San Antonio December 2004

This was a quick - we just have to get away - over night trip to San Antonio. I had just started working at a new company and J had just finished his second semester of school. It was a rough semester. We decided that we wanted to have a quick little getaway before we got caught up in the holidays.

So, we made a quick escape to San Antonio. We stayed at our favorite hotel chain, Embassy Suites. (We like it because there are TWO rooms. He can stay up late and watch tv without bugging me while I read or, usually, go to sleep.) We made a reservation for dinner at this really nice place on the Riverwalk called Biga on the Banks. It was very nice - we had a lovely table by the river. They had tables outside but it was freezing. (Sometimes it gets cold in Texas in the winter).

We got there with about an hour or two to rest up before our reservation. So we didn't do much that day. But the next day we did get up and walk around the Riverwalk. When in San Antonio, you can't really leave without seeing the Alamo.
I've been to San Antonio many times but I am always compelled to stop here. The history of the place is just amazing. Then, of course there's the Riverwalk itself. There are so many shops and restaurants. The next time we come back (and I know we'll be back), I want to stay at the Munger Hotel. It's supposed to be haunted. Who can resist that?
Not too far from here is the place where we had brunch. It was at a place called Mi Tierra. Oh kids.. if you are ever in San Antonio, this is the place to stop for Mexican food. They are open 24 hours and they are busy. They serve breakfast all day (I think) and they have an in house bakery where you can get Mexican treats. I'd come all the way down here just for that!
After the feeding, we climbed back in the car and headed back to reality. It was a nice little interlude..

Montana September 2004

This was a very quick vacation to Missoula, Montana over Labor Day weekend. Why Missoula, you ask? We were invited to a wedding of a very good friend. In fact, J was actually in the wedding party.

We got there the night before the wedding and stayed at a Holiday Inn. We had to fly from Dallas to Salt Lake City and then take a puddle jumper to Missoula.
We had a few hours between the wedding and the reception so we drove around a little. This river went right through the middle of the town.
The reception was held at the snow bowl, which was a rustic ski resort up in the mountains.
It was very pretty up there. No snow yet. One of the girls was walking around up on the trail and she actually saw a bear. It was a great party. This place was actually a ski lodge so there were rooms in a wing to the right.

As I said, this was a really short trip. We flew up the night before the wedding, stayed for the wedding day and flew out the next day. The wedding was beautiful. Missoula was equally so. It's a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.

New Mexico - Colorado May 2004

For our vacation this year, we decided to do something different. J wanted to do a road trip and that sounded fun so I plotted our way around on the atlas. The route was this: We headed out to Santa Fe, NM through Amarillo. We spent a couple of days there and then drove up to Taos. From there we went to Denver, Colorado. Then back home by way of Kansas and Oklahoma. Neither of us had been to any of these places. So we rented a car, loaded her up and headed out.
We stopped outside Amarillo for an old fashioned picnic just like the ones we had with our parents. This was one of the nicest rest stops I've ever seen. It had a really nice pavilion type building that had really clean restrooms. After a relaxing lunch and a nice rest, we got back on the road and headed for Santa Fe.
Once we crossed into New Mexico, the landscaped changed a bit. There were more mountains. The scenery was beautiful! Onward. We hit Santa Fe later in the evening and checked in to the Courtyard by Marriott. They had a really nice indoor pool that we had all to ourselves. It was a nice relaxing swim after a long drive. The next day we took a city tour around downtown Santa Fe.
This is in the Plaza. It's the Palace of Governors, the oldest consecutive use government owned building in the U.S. To sell their goods, the people must be Native Indians and their goods must be made by them or someone in their family. They draw lots daily for a spot. There are 69 spots and 300 families.
This is St Francis of Assisi Cathedral. The Cathedral was built in the 1800s by Archbishop Lemy. No building in Santa Fe can be taller than this building.
Along Canyon Rd are lots of statues like this. This particular one can be had for a mere $125,000.
This one was really cool. It's a person that looks like they are soaking in a tub and that tub is the cement sidewalk.
They had lots of these fences. It's a coyote fence. It's made of pinon logs that have thorns and it keeps the coyotes out.
This was the coolest story. This is in the Loretto Chapel, which was patterned after Sainte Chappelle in Paris. It was built in 1873 as a chapel for the Sisters of Loretto. Note - this spiral staircase does two complete 360 degree turns with no visible support. So the story is - they were nearly finished in 1878 when they realized the stairs to the choir loft wouldn't fit. the sisters made a novena to St. Joseph. They were rewarded when a mysterious carpenter appeared astride a donkey and offered to build a staircase. Armed with only a hammer, saw and a T-square, he constructed the staircase by soaking the slats of wood to curve them and held them together with pegs. Then he disappeared without collecting his fee.
After Santa Fe, we headed out on back roads to Taos. Check out the mountains. That's snow! The mountain range is Sangre de Cristos. We drove through Kit Carson National Forest as well. That was really pretty.
There wasn't really a whole lot to Taos if you weren't a skier. We got there around 3-ish and checked into our hotel. (The Best Western - which was small but nice and clean.) We noticed that there were some housing developments going up so we drove around looking at houses. By 8:30 pm, the town was closed. Shops were closed, eating establishments (outside of Pizza Hut or KFC) were closed. We finally found this diner that looked a little scroungy but they were hopping. The food was good as well. I had a chili burger - it was green chili like the peppers they use in relleno. Yummy!

We only stayed one night in Taos. The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel - which was really good, especially since it was free. Then we headed out to Colorado.
Here we are leaving New Mexico....
and entering Colorado.

Our first stop in Colorado was Manitou Springs. My gift to J for his birthday was the train ride up to the top of Pike's Peak.
We took the cog railway up the mountain (the railway was built in 1889). It's one of the few remaining in the U.S. At the top of the mountain, it was 20 degrees. That's actual snow behind J. The views from the top were just amazing. It was so cold that we had to go in to the gift shop and get a coffee to warm up. That was a really long line. We were at 14,000 feet - well above the tree line.
America the Beautiful was written by a teacher - inspired by her trip up the mountain to Pike's Peak.
This is the trip down the mountain. We just came from around that curve. The drop offs were amazing and scary! We passed a depot looking building at 10,012 feet. It's a shelter from which they pick up hikers. Towards the bottom, where the tracks separate, there used to be a hotel but it burned down. That was a very cool experience.

We headed on to Denver and checked into the Embassy Suites. We love this hotel. You get TWO rooms! We have separation. Don't get me wrong, we love one another but after 7 days in a car together, it's nice to have a little alone time. While in Denver, we drove out to Estes Park. Until my Uncle mentioned it, I'd never heard of it.
It was BEAUTIFUL! Estes Park is at the foot of Rocky Mountain National Park. This is also the location for the Stanley Hotel, which is the hotel in which the Shining was shot.
"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

What was really a let down was that there was a Taco Bell right in front of it. (we ate lunch there.)

So we drove up into Rocky Mountain National Park. These are two of the most amazing views.
Doesn't it look like a post card?
So that's snow blowing off the mountain tops. Amazing!
This is me & my cousin. He goes to school here at Regis University. That was one of the other reasons we chose to stop in Denver. He showed us around the campus - which was very nice. He was there on scholarship for playing soccer.

The next day it was time to head home. We drove from Colorado East through Kansas. There is nothing in Kansas but wheat.
Seriously - this is Kansas. Miles and miles of this. We spent the night in some town. I wanted to drive down to Dodge City but by the time we'd have gotten there, we wouldn't have had time to do anything. Maybe another time.

The next day was "going home" day. Here we are crossing the state line from Kansas in to Oklahoma.
And then, we cross into Texas. Home again, home again jiggety jig.
That was a nice vacation. There's no better way to see the country than to drive. It's really nice when you have the time to pull over and take it all in. While we definitely enjoyed ourselves, we were glad to be home.

Rome November 2003

I was goofing around on the Internet one day and checking out what was on AA.Vacations and I came across a really good deal to Rome (an offer I couldn't refuse, even). I mentioned it to J and he said - we should look into that. We had enough money saved so the only thing stopping us was vacation time.

We checked our vacation time but found I was limited so I looked at the cost of going over Thanksgiving weekend. My grandmother had passed away this time last year and nobody wanted to do anything that would remind them of that. My mother was going to Phoenix, J's parents were going to Houston and J's sister was going camping with her in-laws. So we booked a trip to Rome over Thanksgiving week.

There's no direct flight from Dallas so we stopped in Zurich and went on to Rome from there. We flew Swiss Air for that last leg and scoffed at the fact that they SOLD you snacks on the plane. Were they kidding?

We stayed at a hotel recommended to us by friends, the Colonna Palace. It was a very nice hotel.
The room was much bigger and much nicer that the one in Paris. The location was great as well. It wasn't near a Metro stop but then Rome didn't really have a great Metro system. Every time they would dig to build a metro line, they'd find ruins.

After a little rest, we went out walking around near our hotel. Right behind our hotel was the Pantheon.
Rome has two kinds of history - the Cesar kind of Rome and then the Vatican kind of Rome. The structures were a mixture of both. This building, for example, had an inscription relating to Marcus Agrippa across the top.
We didn't want to get too lost so we headed back to our hotel, which was all lit up at night.
The next day we decided on a city tour to see what was what. On the way to the tour stop, we came across Trevi Fountain. "Three coins in a fountain..." Yeah, I don't know the rest.
We also passed the Piazza de Republicca. It's amazing the mix of architecture. We were in awe just walking around. We took the city tour, which was cool. By the end, it was pretty dark and it had also started to rain. They let us off on a street that was "close to our hotel". "All you do is go right through there". Apparently, that was not "all you do". We got so turned around walking through the streets in the dark - it was not very pleasant. We finally found a main street that we recognized and were able to figure out how to go from the map.

One of the places we went was the Colosseum. You know, the place where the Romans would throw the Christians in with the lions and see who won? I can't believe it's still standing.
We went in and walked around and were just astounded that we were actually standing in a place that other people had stood thousands of years ago.
Here's a view of inside the Colosseum.
You couldn't go down to the floor and you couldn't wander around inside any of the tunnels that led to the floor but you could walk around up top. It was really cool.
From one of the windows of the Colosseum you can see the Arch of Constantine It was erected to commemorate the victory of Constantine I over Maxentius in 312.
I believe this is Palatine Hill, one of the Seven Hills of Rome.

Breakfast was included with our hotel and it was up on the top floor of the hotel. The food was not bad (they had cake!) and the view was awesome.
The dome in the back is St. Peter's basilica, which is where we were headed today. We found that it was easier to walk where we wanted to go rather than take a cab. The subway only had two lines and neither of them took you anywhere close to where you wanted to go. Walking was really a good idea. Did I mention they had cake at breakfast?
This is the Tiber river. It basically divides the city in half.
Piazza de San Pietro - St. Peter's Basilica. This is the heart of the Roman Catholic Faith. The Pope lives over to the right. St. Peter (THE St. Peter who was one of the twelve apostles to Jesus) is buried in under the basilica. The Obelisk (column) in the center was brought to Rome by Gaius Caligula Cesar from Heliopolis in Egypt.
This gallery of 140 Saints surrounds the Piazza San Pietro. Over the front of the Basilica is the statue of the Resurrected Jesus. He's flanked by the 12 apostles. In place of Judas Iscariot is John the Baptist.

We went into the Sistine Chapel (no photos please) but we could take some in the hall. It was amazing. In the gallery of maps, for example, they had all of these beautiful paintings.
This was one of the paintings on the ceiling. The colors were so rich - just beautiful. Unfortunately, there was no stopping. It was like cattle being herded through. Everyone kept shuffling along.

We found this tour that would take you to the top of St Peter's. It was not for the faint of heart as there were a lot of stairs. We're young, we thought - let's do it! We took an elevator to a certain level and then we climbed some stairs. That wasn't so bad.
Here we are at the top of St. Peter's Basilica - or so we thought. (Side note: That moron behind J actually tried to climb up on the walls where these frescoes were painted so that he could take a photo over the fence.) Little did we know, these were just the appetizer stairs.
These were the stairs they warned us about. 320 steps in this corridor so narrow that there was no where to turn around. Once you started up, you were committed. These were one person wide and there was no landing or anything so that you could stop and rest. But the time we got to the top, we thought we were going to fall over. I don't think we could speak for about 15 minutes.
It looks like I'm smiling but I think it's delirium. The view was beautiful! You could see all of Rome. It was like being up in the clouds.
After the climb down, we went into the Vatican. The first thing we saw was the Pieta by Michelangelo. He did this sculpture when he was 25 years old. This is the only sculpture to carry his signature.
Then we went down below to see the tomb of St Peter. You couldn't really get too close but you could see pretty well. Unbelievable!
After the visit to the Vatican, we had lunch on the bank of the Tiber river. We had a pannini. It was a sandwich that had meat and cheese (like salami or something) and it was heated up by this flat iron. Very good. Also Pringles were a big hit there. Those little cans were everywhere.

Normally when we went by the Pantheon, it was closed but this time it was actually open.
The inscription across the top says "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, built as consul for the third time". Inside the Pantheon is the tomb of Umberto I, King of Italy and the tomb of Raphael.

Right around the corner from here is the Piazza della Minerva.
13th Century Santa Maria Chiesa Sopra Minerva. The body of St. Catherine of Sienna lies under the alter. Her head is actually in Sienna. The obelisk dates back to the 6th Century. The elephant was designed by Bernini for Pope Alexander VIII.
The Fontana di Moro - 1576 in Piazza Novana. We had pizza near here that had an egg in the middle. Sounds weird - but most tasty.
All around town were these odd drinking fountains. They are fed from the aqueducts and the water was cold. A nice thirst quencher.
Palazzo Venezia. This monument to Vittorio Emanuel was built in the late 1800s in honor of the first King of Italy. It houses the Eternal Flame over the tomb of the unknown soldier. The Italians refer to this as the typewriter.
The ruins of the Roman Forum. I guess this is where all the action was during the days of Cesar. This is as amazing as the Colosseum. Over 2000 years old.

On Thanksgiving Day, we treated ourselves to a trip to Florence.
Under the arches is where the politicians would publicly speak. Towards the back there is a copy of the statue of David. It commemorates where the original statue actually stood. Can you believe they kept a masterpiece like that outside?? It has since been moved indoors to one of the museums.
In Santa Croce is the tomb of Michaelangelo. It also has the tomb of Dante Allegheri and Machioveli. Very cool. At the entrance of the town is another copy of the statue of David.
We got back to Rome pretty late and we were really hungry so we had our Thanksgiving dinner at McDonald's right across from the Pantheon.

Or last day in town was spent wandering around taking one last good look at the city.
John's quenching his thirst by using one of the many fountains around the city that were fed by the aqueducts.
We had to squeeze one more of these in...Gelato! This was better than any ice cream I've had in the States - including Baskin Robbins.

We had a really great time in Rome. We ate some new things. John ordered a fried seafood platter and it came with all the heads on the fish. We had the pizza with the egg and of course the gelato. Everything we had was good. We never did see the Pope. Maybe next time...