Friday’s Fave Five #87

See the Friday’s Fave 5 is so comforting today.  After preparing for vacation, being on vacation, and then recovering from vacation it’s nice to have some good routine.  Go by and visit Susanne at Living to Tell The Story for other posts to read.

Since I still haven’t put any of the vacation photos on this blog I decided that today was the perfect day for it!  I give you – 5 things we did on our vacation:

1. The main event for our vacation was a UTV Rally in Moab, UT.  Really I can’t say enough about how gorgeous it is up there.  Constantly I was reminded of the Fingerprints of God song.

This is on the first day riding – we’re all pulled to the side waiting for the police escort to take us through town.  The orange RZR right behind ours is a customized loaner from HCRacing that friends of ours took out.  And look back behind us – just a glimpse of the amazing landscape up there.

And here’s a video of Keith taking our RZR up a rocky hill.  I climbed out so that I could get a video.  Notice all the ponchos – we got rained on a couple of times!

 

2. Arches National Park – We got to Moab a day early so that we could go to this park and I’m so glad we did.  Again, sometimes there truly are not words to describe the beauty that God has created for us.  Down at the bottom of the circle there were some people – which shows the magnificent size of these arches!

 

3. The Durango-Silverton Train

This is the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Train - and it's the one we were on.  Our car was the very last one, so when we would go around a corner a perfect photo op would occur.  We were in the parlor car and it was built in 1880 and beautiful inside and out.

In the winter they only run halfway, so we stopped out in the middle of nowhere instead of going all the way to Silverton.  What luck for us!  There's actually a pavilion there to eat lunch, but we opted instead to hike down to an awesome bridge (photos on other camera).  Coolest thing? The train stopped, it's quiet as can be as this spot isn't even accessible by anything but train - and it started snowing!  The snow only lasted long enough for it to seem magical, then it changed to sleet and rain.  Didn't slow us down a bit though.  :)

4. The Cliff Dwellers in Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde National Park was amazing! This is something I've wanted to see for as long as I can remember and was not disappointed.  HOWEVER... the drive up there was terrifying! 20 miles of curvy mountain roads with drop offs that surely lead to certain death. One of the park rangers laughed with us and said the secret us for the rider to sit in back of the driver and it won't be so bad. She was right and the drive down was better. :)

5. Cross Ministries in Groom, TX

I still get chills and tears when I look through these pictures.  The cross itself is 19 stories high and is visible for miles before you get there.  They have 12 stations depicting Christ’s life after He was accused.  It was a sobering place to visit.

Home From Vacation!

So sorry to disappear like that.  We walk a fine line with a blog – you want to share everything, but really you have to be careful because there’s no telling who might be reading.  And you don’t really want to announce that you’re leaving.

Keith and I have just returned from a fabulous 8 day vacation to Moab, UT.  We ride a UTV and there was the annual rally from Wednesday to Saturday.  Since we would be up that way anyway we decided to take some extra days and stop along the way to see a few more sights.

More posts will follow, but I am one pooped puppy right now!   :)

Dinner and a Movie, Retro Style

Does this look familiar? I asked my kids and a few gals at work if they remembered the giant cow outside the Sirloin Stockade restaurants and got some blank stares. Are we really that old? LOL!

While on vacation we decided to go out one night for dinner and a movie. Really I think we chose the Sirloin Stockade at least as much for the nostalgia value as we did for the food. Don't get me wrong, the food was really good, but oh how we enjoyed being there. I remember going to one with my parents when we were younger and also when we'd go to Arkansas to visit my grandparents and aunt we'd sometimes splurge and go (though I will admit that going out with the grandparents was a rarity as grandma LOVED to cook).



Dinner was finished in plenty of time to head to the theater. I think we realized just how spoiled we are in the Dallas area to have the stadium seating theaters and even movie theaters that serve dinner during the movie. During vacation though we were in a very small town and this theater reminded me of going to the movies many years ago. Back before everything had to be the biggest, loudest and shiniest. And the best part of this theater? Seeing a first run movie at 7:00 pm on a Friday night cost $3.00!

Truly it was a great evening together.

A Week At The Lake

We are back from an amazing week long vacation at the lake.  Really it couldn't have been more perfect - we started out with Labor Day weekend and had all the kids with us.  And little Miss B has decided that she does indeed love the lake!  I just knew that somewhere deep inside of her was a lake rat just like her grandma waiting to come out!  :)  The photo above I took, along with several of just her little footprints, because there are few things cuter than a one year old walking along a beach.

The kids stayed until Monday, then Keith, Joe (the golden) and I stayed until yesterday.  We did a wide range of things and tired ourselves out by the end of each day.  Gustav managed to show up full of wind and we pretty much stayed at the house for two of the days.  Though we did run to town real quick and one of the ladies there told us to go look at the lake as it had higher waves than she'd seen in years.  Sure enough, we were suitably impressed.  Mom said that Daddy used to say that the lake "got up on her high heels" when it was all stirred up like that.

I'm sure to have stories all week because I'll never be able to remember it all tonight.  :)

I will say that I highly recommend time together like this.  We are relaxed and ready for about anything.  And as we were packing yesterday and listening to an Alan Jackson CD the song "Remember When" came on and Keith and I stopped and did a little slow dance together at the cabin.  I ended up in tears because the song is so beautiful and the timing so good.

"Remember when
30 seemed so old
Now looking back
It's just a stepping stone
To where we are
From where we've been
We'd do it all again
Remember when"

~ Sigh ~   It was truly a beautiful moment and the perfect way to end our week.

Definitely Good Times.....

Geocaching

Welcome to our newest interest - geocaching! We got to looking at the things we enjoy doing and noticed that almost every single one of them included sitting - not good. I'd seen geocaching mentioned all around blogland and since it involves hiking and electronic gadgets we figured it might be right up our alley.

Our GPS was delivered last week and we played around with it so we'd know how to use it on the hunt. We pretty much geocached all the way home from Monaville, though not all of them were successful.

One thing I found ironic was that I had started out emphatically saying that I would not geocache in a cemetery and where did we have our first find? Um, yeah. We were in Huntsville and were led to Oakwood Cemetery where Sam Houston is buried, which appealed to our love of history as well. This cemetery is truly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. So very serene and such a feeling of peace. I do want to add that the hunting was NOT done around any of the gravesites, so there was no disrespect. We did spend some time walking around as part of this is a Civil War era cemetery and they have pamphlets at the entrance for guests to take a walking tour. So interesting.

We did encounter TONS of spiders there, which was rather creepy. August seems to be a banner month this year for spiders and I think quite a few of them made their homes here. We were looking at a headstone and reading about it when I quietly told Keith not to move. His head was just inches away from a large web! After this incident our new plan was to walk slowly and look out for webs. It almost started feeling like a scene from Mission Impossible or something - walk slow, tell the other person to slowly move right, duck, etc. I'm happy to report we didn't bring any hitchhikers home.

We went for more finds today and Lynne' joined us. Sometimes it's easier to show somebody instead of trying to explain it. Joe joined us as well and he had a grand time. I think Lynne' is a convert too and we decided she truly is our good luck charm.

I'm not able to post most of the pictures I took because it might give away hiding places or identifying marks to somebody. This is truly a game of stealth and we are having a blast with it.

Let's Go To Monaville, TX!

Keith and I just got back from a little weekend getaway. The town of Monaville, Texas hosted a Big Bird (Scale) Fly-In and since this happens to be one of Keith's hobbies we headed south. We went as spectators this trip, so no airplanes accompanied us.


The setting was beautiful and quiet and the weather couldn't have been better. I really enjoy watching these planes fly and we were quite impressed with just how big these were. Keith's planes are not nearly this size - note that it took 4 adult men to carry this plane.



Of course, not all flights end as planned. Luckily this was the only victim while we were there. (please note, no pilots were harmed in this crash...)




This plane was quite a crowd pleaser and happened to be one of my favorites - Snoopy and his Red Baron! It looked so funny flying through the air and when it landed the crowd clapped in glee. I think this was the favorite of the children in the crowd.

WHIBSIB

WOW - what can I say about WHIBSIB? I'm back from a three day knitting retreat. This was the "3rd Annual WHIBSIB", which stands for "What Happens In Buda Stays in Buda" and this year it was down the road a piece in Wimberley.

We had a total blast! Left early Friday morning with girlfriends and drove the estimate 5 hour trip in about 10 hours - LOL! We stopped at yarn shops, a ranch, Starbucks (naturally) and the grocery store.

There were five gals in our cabin and I think there might have been six cabins filled with people from our group. Friday night we hiked to the cabin next to us to meet a bunch of the other gals and ended up having a spaghetti dinner there. Coming back, wearing our stylish citified flip flops on this rocky, hilly terrain, hearing that it's rattlesnake season, laughing so very hard in the pitch black night, having only one flashlight for the group, somebody up ahead let out a startle sound. Being the brave souls that we are, Dawn and I grabbed each others' hand and just stood there holding hands. Not sure what we thought we would do next, but at least we were going down together! This of course sent us all into more gales of laughter.

Saturday found Carrie and I headed to town to do some retail therapy. Cute, cute little town that you just find a parking place and walk all around to the shops. I got some sunglasses that are simply "da bomb" and some other little trinkets. :) This was apparently a mecca for girlfriend groups because everywhere we looked we saw groups of gals laughing and "all about the chat".

We headed to a nearby alpaca farm to meet the rest of our group. The alpaca close up picture was Romeo, who had been bottle fed as a baby. He was so sweet and had the best hairy lips for alpaca kisses! Lunch was next, then more shopping before heading back to the cabins. That night we had lots of guests, so we tossed some frozen pizzas in the oven and did some knitting, spinning and LOTS of talking.

Sunday morning was more of the same, then a few carloads of us headed back towards Austin for lunch and another yarn shop visit. It was there we had a rock star moment and met Amy Singer of knitty.com fame. Yeah, I'm shameless and we took pictures. Luckily she was very gracious about the whole thing.

Honestly, I'm leaving out so very much and could probably type for days with stories. But really I'm trying to remember that..........What Happens In Buda, Stays In Buda....even if we were in Wimberley this year! :)

Grant's Canal

On the way home from Atlanta we stopped for a brief...break at the welcome center on the Mississippi border. It was there that we discovered we just happened to be right by Grant's Canal. Now we had just recently learned of the Grant's Canal and when we learned how close we were we decided to take a quick side trip to see it in person, seeing as how we are all somewhat of a history buff. We (more realistically - I) had visions of being really choked with emotion when we were on the grounds of this historical site where years ago so many had given their lives in vain. The reality wasn't nearly that touching. In order to get there we drove down some deserted back roads before seeing the historical sign pointing to a little turnoff. We looked around a moment before deciding it was probably safe to get out and look at the signs. I was horribly disappointed in the whole thing. It looked to be nothing more than an overgrown drainage ditch. We scurried back in the truck, locked the doors and headed back to the highway.

I suppose that sometimes it's best to leave things to the imagination. :(