Category Archives: Trips

Vegas Trip

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I posted the pics on Facebook, which makes them much easier to manage. Here’s the link (you don’t need a Facebook account to see them): Vegas Pics on Facebook

The trip was a blast! We had no problems making our flights or getting around on the shuttles and busses there. The first night we stayed at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay, which is normally out of our price range but is offering great deals this summer. It’s a GORGEOUS all-suite hotel that made us feel very out of place, but in a good way. We had a living room, bedroom, huge master bath, and a half bath. The room had 3 TVs – a big plasma in the living room, a smaller CRT in the bedroom, and a small LCD in the bathroom so you could watch from the tub. The master bath offered a giant tub with separate shower. Our room overlooked the Luxor.

Much of the first day involved exploring our hotel and others on the Strip, including Luxor, Excalibur, MGM Grand, New York, New York, Planet Hollywood, and Bellagio. Along the way we stopped in the Coke store and tried 16 different Coke products from around the world, which was a lot of fun. After walking our feet to death, we took a few turns in Mandalay Bay’s lazy river before cleaning up and enjoying FANTASTIC burgers, fries, and shakes at Burger Bar, which is like Fuddrucker’s on steroids.

The next day we took the Deuce (local double-decker bus system) to Stratosphere, a hotel with the tallest tower on the Strip. I rode the vertical-launch ride at the very top, Big Shot, while Jenny hung out on the observation deck. It’s weird to be so high – you’re so high above everything that it’s eerily quiet when the rides aren’t operating. I loved the views as well. Then we rode up to the Golden Nugget and relaxed by and in the pool for a while before enjoying a tasty Asian dinner. Since we stayed there, the Nugget completed a $30 million renovation to their pool, adding a 200,000 gallon aquarium with 5 different kinds of sharks right in the middle of the pool. A clear water slide passes through the middle. You can swim right up to the tank and come within a few inches of the fish, almost making it feel like you’re swimming with them. AWESOME.

Saturday we took a shuttle back to the airport and relaxed a bit before flying home. We returned relaxed, refreshed, and missing our little boy!

Vegas Baby!

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Jenny and I are planning a little trip to Vegas in a few weeks. Our main purposes are relaxation and sightseeing – chilling in the pool, sleeping a lot, checking out the Strip hotels that we missed last time, and maybe a little gambling. Jenny wants to play craps. I might belly up to a poker table for a little while. I think we’ll spend one night at the Golden Nugget to check out their new shark tank. The other night we’ll probably stay somewhere on the Strip but haven’t decided where. Any suggestions? We’re looking for something with personality, comfortable, and reasonably priced, but not a dump, either (no mirrors on the ceiling, thankyouverymuch). We’re considering the MGM Grand, Monte Carlo, The Mirage, New York New York, and others. Due to the depressed economy and drop in travel, the Vegas hotels are offering great deals.

I definitely want to visit Stratosphere, the tallest Vegas hotel and one of the tallest in the world. The top of the hotel has an observation deck plus three different thrill rides. One is aptly called Insanity – The Ride and hangs its riders over the edge and spins them right round, baby, right round about 900 feet above the Strip. I LOVE thrill rides, but this video even scares me:


Insanity On The Stratosphere – Click here for the most popular videos

Secret Trip to Granbury

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Sorry it’s been so long. I’m on “normal” schedule right now, waking up in the morning and going to bed at night. Strange as it might seem, it’s harder to blog this way because there’s always something else going on.

Anyway, our secret trip was a blast! As many of you already knew, our destination was Granbury, a small town about 1.5 hours southwest of the DFW area. After dropping Brenden off with my parents, we started with a donut breakfast in a park in Irving and then drove to Glen Rose. Since we’d made good time, we took a detour to visit Dinosaur Valley State Park, which has fossilized dinosaur tracks in the riverbed. Some were easy to spot while others were easy to miss if you weren’t looking hard.

Then we hit Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, a drive-through animal park with about 65 species of antelope/deer-type critters, giraffes, emus, ostriches, cheetahs, and rhinos. From our open-air fan we got to feed many of the animals, some by tossing and some by hand. The giraffes and ostriches used their long necks to stick their heads far into the van and all up in your business, so you really had to watch your cup of animal food or they would try to steal it all.

After Fossil Rim we headed to Granbury and hit D’Vine Wine, a great winery that offers both premade wine for sale or tasting (we did both) and the chance to make your own wine in batches of 20-30 bottles. They offered several excellent wines, some of which they enhanced with fruit nectar to create fascinating flavor combinations.

Next we checked into our bed & breakfast, Angel of the Lake near Lake Granbury. Owned by a fun Australian couple, it’s a luxurious and very comfortable B&B on a beautiful property at a reasonable price. Our room, Gabriel’s Room, included blue marble, a jacuzzi tub with separate shower, king-size bed, and free M&Ms. How can you not love a place that gives you free M&Ms? Judy the innkeeper also provided us with a delicious 2-person birthday cake, which we enjoyed with some peach-flavored chardonnay from D’Vine. Breakfast was delicious, which meant I drastically overstuffed myself Thursday morning, but it was all good.

Finally we hit Bluff Dale Vineyards, about 15 miles west of Granbury up on a hill among beautiful scenery. They also had some excellent wines that focused more on the grapes and craft of winemaking rather than trying to add flavors from other fruits. If we were to open a winery someday, we’d want it to be similar to Bluff Dale – very casual and relaxed, with plenty of space for people to hang out, talk, enjoy a meal with friends, and listen to live music sometimes. After Bluff Dale we shopped a bit in the Granbury Town Square before enjoying some excellent barbecue at Chop N Block on the way home. I took lots of pictures and hope to post them soon. I’m now working on my new MacBook, so I want to learn iPhoto and use it to create a gallery for you. Check back soon!

Vacation is Here!

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Every year I use vacation days to take off a large chunk of time in the second half of October. In 2005 we went to Seattle and Vancouver. In 2006 we took a cruise to the southern Caribbean. Last year we spent a week at Disney World. This year our situation is obviously much different, with a new member of the family, new Bible studies, and a new role as a CARES team. So I’m still off duty for the next 10 days or so starting Monday morning, but we’ve altered our plans compared to previous years.

First, we have our normal Monday night men’s/women’s Bible studies and our every-other-Tuesday home group at our place. On one of those days we plan to vote early for the Nov election. Wednesday morning we plan to drop Brenden and the dog off at Grammy’s house and go on an overnight adventure. The location and itinerary are a surprise for Jenny, but I’m very excited and think we’ll have a great time. All I’ve told her is that we’re driving, staying at a bed and breakfast, and spending some time outside. Email me if you want the details.

Thursday is my birthday, my 30th. I’ll address that issue in another post. =) We plan to meet at Crystal’s Pizza in Irving at 7:00 to celebrate like 10-year-olds in case you’d like to join us. Friday night is our CARES Fall Festival, a fun carnival for all the CARES teams, families, and apartment managers. Saturday is our monthly CARES breakfast. Sunday morning Lisa and Phillip are dedicating Reagan at church. So we’ll be plenty busy as usual, but at least I’ll have some time off work to relax and play.

More Random Facts

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Here are 10 more random facts about me:

  1. I started at Southwest about 2 1/2 months before September 11. With no fulltime work experience, practically no seniority, and a job (tech writer) that many in the IT business don’t value highly, I probably would have been out the door at any other airline in the country. But Southwest chose not to lay anyone off, earning my lifelong loyalty with that one action.
  2. So far I’ve visited 10 different foreign countries: Barbados, Belize, Canada, Cayman Islands, France, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Netherland Antilles (St. Martin/St. Maarten), and the UK.
  3. If you and I are grabbing a quick meal together, there’s a good chance I’ll suggest Chipotle. Try the chicken burrito with chili-corn salsa. Mmm…
  4. I think I am addicted to sugar. I crave it. Jenny got me a 1lb bag of M&Ms earlier this week. It’s already gone.
  5. I enjoy horror movies, even though I know they are terrible and I shouldn’t like them because they are so bloody and violent. Being scared is fun every now and then. Generally I have to watch them alone because they don’t work well for Date Night.
  6. When I find out someone smokes, I instantly lose a significant amount of respect for them. I wish the government would impose a nationwide ban on smoking within public buildings and triple the cigarette tax. Then they could use the tax revenue to help people quit.
  7. If I couldn’t be a dispatcher anymore, I would want to work in Schedule Planning, the department that hammers out Southwest’s flight schedule.
  8. The way our contract is set up in terms of pay and seniority, the longer I stay in Dispatch, the less likely I am to leave. Some call this the “golden handcuffs”.
  9. I constantly debate with myself whether to save, spend, or give away our disposable income.
  10. My sister and I used to catch jellyfish in sand buckets and bury them on the beach. I don’t know why that seemed like a good idea, but it was fun.