Home again...

The bus left our ship at 3:45 AM to head to the Vienna airport.

We flew from Vienna to Frankfurt, had a 4 hour wait, then a LONG, LONG flight to DFW. Everyone was ready to be off the plane. Not a lot of sleeping happened (well......except one of the guys behind us who SNORED LOUD the ENTIRE way home).

We were worn out by the time we got home, but what a time we had!! I wouldn't trade the memories, laughs & good times for anything! Mom & I talked last night about how fortunate we were to 1) be able to go on a trip like that together and 2) WANT to go on a trip together. I am blessed to have a mom who is ALSO a friend! Thank you, God, for that blessing!!

Melk & Vienna

We left the ship at 9:30 AM for a tour of the 900 yearold Melk Abbey. It was beautiful.

Melk Abbey is an Austrian Benedictine abbey, and one of the world's most famous monastic sites. It is located above the town of Melk on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Danube in Lower Austria adjoining the Wachau valley, The abbey was founded in 1089, when Leopold JJ Margrave of Austria gave one of his castles to Benedictine monks from Lambach Abbey. A monastic school, the Stiftsgymnasium Melk was founded in the 12th century, and the monastic library soon became renowned for its extensive manuscript collection. The monastery's scriptorium was also a major site for the production of manuscripts. In the 15th century, the abbey became the center of the Melk Reform movement which reinvigorated the monastic life of Austria and Southern Germany. Today's impressive Baroque abbey was built between 1702 and 1736. Particularly noteworthy is the abbey church and the impressive library with countless medieval manuscripts. Due to its fame and academic structure, Melk managed to escape dissolution under Emperor Joseph JJ Melk when many other Austrian abbeys were seized and dissolved between 1780 and 1790. The abbey managed to survive other threats to its existence during the Napoleonic Wars, and also in the period following the Nazi Anschluss that took control of Austria in 1938, when the school and a large part of the abbey were confiscated by the state. The school was returned to the abbey after the Second World War and now caters to nearly 900 pupils of both sexes.

After the tour we headed back to the ship & sailed through the Scenic Wachau Valley, past a number of quaint little villages, churches & vineyards.

We arrived late afternoon in Vienna. Maxie, her daughter, Tracy (pronounced TRASHY in Germany), Mom & I took a cab to the city center of Vienna to their Christmas Market. The sights on the way to the market were worth the cab ride. The lights & decorations were so pretty. We walked around the market & the surrounding area until everyone's feet were cold & we decided it was time to head back to the ship.

We had to call it a night early because we had to be up & ready to roll by 3 AM.

Salzburg

Some of our group left the ship at 8:30 AM for a tour of Salzburg. We took a 2 hour bus ride. It was raining and snowing as we drove. The countryside was beautiful! We had a local guide that met us in Salzburg and we did a walking tour. It rained the entire time we walked & it was COLD & WINDY!! We had lunch in a restaurant that was housed in a building that had formerly been St. Peter's Abbey. It was beautiful.

After lunch we had free time to walk, shop, etc. We were very happy to see our bus & Fritz, the bus driver mid-afternoon. We got back to our ship in Linz & headed toward Melk, where we docked for the night.

Passau

After breakfast this AM, we had a guest speaker that told us of the German Christmas traditions. Afterward, we went on a walking tour with a local guide. Passau is known as the city of three rivers. The Inn & the Ills rivers join the Danube at Passau.

In the 2nd century BC, many of the Boii tribe were pushed north across the Alps out of northern Italy by the Romans. Passau was an ancient Roman colony of ancient Noricum called Batavis, Latin for "for the Batavi." The Batavi w

ere an ancient Germanic tribe often mentioned by classical authors. During the second half of the 5th century, St. Severinus established a monastery here. In 739, an English Celtic monk called Boniface founded the diocese of Passau and this was the larges diocese of the Holy Roman Empire for many years. During the Renaissance and early modern period, Passau was one of the most prolific centers of sword and bladed weapon manufacture in Germany. Passau smiths stamped their blades with the Passau wolf, usually a rather simplified rendering of the wolf on the city's coat of arms. Superstitious warriors believed that the Passau wolf conferred invulnerability on the blade's bearer, and thus Passau swords acquired a great premium. As a result, the whole practice of placing magical charms on swords to protect the wearers came to be known for a time as "Passau art". Other cities' smit

hs, including those of Solingen, recognized the marketing value of the Passau wolf and adopted it for themselves. By the 17th century, Solingen was producing more wolf-stamped blades than Passau. In 1662, a devastating fire consumed most of the city. Passau was subsequently rebuilt in the Baroque style. From 1892 until 1894, Adolf Hitler and his family lived in Passau. The city archives mention Hitler being in Passau on four different occasions in the 1920s for speeches.

After our walking tour, Maxie, Tracy, Mom & I went exploring on our own. Here is what we found for lunch.

We sailed and docked for the night at Aschach.

Another day...

I started out the day with a run along the river. This is the view along the path I took.

There weren't many people out, except children on the way to school. We got dressed, then a few of us headed to town & walked around until time to sail away from Rosenberg at 11:45. We sailed all afternoon. We spent time in the lounge playing a dice game called Farkle. Then dinner, followed by more games. We headed back to the room to watch a movie until bedtime.

Rosenberg

As we woke this AM, we were moving down the canal of the Danube. We went through several locks to get to the river. We spent the AM on the boat. We gathered in the library for a devotional with our group. It was a great time of praise & sharing.

We arrived in Rosenberg about 11. Rosenberg is one of Germany's oldest cities.

More than 2,000 years old, Regensburg, in southern Germany was a charming city. Regensburg boasts magnificently preserved historic buildings, narrow medieval streets and a pleasant walk along the Danu

be. Regensburg was an important military and trading center. There are traces of Celtic settlements around

Regensburg dating back to the 5th century, BC. A Roman fort was established in 179 AD, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, then emperor of the Roman Empire. The area of the fort now comprises

the oldest, central part of the city. From the 6th century to the middle of the 13th century, Rosenburg was the capital of Bavaria and also served as a bishop's seat. In 1146, a stone bridge was completed over the Danube in Regensburg, which opened up a major trade route between southern Germany and Northern Europe.

From 1245 to 1803, Regensburg was a Free Imperial City under the Holy Roman Empire, meaning that it was ruled directly by the emperor and not a provincial leader. With the collapse of the Empire in 1806, Regensburg was ceded to Bavaria. Unlike many other German cities, Regensburg suffered little damage during World War II, enduring only one major air raid.

We took a city walking tour that included several old churches and another Christmas market.

Tonight, we went to a boys' choir concert at a beautiful old church. It was a chilly walk there & back, but well worth it!

Nuremberg

Our day began today with a breakfast buffet followed by a meeting that detailed the highlights of the rest of the week. We left the ship at 10 AM for a Nuremberg city tour by bus.

Nuremberg was only mentioned in a document written during the 11th century, but for Nuremberg historians, they consider the date when the document was written as the day Nuremberg was founded. The city grew with the domination of leading trading and merchant families. The late 15th century and 16th century have seen the economic and cultural growth of the city. When the first railway in Germany was built between Nuremberg and Furth in 1835, the city rose and Bavaria became the center of industrial growth in Germany. During the 20th century, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party abused the city's progres

s. Nuremberg became the "City of the Party Rallies". During World War II, Nuremberg was greatly destroyed by bombs. It has recovered and has flourished into what it is today.

This is a picture of the Nazi party headquarters in Nuremberg.

After we saw the highlights by bus, they dropped us off at the

famous Christmas market. The weather was cold & quite windy, but we were pleasantly surprised that the forecasted rain didn't arrive. It was extremely crowded at the market. Mom & I got on a 1 o'clock bus back to the ship for lunch. We ate lunch, then both opted for an afternoon nap. I got up in time to run a little on the treadmill in the ship's workout area. We joined our friends for a nice dinner, then back to the cabin.

Danube Christmas Market River Cruise

My mom asked me back in February if I'd like to go on a Christmas cruise down the Danube River. Are you KIDDING?? Think I'd turn down a trip like that?? No way!!

Our friend, Margie Turner, did a fantastic job of organizing the trip (she started the process in February). At the last minute, because of some health concerns, she had to stay home. That was the ONLY disappointment we experienced on the trip.

Our crew ended up being a very congenial group of ladies. There were 4 moms & daughters on the trip & 7 other ladies. There were 9 of us from Granbury, 1 from Fort Worth, 1 from Dallas, 1 from McKinney, 1 from New Braunfels, 1 from Pearsall & 1 from Virginia.

Mom & I left home about 11 this AM. We met some of our traveling partners at the church building. One of the girl's husband drove us in the church bus to the airport. We picked up one of our girls in FW & met a few others at the airport.

We flew from D/FW to Frankfurt, Germany. It was a long overnight flight. We departed at 4:30 PM & arrived at 8 AM. We had a 4 1/2 hour wait for the short flight to Nuremberg. We were met at the airport by the Grand Circle travel guide & a tour bus. They took us to the ship. We had time to unpack, get settled in, rest a bit, then it was dinner time. We had an extravagant 7 course meal. Everyone was worn out, so we all retired soon after we finished eating.

San Antonio Excursion

Tommy & I celebrated our 25th anniversary in June. Quite a milestone! We never made it away this summer, so we decided to take off a few days & go to San Antonio. We left Thursday after school & drove (dodged deer all the way down Highway 281). We stayed at the Grand Hyatt on the river walk.

Friday we went to Fredricksburg & looked around. I hadn't been there in years & it's a neat little town.

Saturday Cori & Will joined us. We went to pick up our packets for the San Antonio Rock & Roll Marathon that we were signed up to run the next day.

Sunday, we got up early to run (well......3 of US ran). Tommy was a great support team/photographer!

It was the first long run Cori had done & I was SO proud of her! We opted to run the relay & it was so exciting to see her run into the exchange area & get to have her hand off our baton to me. LOVED IT!

Fun family time......GREAT way to celebrate! Looking forward to the next 25 years!!

Another year begins...

Just got home from "Meet the Teacher" night at Acton Elementary. There is always anticipation in the air...nervousness, excitement, lots of emotions rolling around in everyone's mind. I think coming to school, seeing their name on the class list & looking around the classroom makes everyone a little more comfortable.

When I was a "younger" teacher, I remember at the beginning of the school year, "older" teachers would say, "I had that student's mom and/or dad when they were in school." I never said it, but I have to admit that I thought, "WOW!" Tonight I had THREE parents who were bringing their Kindergarten students say to me, "Do you remember me? I remember you from when I was in 5th grade." Does that make me one of the "older teachers" now? I'm afraid so!!!

This is always a fun time of year.....full of new beginnings & possibilities!! I wish I knew each of the parents personally so that I could assure them that we will love & nurture their babies while they're with us at Acton Elementary. I'm excited to teach at a school with a staff that really cares about each & every student that walks through the doors!

God bless all the students & teachers as we begin a new year!!

Last day...

We decided that we had only seen Napa on a rainy day, we'd go back today since the sun was shining.

We went past Napa to the Kuleton Winery. It was very remote at the TOP of a mountain. The setting and grounds were EXQUISITE. It is a place we would all highly recommend.









We had gotten sandwiches at a deli in Sausalito this AM and had this beautiful setting to enjoy our picnic.

It was a delightful way to spend the afternoon.

After a couple of stops on our way home, we made our way back and had a delicious seafood dinner at Scoma's on the water. Beautiful view...great food...fun company!!

Some time on the balcony at our hotel completed the trip. A fabulous way to spend a week.....

A good time was had by all!!!

Napa Valley

We woke to an overcast, rainy morning. The word around town was that it was the rainiest day in June since the 1800s. Apparently, it DOESN'T rain in June.....well, usually!

We drove to Napa Valley. The first stop was Oakville Grocery. The next stop was Rubicon. We went in & looked around the winery.

We had lunch at Hurleys with a distinguished guest. Becky & Ken had met a gentleman named Ben Franklin on a trip to SF last December. This 83 year old veteran was an intriguing dining companion.

The next stop was Del Dotto winery. We toured the wine cave.

We made a few shopping stops along the way home. A fabulous dinner at Cole's Chop House in Napa finished out the day.

San Francisco

I met LaVera at the airport in Oakland. We rode a shuttle to meet Ken & Becky at Inn Above Tide (BEAUTIFUL PLACE ON THE BAY!!), where we were staying. This is the view from the window of our room. It was OUTSTANDING!!!

We went to Angelino's for a bowl of soup, then headed to San Francisco. We went to Pier 39 & got on an open-air tour bus. It was cool & windy when we started the tour & continued to get colder & windier until is was almost unbearable. Our Russian tour guide proved to be very hard to understand. We did see lots of interesting sights, that included Telegraph Hill, Golden gate bridge, Lombardi (the crookedest street), Ghiradelli Square, Chinatown, Painted Ladies, San Francisco trolley cars, Alcatraz Island...just to name a few.



Becky did a fabulous job of chauffeuring us around the city, including driving us down the crooked Lombardi street. We headed back to Sausalito and sampled lots of good cheese at our hotel. Becky, LaVera & I drove to Tiburon that evening & saw lots of beautiful areas.

California

We spent the night in Crescent City, CA, woke up & headed south to the Redwood Forest. We hiked up South Fork Trail. On the trail we saw this banana slug (probably not the scientific name, but that's what we decided it was).
We stopped at "The Big Tree". From there we drove through Elk Meadow (aptly named)









to Fern Canyon. All we can say about this is "wow"!

We drove thru the Chandelier tree.








Highway 1 was next! The coastal view was amazing.









We stayed on the windy, narrow road until we got to Hwy 128, then we headed across to Hwy 101 again.

On that road we saw some beautiful vineyard country. We stopped in Santa Rosa for an In N Out burger.

It was downhill from there....the bay bridge coupled with night driving, construction all along the way & Oakland freeway traffic was HELLISH!!! If you need any further details about this portion of the trip, you will need to contact Nancie Sawyer, as I have tried to block those memories from my mind. We did make it to our hotel near the Oakland airport, so I guess all's well that ends well!!

Through OR to CA...

We took Cori to the Portland airport and put her on a flight that went to John Wayne airport in Orange County, CA then on to DFW. Having to come home early is the down-side to having a summer internship where you only get 5 days off.....BUT we're very thankful she got to join us!!

Nancie & I got on Hwy 26 to Canon Beach, OR. It was beautiful. We walked down the beach to the haystack rocks.








We had a good seafood lunch at Mo's on the beach. We got on Hwy 101 & drove down the coast. It was an incredible scenic drive!!

In North Bend, OR, as we drove across a bridge, we could see another bridge across from us that had a gap in the middle of it. We asked in town and learned that it was a railroad bridge. The middle section stays turned so that boats can pass through, but with an hour and a half's notice from the train, the mid-section rotates and makes the bridge passable. It hasn't been operational in years, but has recently been refurbished to begin being used in the next couple of months. Very cool!

When we got to the state line, we came to an agricultural inspection station. The officer asked us if we had any fruit with us. I told him we had an orange & a banana. He asked where they were from. I told him, "Oregon". He asked where we were going. We told him Oakland. This guy took his job very seriously. He carefully inspected the orange and declared, "The skin is pretty beat up. You'd better make sure you get it into a proper trash receptacle." He pointed out that since it was Sunkist orange, it might well have been grown in CA. As we drove on, through our laughter, these questions arose...

*are bananas not a high risk fruit?

*if we had been going to San Diego, would that be more of a problem?

*what is a "proper trash receptacle"?

*did your uncle get you this job?

*is the Sunkist label serve as a fruit passport across state lines?

*is this California's tax dollars at work?

THIS WAS THE FUNNIEST THING THAT HAPPENED TODAY!

On to Oregon...

Caught the 7:20 ferry to Anacortes. We drove thru BEAUTIFUL Deception Pass.

We caught the Coupeville to Port Townsend ferry. We were the LAST car allowed on the ferry.....WHEW! WE Drove down the east side of Olympic Peninsula. Stopped & ate our picnic lunch at a beautiful little scenic view. We stopped at the Lillywaup, WA PO to mail postcards. They had 2 customers in the lobby at once & that was big news (a rush) for them. We drove to Portland, checked into our hotel near airport, then headed to the Pearl District to walk and look around. Lots of sights!! Had a burger & smoothies at Burgerville.

We headed about 30 minutes east of Portland to Multnomah Falls. Walked STRAIGHT up a 1.25 mile trail to the top of the falls. It was a HIKE, but the view was totally worth the effort!!

We woke up to a cold windy AM. No one at home sympathized with us because they were all enduring 100+ temperatures.

Nancie, Cori & I hiked onto Shark Reef. There were lots of sea lions on the rocks.

Took ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan island. Nancie rented a moped and Cori & I rented a "scoot coupe". We drove out to the American Camp at the south end of the island. It was a beautiful drive & our little vehicles were FUN, FUN!



We walked around shops in town and had ice cream (AGAIN!) before heading back to Lopez.

Went back to Nancy's house for a delicious roast beef dinner.

Beautiful islands...

Nancy, Nancie, Cori & I caught the 10 AM ferry to San Juan Island's Friday Harbor. We drove out to Lime Kiln Point, walked out to lighthouse point in hopes of seeing whales. No whales...but a beautiful view, nonetheless.

We went to Roche Harbor. We walked thru Hotel de Haro & a beautiful adjoining flower garden.


We walked down dock & looked at all the boats (yacht shopping). Had more good seafood at an outdoor restaurant overlooking the harbor. We were disappointed to find the ice cream shop closed, but continued searching until we found another ice cream shop open (it IS vacation, after all).


We rode another ferry to Orcas Island, then drove to Mt Constitution & hiked up to lookout tower. We then drove around Deer Harbor until dark & time for ferry.

Sunset doesn't happen until after 10 PM, so everyone was ready to crash when we got home.

Day #2

We had no schedule today, so we slept in. We got up & drove around Lopez Island. We picked up some sandwich makings & had a picnic at Spencer Spit. We then went back to the house house, picked up Nancy & William, then headed to Iceberg Point for a supper picnic and watched a beautiful sunset. Amazing sight...

Headed west...

We have been looking forward to a west coast vacation.....& now it's time!

Cori & I left DFW @7:55 AM & flew non-stop to Seattle. Nancie Sawyer flew in from Denver about the same time & we met at the airport. We picked up our rent car, then cousins Brad & Dellamy Thomas met us. We went to the Locks. We enjoyed a great seafood picnic, then went to see locks & fish ladders. There were also beautiful flower gardens to enjoy!
The next stop was Pikes Place Market. Fun place to walk around....beautiful flowers, lots of great produce & fish markets.

We left Seattle in time to make it to Anacortes the 9 o'clock ferry to Lopez Island.

By the time we got to Nancy Carson's house (Nancie's aunt), we had been up 23 hours. It was BEDTIME!

Here's to the horses in my life...

Horses have ALWAYS been a part of my life. My daddy made sure there was always a good horse in the pasture with my name on it! In fact, I don't think I've ever been without one...until today.

The first horse I remember helping pick out was Honeybee. She was a beautiful Palomino. She was a pleasure to ride! I had her until I was in college. When we sold her, I got a mare that we called Nancy. I ran barrels on her until I traded her for another mare we called Blackie, also a barrel horse.

The horse I got that I first learned how to team rope on was Big Mo. Tommy wanted me to learn to rope. He bought him for me. Big Mo was a TANK & perfect to teach someone that knew nothing about roping. When he got old enough to retire, we traded him & I got another rope horse we called Mad Dog (he was branded with my initials, thus the name). When we sold him, I rode a horse named Yeller that belonged to some friends of ours. There were a couple of other questionable purchases that didn't last long.

Probably the "once in a lifetime" horse I had was next. He was a tall, lanky roan horse that Cori dubbed MACARONI PONY. He had a stomach ulcer that was diagnosed on Christmas Eve one year. We had to go to the grocery store & buy all the Maalox they had on their shelf to doctor him until we could get it ordered by the gallon from the vet. Anytime we brought another horse into our barn or did anything out of the normal schedule, his ulcer would flare up & we'd have to give him Maalox before he could eat. He was safe to put any kid on & was also a great head horse. I always said when something happened to him, we'd have him stuffed in our living room because I couldn't imagine life without him. However, after he was past his roping years, we sold him to a family with children who were wanting to learn to ride.

The next horse we bought was Uno. He has been at our house for the last 7 years. I've loved roping on him, but he was getting enough age on him that I knew I should begin to look for something a little younger.


We heard from a friend about a young man that was looking for a horse that he could learn to rope on. He & his family came out today to try him. We knew as soon as he got on him, that he was leaving our house today. I've never seen an 8th grade boy smile any bigger.









It's a bittersweet day. I know that Uno has gone to a GREAT home, but it's kinda strange going to sleep tonight, knowing that there isn't a horse in the barn tonight that is MINE!

Winston Churchill once said, "There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man". We are believers in that philosophy.

Author Gary Paulsen wrote a book called My life in dog years. If you haven't read it, you should. Each chapter tells the story of a dog that he had during his lifetime. I guess I'll call this blog post My life in horse years. Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, I'll start a new chapter.