Bergen

One thing I will remember about this trip to Norway , is the rain. We are having a lot of fun and seeing some interesting and beautiful places, but we are getting soaked in the process. I remind myself how hot and dry it must be in Dallas and that is enough to keep me from being distracted by the cool and rainy weather here.
I will post pictures next week of a few highlights of the trip. I am sure there are more to come. Yesterday afternoon we had a bit of sunshine so seized the opportunity to ride the funicular to the outlook over Bergen. Beautiful.
Today we have had a "free day" and have walked all around the wharf area. One more night here and we continue on to Geilo and then on to Oslo for 2 days and then on a plane back to the states.

We have arrived.

After a 2 hour delay out of Minneapolis we had a smooth flight to Iceland and somehow made our connecting flight to Oslo,Norway. It was a very long day ,but no complaints. Now we are in Lillehammer and a wonderful rain is falling as we settle into an absolutely charming hotel that looks out towards the ski jumps. Tomorrow we tour the town.

On the road again.

Years ago Willie Nelson recorded a song that, truth be told, I don't want to hear again. It was overplayed. But, nevertheless it is my theme song these days. On the Road Again. I am driving our bikes to MN. I will hop on a plane to Norway and Lefty and Z will fly in to Minneapolis to ride in the MS 150 with our college friends this weekend while I am touring Norway with relatives. My guess is that they will have a bigger adventure riding bikes in northern Minnesota than I will have on my tour bus, but I may get the best pictures. I will let you know...

Life is a whirlwind.

Since my last post, I have spent a couple of incredibly beautiful weeks at the beach at Emerald Isle, a stop in Greensboro to see some old friends; an uneventful drive back to Texas; and then a week of annual doctor and dentist check-ups.  Last Friday we left for Montana to spruce up our cabin and do some work around the ranch.  We were very productive as the temperatures lingered in the mid 40's with rain in the valley and snow in the mountains.  Truth be told, it was glorious after the Texas heat.  This week has been filled with cleaning, running errands etc. in order to be ready for another road trip next week.  I will drive to Minnesota to celebrate my mom's birthday on Tuesday and then hop a plane in Minneapolis to join my relatives for a trip to Norway.  Look for lots of pictures upon my return.  There are sure to be some stories to go along with them as I am fairly certain that I am the youngest person on the trip by at least 10 years, perhaps more.  I will try to chronicle the humorous moments along the way. 

A trip to be remembered

There are so many posts I have meant to write, but life's been busy. But, as I sit here in MD with Karl, I just had to briefly share what a crazy couple of days Z and I had getting to the East coast.
We left Dallas on Wednesday which was Z's B-Day. We made great time as we drove on mostly open roads all the way to Atlanta. No wonder. We started to see lots of broken off tree tops and entire uprooted trees along the way with work crews chopping trees where they had fallen onto the interstate. We checked into our dog friendly Drury Inn in Marietta, GA where we learned we were in a tornado warning. Lefty had flowers and one of those fruit baskets that look like flowers waiting there for Z and it was the highlight of the B-Day. We slept fitfully until 5:30a.m.
We packed the car and got back on the road,cutting across GA and SC angling across to my in-laws house in Angier,NC to drop off the dogs. Another day of crazy,stormy, weather. More tornado warnings and downpours on and off for hours. Once we got to Angier, the rain stopped so I was able to drop Z in Raleigh with her friends and I continued on to Gaithersburg,MD.
Today is an absolutely spectacular day in MD. I am here with Karl until Sunday while he recuperates from a minor surgical procedure. There will be trips to Whole Foods, and Trader Joes. We'll see what else K feels like doing. I'm happy to be out of the car for a couple of days!

The Cowboy Stadium

A couple of weeks ago, Z and I took our ranch manager ( who was in town), to tour the Cowboy Stadium.  I really was impressed with the facility.  Here are a few of the things that I noticed:

Then, last night Z and I went back to the Cowboy Stadium to hear Uncle Kracker (not so much), Billy Curlington, the Zack Brown Band, and Kenny Chesney.  Here is what we saw on that Texas size BIG screen at Cowboy Stadium:

That's right!  NOTHING!  As you can see from the camera angle, we were on the lowest row of the top most level.  It sure would have been nice if they had turned this thing on so we could see the members of the bands.  Needless to say neither of us were overly impressed with Corona who sponsored this show.
Truth be told, we were most excited to see the Zack Brown Band so once they finished their set, Z and I quickly tired of our young and boisterous seat mates and decided we would pass on Kenny Chesney.  We don't think we missed much by leaving early.

A fast and furious fun weekend!

We have had more fun filled and action packed days in the last 5 days than we have had in quite awhile.

Last Friday we flew to Orlando for Dean's graduation from Full Sail University.  It could not have been a more beautiful day. 

We landed a little after noon and headed over to Dean's apartment and had a little down time to catch up with him before we headed over to the University for the ceremony.

 This school is  a high tech place.  Every graduate's name was up on this super sized screen when they walked across the stage to receive their diplomas.  Really impressive. One would expect nothing less from a school that is all about technology.  Dean has thoroughly enjoyed the whole school experience, but is ready to leave Florida and return to the working world.  Time to start making some money again!

After the ceremony we went to Whole Foods and bought all sorts of  great ingredients to make a special celebratory dinner.  Steaks and a few of Dean's favorite sides. We could not have had a more enjoyable time combining the celebration of graduation and his birthday, which was Saturday.





We were off bright and early the next morning to return to Dallas to our company that was waiting there for us.  Steve's sister and her daughter as well as one of Louise's friends from NC had arrived on Thursday and Friday respectively.  Louise played the hostess in our absence and took them shopping and out to a great little Italian restaurant that evening.

After we landed on Saturday we did a little shopping and went out to a fun Mexican Restaurant and then it was time to relax a bit before we made dinner and took the girls over to Billy Bob's in Fort Worth for the night.  A really great country western band was playing and we saw some of the fanciest Texas Two Step dancing you can imagine.  We loved it.

On Sunday we had tickets to the Ranger's game and once again, it could not have been a more beautiful day.  We all thoroughly enjoyed watching them WIN and in the process, we all got a bit sun-burned. 

Today, everyone was back on a plane to return home .  The house seems way too quiet.  We miss our company already.