On my birthday this year, Brad and I took a day trip to Koln (also known as Cologne). We headed out mid-morning and made the hour and half drive up from the Wiesbaden area. The day was dreary, but at least we were able to get in a few hours of sight seeing before the down pour began. 

The main attraction for us in this large city (it’s Germany’s fourth), was the Kolner Dom–Cologne’s Roman Catholic Cathedral. It was completed in 1880, 632 years after its construction began! My pictures do not do it justice. In fact, I am extremely disappointed with how my pictures turned out that day. I think it was the camera ; )

What you will gather from my pictures is the size of the cathedral. It is one of the world’s largest and the largest Gothic Cathedral in Northern Europe. Fun fact: It was the largest structure for four years running until the completion of the Washington Monument. Aside from its eye-catching size, it also has beautifully intricate details (both inside and out) as well as 113 square meters of stained glass. In short, it is one massively beautiful sight.

The Koln area offers many churches for sightseers. Many are found in the vicinity of the Cologne Cathedral. We were not able to get a good view of many of them during our visit due to structure maintenance being done. We were, however, able to take in the bustling sites of the downtown area and indulge in some local cuisine.

This morning we woke up and hit the pavement. We walked downtown to have brunch with some people from Brad’s work and their spouses. The food was good and the company was even better.Brad and I both had an entree that included: 2 fried eggs, a few strips of bacon, a couple of sausage links, a couple pieces of deli sliced ham, a few fresh vegetables (cucumber, tomato and lettuce), a dollop of a yummy sour cream based spread with herbs, a basket of toast and other fresh breads, a couple of crepes with syrup, and a cup of coffee. A lot of food, right? I have to say that I am not a sausage person, but the links I tried today were really delicious. They weren’t all greasy like many of the breakfast sausages I have had in the States. The crepes were also fantastic. Light, with a hint of orange from the rind and drizzled with a thin syrup. Yum!

After brunch, we walked around downtown taking in the sights and snapping pictures. We made a pit stop into a little place that sold various chocolates, pastries, desserts as well as a variety of beverages that accompany them. I am not sure what the store was called, but its atmosphere was super elegant and romantic. Maybe I’ll get to go back for Valentine’s Day : )

On our walk back home, we stopped by the Commissary to gather a few things. Poor Brad had to carry two heavy packages of bottled water back to the hotel. Actually, I told him not to get the big bottles. Of course, the handle broke on one of the packages. Maybe one day he will take my advice and stop trying to test what my female intuition told him.

The last walk of the day included taking the boys across from the hotel to some open fields. Today was an excellent day for this-not to cold, not windy, and the sun was actually out. Laying here snuggled in bed watching t.v. with Brad. Tired and hoping I will sleep through the night : )

We are so thrilled that the new Army Lodge was made available so shortly after our arrival to the area. The official opening of the Wiesbaden Lodge has been long-awaited by many. The project, like many overseen by the government : ), has endured its share of glitches. That has delayed its completion until now.Some cool features of the hotel are:

• modern design both inside and out
• detailed tile work
• cozy lobby and breakfast area
• exercise room
• surrounded by grassy hills with areas to sit and enjoy the view
• walking distance to DoDDS schools and Commissary
• across from Pizza Hut and entertainment center with bowling alley and bar

Some cool features of the individual suites include:

• dog friendly suits offer tile throughout instead of carpet
• kitchenettes complete with sink, fridge, freezer, dishwasher (+ soap), microwave, stovetop, dishes, pots, silverware, dish and hand towels, dish soap, set of knives, cooking utensils, cabinet space for storage
• bedroom complete with double door closet, safe, ceiling fan, nightstands, wardrobe, ironing board with iron, flat screen t.v. and dvd player
• living area complete with fold-out sofa, coffee table, ceiling fan, desk with office chair, flat screen t.v. and dvd player
• Both the living room and bedroom have large windows. Windows are furnished with beautiful drapery that block out light and provide privacy. For added privacy from onlookers and the sun, there are shades on the outside of each window that can be drawn with the push of a button.

A few things the new hotel is lacking (but their working on them!):

• Internet connectivity within the individual rooms (Wi-Fi is only available in the lobby)
• outdoor area designated for dogs

Although our flight left Boston about 30 minutes late, we made our 5:30 a.m. arrival thanks to some super piloting and a tailwind. Brad and I must have still been running on adrenaline, for we were off the plane quickly and anxious to find our boys.

It took a good 15 minutes to reach the baggage claim area. Once there, we located where the bulky luggage would arrive. We decided Brad would gather the bags while I waited for the dogs to arrive. It didn’t take long for the large crates to come moving down the belt. That is when the “fun” began. I said hello to the dogs and looked them over through their crates. It was hot in there and they smelled like wet dogs. Both were panting and seemed very ready to get out. I asked the gentleman sitting at the counter if he spoke English. He told me he spoke “a little bit”. I then showed him the paperwork I had obtained to get the dogs into the country. He looked at me and said something I did not understand. I did hear him say, “veterinarian”. We continued to try to communicate with one another. I determined that I needed to go to “a box” to get the vet. He did some pointing across the terminal and I was on my way.

As I tried to find this “box”, a large German man came up to me and pointed me to Customs. I thought it was weird that the airport employee (aka bulky baggage claim guy) could not communicate “CUSTOMS” to me. ???? Once there, the veterinarian accompanied me back to the bulky luggage area to retrieve my retrievers. Of course, the vet scanned Bran to check his i.d. and then just glanced over my time-sensitive and expensive paperwork. At that point, I was worried about my Choco. He was panting, drooling, seemed very anxious and began to bark. Brad had to leave us to see if our sponsor was indeed there to pick us up. He was. We just didn’t know how we were going to move the dog crates with the dogs in them plus the luggage. There were no carts to wheel everything and no one seemed to be able or willing to help us. Somehow, Brad determined that we could take the dogs out of the crates and walk them out (this was a different protocol than in the States due to K-9 units working our secure airports). I did just that while Brad worked on getting the rest outside.

The next issue was finding a place for the dogs to go to the bathroom once outside of the terminal. Airports are obviously not built to accommodate such things. In addition, our sponsor had a list of people to pick up that morning. Each were arriving one after the other. Our situation with the dogs had put him behind schedule by about 30 minutes. Brad made it out, we loaded the van, and the dogs ended up peeing on the sidewalk outside of the terminal. Oh well, I am sure it dried. We had to have the next set of people wait for the sponsor to come back to pick them up since there was not enough room for all of us, the luggage, the dogs and the crates in the van. How he thought he could fit us all anyway is a mystery to me, especially when we gave him the dimensions of our crates before we even arrived in Germany.

The ride to the American Arms Hotel was short-about 25 minutes. It was about 7:30 a.m. by the time we set out for it and it was still dark out. Something we are still not quite used to. We were dropped off by our sponsor and then proceeded to check in. Something that was not mentioned or calculated into our early morning arrival was the fact that check-in for the hotel was not until 2:00 p.m. That meant we were too early and the hotel was not prepared for our arrival. Due to the amazing management and staff at the Arms, we did not have to wait long to be assigned to a room. Once in, we fed the dogs their first meal in over 24 hours. We were then able to plop on the couch and take in a deep sigh of relief. We had made it.

The rest of that day included gathering our thoughts and information for the next day’s events, taking a nap (we tried our best not to sleep, but it was inevitable), and having a nice dinner at the restaurant in the hotel.

Ahhh…Raleigh to Norfolk, VA. Although the shortest drive of the road trip, it seemed like one of the longest. Go figure. It did prove to be a sweet ending to our jumbo journey. 

Our good-bye’s took longer than we had anticipated that morning, so that put us at Darin and Sara’s around 2 p.m. We caught a shy and quiet Jake who had just woken up from his nap. As we chatted with Sara, he slowly warmed up and was eventually glued to his Uncle Brad (as seen in the above picture) for the duration of our stay.

We didn’t have to wait long to greet Brendan and Alexia as they arrived home from school. It was so good to see them. It amazes me how quickly children grow and change. Time with them should truly be savored.

Our stay was wonderful and like most fun-filled things, it was short-lived. We shared good food (Mexican and fundue), movie night (Walt Disney’s “Up”-it’s a tearjerker), an absurd amount of time on the iPad, lots of laughs, and LOTS of tickles with the kids. We were also able to ship our car overseas via the POV processing center.

Leaving Virginia was like all the other places we visited-hard to leave. We had a lot of fun and love our family dearly. Our thoughts and prayers are with them always.

The road to Raleigh seemed like it would never end. The 1, 000+ miles from Kansas to Raleigh had us yearning for a place to park for a few days (rest areas were not an option). Although happy to have missed the brutal snowstorm that pounded the south just days before we arrived, we were disappointed that there wasn’t any snow left for us to play in.

We arrived in the late afternoon and were grateful for the friendly faces (Aunt Nancy and Uncle Keith) that welcomed us. It was great being back in my hometown of Raleigh. Hard to believe my last visit was over five years ago. Boy, time flies.

Over the next five days, we would enjoy spending time with family, bringing in the new year, eating yummy food, reintroducing ourselves to nieces, nephews, and cousins that were too young to remember us, reuniting with friends dear to us, and just catching up on all that has happened the past five years. It was great seeing everyone and painful to leave them behind.

After a few hours at Niagara Falls, we headed south. Our next destination would be Olathe, Kansas.Due to the high mileage between NY and KS, we did stop for the night once we entered Indiana. The drive down was pretty uneventful. I shared some of the driving duty with Brad. During other times, I just enjoyed the scenery. Ohio was a beautiful state to drive through. Very clean. I also recall a huge sign mounted to a bridge that greeted us as we entered. That was welcoming since it deviated from the small welcome signs that are typically found on the side of the road. As far as Indiana and Illinois, they offered flat terrain with straight highway road. Once we entered Kansas, we encountered some snow. The drive through was also flat and inundated with various billboard advertisements.  The most noticeable difference was once we hit St. Louis. There were few drivers that were using their headlights. That made it extremely difficult to see while driving, especially in a car that offered no view out of the back.

Arriving in Olathe, we were greeted by our parents. It was great to see them and be home for Christmas. Over the next four days, we would soak in the company of family, watch a few quality Christian movies, celebrate the birth of our Lord, be treated to lunch and a show (“Sylvia” featuring Cindy Williams), and visit some of our favorite stores. Anna and I enjoyed browsing the local quilt and craft shops as well as the Christian Book store. Brad and Butch tackled Best Buy for some electrical/computer thingy and went to some other stores that sell that kind of boring stuff.

Our time in Kansas was fun and comfortable. We always enjoy our time there and are made to feel right at home. We were blessed to have our parents pray over us before we departed.

With the mover’s job complete and the car packed, we said good-bye to our Nashua address and hello to life on the road…

We were hoping to begin our trip earlier than 10:30 p.m., but we were at the mercy of our movers (you can read all about that story in my previous post). Feeling a little physically tired, but mentally alert, we stopped at McDonald’s to grab a couple of coffees. The goal was to take our time, yet make some headway on the 1,000+ miles that laid ahead. We also had to be especially cautious. The car was so full of stuff that we couldn’t see out of the back of it and a steady snow had been falling since mid-day. Well, we didn’t get as far as we thought we would. We were only able to drive for about 2 hours before we found a hotel for the night.

Rested and ready for the miles ahead, we grabbed a coffee and a quick breakfast. Our next stop would be Niagara Falls, NY. The drive that day was pleasant. The roads had been cleared from the several inches that had fallen the previous day/night (we would eventually be greeted with that fresh snow as we arrived at the Falls). Brad and I enjoyed some laughs and had time to really catch up with one another. We also got in a few German lessons via some downloaded Podcasts Brad had put on cd’s for our ride.

Upon our arrival, we found a parking lot about two blocks from the Visitor’s Center. We did have to pay for parking ($5), but we incurred no other charges during our visit. Approaching the Visitor’s Center, we could easily hear the power of the Falls. We stopped inside the Visitor’s Center to grab a map. The staff proved to be pleasant and quite helpful. We then headed out to the viewing area. That is where we were immersed into a winter wonderland. The Falls were absolutely beautiful! The surrounding white snow and ice enhanced the stunning turquoise color of the water that flowed. Even though it was bitterly cold, I highly recommend seeing the Falls during the winter months. I have had the opportunity to see the Falls in autumn, and I personally found them to be more beautiful surrounded by a wintery landscape. Another bonus of visiting in the “off season” is that some of the amenities that are usually available at a cost are actually free of charge.

One would think that packing up a one bedroom apartment would take three movers a few hours to complete, but not in our case. Our 4-5 hour job ended up taking 10 1/2 hours! It was quite the long day. Brad and I were up early that day to finish organizing things for our road trip. We weren’t sure what time to expect the movers, but we were ready by 6:00 a.m. The company that was assigned to move us made an assessment of how many movers and crates to send based on the information Brad gave them (e.g. 1 bedroom apartment, 1 tandem kayak, and 4 bicycles). Our three guys arrived at 9 a.m. and determined their plan of action. After about 2 hours of packing, the guys no longer had room to stack the boxes in our small apartment. As they began to load the boxes on the moving truck, a steady snow began to fall. Their long walk to the truck would soon be an icy, slippery trail. That is when reinforcements were called in. Brad gathered salt and took to the walking path and the truck ramp. Additionally, an extra set of hands were “ordered” as well as another truck containing an extra crate. It turned out that that “over-the-phone assessment” was not accurate and we would need more room for our goods.

As the day progressed, it seemed like it would never end. For some reason, the movers worked diligently, but the progress seemed slow. I guess it was because we were anxious to get a start on our road trip. Brad and I had originally anticipated the movers being done by 4 p.m. at the latest. We did wait patiently, even though it was quite difficult not being able to assist the movers with the packing. Overall, we felt very blessed to have these guys come in and move us. Moving from a second floor is a tough job and I was happy not to have to do it.

By 8:00 that night, the car was packed and the apartment was empty…or so we thought. I was wiping down the kitchen when I felt a strong desire to open one of the bottom cabinets. You can imagine my surprise when I saw it full of kitchen items. I quickly summoned Brad. We quickly went into problem-solving mode. The main problem was that our car was packed full. So full, we could not see out of the back of it or open the hatch without items falling out (yeah, it was that tight). That meant we could not take the items with us. What to do? We had to be out of the apartment that night, so we had to do something with all that stuff. It was too late to donate the items and with our road trip planned, we could not wait on the movers picking the items up at a later date. So, as painful as it was, we ended up throwing away much of what was in that cabinet. Brad was able to pack my ceramic serving platters in his luggage.  That was quite challenging since he had to unpack most of the car to do so. Thanks babe!

At that point, we were FINALLY ready to leave our apartment. Every household item we would need for the next couple of months was packed in our new home-the car. Physically tired, yet excited for the adventure ahead, we turned in our keys and turned on the highway.

This was a very nice trip on a beautiful fall day. There were quite a few people out and about as it was Columbus Day.

Our trip down to Rhode Island was interesting as the road signs on the way were quite a mess. In our attempt to turn off and stop at a visitor’s center, we found ourselves on the way to Worcester, MA (that is the wrong direction for those not in New England). After 30 minutes we found a closed building so we retraced our path and got back on track. That was about 45 minutes wasted there. . .

We arrived around noon at the main visitor center in Newport, RI. Many of the tours were already booked so we decided to take a short walk and figure it out on our own. We headed toward the Cliff Walk and took several pictures along the way. Downtown Newport is very pretty.

When we arrived at the Cliff Walk which is even more amazing. By the way the Cliff Walk was repaired by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1970′s. Along the walk you have the ocean on one side and some of the mansions on the other side.  The mansions are huge and the walk is very pleasant. The cool fall day made for perfect weather.

Two hours into our short walk we were just over two-thirds of the way down the path and pretty far from downtown. We found a place to exit and headed back toward downtown for a bite to eat. On our way toward downtown a lady asked us for some tips and directions. Her language led Deanna to correctly guess that she was from Canada. It must be her college training in speech or something.

Back in downtown Newport, we found a small grill with a wide range of food. Since we were so close to the ocean Deanna ordered a pulled pork sandwich and Brad order a blue cheese burger. I guess we weren’t in the mood for seafood….