The Shack

Ok...I had to tell you, I just finished reading a book called 'The Shack (where tragedy confronts eternity). This was one of the most incredible books I've ever read, besides the Bible of course. On of my good friends, LaDonna Holtclaw, bought it for me because she said I had to read it....well, she was right. I truly believe this book was God inspired. It made me open my mind up to think of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit just a little differently - in a good way.

Here's what it reads on the back cover "In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant THE SHACK wrestles with the timeless question: Where is God in a world filled with unspeakable pain?' The answer's Mack (main character) gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You'll want everyone you know to read this book!

So, if you have some time and you're looking for a good book that will grab you and take you to a new place, please read 'The Shack'. Author WM. Paul Young.

Our Getaway to Santa Fe, NM

Wow…Ed and I just had a wonderful long weekend in Santa Fe, NM. We had no idea what to expect nor did we have any plans…we just knew we needed time away together!!

We flew in Thursday night, me from Chicago (Oracle team meeting) and Ed from San Francisco (AT&T meeting) -- you can kind of see why we needed time together. Our trip started perfect as we both arrived into Albuquerque only 5 minutes apart. Ed found me first - what a nice surprise since I was actually expecting him to land about 1 hour after me. We got our luggage, picked up our rental car and headed off to Santa Fe.

After our hour long drive, we decided we were both really tired and simply wanted a nice dinner and to call it an early night. We found a great restaurant, ‘The Old House’ inside the Eldorado Hotel & Spa across the street from our hotel. We sat next to big roaring fire, drank nice wine and the food was just incredible. Great combinations of flavors and the beef tenderloin melted in your mouth.

Friday morning we both had to work some so we didn’t start ‘splorin’ until around 2 pm however, first we had to have lunch. We heard ‘The Shed’ was famous for their Mexican creative cooking and yep, that was true. Apparently New Mexico is well known for their chili peppers and put them in practically everything.

CHILI PEPPERS

After lunch we started our browsing tour through the Downtown Plaza in Santa Fe. One of the first things we came across was the Miracle Staircase found in the Loretto Chapel. This is a beautiful freestanding staircase rising in a double spiral to the choir loft. Each section is perfectly fitted in a groove--not a nail being used in its construction. There is no central pole, no wall attachment, and no sign of a nail or screw--just a few wooden pegs. It is thought that the unknown carpenter was none other than St. Joseph, in whose honor the Sisters had received Communion every Wednesday that he might assist them in building a staircase.

MIRACLE STAIRCASE

Next...the jewelry stores! Come to find out Santa Fe is rated #4 in the country with the most jewelry stores concentrated in one area. I’m not sure about 1. San Francisco, 2. New York, or 3. Charlotte, NC but I can tell you – every other store here was a jewelry store. This was actually a good thing because Ed and I had decided to look for wedding rings on this trip. In the first jewelry store we found an absolutely BEAUTIFUL ring. In fact, we weren’t sure if we really didn’t want THIS ring but gosh, the sales people were like Sales Vultures!!! I have never felt so pressured in all my life. I think they thought since we were from Dallas we had money to burn and they were there to help us spend it (later we learned that Dallasites are big shoppers there and if you tell them you’re from Dallas, you’re automatically put into the ‘rich’ category!) I was surprised they actually gave Ed a pretty good price on this ring but it almost seems a bit ‘gaudy’ to both of us. And…I might be afraid my finger would be taken off if someone decided they REALLY wanted it! Finally, we got out of that store alive and with all our money and decided to continue our ring-shopping excursion. Eventually we found a ring with a style that both Ed and I really liked but in the end, decided we would have our ring made for us. So, now to find a Jeweler...

WE LIKED THE RING ON THE LEFT...THE BIG ONE!

LARGEST TURQUOISE EVER FOUND - 437,000 KARATS
VALUED AT NEARLY $4 MILLION

It was now dark and getting colder so we decided to head off to the movies. We found a theater playing the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, and sat down for 2 hours of non-stop action-packed 007. Wow…we were worn out at the end of that! Time to head back to the hotel and call it a day.

Saturday…all play and no work today! We’re getting out of town to tour the country and what a FABULOUS day this turned out to be. We’re heading out to the Bandelier National Monument and again, we had no idea of what to expect…everything was surprise! Probably the best part of the day was during our drive when we spotted a blue sign that read ‘Lookout’. Wow…we had to find out what that meant so we followed it just like we were headed down the Yellow Brick Road. At first, we thought the sign was misleading but THEN…we came to the top of the world…or at least what appeared to be anyhow. We were on top of this mountain overlooking a majestic view of other mountains and valleys with waterfalls and the Rio Grand River running through it. I tried to take pictures to capture the beauty but I think I missed it. I don’t have the words or the pictures to describe the beauty, calmness or the peace we felt there. And in addition to that…Ed and I were there all by our selves. It was like we were on top of the world…just us!!! We were running around like kids playing on the rocks and taking pictures. It was SOO much fun.

SELF PORTRAIT AT THE 'LOOKOUT'

RIO GRANDE RIVER

ANOTHER SELF PORTRAIT AT THE 'LOOKOUT'

Ok..Now time to move on as the clock was ticking. We finally arrived at Bandelier National Monument. We paid our $12 per car fee and drove the 3 miles to the Visitor Center. We began our 1 ¼ mile tour of the Frijoles (free-HOH-lace) Canyon to see the cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Pueblo people that dates back more than 10,000 years. [Wow…this was totally cool! This took about an hour or so and we had the most incredible weather. We truly felt as if God’s hand was blessing each second of our trip because it was so perfect!]

BANDELIER NATIONAL PARK

ENTERING THE PARK

LISA CRAWLING INTO THE ANCIENT CAVE

ED TOUCHING THE TOP OF THE CAVE
IT'S BLACK BECAUSE OF THE FIRE SMOKE

BAT CAVE

After this, we quickly drove through the mountains AND the snow over to the Valley Grande where two massive volcanic eruptions more than 1 million years ago covered this area hundreds of feet deep with flows of tuff (compacted volcanic ash). The volcano then collapsed creating a caldera over 14 miles. The tuff was over 1000 feet deep in some places and airborne ash from the eruptions is found as far away as Iowa, Nebraska and Texas. By the way…this eruption was over 500 times greater than the 1980 Mt. St. Helen’s eruptions. Can you believe that?!?!

SNOW AT 8,600 FEET

CALDERA (ONCE THE VOLCANO)

BEAUTIFUL SUNSET LEAVING THE PARK

Now, at this point…we were starving. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast because we were too busy ‘splorin’. We decided to find and drive down Canyon Road, the very famous Art Gallery District with more galleries than one could ever imagine. The waiter from the ‘The Old House’ told us that we should try a restaurant called ‘Geronimo’ on this street. Good Golly Miss Molly, we found it and none to soon as I could eat a horse I was so hungry. Well, I didn’t actually eat a horse, how about an elk? As it turned out, Elk was their signature dish. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not much, NO, let’s face it, I’m not at all a ‘Game meat’ person but for some reason, the waiter described this dish with such passion and conviction, I had to try it. I was apprehensive since I was sooo hungry…buy hey, here goes nothing! Let me tell you IT WAS DELISH! I loved it!!! Once again, we’re sitting by a fire, drinking nice wine, eating decadent food and loving life. (See...I told you, every minute was perfect!).

Sunday morning we were up early as there were still things to see before we left. We wanted to drive around the Downtown Plaza to check out some of the other old buildings and churches. Plus Ed wanted to see the College of Santa Fe which is affiliated with the Christian Brothers University, the college Ed attended. We finished up by seeing everything we had mapped out and just in time to head back to Albuquerque to catch our flight home.

ED EATING ICE CREAM AT THE PLAZA BAKERY

I must say --- this was one perfect trip! You don’t get many of these in life and this was certainly one for the record books.

Thank you Father for such a wonderful time with Ed. We are truly appreciative of all that you do for us!

xoxo
Lisa

Speeding to Cologne

Off to Cologne at around 200 mph!

Yep, we finally made it to Cologne..and I might add it was not cheap. It cost $61 Euro one-way - $122 Euro round trip. I was thinking it would cost around $150 US dollars. Nope, I wrong. I was $220 round trip US dollars. We looked at each other to decide if we really wanted to spend this much money and we both said 'yes, let's do it!' So off we went.

It was worth it! The ride alone, at 200 mph, was great. On our 1 1/2 hour trip there, we were traveling backwards - remember the Southwest Airlines seats that sat backwards to the rest of the plane..same type feeling. This took a little while to get used to...kind of made your head and stomach feel a bit odd but after some time, we were fine. The German countryside was absolutely beautiful. Little villages along the way, a couple pumpkin patches, of course, the big churches and finally, the Grand Finale...The Cologne Cathedral. As were coming into Cologne, I'm looking around taking pictures and all of a sudden...I couldn't believe this structure we were coming up on. I think my jaw must have touched the floor. We have found the Cologne Cathedral. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!!

We walked out of the train station to come face to face with the cathedral and had to just stand there a second and take it in. It was magnificent! It was so tall! It was so ornate! It was so old! It was majestic!! I had no idea this was the cathedral that everyone kept talking about. What a great surprise. Anyhow, we had to take several pictures and then check out the inside - and the inside was just as grand as the outside. And so much history. I had to buy the big coffee-table book because I couldn't take a picture that would do it justice.


To see more and read a little history, click on this link http://www.sacred-destinations.com/germany/cologne-cathedral.htm


Cologne Cathedral is the greatest Gothic cathedral in Germany and has been Cologne's most famous landmark for centuries. Once the tallest building in the world, Cologne Cathedral still boasts the world's largest church façade. The cathedral's main treasure is a golden reliquary containing the remains of the Three Magi of Christmas story fame. These relics and other treasures have made Cologne Cathedral a major pilgrimage destination for centuries. Cologne Cathedral stands on the site of a 4th century Roman temple, followed by a square church known as the "oldest cathedral" commissioned by Maternus, the first Christian bishop of Cologne. A second church built on the site, the "Old Cathedral," was completed in 818.

I thought this was TOTALLY cool! Below is a Knight..and is he SMALL! Only about 4 1/2 feet tall.

Had to include a picture of Valerie and I in front of the Cologne train station.

This little lady that did not speak a lick of English. She was working at the souvienger shop Valerie purchased her beer mugs from --- she was so darn cute!

And of course, Dirk is popular there because that's where he's from!!!

Lost in Frankfurt

Ok...I know I'm going to get this sleeping thing down before I leave! I went to bed at 11:30 pm and was wide-awake at 3:30 am - not to fall back to sleep until 5 am or so. Actually, I made use of the time and posted yesterdays blog.

Finally got up at 9:00 am with big plans however, we didn't get started until 12:00 noon due to getting up later and moving hotels. Oh yea, we switched hotels and moved into the Westin downtown this morning. Gosh, this is much more like what we're used to. A larger room with HEAVENLY beds!!! I'm truly appreciative that I got to experience the others but I'm ready for something a little more normal now.

Our plans included taking the ICE train over to Cologne (1 1/2 hour train ride that that travels around 200 mph). Because we got such a late start and Valerie had a business call starting at 6:00 pm, we felt like we didn't had enough time so we went 'splorin' on our own, just walking around the city of Frankfurt. We did ok at first...we found this great open-air market - kind of like a Farmers Market - full of people. I'm assuming this was their lunchtime and that's why there were so many people in the middle of the week. Anyhow, you could buy all kinds of things there; raw meat you would take home and cook, lunch, a glass or wine or even Champaign, fresh flowers, or a pretzel from the bratwurst man (see his contraption that holds his food AND his umbrella).

Loved the flowers!

Open-Air market

After wandering around for a while we decided to head over and see the Opera House. We found this with no problem however; it certainly wasn't what we expected. By the way...check out the wedding dresses in this storefront window we passed. Looks like I'll be buying my wedding dress in the States!

Opera House

Ok...got that part down! Now, we're on to see the old Frankfurt buildings...we have a map, we should be fine... right? Wrong! However, as we casually wander down the street, we come across the cutest little cactus I had to share it with you. So we finally come to the conclusion that we missed the street we were supposed to turn on because we're just chatting away. No problem, we'll turn at the street our hotel is on and take a new way. This wasn't a bad idea because see the building and church we came across. Here's where it gets tricky. We get down into this really yuppie cool part of town and totally started window-shopping - no more chatting this because this is getting serious now - only kidding! Anyhow, the streets start twisting and turning and we can't find our place on the map...AND it starts to rain. No problem...remember, Valerie has the umbrellas...we're in good shape. We don't really worry about it because we're pretty confident we'll find our way back to the hotel and it's actually really nice window shopping in the rain. Lot's of great things to see. Don't want to miss anything. In fact, here is pretty hip little bakery we come across.

Next is the funny part! As we're walking down the street, next to pretty major road...Valerie gets SPLASHED by a car...and I don't mean a little splash...it was a nice sized splash. In fact, I get some of the splash too but not like she does. Oh my gosh...I was practically rolling on the ground laughing. Trust me..she didn't think it was nearly as funny as I did BUT she did admit that if I got the splash...she would have thought it was just as humorous! Oh well, life goes on..with wet or dry jeans!

It's a good thing Valerie had written down the address of the hotel because if they couldn't speak it or even know of the Westin..at least they knew where the street was. So, we found some Police officers on traffic duty and they knew where the street was and as it turned out...we were about one block away.

What a great afternoon of fun and excitment it was!!!

Tomorrow, we plan to get up early and go to Cologne. We have no plans there..we're just going to walk out to the train station and see where our feet take us. What a great way to go 'splorin'!

Until tomorrow.

My day on the Rhine River

Well, I finally slept last night...for the most part. I was wide-awake at 5;00 am and so was Valerie so we got up and started moving around. She started on email because she had a meeting all day today and I read a magazine, switched between CNN and the BBC (that's the only English channel we get in this hotel) and then decided to book a 1/2 day riverboat tour of the Rhine River. I was a little apprehensive because it was only 61 degrees and rainy outside. Oh well, I'm in Germany and I need to see what I can see while I'm here...so off I went.

They picked me up at 10:30 am from my hotel and then me and about 15 other tourists from around the world, boarded the tour bus for a 45-minute drive to our first stop. Of course, I made a friend even before getting on the bus..his name was Glad, short for Gladimear. He is originally from Russia but now lives in Canada with his wife of 35 years. He was over here for work, w/o his wife, so we ended up hanging out together for most of the tour. However, he was a little too chatty for me. He grew up in Europe and wasn't trying to hang on every word the tour guide was saying - like I was because this was old news to him - but it was nice to have a friend to talk with anyway.

The first thing we saw was the Niederwald monument near Rurdesheim.

We didn't stay long as we only had a scheduled stop of 15 minutes and then we were on to our next sight. No running behind....must keep on schedule! If you know me at all...you know this was quit a challenge for me! Actually, this is where Glad came in handy. He is an engineer and did things exactly like the book.

Now the real fun begins...we took a ski lift down to the village of RheinuferstraBe. The ride down was incredible - check this out...see us coming down to the river.

Now we're coming into the little village --- which by the way was so 'stinkin' cute as my friend Monica would say! Here we are...my first castle of this trip.

We'll we've came back down to earth and I think we've gone through a time warp. This city looks like it's about 500 years and oh my gosh...is this place cute!!! This is exactly what you think of in the German storybooks.

In this picture below you can see the painting on the wall - yea, those aren't all windows on the bottom half closest to you. Here's another one that's just TOTALLY cute!

Again, I can't post all the very cool buildings I took pictures of. Just know there were many of them.

Next we head to lunch in this cute little town. Here is picture of some of the tour group. Glad is the guy sitting closest to you. By the way...can you see the little Chinese girls on the right, in the back...the one with the glasses? Anyhow, I got to tell you, I just feel in love with her. We left here to catch the riverboat but had to wait for it to get there - in the rain. Well, thank goodness that Valerie remembered the umbrellas because I was one of the few to have one. Anyhow, this is where we all 'bonded'. I quickly met another guy (without umbrella) Rod, from Las Vegas, and the two Chinese girls because we all huddled up, with our arms wrapped around each other, under my little umbrella. Anyhow, she would talk to me, in very broken English and with the accent... and I tried with all my might to understand her but found it very difficult. She was just seemed so sweet. She turned out to by kind of special in my heart for some reason. Anyhow, I did learn that in China the man wears his wedding ring on the right hand and the woman wears it on the left hand. I asked because here in Germany, I've noticed so many people with their wedding rings on their right hand. I got to find out the German tradition.

So now, we're on the boat and probably float by 15 castles or so. They tell you the history of each one over the load speaker, but there are many people on the boat, sitting around tables just watching and talking so you really can't hear what they're saying. You take lots of pictures and buy the book giving the history..which I did! Here's another castle....

And yet another castle in the background. By the way...I was standing in the rain, on the boat, taking this picture.

So, here's another one of my favorite moments...these two German ladies! I ended up sitting at their table, on the boat, along with the tour guide (who speaks both German and English) and he helped me have a little conversation with them and as it turned out...they were on a tour just like me. I thought these ladies were so darn cute!!! Not only were there many castles, there were many churches too!

Here's another church...

And yet another church...actually I think there were two churches in this picture. One of the right and one on the left.

And to round out the day...what else would be more appropriate but a wine tasting? We headed back to the same restaurant that we had lunch in via the bus now, and drank some of the local wine. Some of it was sweet wine, which I normally don't like but I did like this. However, not enough to buy it. I did buy a nice bottle of the white..very dry, and I'm going to break this open when I get home! Anyway...here's me in my 'Queen' chair! Gotta love it...I did!

Anyhow, that's it for now. Off to bed!