Kay's Travel Blog

Aspen Trip - Day 7 - Tues

2011-07-26T20:53:00.001-05:00

Headed back today - stopped in Frisco for a late breakfast. Almost got bumped for $300 and a free ticket, but someone else got to the counter first. Boy, was it ever hot when we got home. Thanks for picking me up, Matt.

Aspen Trip - Day 6 - Mon

2011-07-25T20:52:00.001-05:00

Our last day here and we took it easy. Carol Lee and Marie walked down to the bakery for breakfast and saw Ken Burns (positive) and Greg Kinnear (maybe). We took a walk on a trail near the condo and found a geocache. Then we ate a late lunch at a fancy old hotel. Took a drive out to Snowmass this afternoon. Will try to eat up all our food tonight - leave early in the morning for the drive to Denver.

Aspen Trip - Day 5 - Sun

2011-07-24T20:49:00.001-05:00

Went to another orchestra concert this morning. They had a percussion soloist who was really good. This afternoon we drove up to Independence Pass and hiked around and threw snowballs! Anyone there in Texas jealous? I also hiked up a pretty big hill at 12,000 feet to find a geocache. Tonight we went to a brass and percussion competition at the Aspen school of music.

Aspen Trip - Day 4 - Sat

2011-07-23T20:42:00.001-05:00

This morning we went to the Farmer's Market downtown and walked around and shopped and sampled stuff. Then we rode the gondola up to the top of the mountain and had lunch at the restaurant there. After lunch we hiked a little ways up the ski trail and sat down in the grass to listen to a concert in the meadow. It was a tuba and euphonium quartet and they were really good.

Aspen Trip - Day 3 - Fri

2011-07-22T20:39:00.003-05:00

We went to a wonderful orchestra concert this morning, then drove up to Ashcroft for lunch at the Pine Creek Cookhouse (Lance's favorite place). Beautiful mountain scenery and fancy food. We had a trout appetizer and then I had the Rainbow Trout melt on toast, with a pine nut / cranberry / kale salad. Not my usual fare, that's for sure. Going to town this pm to walk around.

Aspen Trip - Day 2 - Thurs

2011-07-21T20:37:00.000-05:00

Today we got up really early and drove up to the top of Maroon Bells, which is a very cool (temperature-wise and neat-o-wise) place, although it did warm up a lot as we hiked. Lots of pretty views of the mountains and river and lake.

Aspen Trip - Day 1 - Wed

2011-07-20T20:31:00.000-05:00

We went hiking at the Aspen nature center and the John Denver preserve area today. Then attended a wonderful concert at the music festival tonight. The condo we're staying at is really nice and the weather is so great.

Universal and Harry Potter

2011-05-15T14:30:00.002-05:00

Went to Universal Studios today and got to do the Harry Potter world. It was really neat and the butter beer was great.

Fun in paradise

2011-05-11T15:43:00.000-05:00

Got out in the kayak today and saw some dolphins.

Spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool. I could really get used to this pampered life.

Our room

2011-05-10T13:47:00.001-05:00

Wow, this is the fanciest room ever. 6 burner wolf stove, huge sub zero fridge, 3 different espresso/coffee machines, a study. It's bigger than my first house. Oh, and the toilet is lighted too.

Our condo on the beach

2011-05-10T12:40:00.002-05:00

Lunch on Siesta Key

2011-05-10T12:36:00.002-05:00

We drove to Siesta Key to have lunch today and are sitting out on Little Sarasota Bay.

On the road to Florida

2011-05-08T12:42:00.002-05:00

Katy, Texas. Ahh, that tasted good.

It's taking me a while to get to the end of Texas, but that's because I've been stopping in each county along the way to find a cache. Am not going the most direct way either. Have gotten 7 new counties so far, 8 more to go.

Zip Line

2010-07-26T12:50:00.007-05:00

Last Thursday I drove to Temple to pick up Andrea and Evan and then we drove to Athens, Texas to spend the night at Melissa Cox Pulley's house. Melissa and Nicky were in Branson, so we just made ourselves at home and spent the night. Nicky's father, Dean, stopped by for a visit and ate with us.

Friday morning we drove out into the country to do our zipline adventure. The GPS took us around in circles for a while, but we finally made it. Andrew and Danielle Pulley joined us there and we all had so much fun. You zip from tree to tree, sometimes landing on the ground and hiking to the next tree. We all want to go back and do it again.

After zipping, we spent the afternoon and evening at the Pulley's lake house, swimming and relaxing. It's so beautiful and relaxing there. Caleb and Dean joined us and the boys cooked hamburgers on the grill. We left about 9:30 and headed back to Temple. Thanks to Melissa and Nicky for letting us use their houses.

Last Day in Omaha

2010-06-29T14:54:00.002-05:00

Today we went to the Lauritzen Botanical gardens. Had a nice long hike and it was really pretty. Then we drove by the stadium to try and buy tickets for tonight's game, but the lines were too long so decided to rest at the hotel and come back later.

So, we showed up at the box office around 2:30 and the lady said they were sold out, but she had 2 tickets that someone had just turned in - and they are almost right behind home plate. How lucky was that? Now we're just sitting in the shade, waiting for the game to start.

Later: the game was great, our seats were great, we saw the National Champions win. All in all, we had a great time. Great end to a great trip.

Finals Day

2010-06-28T15:16:00.001-05:00

We went over to the zoo today for a few hours and saw some pretty birds and lots of other animals.

Around 3 we walked across the street to the stadium to see if we could find tickets from a scalper for a decent price. Walked right up to the box office and bought good seats for face value. We must be living right. Who should we root for tonight?

Walking and Gambling

2010-06-27T20:41:00.001-05:00

Today we went down to the Old Market area of Omaha and did a walking tour. Lots of old buildings, shops, restaurants, open-air arty stuff, parks, etc. We had a good time.

Then we came back to the room and rested before going over to Harrah's for a buffet dinner and another try at the slot machines. Lost again of course.

Too Hot!

2010-06-26T20:51:00.002-05:00

It was so hot yesterday that we decided to watch the games today from the coolness of our hotel and save our energy for Monday. We did get out this morning to do a little exploring and walking around Council Bluffs, so got our exercise in early.

Poor TCU lost today, so now we're rooting for Clemson, but they're about to lose too. tomorrow we're going exploring in downtown Omaha.

Rosenblatt Rocks!

2010-06-25T22:35:00.001-05:00

We got into town about noon and checked into our hotel in Council Bluffs, Iowa. It's really nice and has a casino attached, so I know where we'll be spending our off time.

Then we took the hotel shuttle to the stadium and got all the scoop from some guys about how/where to get tickets. Found some across the street for a reasonable price, which saved us from 3 hours of waiting in line in the hot sun.

We cheered for TCU and they won, hooray.

Kolaches!

2010-06-24T18:33:00.001-05:00

We're off on our road trip to Omaha in Sharon's cute sports car.

Our first stop was, of course, West for kolaches. Mmm.

We stopped in Oklahoma to visit with Little Bill and Judy and now we're in Wichita for the night.

CWS Day One

2010-06-19T23:17:00.003-05:00

The CWS started today and TCU is looking pretty good. I still haven't decided whether or not to root for them.

This line is in purple in honor of the Horned Frogs.

We went to see Toy Story this afternoon and it was great.

College World Series

2010-06-17T09:23:00.013-05:00

We're leaving next week for the College World series in baseball but the Horns wont be there. I'm soo sad but we'll have fun anyway. Here's a picture I took at Disch-Falk field at an earlier game since I wont get to take any of the team next week.

My new phone

2010-05-29T22:12:00.002-05:00

We finally got the Opera House puzzle put together. Only two and a half years? Wow.

Posting this from my new phone to see how it works.

More Pictures

2009-05-13T14:06:00.012-05:00

Here is another picture album I put up on Facebook, and I've also been working on creating some home videos and slideshows so I'm going to embed that video here. I'll go ahead and add in the ones I've done so far. They've got music, so enjoy!!

Feb 2008 - Melissa on the Nevis High-Wire
Queenstown, New Zealand

Spring 1950 Easter Egg hunt with Cox & Goad families & others. Christmas 1950 with Faye, Ray, Tim & Kay

1949-1950 - Nanny, Uncle Jack, Faye, Ray, Tim

1950's? Cox/Goad trip to Grand Canyon, rope swinging over some river, misc stuff

What I've been doing since last time

2009-04-02T14:45:00.007-05:00

I haven't updated my blog in a while. I started a facebook page and it's a lot easier to post pictures there, so I stopped doing it here. But people who aren't on facebook then don't know where to go to see my pictures, so I figured I'd just post a link here and that would work.

Jan 09 - went to Dallas for Jen's baby shower, then went to Rockdale to see the new baby. Tim and Ruth had come from Florida so we had a nice visit.
Baby Pictures

Feb 09 - Sharon and I went to Lake Tahoe for a ski trip - I skied and she relaxed, read, cooked, walked, etc. We also went snowmobiling. It was fun.
Lake Tahoe part 1

March 09 - Melissa and I went back to Lake Tahoe for a spring break ski trip. The snow was not as great but we had fun anyway.
Lake Tahoe part 2

March 09 - I drove up to Boulder to meet up with Andrea Cox (she flew in) and we visited with her daughter Rebekah and grandson Evan. We stayed in a motel with Evan and had lots of fun. We even got to experience a blizzard. Andrea decide to ride home with me instead of flying back.
Boulder Blizzard

Colorado

2008-08-04T23:44:00.004-05:00

Got back from Colorado last Friday. It was soooo nice and cool there I was sorry to come back to these 100+ degree scorcher days. We had lots of fun, hiked up to Chimney Rock, rode innertubes on the river, played lots of 42 and cards and ate lots. Hope to get back up there in October and see the pretty fall colors.

Back from Australia

2008-07-02T01:02:00.000-05:00

Melissa's home!!! I drove up to DFW airport yesterday to pick her up. Her plane came in at 12:15 AM. I spent the whole day driving up there and caching along the way. Got to near the airport just about dark and ate dinner and went for a few parking-lot night caches. I found 16 caches yesterday - my record for 1 day. We got home around 4AM this morning and slept and recovered today. She already is ready to go back to her apartment - stayed just long enough for me to do her laundry. Oh well, at least she's nearby.

Trip is over - time to pack

2008-06-26T01:01:00.002-05:00

Got into Oklahoma early, but decided to stay there instead of heading home. We all went out to eat good mexican food that night with Judy and her mother. Headed home the next day - dropped bill and emily off at Temple and got home early Friday afternoon. Tim and Ruth had stayed in Denver a couple of nights and flew home Friday too.

It was a great trip - everyone had a good time and all were fun to be with. Nobody got mad (I think) or got their feelings hurt (I hope). Don't know what the boys have planned for their 61st birthday year, but I hope I get to go. I don't mind being the youngest of the group and tagging along, if they don't mind being the old folks, ha, ha.

Well, time to start packing for my Colorado trip - wheeeeeee!

Leaving the coolness

2008-06-25T00:58:00.001-05:00

We got up really early (tim and ruth slept in tho) and loaded up and headed home. It was 54 degrees when we left Deadwood, and 95 degrees when we stopped in Kansas to spend the first night. Eeek. We saw a wagon train on the road in Nebraska or Kansas. Can't remember which - seemed like a perfect way to end a trip to cowboy country. Never knew what it was for - just a regular midwest occurrence I guess.

Spearfish Canyon & Sturgis

2008-06-24T00:50:00.003-05:00

Today we rode/drove in Spearfish Canyon to Spearfish (big bill rode on the motorcycle) then on to Sturgis to have lunch and look around. Sturgis is a really small town, but they have a motorcycle rally for 2 weeks in August, and 500,000 motorcycle riders come to town. I wouldn't want to be there then. After lunch, everyone but bill and I went with Tim back to Rapid City to turn in his bike. Bill and I rode the motorcycle on the back road to Deadwood. I had never ridden for very long before and it was so much fun. The road was great - windy, hilly, not much traffic. Hmm, maybe I'll get a motorcycle!!

Mt. Rushmore

2008-06-23T00:22:00.002-05:00

Today we drove thru Custer State Park to Mt. Rushmore, then on to the Crazy Horse Memorial, then back to Deadwood. This is a beautiful area - lots of trees and water and rolling hills. It rained really hard while we were at Mt. Rushmore, but we were luckily inside and waited it out. The boys got a little wet on their bikes later in the afternoon, but they had put their wet gear on and were prepared. Emily got to ride on the motorcycle today.

and Crazy Horse

2008-06-23T00:21:00.000-05:00

Rapid city and the Badlands

2008-06-22T00:11:00.003-05:00

We all drove into Rapid City to the Harley place so Tim could pick up the motorcycle he had rented. Then Emily and Ruth and I piled into the car and Tim and Bill and big Bill got on the motorcycles and we headed to the Badlands. It was a nice drive and we put the top down when we started going on the slower roads. The weather was great. This is a real bleak looking but pretty area. I was impressed that Big Bill was able to ride behind the motorcycle all that way - he had so much fun doing it too.

Arrived in Deadwood

2008-06-21T00:05:00.004-05:00

Made it into Deadwood early afternoon and proceeded to hit the slot machines in our hotel. I'd never played penny slots before. You just stick a dollar bill in and play 1 cent at a time. You can play for hours at that rate and not lose much. Of course, you don't win much either. Tim and Ruth got there later in the evening and we all went out to eat across the street at the casino buffet. This picture is us with the free champagne lady in the hotel casino (the champagne was free, not the lady).

Leaving Oklahoma

2008-06-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

We loaded up the truck and left early this morning - made it all the way to South Platte, Nebraska. Here we are ready to take off with the truck, trailer and motorcycle in tow in Bill's driveway.

South Dakota trip

2008-06-19T23:51:00.000-05:00

It's really July 2 but I'm pre-dating these entries so the dates will match the activities. For those of you who don't know the story - here's the setup. My brother Tim (Orlando) and his best friend from high school Bill (Edmond, OK) since before they were born (parents were best friends too) turned 60 this year and decided to take a trip to Deadwood, South Dakota to ride their Harleys. I invited myself along, then so did Emily (Temple), who also is turning 60 this year and has been friends with them since before birth too (her parents and our parents were all bestest friends for all their lives and her little sister Andrea was my best friend when we were growing up). So we decided to also take Bill's 90-yr old dad with us, Big Bill (see, there's little bill and big bill, even tho Big Bill is now skinny and little and Little Bill is now not, ha, ha). Ruth and Judy were coming too but Judy had to back out at the last minute so it was just going to be the 6 of us. Anybody not confused yet?

OK, South Dakota here we come! Emily and BIll and I set off for OK today, leaving Andrea and Sophia all sad that they weren't coming with us. Too bad!!! Nyah, nyah, nyah. Little Bill's house in Edmond is really pretty and the neighborhood is beautiful. We had a nice evening there.

Cool picture

2008-06-05T21:52:00.001-05:00

Here's a cool tree I saw while hiking on the greenbelt last month.

May post

2008-05-24T04:10:00.003-05:00

It's May and I haven't posted anything this month! I actually am traveling today, tho I don't know if coming up to Temple to spend the night should count. Andrea's not even here - she went to Boulder this week so I'm staying here alone. But that's ok cause I'm staying up all night on her computer (drank too much diet coke earlier).

I came up to visit with Mary & Gary and her family - they're visiting this weekend and won't be coming back for the reunion in August. I did a little geocaching (my new hobby) on the way up here - took me 5 hours to get from Austin to Temple, and an awful lot of sweat too! After I got here and got cleaned up and got Andrea's digital TV box and new printer installed, I called Emily and she said to meet her at the French Quarter. So I drove over there and found Emily, Robert, Charles & Sophia, Chuck & Kathy, Paul & Amy and the kids - big crowd and we all ate and visited. Then I went to get the geocache that was right there and went driving around for a few more before it got dark.

Tomorrow I'm heading out to visit with the Newburns, then heading home to go to the movie with Sharon. We still haven't seen Iron Man and also want to see Indiana Jones this weekend. 3 more weeks till the big trip!

Home from Spain

2008-04-14T13:41:00.003-05:00

Mon pm

We're home! The flights went well, although we had a close call with the connection in Boston. We had 2 hrs between flights, but there was a mob getting bags and going through customs, then re-checking the bags back thru. They just had us leave our bags and go, so I had a suspicion that the bags wouldn't get to the next flight on time, and they didn't. We had to hotfoot it to the shuttle bus and run to make our DFW connection but we did. Finally got to Austin at midnight and waited for bags that didn't come, but we were expecting that. Was first in line to fill out the lost bag form so we didn't have to wait too long at the airport.

Got to sleep late this morning and recover and our bags just arrived, so we're home free. Ebony is back from the kennel and she survived, so all is well. Sharon's doing her laundry and I'm going to go see if all my shows recorded - got lots to catch up on - LOST!!!!!

Oh, Melissa, I had about 25 Euros left at the airport, so we bought 2 huge bars of Toblerone and a bag of mini-toblerones!!!!!! Sorry!!!! mmmmmmm

Mmmm, Hot Chocolate

2008-04-12T10:13:00.008-05:00

Sat

We didn´t do too much today - just went to the Puerta de Sol and Plaza Mayor areas and walked around and watched all the tourists. Lots of shops, plazas with outdoor cafes, and wandering entertainers. A brass band, various statue-type mimes (pretending to be a statue then move and scare people), acordian players and stuff. It was sunny but cool, so we sat and had a hot chocolate and pastry. The hot chocolate was NOT hot choc milk, it was more like hot Hershey´s syrup, just a little thinner than that - yum.

Then we walked around some more, met Elisha, walked around some more, stopped for a drink at a sidewalk cafe, then went inside another and had a late lunch. Then we walked back to the hotel. Now we´re resting and packing - leaving in the morning. Looks like our flights have not been canceled, at least so far, so hopefully the airports won´t be too crowded.

Instead of going out for dinner tonight, we went to TGI Friday's and each had a nice, large chocolate dessert. MMMM

Bye for now.

San Lorenzo de el Escorial

2008-04-11T13:13:00.003-05:00

Fri PM

Today we took an hour bus ride to San Lorenzo de el Escorial to see the Royal Monastery. When it was built in 1563 (took 21 years) and for many years afterwards, it was the largest building in the world. Lots of churchy paintings, stone hallways, king´s palace stuff, huge and beautiful basilica, painted ceilings, and the Royal Pantheon - burial place of all the kings of spain and relatives. It was pretty neat. It was really cold and windy too - it´s up in the mountains and there´s a tiny, cute town next door.

Now I´m browsing AA website to see if our flights from Boston and DFW are going to be cancelled. Thurs both flights were cancelled, Friday´s flights I won´t know for a few hours. Maybe we´ll get to spend a couple of days in Boston. Both flights (Boston to DFW and DFW to Austin) are on the MD-80s which have been grounded.

No plans for tomorrow - maybe just hang out. Maybe the sun will come out again.

Segovia

2008-04-10T11:20:00.003-05:00

Thurs afternoon

Wed we took the metro to the bus station and got tickets on a bus to Segovia - another walled town about and hour away. It was really neat - they had an old Roman aqueduct, lots of little streets inside the walled part, a huge cathedral and an old castle. The castle tour was pretty neat.

Last night we met Elisha for dinner at a German beer hall type place - had apple cider and some real good roasted chicken and sausage.

Today we slept in late and then met up with Elisha - she took the day off. Went to another art museum, ate lunch, walked around a park, and then back to the hotel. I think we´re running out of things to do cause we don´t want to do any more art museums and it´s been pretty rainy. Tomorrow, we´re planning another bus trip out of town. Still haven´t found an Espana hoody and now I´m also looking for a polka hat!

Museum Day

2008-04-08T15:35:00.005-05:00

Tues 10pm

OK, this first picture is for Melissa - we´re seeing lots of smart cars here but this one was particularly cute.

Last night we met Elisha and she took us to a favorite place for dinner with her friend Sara. It was another bar. I think the only place she knows to go eat at are bars that serve tapas, so that´s what we had. They were really good - the second picture is a shish-kabob thingy that comes hanging from a stand.

Today we took the metro down to the museum area. We tried to go to the Sophia art museum, but it is closed on Tues, so we walked down to the Prado and saw lots and lots of paintings and sculptures. Finally got arted out after a few hours. Then we walked around the city a long ways in the govt buildings and museums area and wound up at the Hard Rock cafe so of course, had to go in and eat lunch and buy tshirts. Then took about an hour to walk back to the hotel via a round-about route cause I had left the street map in the room, so we walked from metro station to metro station and figured out our route that way. The metro maps don´t really show any streets or street names, but we knew which metro station we wanted to end up at.

Stayed in a couple of hours and rested up, then decided to go to a movie. Went down to the Plaza Espana where there are a lot of theatres, some that show Original Version movies that are subtitled. Went to see Juno - really tiny theatre - good movie. They didn´t sell popcorn or anything tho, booo! Tomorrow, road trip to Segovia.

Toledo, Spain

2008-04-07T11:32:00.003-05:00

Mon 6:30 PM spain time

Today we went to Toledo, an old medieval town about an hour from Madrid. Well, an hour if you went straight there. Unfortunately, the bus we took stopped at every hick town between here and there so it took us 2 1/2 hours with people getting on and off constantly. That´s OK tho, cause the town was really neat. It had very narrow cobblestone streets and lots of cute shops and pretty churches. We walked around quite a bit and then walked to the train station to take the bullet train back. We had to wait an hour for the train, but it only took 1/2 to get back. It was really fast and comfortable.

Now we´re back in the room and waiting for Elisha to come over and go out and eat with us. She´s taking us somewhere she´s been wanting to eat at. Last night we had fancy pizza and salad, it was really good. It´s hard to order without Elisha there tho cause lots of the words on the menu aren´t in my dictionary!

Market day

2008-04-06T10:37:00.003-05:00

Today we had a good time browsing at the El Rastro open-air flea market. I had to ask Elisha the name of it several times and so I took a picture of a t-shirt with the name on it so I wouldn´t have to ask her anymore. They had blocks and blocks and plazas filled with all sorts of stuff: clothes, shoes, jewelry, lots of other junk, second-hand stuff - just about everything. Andrea, you would´ve thought you´d died and gone to heaven. I was glad you were NOT with us because I would have had to just leave you there. When we got there around 10:30 there were quite a few people there - when we left at noon we could barely squeeze our way out.After that we took the metro back to our hotel and rested for a little while, then walked to Elisha´s apartment. It was about a 15-20 min walk. I got her internet phone hooked up and copied all my movies & tv shows I brought to her computer because she´s tired of watching everything in Spanish. Unfortunately her computer wouldn´t play them. We went out for lunch at a local bar/restaurant and then went back to her apt so I could fix her computer. Which I, of course, was able to do.Sharon & I took the metro back and got off a stop too early to find a sunglasses store cause mine broke, so we wandered around a little and couldn´t find one then came home. I´ll look tomorrow. We´ll probably go out later for dinner. Planning to go to Toledo tomorrow on the train.

2008-04-05T13:07:00.003-05:00

Sat 8PMWell, we´re in for the night and getting ready for bed. We rested a while and then Elisha came over and we went on a walking tour and had tapas and some gellato. I took a few pictures and am posting them. We´re staying in the old part of Madrid and it´s really pretty - lots of plazas and little tiny streets with outdoor restaurants and roving accordian players. Tomorrow we´re going to some sort of outdoor market and maybe a museum or 2.

Great Hotel

2008-04-05T05:37:00.002-05:00

Wow. What a difference from Australia. Not only does this room have free DSL and free wireless, but there´s a laptop that comes with the room. I´m impressed. Of course, now I´ll have to actually upload some pictures. Well, gotta take some first I guess (oh by the way, I HATE this keyboard - everything´s in the wrong place, and I can´t even find the colon character).

We´re in Spain!

2008-04-05T03:10:00.002-05:00

Sat 10;11 am Madrid time -

This is a weird keyboard, so excuse my typos. We´re here - had a nice trip. We´re at the hotel but can´t check in for a couple of hours so we´re going to walk around downtown and take some pictures. Hello to everyone from sunny (but cool) Spain.

Back home again

2008-03-15T18:20:00.003-05:00

I'm back. Last 2 days of skiing were pretty hard - snowed all day and there was lots of fresh, ungroomed powder. Made my legs hurt, but my knees did ok and didn't get too sore. I need to exercise more next year (I always tell myself this but rarely actually do it). Luckily tho, it stopped snowing Friday night so we had an easy drive back to Denver with no problems. Next post ..... on to Spain.

Almost time to go home

2008-03-13T22:36:00.001-05:00

Tues pm
Really nice snow & weather. Snowed hard yesterday & sunny today. The Hyatt has a free s'more bar next to the slopes every afternoon @ 4 with dark & milk choc hersheys. It's really neat to hang out there after skiing & roast marshmallows. Just can't say enough good things about this place.

Thurs pm
Snowed hard all day today - got really tired because of all the fresh snow & it was hard to see but we had fun anyway. We're all 5 of us skiing together for the most part, but they're having to wait for me a lot. I was keeping up until today but am wearing out some. It's supposed to snow a lot tonight & tomorrow too so it might be another hard day tomorrow. Last day tho, so I'll have to make the most of it. OK, talk to ya'll later.

Ski report Sunday

2008-03-09T19:42:00.003-05:00

Had a great day of skiing today. Now, this is what a ski valet should be like. They took our skis outside and we were just steps away from the enclosed - private - gondola. When we got back, we skied right up to the valet guy and he came over and undid our bindings for us and we didn't even have to touch our skis. Wow.

The skiing was really nice too - great conditions, sunny, cold but not too. Very uncrowded today. We ate lunch at the base of the mountain right at the lift and they had tables with place settings and came out and took our order and delivered food - no stomping inside and waiting in line - and the prices, while high, were not any higher than normal ski food is. This is a pretty darn nice place.

Here in Colorado

2008-03-09T09:56:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone, we made it to Colorado OK yesterday. The Hyatt here at Beaver Creek is much fancier that the one in Breckenridge. The condo is really big and the rooms are large. I'm sitting here in the room this morning waiting for everyone else to get up and get going - don't wanna go out by myself the first day. Looks like great snow out there - we have a great view of the mountain from the room. More later.

Here is a picture Greg took from the condo.

Off to Colorado

2008-03-08T10:34:00.003-06:00

Getting reading to leave for Colorado. I'm flying this year instead of driving since Melissa's not going. It'll be a lot quicker trip. Hopefully, we won't have any trouble landing at Denver. I'm renting a car with the Greeson's and we'll meet Azure in Denver and drive to Beaver Creek.

Some pictures

2008-02-27T13:10:00.007-06:00

I'm going to post some pictures of us because I can.

Here's one of Matt and me at the opening of the Greeson's furniture store in July 06.

This is Melissa her 1st year in Longhorn Band. Oct 2005 - National Championship year!

Here's Ruth and Tim at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower center taken in May 05.

Sharon and Ruth putting on a spread at Melissa's graduation party - May 05.

Email from Melissa

2008-02-17T23:30:00.002-06:00

Since Melissa hasn't been so good about blogging I'll post her interesting emails here. Just got this one:

HEY!!!

This is actually the first time I've gotten on the internet since I've been here! And now it's the last day!
I've had a lot of fun. They split us up into groups of 10 so we got to know each other better and we'd do stuff with our group. The first day we just got a tour of the college and the university and we walked around Lygon street. The second day we went to this zoo (another one, ugh) and saw platypus and tasmanian devil and all the other good ones. Yesterday we stayed at the beach for about 7 hours and we went SURFING!! it was sooo fun! I actually stood up about 4 or 5 times and we were out there for about an hour and a half. I was proud of myself! AND i re-applied sunscreen about a billion times so I'm not very burned, just like patches where I missed. Today we're just taking it easy, we went to the immigration museum and we have lunch at 1230. Then we get about 5 hours of free time until our formal farewell dinner, so I'm gonna move some of my stuff into my apartment.

Well that's about it...im having a great time and I'm not dead! sorry it's been about 4 days since you've heard from me! love you,

melissa

Home again, home again, jiggeddy jog

2008-02-16T00:13:00.004-06:00

Friday midnight - Oh man does it feel good to be home again! I got some sleep here and there but am pretty tired. Kindof wound up a little bit tho so I think I'll do some unpacking before I go to bed. Then tomorrow got the whole reading mail and paying bills thing to do - and of course I have to catch up on my tv shows I missed - almost filled up the dvr!

This'll be my last post until the next trip, unless I decide to add some more pictures or just get bored.

Travelin Home

2008-02-16T00:13:00.001-06:00

Fri - 10:30am - well, melissa's all squared away & I'm at the airport almost on my way home. I'll be back in LA before I leave here & will be home yesterday (or something along those lines).

We got her housing squared away, got the money orders she needs to pay rent with, found out exactly where she needs to go today for her 4-day "welcome" program & figured out how to get there with all her stuff. She will be chking out of the hotel herself @ 10 & taking a taxi to the school. Bye sweetie! Love you!

Fri 11:30am (but 20? hours or so later) - back in the USA, ta da, back in the USA (singing mode off).

This is a long-ass trip! Stopped in Auckland for 2 hours, now in LA for 4 hours. Going thru Dallas so that's another long wait. Should've done direct but the travel agent got the cheapest flights. Lesson: always schedule flights yourself.

Happy!

2008-02-13T17:20:00.002-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day from the future everyone.

In Melbourne

2008-02-13T00:38:00.004-06:00

Wed 6PM - well, we got here yesterday and it's much cooler than Cairns, temperature-wise, so Melissa is much happier - she was hoping she wouldn't be living in Cairns-like weather. We made it up to the university today and saw where she will be living (the red & white building in the first picture) and some of the cool looking old buildings. Her room is right across the street from the university and only a couple of blocks from the civil engineering building.

Tomorrow we're going to go get a money order (they won't take a US check) for her 1st months rent and security deposit and try to get her moved in so she won't have to lug all her stuff around. She's going to a welcome program from the 15th - 19th and will be staying in a dorm but this way she can go ahead and get all her stuff to her room. We bought sheets and towels and a pillow and blanket - and an extra bag to carry everything in. She'll have a shared kitchen and bathroom but her own bedroom. Haven't seen the room yet.

I'm ready to come home - I miss all you guys (and my tv and dvr and 24-hour internet access). This will probably be my last post unless I get access at the airport. Oh yeah, Melbourne is pretty neat. OK, bye bye.

Here's the pictures I promised

2008-02-13T00:28:00.004-06:00

Still raining in Cairns

2008-02-10T20:24:00.000-06:00

9:30PM Friday
OK, so Cairns is pretty neat but not exactly what I expected. It's on a bay and you'd expect there to be a pretty beach, but the beach is ugly and unusable. At low tide it's just a muddy mess, and there's crocodiles (so they say - we didn't see any) and some kind of deadly jellyfish so you can't go into the water. There IS a beach you can use, but it's like the beach at Schlitterbahn - fake - actually a big swimming pool with a fake sand beach, right next to the real beach. Strange. And, as I said before, it's really hot and humid. Tomorrow we're going out on a boat to the reef so we should actually be able to get into the water.

Sun noon - Kuranda
Yesterday we took a boat ride out to a small island & bird sanctuary on the Great Barrier reef & snorkeled & did a semi-submersible boat ride. It was beautiful.

Today we took a scenic train thru the rainforest this am & are taking a sky-cable car back. Saw more kangaroos & melissa got to hold a koala! So cute.

Monday noon - posting from pda so no pictures - will try to add some later. Still raining here - we're ready to leave & get on to melbourne.

Sydney to Cairns

2008-02-08T03:33:00.000-06:00

Thurs 8pm
There's only one tv channel in Sydney with an actual tv show on & it's in german. There are about 5 Fox Sports channels, showing cricket, soccer, australian football, rugby, darts, pool, poker (texas holdem of course), basketball. The other channels are weird reality shows, news or children's shows. The cricket & aust football are on all day long. Channel surfing is not a good sport here.

Fri 7:30pm cairns
It's really hot & humd here!!!! Like florida or houston humid!! We're eating italian & they have free internet. Whoops, food's here.

About Comments

2008-02-06T21:48:00.001-06:00

I changed the settings so you no longer have to register to comment (didn't know you could do this). So if you haven't commented before, now you can. Thanks to Tim and Larry for letting me know you're enjoying reading this - I'm enjoying doing it and it's more fun than keeping a journal but serves the same purpose. We really are having a good time.

Australia Time

2008-02-06T21:40:00.000-06:00

Tues 8pm Sydney time
Ugh. I'm getting tired of going to the airport every few days. Train, bus or car travel lets you sightsee & stuff & is part of the vacation but flying is just a waste of a day. Oh well, we're here but are just staying in the hotel tonight - got an early day tomorrow - bus tour to a wildlife area.

Internet @ the hotel is expensive so I can hopefully find a free signal somewhere tomorrow.

Wed 11am - on a tour bus to Blue Mtns & wildlife preserve - nice weather.

5:30p
Pretty mountain views & we rode the "steepest train in the southern hemisphere" down to a rain forest. Then we went to a wildlife preserve & got to see a lot of animals & koalas real close up & walk around with them & pet kangaroos. It was really neat. We took a river ferry back to town instead of the bus & saw the big bridge & opera house. We're kinda tuckered out & melissa's leg hurts (she bruised it pretty badly on the jet boat) so I'm going out for takeout later and also look for free internet. Can't post pictures with this pda so will have to wait until later.

Thurs 2:30 pm
Today we slept late then took a city bus tour. It was nice until it started raining and we had to move down from the top. We got off to go to the Hard Rock Cafe, but it closed down a couple of months ago. So we came back to the room & are waiting for the rain to stop and then will head off to do some city walking. Tomorrow off to Cairns - early day again.

More Adventures

2008-02-04T02:51:00.001-06:00

Mon 7P
This morning we went abseiling (rapelling) and it was great! It was only Melissa and me and the guide, so we got to go several times each. I got to go 3 times and the guide said I could go one more time, but I couldn't climb up there again. It was a long climb to the base of the cliff and a short but steep climb from the base to the top. It wasn't scary at all going over the edge. I loved it.

This afternoon we took a Lord of the Rings jeep tour up to where they did a lot of the filming for LOTR. We saw Fangorn forest, where Isengard would be if it was real (the backdrop for it anyway), the Misty mountains and other places. There was also a large crew there filming scenes from the new Wolverine movie. Hugh Jackman is in town but we haven't seen him. He took the jetboat ride yesterday tho, just a few hours before us.

Tomorrow we're off to Sydney
.

Another day, another 3 or 4 hundred dollars

2008-02-03T01:14:00.000-06:00

Sun 1 pm
This am we went jet-boating. The jet-boat was great! It made me miss the jet ski. It was a lot like that only faster & dryer. It was in a narrow canyon & the driver tried to scare us.

Those betting on me doing the bungy jump just lost their bet - sorry. I wasn't confident that I would be able to go thru with it, once push came to shove (so to speak) so, not wanting to waste my money, I decided to go as a spectator.

Melissa is going to do it tho - she chose the highest one - 134 meters into a canyon - 8.5 secs fall time. Brave girl.

6pm
GOOD CHOICE!!! There's no way they'd have gotten me off that ledge. It was a lot of fun watching tho & melissa thought it was great - she didn't even scream much. I'm trying to upload a short movie of her jumping off - hopefully it finishes uploading before we run out of computer battery juice.

2008-02-02T02:16:00.000-06:00

Fri Feb 1 10pm
We're in Queenstown. I still haven't seen the southern skies @ night. It stays light until 9:30 - keeps confusing me that it's summer here. Queenstown is a lot like Breckenridge but smaller. It's much cooler here.

This hotel is very nice & it's a short walk to town. We do an all-day bus/boat tour tomorrow to fjord country (leave @ 6:45am)

We turned our cell phones on in Auckland to see if we could use them for alarm clocks & to my surprise, they had the right time & date & had a signal, tho it said roaming. I wouldn't dare try to dial, but yesterday got a text msg from verizon that said "urgent, dial *86". Now I'm afraid we got charged for just having them on. I'm scared to dial *86 tho - will it cost an arm & a leg? Maybe I should just leave my phone off - it's such a good alarm clock tho.

Sat, 3pm
We're on the bus on our way back from Milford Sound, a beautiful fjord on the West coast. It's clear and sunny and warm today. It was a long trip here but was worth it - waterfalls & mountains & stuff. We get to sleep in tomorrow, hooray! Melissa is listening to Lord of the Rings on her ipod - this is very familiar scenery here. Tomorrow is jet-boat & maybe bungee. Do I have the nerve to really do this? Stay tuned.

7pm
They have deer farms here & export venison & make things out of possum fur - weird, right?

Heading to Queenstown

2008-01-31T16:38:00.000-06:00

Fri 11:30 am NZ time
We're in the airport waiting for our flight to Queenstown. I sweet-talked the lady @ the Air New Zealand club to give me a guest password so we could "internet-it" while we wait - she was very nice & even gave us better seats.

We didn't do too much yesterday: slept late, walked around, went to the musuem, walked around some more, rested, went out for a nice dinner.

I'm a little worried about tomorrow - Melissa may make me bungy jump. Eek!

New Zealand countryside

2008-01-30T02:48:00.000-06:00

Wed, 5pm
We're on our way back to Auckland after spending the day on & off a tour bus. We saw glowworm caves, toured a sheep farm & saw lots of different animals & watched a guy shear a sheep, & then went to a Maori villiage & saw the Haka dance & some geysers.

It was a pretty good day but I think Melissa was a little underwhelmed - she didn't complain tho and I sat next to her all day without annoying her - or at least she was kind enough to hide it.

Oh, she got the email she was waiting for & got to apply for her student visa last night so that problem is hopefully solved. Tomorrow we're sleeping late & then I'm letting Melissa plan the day.

New Zealand Day 1

2008-01-30T02:42:00.000-06:00

6am Tues
Well, I went to sleep on the plane Sunday night & woke up Tuesday morning. Funny, it doesn't feel like I slept for 30 hours.

11am
We're here in Auckland. Everything went smoothly & we got to our hotel but couldn't check in yet so we're just walking around & stuff. We went up to the top of the skytower (highest bldg in southern hemisphere) & are now resting on the grass in a pretty little park. Our hotel is right downtown so that's good. We'll probably clean up & rest up for a few hours & then take a city bus to see the sights.

Tomorrow we have an all-day tour planned to caves & hot springs & stuff.

8:30PM
I'm really tired. We walked a lot this afternoon - rode a ferry to an island and explored around, and went to a bar that's all made out of ice. It wasn't as interesting as Azure said - maybe a different one, but it was OK. I'm going to sleep soon ..... good night all!

So far, so good

2008-01-27T17:11:00.001-06:00

Sunday 27 - 8am
So far, so good. Our bags are checked through to Auckland so we don't have to hassle with them in Dallas or LA. We're about to board for Dallas.

9am
Our 9am flight was delayed but we got here early so they put us on the 8:30 flight, which ended up leaving @ 9. I was worried about my ears hurting cause I'm all stopped up but I'm not feeing a thing - whew!

11a
First glitch was in Dallas, but it turned out to be minor. Melissa couldn't chk in & get a boarding pass because her student visa hasn't come thru yet & her return flight is more than 3 months out, so we had to go to the ticket counter outside security. No trouble getting it there tho - luckily she got a regular visa last nite online. We did have to go back thru security. It was very lo-tech tho, compared to Austin & was very slow.

1pm
On our way to LA. Tiny plane (united express). 1st casualty of the trip: I left my Analog (sci-fi magazine) on the plane - hadn't even started reading it yet. Oh well.

3pm la time
We're here & at our gate- flight leaves @ 9p. Hooray!

Ready to go!

2008-01-26T00:30:00.000-06:00

I'm all ready to go - suitcase is packed and room is clean. Melissa still hasn't packed yet, but she's all "pre-packed". Since we're traveling around before she ends up in Melbourne we're only taking 1 big suitcase each and 1 carry-on. Melissa will have to pack light and just get other stuff she needs there.

Sharon has contact numbers for each hotel if needed and here is our itinerary:

Leave Austin ........... Sunday - Jan 27
Arrive Auckland ....... Jan 29, 30, 31
Fly to Queenstown .... Feb 1,2,3,4
Fly to Sydney ........... Feb 5,6,7
Fly to Cairns ............ Feb 8,9,10,11
Fly to Melbourne ...... Feb 12,13,14
Fly Home ............... Friday - Feb 15

Here are the excursions I've signed up for:
Auckland ..... waitomo & rotorua day trip - glowworm caves
Queensland ...milford sound coach & cruise
................ shotover jet boat ride
................ and maybe bungee jumping????
Sydney ......... Blue Mtns & Australian wildlife tour
................ City tour
Cairns ....... Kuranda scenic rail & sky-rail
................ outer reef & michaelmas cay cruise
Melbourne ... just trying to get Melissa squared away

Melissa & Mack

2008-01-21T01:00:00.000-06:00

Here's a picture of Melissa and Mack Brown at the football banquet. This was a test to see if I could post pictures, but I AM a computer genius after all.

My first post

2008-01-20T21:03:00.000-06:00

Hi all - I've started this blog to keep everyone (all 2 or 3 people I know) updated on my travels this year. Instead of emailing everyone I'll just put stuff of interest here. Hopefully, I'll figure out how to post pictures too.

We leave next Sunday and I haven't started packing yet. Yes, yes, I know - it's way too early to pack but normally I would've already finished. I'm trying to be more laid back in my old age. Not that laid back tho - I'm going to start tomorrow!

Places I've Been

2007-12-31T13:28:00.008-06:00

Last updated: 7/01/2010

Visit my new hobby to see what I've been up to lately.

Posting From Phone

2007-12-31T12:32:00.008-06:00

Copy the photos to post to /sdcard/0photos/original and use ImageResize to make them smaller (long press on Original, 640).

Use Bloggeroid to post, adding images in the text where desired.

Pictures will post smaller than desired. To make larger on a PC, edit the post, select the picture, choose another size, then choose original size. That way the pics won't lose quality.

On the phone or tablet, only the 1st picture can be selected. Do it, then edit in html. For the following pictures, change the size to s1600 and remove the height and width labels.