Doubletree Hotel Denver-Southeast Aurora

... worth the stop. And in fact, we'll be back to Hong Kong next year, which fortunately does not have the Visa requirement.

Japan is also a special case. While it is the primary Pacific hub for United, it is always prohibitively expensive to get stopovers on paid tickets. While stops in Hong Kong can sometimes be free, Tokyo can add $400-$500 to the cost of the ticket! That is largely why this was my first trip to Japan where I left the airport. So ...

Airlines

Best seat (Trans Pac): United NRT-ORD 747 new config lie flats
Best seat (regional): ANA PVG-NRT
Best meal: Thai ICN-BKK Green Chicken Curry (tie)
Singapore HAN-SIN Grilled Duck Breast (tie)
Best IFE (Trans Pac): United NRT-ORD
Best IFE (regional): Singapore SIN-PVG
Best Service: Thai ICN ...

... June 22

Today kicked off with a leadership session. Prominent business leaders from around Denver came to our rehearsal and we were all engaged in a round table session about the concept of leadership. It was great to hear about each leader's background and perspective on leadership. It was a great networking event and I was fortunate to meet Mr. Morris Prince, the National Program Officer for The Gill Foundation in Denver. He knows many executives at Minnesota foundations and ...

... orientation and training. We meet at the Shermon Center at 8:00 a.m. for "meet and greet" activities and host speakers. Toward the end we learn about "modules", where we will audition for singing and dancing parts. I'm really excited to start!

It has been wonderful to get e-mails and messages from everyone! I really appreciate it and think of everyone often. My mom mentioned that some have been trying to leave me a message on my blog but have been unsuccessful. I think ...

... story of the pride of achievement that has preceded the current generation. In our travels, I find it one of the best ways to get a feel for the community. The conversations I have with the local people who volunteer their time to host, often provide information I could never find on the Internet or in a publication - or for that matter, in more sophisticated establishments!

... Horse was "MUCH MORE Than the Mountain Carving" (I am using the original capitalization). "MUCH MORE" (and the phrase was used no less than five times) turned out to include the following: Theater - now playing Dynamite and Dreams (with huge day and night blasts!); Teepee; Big Model; Grand Piano; and Rock Building with TWO levels of art and artifacts. Wow! We walked into the visitor center in a bad mood, but still determined to squeeze every possible drop of ...

... to dig trenches to lead the water away from his house. You gotta love those late summer rain storms. After cleaning up we then headed to the grocery store because he wanted to make me dinner. He made wonderful chicken and dumplings; I made the dumplings... yeah! Anyway, we then spent the rest of the night on his front porch eating and talking. It is so hard to say good bye and every time I had to I would get ...

... then the left side. and eventually the river is winding and zigzagging from point a to b. Eventually the zigzags evolve into switchbacks and eventually those switchbacks erode and create one wide flow again leaving islands in the middle. As the rivers recede and then dries up the only things left are those islands. Anyhow, they were amazing and beautiful. We continued on thru Moab on this little two lane highway and it was the most picturesque drive I've ...

... br>






Another day we went for a day drive in the rocky Mountain foothills west of Castle Rock through small towns. Found a little river for Bear to swim in & had lunch at a traditional American BBQ type place.

This was my first day of the mission trip. From what I remember, it was mostly worship and hanging out for the night and getting ready for our assignments for the week. Since I don't remember much from it, I won't go into to daily detail. Every day though I went to a boys and girls club and hung out with kids all day. It was an amazing experience and helped fuel me to go on more mission trips.