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| Thank you for visiting! Comments are encouraged, but most are screened and will take time to appear attached to a journal entry. Content on the Friends tab is under the control of the individual posters and communities on my friends list and may contain offensive language. -- Dan Links: More Info About NR Free Republic Profile NR Airport Report NR Posts by Keyword NR Pictures Lutheran Blog Dir 
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| Oct. 24th, 2005 @ 12:10 am Texas Suite | |
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| Oct. 15th, 2005 @ 1:43 pm Airport Report Updated | |
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| Sep. 24th, 2005 @ 9:09 pm Sesame Place - Langhorne, PA | ||||||
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After breakfast, we traversed the park, which turned out to be mostly water rides. There was a roller coaster, but we skipped it because the twins weren't old enough (min. req. 3 years). There was a balloon-like ride which we did ride. It was a good idea, but the cars were seriously kid-sized. :) The kids spent the most time in a mini-park, where a net covering a pile of yoga balls led up to a high slide. That and the parade were the kid's favorite activities. We attended two shows, Elmo's World and Oscar's Show of Games, both entertaining for the kids. The staff treated us well, and the park was very clean. Park photographers had taken three pictures of us, but they weren't composed right—two of them were back-lit horribly and the third had our kid's face turned away from the camera.
We had a good time, and were we to go again, we would probably go a month or two earlier and bring swimwear. :) Tomorrow we drive all the way home. | ||||||
| Sep. 23rd, 2005 @ 10:09 pm Hershey, PA | ||||
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Tomorrow promises to be a big day. I understand a yellow bird about 8'2" may be sitting down with us for breakfast. :) | ||||
| Sep. 11th, 2005 @ 5:33 pm For The Want of a Tire... | |
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The normal flight from Columbus, OH to Houston, TX on Continental is serviced by a 737. Tonight, though, they are using a 757, in what appears to be brilliant anticipation of traffic created by the Ohio State-Texas college football game. 20 minutes before boarding, we were informed that one of the tires had a fault in it, and they would try to find a replacement tire. 10 minutes before boarding, they state that Columbus, not usually handling 757 traffic, has no 757 tires. Their solution is to fly a spare tire from Newark, NJ, one of Continental's hubs. I'm assuming that one of these tires wouldn't fit in the cargo plane of the baby planes that come from Cleveland. Estimated delay time, 3 hours. Update: Sept. 12th, 1:15am: Lifted off from Columbus around 10:15pm EDT. Arrived at hotel in Houston 1am CDT. | |
| Aug. 15th, 2005 @ 4:38 am Figured Out a New Way to Get Delayed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Jul. 30th, 2005 @ 4:12 pm Trip to Rock Springs | ||||
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One point of suspense: in Colorado, someone else had sped up behind me on the way up the mountains, and as we turned a curve, he tried to pass, only to see the oncoming truck. I slowed down and moved over into the shoulder to hopefully avoid an accident. I heard brakes behind me but no collision. Shortly afterwards, the white car was back, passing me at what had to be 70 in a 45. No, it wasn't a specially designed Lamborghini. So I get to the top of the mountains before Dinosaur, CO, and there's a wonderful view of the valley I had just come up. I reach for the nice camera, and...nothing. The camera could be turned on in playback, but it wouldn't take pictures. It was a shame. Even after I had dropped it at Carlson Vineyards, it still took pictures, and now it doesn't. I'll have to see if there's a camera repairman in Rock Springs, but I doubt it. Near Dinosaur, CO, is Dinosaur National Park, where I took a picture with the phone camera:
The damaged camera meant no pictures of the Flaming Gorge National Recreational Area, but I was able to get a picture of the Flaming Gorge Dam:
So I've arrived in Rock Springs. There is a lot of construction on the highways, and there will be a new Wingate Inn here. Oil booms can be a good thing. Update: 10:17pm: I put new batteries in the camera, and it works again. This would normally be funny except that the camera didn't warn me that my original batteries were low. Maybe something is goofy with it, but it's not as bad as I had feared. | ||||
| Jul. 26th, 2005 @ 7:18 pm Palisade Wine Country | ||||
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I headed east out of Grand Junction towards Palisade, home of the Eastern Orchard Mesa, where there are more than 10 wineries and even more orchards. People in the area brag that their wines are good because of the extreme daily temperature difference, about 35 degrees on average. I first found Carlson Vineyards, small but friendly. The door was locked but the sign said to ring the doorbell during open hours. The tour consisted of going into the other room and viewing about 15 large vertical vats. They were in the crushing stage for making cherry wine, though I didn't see any cherries crushed. I was shown the crusher, which was small, about the size of a 55-gallon drum turned sideways. I tasted their Merlot, Peach, and Cherry wines. The peach wine (no grapes, just fermented peach) was actually quite nice. Thanking them for their time, I headed my way over to Plum Creek Winery, where I tasted a 2002 Merlot, a 1999 Reserve Merlot, and a Reisling, a white wine which was yummy. I could tell a big difference between the $10 Merlot and the $19 Reserve. The steward said they used a combination of French, American, and Hungarian Oaks, and then they blended. The Reserve I thought was worth keeping. "Can you ship?" "Depends on the state." "Ohio." "No." "Texas?" "No. We have some state laws against that." So there's my blocking penalty. :) | ||||
| Jul. 23rd, 2005 @ 4:58 pm Arches National Park, Moab, UT | |
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( Read more... ) I got some sun, and along the way I could have used my hiking boots. I was wise to take along extra water. There were several tours of senior citizens and groups of multiple nationalities. | |
| Jul. 19th, 2005 @ 9:47 pm Pictures on the Drive to Grand Junction | ||||
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