Sunday, August 30, 2009

Shame on me!

Again, im writing on here waaaaaay too late. So much to tel!!!

4TH JULY
A great turn out and lasted way into the night! We had sparkles and some people dressed up and a quiz.




TRIP

Most of you have seen the photo's so i'll just post a couple. I'll tell you as short as possible the highlights of our big roadtrip;

We drove straight to Boerne, visited town, did groceries, set up camp, swam in the pool and drove to Fredericksburg, a nearby town, for drinks and dinner. Next morning, left early, and drove on to El Paso. A great drive through the desert. El Paso was nice, not our favorite place, but we just stayed one night. We visited the 3 chuches of the Mission Trail and saw the border fence to the very dangerous town of Juarez, Mexico. Strange to be so close but not able to visit. Up early again for a loooooong drive to Sedona. The desert got beautiful as we drove through New Mexico. Stopped in La Mesilla and Phoenix (loved it!), as we drove the last few hours the scenery changed so much. Those big cacti and desert, then higher in altitude and the green came back, and then finally the red rock of Sedona. Sedona is one of my favorite places. It has a huge Spiritual community. Suposeldy there are Vortexes there. We didnt find any or felt anything "alien' :) Thomas' cousins live there so we stayed with them and got to see some more family. We visited Montzuma Castle in Camp Verde. Amazing. And did a lot of hiking in the hot Arizona sun. Then it was time... Grand Canyon! A short drive so we stopped in Flagstaff, a small young community. Very cute! As we arrived we could see the canyon through the trees once in a while... couldnt really make anything of it. We decided to set up camp first and have some lunch. Then we walked over there. As anyone i guess would say, you just cant describe it. Its like seeing no depth but yet you see how unbelievably DEEP it is. Its beautiful and scary at the same time. We walked into the canyon for a while (i was very scared!!), it has no fences, nothing. The next day we did a 3 hour trail. At times we were 3 feet from a 500 feet drop. Maybe more... I didn't look :)
Then time to go to VEGAS!! It didnt take very long, we got there around 11am, except we didnt think of time change,so it was noon! Oops! The hotel (Paris) was so cool. You are just walking the streets of Paris inside the hotel. Very well done. We went shopping at H&M and then off to see the casino's. We went to every one of them and had our free drinks and gambled. We won and lost about the same. We saw the fountains onf the Bellagio, that was amazing!!! Around 10pm we we tired, and ready for bed. Vegas was cool but hot and dirty.
On to Arches NP, this is like a blur, we had to drive long and ended up getting to the park just as the sun was setting, it was beautiful, but we wanted to come back in the morning to see it. But that didnt happen, we were up early but a friend of ours called to say he was in Colorado (our next destination and he lives in Korea) so we left for CO immediately. To make a long story short, we never got to see him, but CO is my new favorite state!! It is beautiful, everywhere you look its like the postcards. I took so many photo's. We first stayed in Grand Lake, 8000ft altitude. It was cold and we started a fire, had some ramen noodles and beer and went to bed. Scared, because there are bears. Next morning Trail Ridge Road, a dream of mine! It took 3 hours, we got out all the time to take more photo's. We got at high as 12,000ft!! Played in the snow and saw deer and elk. A recommendation to everyone!! We arrived in Estes Park and found our campsite, last night of camping! Atop a hill and very windy :) We visited the town, very cute and bought some souvenirs. At night a campfire again and beers. The stars are so amazing at high altitude. We didnt want to leave CO, but we had to. Wyoming first. We werent at the good side of WY (Yellowstone was in the opposite corner of the state). It was flat and boring. Cheyenne seemed dead, Casper was okay. We went and saw Harry Potter. Next day drove to Deadwood, that was pretty cool. Gambled some, drank a lot and walked all over the cute town. After this the scenery got boring. Stayed in Chamberlain where we just slept, then Omaha, where we saw Bruno and had drinks in the awesome Old District and then we got to Wichita, Kansas. We stayed with friends, and slept like babies. :) It was good to get closer to home. After drove on to Dallas, stayed with some other friends and then the last 5 hours home. This was also the day we decided to quit smoking once and for all. And we did, we havent smoked since! It was good to be back, the cats were happy!




ART WALK/BIRTHDAY

Before we left on the trip we had gotten a call from MOD Coffee House that they were interested in seeing Thomas' artwork. We saw them and they said yes! When we came back they called and said, please hang it next week. Woops! So quickly got everything together and in 3 nights hung all the paintings. They look amazing on the wall. It was still a few weeks till the ArtWalk so people got see them before. Two paintings sold in one week!! I'm so proud of him! When the artwalk came around on Aug 22nd we were excited! A biiiiig crowd came out to support Thomas, it was a great night. We didnt sell any others but it doesnt matter, a lot of people got to see his stuff. Afterwards we had organized an after party! We had a lot of people in our house, family and friends. It was also my bday at midnight so i got spoiled with presents and 2 cakes! Gary and Carlos stayed the night and we went and saw District 9 the next day.




LAST NIGHT

We had my bday dinner last night. We went to the Melting Pot in Houston, a fondue restaurant. So delicious and romantic! After to the hookah bar, which was dead, but a nice end of the evening. Perfect bday present!



UNEMPLOYMENT

Yes, still unemployed. We arent suffering money-wise, but i am bored out of my mind. i do a workout dvd now, but thats just 20 mins. :) But right now i have 3 jobleads. So things are looking up!

MOVE TO NL

Its beginning to make form. We have had so many plans, but now i think its in sight. The plan is, for me to move first (maybe oct/nov 2010, to find a job and an apartment. Then Thomas (and cats) will come, right before christmas. We will have been married 3 years on that dec 31st so things will become easier for Thomas (passport/visa), so Jan 2nd we will visit the alien police :) We are getting excited. Thomas mostly though. I have mixed emotions but they are now turning to only positive. So we'll be back! :)

So thats it really, whats been happening since i last wrote. Everyone is doing fine. Thomas is back to school after his 12 week summer. Cats are good.

Hopefully i'll be back here soon... ;)

XOXO

3 comments:

  1. Hi Marieke! That road trip sounds awesome! Isn't the Southwest just incredibly beautiful?

    As for the expat group - we just met for the very first time on Friday. It was such fun and you're certainly welcome to join us when you move back to NL!

    Good luck with the move and everything, and hopefully we'll see you soon.

    Lizzy

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  2. like the way you celebrate and enjoy your birthday. well done for this great love

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