Vacations -- Memorable & Rewarding!

Our wonderful vacation is, alas, over.  At 6:30 this morning, we were up and having a great breakfast of cereal, bacon, eggs, yogurt, and juice.  Then we headed to the airport, arriving around 7:40.  We checked our bags and went through security -- long lines on both!  It was a good thing we arrived nice and early.  We arrived at the gate around 8:30 and were boarding the plane by 8:50.  Up into the air we went by 9:15 and we soon arrived in Baltimore for a crew change and fueling up.  We didn't even have to change planes, which was nice...we just stayed in our seats.  We did move up some so we could have a better view.  Back up into the air we went shortly after that, and we enjoyed a mostly clear view the whole flight.  We were able to farm fields, lakes, rivers, and large expanses of land.  We touched down a bit earlier than expected (great!)...around 11:45.  We departed the plane and hurried to the baggage carousel.  No need to hurry...it took quite a while for it to begin moving.  Val's suitcase was THE first one to come off, which was funny.  But we had to wait for ours for at least 15 minutes.  All's well that ends well, though, as they say, so I am happy that everything turned out okay, even if we had to wait.  My dad came to pick us up; we dropped Val off at her home; we grabbed some groceries; and then we were HOME!  Obviously, there was the fun task of unpacking and doing laundry...and all kinds of other things, too.  But we're mostly back into the "regular mode" and we've already done two loads of laundry -- whites and jeans.

So the vacation is over.  It is a bit sad, as all endings of vacations are, but I'm able to walk away with loads of great memories -- learning to kayak, swimming in Lake George, meeting Val's family, seeing Silver Bay, hiking almost all the way up Mt. Washington (yeah!), going to LL Bean and finding some good items of clothing, Lenny the chocolate moose, Scarborough Downs...I could go on forever!

But most of all?  I have learned to appreciate the immense power of God more than ever -- how He made all the GORGEOUS land, lakes, rivers, scenery -- everything surrounding us!  God is great and I hope you, as well as I, have really enjoyed marveling at His beautiful earth.  God bless you, and I look forward to sharing more adventures in the future!

~Anna~