we not gotten lost or almost lost in the middle of nowhere so many times. Notice how sandy Mabel is in this picture. This was taken before she got splashed with mud and driven through pine forests. For some reason, Mabel has this dillusional idea that she is an SUV all-terrain vehicle. Who were we (Trudee and I) to deny her this fantasy? Because of Mabel's fire, Trudee's lead foot, and my superb (though at times questionable) navigating talents, the three of us had the best (and the worst---see some of the above statistics) road trip ever! You really can't call any of it bad because luckily, the three of us are so easy going (well...Mabel can be bit fickle and testy at times) and flexible...there was A LOT of laughing. At this point, I can honestly say that I have seen more of Estonia than most Estonians have. It is a beautiful country full of exciting castles, majestic churches and cathedrals, peaceful beaches, gorgeous manor houses, lonely lighthouses, amazing sunsets, and a host of quirky yet wonderful things and places only found in this tiny country. Below are some of the highlights from the trip. Here is a link to Trudee's blog, her commentary is wonderful: http://www.trudeehill.blogspot.com/
If you want to see more pictures or learn about these ones, drop me a comment, or send me an e-mail. Enjoy!