Flight to the North Pole 2010

We volunteered for "Flight to the North Pole" again this year where kids with cancer and other serious illnesses get to ride in a Continental airplane to the north pole and meet Santa. There were all kinds of activities and food for them and their families too.

Santa arrived in his personal jet! Very cool gifts under the tree. One of the Chik-Fil-A cows made an appearance.
Clown!

There were about twice as many kids this year as last year and everyone had a great time!

Thanksgiving at the Grand Canyon

We went to Arizona Thanksgiving weekend to check out the Grand Canyon and see the sights. We stayed in Flagstaff, which looks a lot more like Colorado than Arizona because it's in the mountains.

Mt. Humphreys, which is the snow-capped mountain Flagstaff is beside.

We saw Meteor Crater, which is where a meteor struck the earth. It's a lot deeper than it looks, at about 550 feet.
Near Meteor Crater on historic Route 66 is Winslow, Arizona, setting of the Eagles song "Take it Easy." They have a mural, a statue, and an old flatbed Ford set up for the tourists!

Eric and Katie joined us on Thanksgiving afternoon and we went to Walnut Canyon National Park, where there are old Native American dwellings built into the side of the canyon. It was kind of a hike down but worth it.

The homes are the holes on the middle right.

It was pretty cold out but inside they were warm, even without a fire.

Friday we took the Grand Canyon Railway to the Grand Canyon.

An old steam engine.

The train going around a curve. Very scenic!

For about 20 minutes on the way there and back they had musicians come out for entertainment. The trip one way was about 2 hours and 15 minutes.

The Grand Canyon was absolutely amazing and the pictures don't come close to doing it justice!

Saturday we saw the Hoover Dam and got a tour of the inside.

An intake vent in the middle of the dam.

The new bridge by the dam.

We were so close to Las Vegas we decided to see it as well.

The Bellagio fountain show.

Our flight out of Flagstaff got cancelled Sunday due to snow so we ended up driving to Phoenix with Eric and Katie and seeing the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert before catching an evening flight. The snow was really pretty though and it actually ended up working out perfectly and extending our vacation a little!

Nebraska/Texas A&M Game

Saturday we went to College Station for the Nebraska/A&M game. It was a fun time and everyone was really nice, although it could have ended better :-)

The news desk for ESPN's College GameDay.

Aggie tailgates....
More Aggie tailgates...
A Nebraska tailgate!
Our seats were on the south end of the field underneath the big screen.
By happy coincidence these gentlemen had seats next to one another.

Enchanted Rock

Saturday morning we decided to hike up Enchanted Rock, which is something we had been meaning to do for about two years. It's a rock formation about two hours away, north of Fredericksburg, which gives beautiful views of the hill country.

About a third of the way up.
This was the incline on the top half.

Views from the top.
We took a different route down, negotiating a rock fall.

The rock fall.

We had really nice weather for it, in the lower 70s. It would have been a little rough to do it in 100 degree heat in summer.

The Maize

Scott had flown over a corn maze (or just "The Maize"... the owners are very clever :-) and was intrigued because although you may just picture a square corn field with a maze in it, this particular one was a depiction of country legend George Strait.

It says "George Strait" at the top and beneath his picture it says "True Texan." This is a terrible picture, so we apologize. It really does look like George Strait. Or at least a man in a cowboy hat.

Scott agonizing over a fork in the road.

Renee near the "N" in Texan.

Valero Family Day 2010/Big Lou's Pizza

Saturday was Valero Family Day 2010 at Six Flags. The day was cut a little short by rain, but we were able to get home during the first quarter of the Husker game so it worked out :-)

For dinner we went to Big Lou's Pizza, which was featured on Man vs. Food a little while ago on the Food Channel because along with regular-sized pizzas, they also have 37 and 42 inch (that's 3 1/2 feet!) pizzas for big groups. One piece spans over two plates placed side-by-side. The pizza was really good...flat, New York style, but we went on a Saturday night at 6pm and were there over two hours total because of the wait. It was great pizza, but really crowded. REALLY crowded. Not really worth the hullabaloo unless you have a big group and are there for the novelty of the big pizza. This was the pizza at the table next to us, not sure if it was 37 inches or 42.

Zip Lining in Wimberley

For Renee's birthday Scott set up a "zip lining adventure" in the hill country near Austin. It consisted of eight zip lines in the middle of a huge ranch and was very scenic.

As we were waiting to get started we caught a rainbow.

The group before us heading up to the hills.

Really pretty scenery.
Scott coming in on line 5 or "Cinco de Line-o."
It was kind of a hike between some of the lines so it was a good workout too.

Renee coming in on the longest line, the "Big Kahuna." It was funny to hear the instructors also talk about how they get nervous when they see certain customers come in because if you don't brake in time, they have to physically try and stop you with their bodies and sometimes they get hurt. That didn't happen in our group :-)

Afterward we walked around Wimberley, which is the nearest town to the ranch. We stumbled on a little nature preserve on Cypress Creek, which was really cool because the water was so clear. We saw a few fish including one good-sized bass and a couple turtles.

There was also plenty of poison oak, but we managed to avoid it.

Turtles on a log.

One of the trees for which the creek is named.

Awesome birthday!