London 2008

The last of our trips over to London while the family was there proved to be yet another great adventure! Ashton graduated high school while we were there. We found some great farmer's markets and even squeezed in a half marathon in St. Alban's. We ate our last fish and chips at the Anchor Inn and said good bye to the 6 Denning Close we called our home away from home. Even though our adventure in London was short lived, we will be back I am quite sure.

More Prague pics...

Ashton took some really cool photos on our trip. Totally brings out the artistic side! So I stole some of them for my own use... Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Prague

I decided to out to see my family last weekend. I know, crazy idea to go for 5 days, but all in all it was well worth it.

My family headed out on Thursday night to Prague in the Chek Republic. We had such fun...even though it was a bank holiday for all of Europe. The city is so cute and quaint. I can see why so many people want to travel there and why so many students spend semesters there. The people are nice, the food is cheap and the architecture is so different than other cities I've seen thus far.

The clock tower in the city center is totally cool. It's wired with marionette puppets so when it gongs on the hour the puppets come to life. Very cool.

Prague Castle is nice, but the cathedral...WOW! The stained glass windows are so different than other churchs. Ashton was excited to be there because Mucha (the artist) designed on of the windows.

While at the Castle grounds we decided to try and exit out the back (instead of where we came in at). As we got to where the exit should have been we saw a bunch of construction walls. They had decided it would be a good idea to redo the road out of the castle. Thus they were routing everyone through a small tunnel entry way (note picture with ALL the people trying to get out). There was enough room for one person to come in and one to go out. And it was utter chaos. We had a good laugh...ah gotta love Europeans.

We had a great time, even though it was for a few short days. I will definately be back...this time with David.

Glenwood Springs...Hanging Lake and Doc Holliday's Grave

We headed up to Glenwood Springs this weekend...partly to go to Aspen before the season ended and hit up the thrift stores and also to go to the Hot Springs. We stayed at this great B&B about 5 min out of Glenwood Springs. Nice and relaxing.





The hot springs were pretty cool...the smell of Sulphur only gets you for the first few minutes, and then it's not so bad.



We also visited the "grave" of Doc Holliday. They are not sure where he's buried, but it's somewhere in the cemetary.


We headed up to Hanging Lake on the way home. It was really pretty, but a really tough hike! Given that it's April, and there is still snow everywhere, the 1.5 mile hike UP the mountain was icy and steep. The way down...well reverse the way up and there you have it! One big ice sheet slide. And the incline/decline was pretty substantal.





All in all, it was nice to go up to the mountains. We hadn't been all year, so at least we went while there was snow on the ground. I doubt we'll go back for a weekend trip. But it was fun all the less.

Jerusalem 2008

So part of our ventures to the Middle East included a day trip up to Jerusalem. What a great city for history! We ended up leaving our hotel in Taba Heights at 2:45 am. Yes, that is correct. It took 2 HOURS to get through Eypgt/Israel border control. 2 hours. It was pretty intense, and quite boring.

Our bus trip up to Jerusalem included a very BRIEF stay at the Dead Sea. It is 140+ feet below sea level... the lowest point on Earth. And 37% salt. So you float in the water. Unfortuately we were only there for about an hour, so didn't get a chance to float in the water. But we did take some Great pictures and buy some lovely Dead Sea lotions and Bath Salts.

Jerusalem is a city like no other. You would need at least 3 days to even scratch the surface. Our tour guide used the Bible for reference points, which made it totally cool. You could relate and picture all those stories you heard in Sunday school. It finally makes sense.

We walked through the Garden of Gethsemane, The mount of olives and the Via Dela Rosa...which ironically is now a HUGE Bizzarre of merchants. The place where Jesus was crucified was a hill, turned into a church and surrounded by a shroud of gold decorations. Very different than what you think it will be.

The old temple that Herod built was interesting to see. The old city was not that big at all. The wailing wall, amazing. All that paper stuck in the cracks of prayers of people looking for answers. We were there on the Sabbath, so unfortunately I only have 1 shot of the wall (you're not supposed to take pictures on their holy day).

Jerusalem was a fantastic experience, and everything seems so much clearer. I would like to go back one day and really experience the city for what it's worth. The city that King David was born is not that far away, neither is Bethleham. How cool to go visit Bethleham. 6 miles down the street.

We will return, I'm quite sure.

Petra Adventure

We decided to ditch the trip to Cairo to see the Pyramids and go to Jordan and see Petra. Petra is an old civilization carved out of limestone moutains, just recently voted one of the seven wonders of the world. You take a ferry from Taba Heights over to Aqaba, Jordan. From there you bus 2 hours up into the mountains to the town of Petra. Then you walk through the mountains that have parted through the shifting of the titanic plates within a gorge. Beautiful colors and fantastic views of the city carved out of the mountainside. David and dad tried some authentic turkish coffee.. can't say either of them enjoyed the coffee grinds that were included in the warm beverage of choice. Lots of camels and donkeys.. you start to get used to it! Definately worth the treck up the mountains and the day trip it consumed.

Adventure Egypt 2007

So for New Year's, we headed down to Taba Heights, Egypt. How cool is that?! We stayed with the family at a resort on the Red Sea. From the hotel you could see Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Pretty cool. We ate a lot of Rice, Chicken, Beef and pita bread. Let's just say we were ready to offer the lady that made the fresh nann every night a job at our house! She was fantastic. We sat out by the beach every day we could (if we were not on an excursion) and rang in the new year in style! With authentic Egyptian dancing and festivities. It was a bit cooler than we had thought, but overall, reading a book in the sun on the beach was just what the doctor ordered!