Vacation Blog - Day 8

We’re home now. We got up early yesterday and went over to my parents for breakfast. Mom makes an awesome pancake, and I have to have some every time I’m in town.

The most interesting thing about being in Merkel was staying in town at the Scottish Inns hotel. Typically we stay in Abilene at a La Quinta, but it’s so far to go to check on the dogs. Since we were only staying one night we thought we’d try it out. Make future trips easier. It wasn’t the most awesome motel. Our non-smoking room smelled an awful lot like smoke. I can honestly say though that I’ve stayed in worse Motel 6s.

Well Vaca is over. Thanks for reading along with us.

btw if anyone wants to see all the good pictures from the trip go to…
(for some reason this link only works the second time you click it. so, if you have problems hit it again and see if that works)
Wal-Mart Photo Center

Vacation Blog - Day 7

Little did we know Santa Rosa was such an interesting place. After breakfast we checked out Blue Hole. It’s a spring fed pool 80 feet deep and 60 feet in diameter. It flows at 3,000 gallons per hour and exchanges all the water every six hours. We didn’t spend much time there because Mackenzie just loves water and we wouldn’t let her get in. Looks like it’s time for some swimming lessons.

Santa Rosa is also home to a portion of old Route 66. We saw a pre 1937 billboard that was carved right out of the rock that was beside the road. Very cool except some people took it upon themselves to add to the history by spray painting it. I found it very sad.

Knots In Your Rope

Every time I take a vacation a line from City Slickers comes to mind. Curly (Jack Palance) is talking to Mitch (Billy Crystal) and says you urban types "spend about 50 weeks a year getting knots in your rope, and you figure two weeks up here'll untie 'em for you.” Curly’s point of course is that it won’t. If you live your life as a stressed up buddle of nerves a couple weeks of vacation is not going to help you all that much. This is good advice.

Since Mack was born I’ve bled my work and home life together in an effort to get it all done. It’s just the nature of the beast. Tack the amount of work and the pace M6 moves at on top of my bizarro schedule and you have a recipe for working all the time. This is exactly what I do. I work on weekends, nights, early mornings, while I’m watching Mackenzie. I’m always on the job. To a certain degree that is never going to change. I can’t expect not to get calls and emails while I’m “off” work when I leave the office every day at two. This is the main reason it doesn’t bother me when I have to do an email or phone call for work while I’m on vaca. I don’t imagine I’ll be able to take five consecutive days off without at least making a phone call until 2013. That’s when the ADA work is supposed to be complete.

The question is how do I avoid getting burned out when I’m always running at such a fast pace. How do I avoid getting knots in my rope? I must admit before this vacation I was getting a little run down. The pace is killer. For me I think the answer is get my rest, eat well, exercise a little, and when I’m working work and when I’m off be off. Human beings were not designed to go at it 24/7/365. No one can hold that pace forever. Well maybe Stu can…

Durango: Day 6

We spent the morning hanging out with Kelly and doing a little more shopping. Then early afternoon said goodbye and headed out for home. With Mack we are taking our sweet time about it.

Our first stop was Santa Rosa, NM. It took us a lot longer to get there than I planned for, but we arrived safe and sound with Kay’s excellent driving once again.

Along the way we stopped at Trader Joe’s in Albuquerque. It’s a very well known national grocery store apparently. Insanely cheap prices, and really good quality stuff. Since being home I’ve tried their three buck chuck wine and loved it. Good place. Wish one was in Austin.

Durango: Day 5

Wednesday was another highlight day for me. There were two things I wanted to do while we were in Durango. See Mesa Verde and drive up to Silverton. Of course the big thing is the train from Durango to Silverton, but we’ll have to do that next time. We just couldn’t see spending $75 each with our tight budget.

The drive to Silverton was great, and probably even better than I imagined it. The road winds its way up three different mountain passes with majestic views of even bigger mountains along the way. The day was not all peace and scenic beauty though. Half way up the first pass an engine light came on. I just figured the climbs were a little steep, but we’d make it okay if we just went slowly. Kay was a little more worried though. So, we got out the manual and learned to use the autostick. Kind of a standard for dummies kind of thing the Pacifica is outfitted with. The manual said it was best to use the autostick when climbing so it’s a good thing Kay insisted.

Of course the whole trip I was imagining riding my bike. A few days prior Kelly told me about the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic http://www.ironhorsebicycleclassic.com/ which races the train from Durango to Silverton. It’s 47 miles with 5,700 feet of climbing. I don’t know when, but someday I will do it.

In Silverton we had lunch at High Noon Hamburgers and looked around the shops. The train was there while we were so we took some pictures. It’s a great little town.

That evening we had dinner with Kelly at a nice Italian place, and heading back to our campsite for a fire and S’mores. Unfortunately, it was late when we got back and I got the fire going. Mackenzie was ready for bed. So, while Kay put Mack down I had a beer and watched the fire die.

Durango: Day 4

Tuesday was not a picture friendly day. In the morning the girls shopped in downtown Durango while I did some random surfing at a coffee shop. I ended up doing more work than surfing. I expect that with my job though so no big deal. I seriously doubt I’ll be able to take five consecutive days off without answering a least some phone calls until 2013. That’s when the ADA work for Motel 6 is scheduled to be complete.

That evening Kelly took us to Pagosa Springs. It’s a natural hot springs about an hour east of Durango. It was awesome. We spent about an hour and a half there soaking in water over 100 degrees. If you’re ever in the area I highly recommend it.

Durango: Day 3

Today was very cool for me. We started with a pancake breakfast at Kelly’s. She makes an awesome pancake btw. Then we headed off for Mesa Verde.

I’ve always been fascinated by the cliff dwellings and the disappearance of the people that lived in them. Turns out it didn’t happen as quickly as I thought, but it did happen fairly fast. Over a generation or two they just left all of these elaborate villages they built in the cliffs. Theories for their disappearance range from draught to ritualistic cannibalism decimating the population. We’ll never know as they left no written records, but it is fun to speculate and create stories based on it.

After that we went to an awesome honey store called Honeywell. Very cool shop with all kinds of flavored honeys. We got a bottle of honey wine which I’d never heard of before and a couple bottles of honey.

Killing time before going to supper we took Blla for a little walk and went to a local drive through ecoffee shop called Durango Joe’s.

Last thing of the day we had supper with Kelly and her boyfriend Steve. Gave him the once and he seems to be a really nice guy. Bit of a smart ass which means he fits in perfectly with all of us.

Tomorrow we’re going to explore downtown Durango. Thanks for reading!

Colorado Day Two

We didn’t drive over any mountains, but it took us about eleven hours to get to Durango today. Kay drove the whole way. I shouldn’t have let her do it, but I just hate driving. I won’t let her do that on the way back. That’s just too much for one person.

Today wasn’t that eventful. We drove through lots of very flat country. We did eat at the Jenk’s Café in honor of our friends Marc and Anna.

And of course we did get to Durango and had supper with Kelly!

Vacation Blog - Day 1

We’re on the road to Durango, CO to see our friend Kelly and take a much needed vaca. This is our first vacation since we started our new life without credit cards. I mention this because the cheapest hotel in Durango Kay could find was ninety dollars a night. We thought about camping a few nights to offset the cost and in researching Kay found that KOA has little cabins for only ten dollars more than camping. So, we’re staying at the KOA each night. This cut our lodging costs more than in half!








Today we drove to Lubbock. Seemed like a good half way point. We’ll see if my logic holds up tomorrow. I’m concerned that driving in the mountains might be slower than driving in the flats of west Texas. I’ll tell you all someday about the time


we drove through Maine from upstate New






York. Let me just say if you’re driving in Maine double your time estimates.




Our first adventure was in the front yard. Mackenzie decided today was a good day to see what cactus felt like. Needless to say it did not go well. She got three quills in her hand. After pulling them out and much kissing them better we got on the road.

The next adventure was Bella discovering she could open the cooler. After a couple pieces of ice I convinced her to leave it closed.

Since we were going right by we stopped in Merkel to see my parents for a little bit.



We were doing so well on time I decided we could slide by Tahoka to take some pictures with Mack. She was not nearly as excited as her Daddy about being in Tahoka. The significance of Tahoka is that when we were eighteen my best friend Marc and I were on the way to New Mexico with his Mom when we drove past a sign that said Tahoka. Thinking it was a hilarious name we ran with it. We did this bit all through college. Every email ended with some kind of Tahoka reference. Holy Tahoka Batman. Kiss my white Tahoka. Merry Tahoka! My personnel favorite was one of Marc’s. Ta ho ho ho ka around Christmas time one year.

There will be more from the road tomorrow. The KOA has wif-fi!

Broken

On Tuesday mornings I try to go to a spiritual formation group led by my pastor Keith. Yesterday we were discussing how God speaks to us and I brought up the most powerful time God spoke when He told me to take my current job. It was 2004 I had just gotten married and I was struggling with the decision to accept Alderman’s job offer. I had worked with friends before and it hadn’t gone really well. I needed a job though and was leaning toward taking it. I was extremely hesitant. While driving on Bee Caves God spoke into my heart and said, “Take the job.” It was clear. No questions asked. I tell this back story because I wanted to share something I wrote after church yesterday, but I wanted it to have some context. To make the context complete you should know the decision to take the job with Alderman Architect led directly to my two nervous breakdowns - which led directly to God and my becoming a Christian.

I have been broken by life. Rejoice for today my heart is mended. Not with stitches as if by man. Inadequate sutures holding the two broken halves imperfectly together. The crack still cutting across the pristine surface. It is not the things of man that have healed me. My heart has been made whole by the power of God!

Thanks for reading!

ありがとう (thank you)

Much thanks to my friend Krissie for giving me the great chopsticks pictured above from Japan!