Bill and I traveled to Beijing, China to visit Bill's brother Scott and sister-in-law Gloria who haved lived in the city since 2012.  It was a perfect opportunity to visit another Asian country and to visit family at the same time.  We spent 12 days in Beijing and toured every important, must see sight in the city.  We traveled to three different sections of the Great Wall and that was the hightlight of the trip and a check off the buckett list. 

Some of the places toured were: The Summer Palace, Forbidden City, Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, Lama Temple, Confusious Temple, Ming Tombs, Beijing Zoo, 798 Art District, National Musuem of China, National Art Museum of China, Tianneman Square, 2008 Beijing Olympic Park, many other beautiful parks, shopping and restaurants.

It was a fabulous trip and a once in a lifetime experience!!!

Beijing, China June 2013

Bryce and Zion National Parks, Utah

Bryce and Zion National Parks, UT

It is that time of year again, October break from my job at Franklin at Alma Elementary School. October break or fall break means vacation with the husband exploring places we have yet to visit on our Bucket List.  This year we chose Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks in Utah. We lived in Park City, Utah in the early 90's for about six months and visited every National park except these two because they were close to home and we would travel to them soon. Well, it took over 19 years to get there. Geez!  We stayed at the Historic Ruby's Inn Hotel named after Reuben Syrett (Ruby) and his wife Minnie in Bryce Canyon.  We spent the two days enjoying the beautiful fall weather, eating country food and hiking the Hoodoo's of the Canyons.

Zion National Park was an amazing place to hike from the majestic rock formations to the Virgin River walks. We stayed at the Zion Inn Hotel in Springdale and it was a lovely place to stay with a very nice breakfast each morning.  You can walk to the park entrance from the hotel and take the park shuttle to all of the hiking and viewing locations. We hiked for two days. The last day we hiked 17 miles! The most challenging hike was to the top of Angels Landing. It was tough but I did it!  The local restaurants and shops have that small town atmosphere and it is so charming. We had a fabulous time and would love spending more time at each park in the future. Hopefully it won't take 19 years!

Canceled Cruise

Well, Bill and I didn't spend the week in Mexico on our cruise, instead we helped our family and son get healthy. This has been a very tough week and it will be a road that needs to be traveled. God is good and family is strong! This October Break is about the family unit, no frills just back to the basics.