Old McGateway

Okay, so I know I said I was done with my England posts, but I also said I'd display more of them as I saw fit, so....I see fit. If you refer back to old posts you'll remember me talking about the Gateway Club I was a volunteer with in Loughborough. Two weeks before I left the British Isles we took the Gateway members to our annual trip to Farmer John's place. You can see two of our members in the background as Joanne, Matt and I take our turn on Farmer John's super cool tractor. We got to pet the goats, feed the pigs, swing on his rope swing inside the hay barn, go on a hayrack ride and even enjoy a lovely baked potato meal in his cafe.

Then I absolutely proceeded to teach them the Kansas state song, "Home on the Range." It was a hit. Obviously.

Cover Girl

World, I'd like you to meet my gorgeous 2-year-old niece, Claire Olivia.

Claire, meet the world.

 

Love is blind

Admittedly, I've scored a pretty swank job: babysitting two nieces and a nephew. While goofing around with the camera one day, I asked Claire to give Baby Drake a kiss. Boy, did she. I know they can't stay this age forever so I plan on taking plenty more photos of my babies. It just doesn't get any better than this...

Greet someone with a holy kiss today.
 

"Sittin' in a park in Paris, France..."

As stated in my previous blog, I've considered myself very blessed to have done the amount of traveling that I've done. Ever since I was age 7 and saw a show about New York City on television, I knew I'd travel to that place and others. That's when the travel bug bit me. We took family vacations when we were growing up and those were always good, so I'd have to admit that my parents are partially to blame for me wanting to always GO and SEE and DO.

Some of the places I've been:

Domestic:

* Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York City, Miami, Chicago, Memphis, Houston, Phoenix, Denver, San Diego, Detroit, Boston...to name a few.

International beauties:

1. Aquilles and La Pesca, Mexico - many times on Spring Break and summer planning trips.
2. Vitoria, Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Iguazu Falls and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - summer campaign
3. Dublin, Ireland (with Roni! - so fun!); Inverness and Edinburgh, Scotland (with my parents, Roy and Sharon -- equally fun!); Wales; London, Cambridge, Worthing, Dover, Leicester, Nottingham (and countless others), England - Um, I lived in the UK for two years
4. Chemnitz, Vielau, Oelsnitz, Frankfurt, Munich and Dresden, Germany; Vienna, Austria; Prague, Czech Republic - Germany campaign
5. Amsterdam, Netherlands; Paris, France; Rome and Venice, Italy - free travel with friends
6. Barcelona, Spain - to visit my friend Trey and his mother Peggy
7. Regina, Canada - Spring break mission trip

This post is dedicated to my parents as a testament to their support, energy and commitment to my life. Surely there's no way I could have done any of this without them. I hope to be able to add to this list in the near future, perhaps Japan or Portland, Oregon?! Mom has already said she'd come visit me in Asia, so that could be fun...

Mom, Dad - thanks for everything...and for loving this vagabond daughter of yours!

To infinity and beyond...

I really don't think I can properly express how much my body is craving a good dose of traveling right now. Realizing I've just returned from two years of living in England, I assume this previous statement potentially sounds greedy. I don't care. I need a fix and I'm willing to do most anything to solve this. Immediate gratification? Absolutely. Passports and plane tickets are my drugs of choice and my last dealer and I finished our contract together. I need another "friend" who gets me things.

Realistically speaking, there probably won't be any good travels in store for me in the near future. Trying to save money to buy a car (even the cheapest I can find), move into an apartment and pay school loans doesn't leave much room for extravagant explorations. However, I've always been dreamer. In honor of my aspirations, I thought I'd take the time to list a few of the places I'm yearning for. In no particular order, I give you:

"Twenty-Six Terrific Travel Temptations"

1. Montreal, Canada

2. Norwegian Fjords

3. Iceland

4. Empangini, South Africa

5. Cambodia

6. Santiago, Chile

7. Lisbon, Portugal

8. India (Taj Mahal)

9. Moscow, Russia

10. Dubai

11. Cinque Terra, Italy

12. Thailand

13. Greek Isles

14. Japan/China

15. Ecuador

16. Afghanistan

17. Lucern, Switzerland

18. Serbia/Montenegro

19. Antarctica

20. Tijiuana, Mexico

21. Isle of Man, United Kingdom

22. Jerusalem

23. Lithuania

24. Malaysia

25. Gratz, Austria

26. Vietnam

I just started salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs. Yum.

I've been lucky enough to see a lot of great places, which might be the topic for tomorrow's entry. Which travel destination(s) would be your drug(s) of choice?

Crikey...

Whilst checking my e-mail just now --- please don't ask me while I'm still awake at this hour --- I just saw on Yahoo! news that our beloved "Crocodile Hunter", Aussie Steve Irwin, has been killed by a stringray injury to the chest. I'm incredibly sad right now and I'm forced to remember my sophomore Spring Sing show when we were crocodiles. My favorite line: "Steve Irwin please could you help us now? Can you flight from Australia to OC tonight. You always have us on your TV show and you know we love you 'cause you're not a real crocodile hunter....Crocodile Hunter!" (to the theme of the Beatles' "Paperback Writer").

Read more about the world's tragic loss here.

From your beloved fans Evan, Whitney, Jon, Kali and Angie...

God speed, Mr. Irwin. And, G'day, mate.