Nashville at "The Show"

We are in the plumbing business. Something my husband wanted to do was expand our business to include septic system service. This is a dirty, stinky business. But wow, the industry show for this business is FUN. WE flew to Nashville for the first time to check out all the latest equipment and supplies for this business. We had not yet made an investment and wanted to learn about things before we got started. I won't bore you with business discussion. I will tell you about the city, the resort & the trip.
The show was held at the Opreyland hotel. The hotel is mind blowing. There are several 12 story high atrium's in the hotel. One of them has a stream running through it large enough to accommodate a boat ride that holds approx 40 adults. There is a mall inside the hotel with over 100 shops and over 20 restaurants. If you stay at this resort you have little reason to leave the hotel. Should you choose to leave the hotel, there is a water taxi that runs from the hotel to down town. You can catch the shuttle in back of the hotel and land in the middle of down town Nashville. You are then within walking distance of dance halls, pubs, clubs, shopping & the historic Ryman auditorium. Take a break at the Irish pub and dance at Wild horses dance hall. Shop the kitch little shops on the waterfront street. All of Nashville is a tourist delight.
Back at the hotel, the place is so large that if you want to see neighboring areas, you really have to have a car. We did walk across the massive parking lot and go across the street to eat a steak & watch a country music show in a little local "Nashville Nights" club. This was our first trip to Nashville, we have been back several times since and taken a vehicle so we could see more area. Nashville is just plain fun.

GERMANY with our daughter as a guide

Our daughter was an exchange student to Germany when she was 16. We had the opportunity to travel to Germany and stay with two different host families. The year was 1991, our daughter had taken German classes at the local Jr college because there was no class available at her high school. Armed with two semesters of German she left that summer to stay the first 8 weeks in Bingen Germany a small town in the west near Frankfurt. Her stay there was a temporary placement with a young family while she attended an intense language camp. Once her language camp was finished and before school started she was transferred to her long term host family in the east. She was the first American in the area and one of only two English speakers in the small village of Radis. She traveled daily on a train to nearby Griffenhiencan to attend high school entirely immersed in the German culture. Our trip started during her spring break. We flew into Frankfurt and were greeted at the airport by our daughter and her first host family. The mom of the first family was 9 months pregnant and the dad was a full time student and part time cab driver. They were warm and open and invited us into their home insisting on giving us their bed. We spent two days with them seeing a few sights, eating in the local bakery and having one meal in a Chinese restaurant. We were shocked by the price of eating out most of the time our host insisted on cooking at home because they did not want us to pay for anything. On the third day the mom went into labor and was hospitalized, although the Dad wanted us to continue on at their home without them, it was time for us to move on. We thanked them, left them with a thank you gift and took a train to the airport to rent a car. Funny story when renting a car our daughter was translating for us, the gentleman wanted us to do the talking, he could not believe that we are Americans "how can you parents be American if you are German" he asked our daughter. Guess her German immersion is complete. We rented a little Opal and left the airport. Someone should have given us more instruction on getting on the Autobahn and out of Frankfort. We ended up lost in a seedy side of town after dark. We got off the Autobahn and stayed in a rented room over a bar. The bartender sold us greasy sausage and warm beer. The three of us stayed in one room with two beds and a communal bathroom down the hall. The cost for this room was $300.00. The next day we went down to the central Bus station and found a decent map to navigate our way out of Frankfurt and across the country. When we went to get into our vehicle a meter maid was chasing my husband around the car trying to speak German to him. My daughter and I almost died laughing, it looked like something out of comedy capers. We got in our vehicle and started out, getting out of town into the country side we saw how beautiful Germany was. As we drove from West Germany to the East the contrast was unmistakable. The roads, the public buildings even the forest of the east looked mistreated, abused and unmaintained. It was if someone drew a line through the country and across that line darkness fell. We actually saw signs on the side of the road that said do not enter the field as there may be unexploded land mines in this area. When we got to the east we arrived at Klaus & Evelyn's home, our daughters long term host family. They lived in a two family home in a small village with a detached barn and a neat little yard. By American standards the home was modest by east German standards, they were wealthy people. Klaus is a structural engineer and Evelyn is a school teacher and the mayor of the village. They have one daughter who happens to be in American on an exchange and also Evelyns mom lives with them. They are a wonderful family and we enjoy our visit with them very much we travel around the area and see local churches and castles. One day we take a train into Berlin and go on a tour we see the remainder of the wall that was still being torn down. We see the buildings still shot up during WWII it is a moving experience to see the differences between the east & the west. We went up in the radio free Europe tower and had coffee and looked out at the city of Berlin. Thinking about all the history and politics involved in this place is mind boggling. When it is time to go home, our daughter rides back to Frankfort with us and her plan is to take the train back to her home in the east. It is amazing to me that at 16 our daughter traveled alone through across Germany without fear to take care of translating for her parents. The trip was great even the 11 hour plane ride was memorable and we look forward to the next trip.

trip to Porta Vejarto Mexico

Did I spell that right? In 1987 we made our first ever flight. My husband and I went to Porta Vejarto Mexico for 4 days. We had a direct flight from San Antonio to Purta Vejarto on Mexicanna. Our flight was on an old airplane that looked like something left over from world war two. We were both scared to death at the beginning of the flight. The flight was also occupied by about 40 young men from the university of oklahoma who were on spring bread. The flight attendants were great and had to put up with alot from the loud drunk frat boys. We were served steak on real china with silver. The pilot flew low over the black mountains so we had an increadable view all in all it was a tremendos flight. The plane landed in the middle of what looked like a parking lot for a warehouse club. We had to deplane on roll away stairs, which was scarey. We then say little busses running accross the tarmack & people running to jump on. We barely caught the last one since we did not realize what was happening. We rode the little bus up to the "terminal" which happened to be a big metal building with concrete floors and no airconditioning. Customs was folding tables set up and people standing there going through your bags & belongings in front of everyone. Not the most impressive set up but very efficent we were through customs in about 10 minutes. We took a cab to our hotel which was provided as part of the "package" trip. The hotel was a "Playa" in the middle of down town, from the outside it was beautiful and it was well situated right on the beach. We went into the open air lobby & checked in and were shown to our room. The room was a shock, it was old and run down and furnished with old furniture which had been painted bright orange. The airconditioner was an ancient window unit installed in the old transom over the door. We looked in the phone book and tried to find a more comfortable hotel but could not find one with a vacancy for a price we could afford. So we decided to do what we could to make the best of the trip. We put on our walking shoes and went out to see the town. We were enjoying the town seeing the sights and drinking corona which was sold cold on every corner for 50 cents. We encountered new shocks that night when we got back to our room. The shower head in our shower was the size of a dinner plate the reason was that the water pressure was so poor, the water would dribble up to the shower head, the shower head would fill up and then dump on you , it took an hour to get enough water to rinse off. Laughing at the experience we settled into bed around midnight, just as we laid down the air conditioner turned off. When we called down to the front desk we were told that all the air conditioners turn off at midnight and come back on at 7AM and there is nothing that can be done. So here we are with a tipsy sweaty night of hot fitful sleep. The following days of the trip progressed about the same way as the first we did learn to enjoy the sweaty nights. We saw lots of beautiful scenery and meant friendly people ate great food drank to much and generally had a great time. Our flight home was as pleasant as our trip down. We came home with $2.00 bottles of El Presidentee brandy and sun tans and fun memories. So the travel bug is started.

travel past & present

I have not had a great deal of travel in my life to date. My husband and myself own and manage several small businesses although we have a comfortable income and should have the means to travel we often seem to busy to take advantage of the travel opportunities that come our way. I would like to have the opportunity to document our travels and share with others and gain experiences from others as well as our own.