Road Trip Day 6

Day6
We started the morning in Albuquerque intending to go on the Sandia Peak Tram, which I have been looking forward to for weeks. The day was beautiful, with the exception of a massive cloud over the peak. What are the chances? There was zero visibility. We settled for the botanical gardens, which were beautiful! It was so interesting to see the different kinds of plants and flowers here in this climate. We saw a ton of cacti, dried peppers and even a real roadrunner. By the way, a real roadrunner isn't as big as the cartoons would have you believe. After lunch we headed to Flagstaff, Arizona for the night. Flagstaff turned out to be a great town. It reminds me a lot of Asheville, North Carolina. The downtown is quaint and small town, but full of great shops and places to eat. We ate a great place called Mountain Oasis....it was delicious!

Road Trip Day 5

Day 5
We left Dallas Sunday morning to head to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We were warned that the drive through the rest of Texas was horrible.....and indeed it was. I am sure that there are comparable drives, but Texas might be the most boring state to drive through. There is nothing in sight but flat land and oil rigs. Seriously.....I would have never imagined that there is that much vacant land in the U.S.--no need to worry about it getting to crowded here. Things got better when we crossed into New Mexico. We got to see some beautiful plateaus and other landscapes. We have had some pretty funny moments because both Patrick and I only know about this environment from what we have seen in movies and in our textbooks in school. We would see a huge figure and I would ask "Is THAT a plateau?" Patrick would respond, " I guess" and then I would say, "I always thought plateaus were _____." This would follow an entire conversation about our misconceptions about plateaus or whatever it is we are talking about. I can't count how many times I asked, "Are we in the desert now?" It was hard to tell because everything I know of deserts is from TV and all of the deserts on TV include sand, so we still don't know if we have passed through a desert because there hasn't technically been sand involved. We got to Albuquerque Sunday night and ate at the Standard Diner, a local favorite. The food was awesome and the environment was really fun. We can officially no longer order sweet tea at restaurants. I was surprised that we could still get it in Texas, but there is no hope for it in New Mexico.

Road Trip Day 4

Day 4
Our last day in Dallas was a great one. We spent the afternoon playing a competitive match of pool volleyball. We lost, but it was fun. The weather has been abnormally wonderful. It has been cool and completely comfortable outside. I have to say that the highlight of the visit (and quite possibly the entire trip) was getting to go to The Village Church and meet Matt Chandler Saturday night. Matt Chandler was introduced to us by our hosts' son, Doug. We didn't anticipate the impact that that introduction would have on us and our call to ministry, but it has forever changed us. Matt is the head pastor at The Village Church in the Dallas/Fort Worth area (Highland Village to be exact) and if you ever get the chance to listen to him online or wherever....DO IT. God has used him to mold our philosophy of ministry which has become the most passionate yet convicting call both Patrick and I have ever experienced. Getting to attend The Village was alone a satisfying experience, but actually meeting and talking to Matt for even the minute we were given, was unforgettable. I wish we would have had the chance to take a picture with him, but the opportunity did not present itself. The night ended with enjoying a band in downtown Fort Worth.

Road Trip Day 3
We had a great day in Dallas yesterday. We are staying with the family of a friend (Doug), and they have been fabulous hosts. Doug's brother, Drew (who is headed to Cali himself), took us to a great sandwich shop yesterday. We spent a couple of hours there talking and then took a short tour of the town. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing by the pool. Come to think of it, I was actually the only one relaxing-Patrick and Drew played Nuk'em in the pool for quite awhile. It was a great afternoon. We ended the day having dinner with my volleyball and basketball coach from high school. She and her husband live in the area and I haven't seen them in probably five years. They met Patrick for the first time and we spent hours catching up on each other's lives at a small mexican restaurant. They delivered the news that after 12 years of marriage, they are pregnant with their first child! Congrats again guys! It was so nice being able to see them again. I can't imagine that there are too many coach-player relationships that last ten years-we were a tight-knit group.

Road Trip-Day 1
Well, we said our good-byes and hit the road on Wednesday. It is always difficult to close a chapter of your life and step into the unknown. There were some tears shed and many hugs exchanged, but there was an overall sense of joy and excitement for how God is moving in our lives. Our first stop was Atlanta, Georgia. Our original plan was to take a visit to Turner Field to watch the Braves play the Cubs, but the weather didn't look promising so we went with a Plan B (which we are glad we did since the Braves got killed). Our trip was short, but we met up with Jess (we go WAY back) and Jason for some yummy pizza. It was so great getting to hang out one last time!

Road Trip-Day 2
We left Atlanta on Thursday and twelve hours later we were in Dallas, Texas. The drive actually wasn't that bad until we got into Texas. We did get to see the Talladega race track, which was fun. We drove through Alabama, Mississippi, crossed the Mississippi River into Louisiana, but once we got into Texas there was nothing but flat land for miles. BORING. We finally got to Dallas last night around 9pm. We have included a fun picture of Bailey after giving him some Dramamine.