Panama City Beach, Florida

Christa's first trip to Panama City Beach, Florida. We arrived in Panama City Beach at 9:15 pm on September 9th, 2009 and checked into our hotel, the Days Inn on the Beach. We went down and walked the beach before retiring for the night.

We spent the mornings to early afternoons at the beach swimming in the ocean and trying to catch the fish that kept swimming around our feet. The water was nice and very clear that we could see the bottom of the ocean all around us. One morning we had a family of stingrays that kept swimming near us and we were able to use our goggles and see them from under the water. They were so beautiful. That was the first time that Christa had seen stingrays in the ocean while swimming.

We were on the 5th floor of the hotel and had a great view of the beach and the ocean. The photo above is the back side of the hotel that faces the ocean. We picked a great time to come to the beach as most vacationers had already gone home and the hotel and food establishments were not crowded at all. The weather was great except for the last day as it rained but it didn't stop us from going to the beach.

Our hotel room looked just like this photo above. We had lots of room but had to hunt down extra towels each day. We could have sat on the balcony forever staring at the ocean and watching the sunsets.

Panama City Beach has a brand new pier that you can walk out on and fish from at the intersection of Pier Park Dr and Front Beach Rd. Across from the Pier they have built a huge shopping center that is really nice and a shoppers heaven. The photo below is the entrance to the shopping center and it's all outdoors and it's an easy stroll to all the shops.

Thanks Panama City Beach for a wonderful time!

Family Visit to Minnesota

We left September 3rd, 2009 for a visit with our (my wife's) family in Minnesota. We had a good flight up and spent the first two days with my father-in-law and his wife.

We went fishing at Lake Washington (photo at left) which justhappened to be the lucky spot. It was awesome to spend the day with them while enjoying a relaxing day fishing on the lake.

We spent the last three days with my sister -in-law (Christa's sister "Linda"). We went shopping at the Mall of America, visited my wife's childhood home on Lake Marion in Lakeville, Minnesota, the Minnesota Zoo and to top the visit off we went to the Minnesota State Fair in St Paul. What a huge fair, it was bigger than any fair that I had been to before.

It's always wonderful going for a visit but it gets hard to come home sometimes because you want to stay longer. One of thse days we are going to go for a visit and we are not coming home. We miss you guys and love you all!

Savannah, Georgia

Ahhhhh, My wifes first trip to Savannah and Tybee Island, Georgia! We went down for the weekend of July 17 - 19, 2009 and had a wonderful time.

On Friday when we arrived we checked into our hotel and drove down to River Street and walked the river walk. (photo at left)

We went back to our room after leaving River Street to get some rest for the big day at the beach on Saturday.

It was a nice night out with a slight breeze! Great weather!!!!!

Saturday morning we woke up and drove out to Tybee Island (the Atlantic Ocean) and went swimming in the ocean and laid out on the bach all day. Yes, some of us got sun burned (Christa) and others got a tan (Jacob), our son. We had a blast out there as we found a few shells and a couple of Sand Dollars.....which Christa said she had never seen one that was found in the water.

Saturday evening we went out to eat and then went to the Sorrell Weed house in Savannah (haunted house) and took the ghost tour that allowed us to spend more than an hour in the home. This home was one that was featured on "Ghost Hunters" television show.

We ended the tour around 1:30 am and went back to the motel to get some sleep before heading back to the beach again on Sunday!

Sunday we got up and went back to the beach for another few hours of fun in the sun! Oh, I forgot to mention, Jacob was stung by a jellyfish on Saturday. We had a great time and really hated to leave for home but will take with us the beauty that we left behind which is the photo below!

Savannah, thank-you for a wonderful weekend! We will see you again soon!

Matthew's Graduation

Oh what a weekend? We flew to Minnesota for our nephew's graduation from Rosemount Hight School Friday night. It was such a joy sharing that special moment with Matthew. He is a wonderful kid with high ambitions for life. The goals that he has set for himself will definately make a difference for many lives down the road. We are very proud of him!

On Saturday his parents threw him a graduation party that turned out wonderful as many friends and family came by to congratulate him on a job well done.

The weekend wasn't all wonderful as Christa fell ill and was taken to the emergency room. It wasn't long before she was transported to the hospital and admitted. She was diagnosed possible kidney stones but honestly we were in a mickey mouse hospital where the doctors had no idea at first saying it was this or it was that and then the doctor stated to really find out what was wrong they would have to cut her open. I don't think so!!! The good news is that Christa was able to finally get out of the hospital and fly home where she is now getting the medical care needed.

Our Final Day Before Going Home

Our final day we drove down to Seattle, Washington

and went to the Seattle Space Needle and the

Pike Street Fish Market

We drove out to Puget Sound

and went ot the beach to collect sand

We went sightseeing in Vancouver, Canada, going to the top of the Vancouver Lookout, Stanley Park (Beach 2) to collect sand for our collection. We then checked into our hotel at the Fairmont Airport Hotel (Awesome Hotel). We departed Vancouver, Canada at 5:40 am the next day for home.

I know Christa is glad to be home as she has said I walked her to much on this trip. She said she needs a vacation to recoup from this vacation! Really, we didn't walk that much, it just felt that way due to the landscape.

Alaska "Oh How Beautiful"

Photos of Our Honeymoon Trip to Alaska

Whittier, Alaska

Juneau, Alaska

Skagway, Alaska

Mendenhall Glacier (Juneau, Alaska)

Ketchikan, Alaska

Marjorie Glacier (Glacier Bay National Park)

Ice Calving (Marjorie Glacier)

Good Bye "Anchorage", Hello "Coral Princess"

We said our goodbyes to a wonderful city as we departed Anchorage on May 25, 2009 on the Alaska Railroad for Whittier, Alaska. The train ride was an awesome scenic trip that traveled along Turnagain Arm (a long river) for almost the entire 2-hour ride.

Just before arriving in Whittier, Alaska we had to travel through the famous Whittier Tunner (a 2 mile long tunnel that what built through the mountain). It's the longest railroad tunnel in North America! When we came out of the tunnel we got our first glimpse of our ship that we would be sailing on the next 8 days.

She is a beauty isn't she? No, thats not our ship! Christa kept telling me that was going to happen on our cruise. I kept telling her that the titantic days would not repeat itself during our cruise.

Now when we arrived at our ship we thought that we were back in the old days as we were delayed boarding until the ship was cleaned again to insure that it was super clean due to a few illnesses from the cruise before ours.

After about an hour we were allowed to board our awesome ship the "Coral Princess" below!

The Coral Princess is a beautiful ship! 12 stories of pure fun and excitement. We were on the ninth deck and we had a balcony room in the middle of the ship that was awesome.

We visited the College Fjord; Glacier Bay N.P; Skagway, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska and Ketchikan, Alaska before arriving at our final port.....Vancouver, Canada. Truly a beautiful trip with lots of scenery!

Denali N.P. and Fairbanks

The next two days we spent sightseeing in Denali National Park. We were fortunate to have the chance to see Mount McKinley (left) the 2nd tallest mountain in the world. We hiked the trails looking for Moose and watching for Bears but came up empty. We did see lots of Moose droppings! We drove our rental car into Denali N.P. but we were only allowed to drive the first 15 miles and we had the chance to view Caribu that was in a creek bed just off the roadway.

Day 2 brought a day of adventure for us as we took a Tundra Wilderness Bus Tour through the N.P. Service. It started at 6:10 am and lasted 8 hours. We drove 53 miles into the heart of Denali N.P. and saw so much wildlife. We saw 8 Grizzly Bears (3 adult & 5 cubs), lots of Caribu and Dall Sheep (one walked right up to our bus), 1 Moose, and several Golden Eagles and a couple of Bald Eagles. On top of all the wildlife we saw the scenery was just as beautiful. It's a world of it's own and it's completely natural and untouched by humans.

We also visited Fairbanks, Alaska and visited the world famous Alaska Pipeline.

This was an amazing site not only to personally see but also to learn about as it's made to withstand any element (cold, earthquakes, wildlife, ect). We also attended our first Alaska Salmon Bake (an all you can eat salmon feast) in Fairbanks. I'm not a fan of fish (ok I don't eat fish) but Christa does and wanted to give her the chance to experience the Alaska Feast as she likes Salmon.

If you are wondering the sun shines in Alaska about 20 hours during the summer. So you have all the time to sight see, shop and the best part is that you can drive at night as the sun is shinning bright. Below are a few of the animals that we saw!

Day 2 - Our Adventure Begins

Day 2: Our first full day in Alaska. We started the day off with a mission on our trip and that was to see a Moose in the wild. Don't get to excited as the only Moose we saw today was in the Alaska Zoo where we started the day off at.

The zoo is different than most zoos, all of it's animals are injured animals that have been recovered and brought there to heal. We saw just about every type of animal that there that lives in the Alaska region.

We then visited the Alaska Wild Berry Store, an awesome store. It has the worlds largest chocolate water fall inside the store. It's 20 feet tall and is made up of 3000 pounds of chocolate.

After leaving the Wild Berry Store we drove up to Ship Creek to see if the Salmon had started going up stream but it was a few weeks early so we missed them. We then left Anchorage and headed for Denali National Park (240 miles away). We stopped at the Denali South Overlook and were fortunate enough to see Mt McKinley from the lookout. The locals say that only 20% of tourist that visit Alaska ever get to see the entire mountain (we were part of the lucky 20%). It is very beautiful!

We ended our day arriving at our hotel, the Denali Park Hotel. This is a wonderful, secluded and quiet hotel that has a wonderful view of the mountains of Denali National Park. The hotel is known to have Moose walk across the property and we were told just before we arrive one had walked in front of the lobby. After checking in the hotel we ended up walking through the woods looking for Moose until 11:30 pm (yes, the sun was till shining).

Our Honeymoon Finally Celebrated

Unlike traditional wedding couples who take a honeymoon after they are married we chose to wait and save up for the "Honeymoon of a Lifetime" that we wanted to take. After 15 months it was finally time to celebrate our marriage and begin our honeymoon.

We flew from Atlanta, GA to Salt Lake City, UT and then on to Anchorage, Alaska! After leaving at 8:10 am and with a four hour time zone difference, we landed in Anchorage at 2:17pm. Yipee! We were finally in Alaska!

Anchorage, Alaska - What a beautiful sight, Mountains with snow covered peaks on one side and Turnagain Arm (Water) on the other side. (picture above). We stayed at the awesome Comfort Suites Airport hotel (just recently opened) and went out sightseeing at Resolution Point; Westchester Lagoon Overlook; Earthquake Park; and Woronzof Point Lookout.

What was truly amazing was getting to witness and experience the 24 hours of Sunshine in Alaska. We finally got into bed about 12:30 am and the sun was shining as if it was 6:00 pm in the evening. It really made going to sleep hard but I didn't care as I was in Alaska with the one I loved, my wife!

Anniversary Finally Celebrated

After a family visit to Minnesota on our real anniversary we decided to really celebrate our anniversary a week later by spending the weekend in Atlanta, Georgia going to the Georgia Aquarium.

We drove to Atlanta early Saturday morning, February 7 (2009) and went straight to the Aquarium. We had tickets to a special preview of the Titanic Exhibit where they had items on display that was recovered from the Titanic that sank April 14, 1912. This experience being able to see history and see personal belongings from passengers that perished that evening brought a erie feeling throughout my body.

We then spent the next two hours visiting the animals throughout the aquarium and enjoying each others company.

After leaving the aquarium we drove to our hotel, Renaissance Concourse Atlanta Airport Hotel, where we had a beautiful, balcony room, on the 5th floor that overlooked the runways of Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport. We were to sit on our balcony and watch planes land and takeoff....it was so cool.

The next morning before checking out we had a good, all you could eat, breakfast at the hotel (it was included with the room).

We had a wonderful weekend, spending time together as we celebrated our 1st Wedding Anniversary! Happy Anniversary Sweetheart, I love you!

Family Visit to Minnesota

Whats more important (Family or 1st Year Wedding Anniversary).... your wrong, its BOTH!

Christa and I flew up to Minnesota on January 30 (2009) to visit her family. It was our first visit since June of 2008. If I haven't mentioned this before, I have the BEST-in-laws in the world! How many people can say they have a cool sister-in-law and brother-in-law, I can! But wait, I also have an awesome Father-in-law who is a joy to be around and cherish the time with him as our visits are short and far between.

This weekend was actually a wonderful weekend to have our 1st Wedding Anniversary. We returned to where it all started for us as we were married in Minneapolis on February 1, 2008 at 3:00 pm. We were sharing our special day with family, Christa and I were able to spend the weekend together and even my favorite weather co-operated with us as it had snowed prior to our arrival.

I got my first experience in shoveling snow off the driveway at Christa's dads house. Even though it was time comsuming, I still enjoyed doing it. As our weekend trip came to an end, we did do another first that most people don't do, thats travel on your anniversary. Christa, thank-you for a wonderful first year and i'm looking forward to spending many more with you! I love you!

Goodbye 2008 - Hello 2009

Happy New Year! Another first for my wife and I?

Our first New Years Eve was celebrated alone between the two of us in the comfort of our home!

We watched the New Years Eve countdown from Times Square and at the stroke of Midnight we kissed and then toasted in the New Year with a glass of Sparkling Grape Juice! (We ran out of the real stuff that we bought before the new year arrived).

We had awesome cheese dip with chips and spiced meatballs cooked in the crockpot that my beautiful wife cooked.

It was sad to see 2008 go as that was the year we were married but we know 2009 will be a wonderful year as we will celebrate our 1 year Wedding Anniversary in February and our delayed Honeymoon Trip in May.

Thank-you 2008 for all the wonderful memories and looking forward to all the new ones we will make in 2009!

Merry Christmas Sweetheart! I love you!

Christmas Is Here! Our First Christmas together as a married couple! It's Awesome!

This is what I wished we could have woke up to on Christmas Morning? A White Christmas!

In my 40 years of living i've never had a White Christmas! As for my wife, she has had so many and I am so jealous!

We had a wonderful morning as our youngest, he's 13 years old, came in our room and woke us up telling us it was time to come and open up the presents. We were also fortunate to have our 18 year old over as well but he slept through all the excitement as he got his presents a few days before.

It turned out to be a wonderful and relaxing day! Later that evening, my wife, cooked up a wonderful Christmas dinner! We couldn't have asked for a more peaceful day than what we had as we were together as a family! The only way the day could have been better was if we could have shared it with my wife's family who lives in Minnesota!