and back to Poland!

So it's true- I went back to Poland. The place where I spent 18 months of my life preaching the good word. It was quite a surreal experience going back... landing at the airport in Warsaw and hearing Polish again was almost music to my ears (except that it made me realize how much Polish I had forgotten!) But here is how our trip went... I traveled back with an old companion, Sister Mary Clinger... I know- Jon couldn't go, sadly... but I couldn't have asked for a better traveling buddy! We joined up in Warsaw and headed to the train station to catch a train to Poznan... we soon remembered when boarding the bus, that Poland is lacking in the air conditioning apartment... I think I spent the last two weeks rather wet and smelly. (And I have no idea why the font is so big... I've tried fixing it but... no dice)


Here I am on a train again! The second love of my life! I wish the US had trains....

We arrived in Poznan to a HUGE rain storm! Luckily our ride was an hour late so it cleared up and gave us this beautiful double rainbow, welcome back present.

We caught a ride with our Mission President and his wife to Wroclaw!

The bought us lunch and dinner and even let us bop in on their Zone Conference!

And the third love of my life... JUICE!!!

After Wroclaw we caught a train down to Katowice, where I spent a lot of time on my mission. We arranged to meet with some old friends...

Me and my friend Iza, sporting the latest in European fashion. Gotta love it!

Went over to Ryszard's and he fed us some Polish food! What a lovely sight...

And of course said "Hello" to our fellow sister missionaries. The blond one of the left was my LAST companion on the mission! Weird...

We then got on a bus and rode out to Zakopane... the only place in Poland with mountains. We had SUCH a good time hiking all over! I think we hiked at least 15 miles that day!

One of our resting spots...

Then in a one day whirlwind, we went back over to Krakow- saw the city in half a day and then caught the night train to Prague! The night train was an experience in itself... 6 beds in one cabin= frightening! BUT we made it and Prague was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!

One lookout of the town.. Prague was pretty in all directions

Inside this GARGANTUOUS cathedral within the castle walls...

Outside- same cathedral

And some icecream is NEVER a bad thing :)

After two days in Prague, we had to say our good-byes and caught a train to Dresden, Germany. One thing is for sure, the German countryside is gorgeous! Just looking out the window we probably saw four or more castles. AND their trains are a dream! They ride so smooth, have AC, and are actually clean :)

The quaint town of Dresden...

But Dresden wasn't our main destination- we were on our way to Freiburg actually, to meet up with two of our favorite people to go to the temple with them.

Freiburg, Germany Temple

Iza Nowak and Grazyna Konatowska, two of the best Poles I have ever met!

Ah, the beautiful temple

Going through the temple with those two was the main purpose of our journey... we just happened to throw in some other cool things along the way! But the temple was amazing and a great experience for all of us. After a couple days at the temple, we came back to Poznan and stayed with Grazyna and Iza at their house. Sunday we joined with one of my favoritest branches for church. And afterwards- we had a good "Break the fast" with tons of Polish food.

We spent a couple more days in Poznan and then came back to the States. As much as I love Poland and the people there, I was MORE than happy to come back to the good ol' US of A where customer service is real and I have a husband :)

Raspberry Pie and Ocean Breezes

So.. it was a Saturday morning in Vicksburg, Mississippi. I had just come home from teaching my class and we had the WHOLE day ahead of us to do something of great merit. We went down to the river to have a nice walk.... but after 2 seconds of walking we began sweating profusely and decided that today should be spent INDOORS! "Let's make a PIE!" Jon suggested. So we ran over to Kroger (the local grocer) and bought all the stuff. We'd never made a pie before... but it turned out SOOOO amazingly delicious! P.S. Like our make shift counter-top? yeah.. we are lacking counter space to say the least. But a washer and dryer work quite nicely!
White Chocolate Mousse Raspberry Pie!! MmmMmmm!

We had to eat our WHOLE pie in one day kuz Sunday we flew out to Monterey for a business trip that Jon had! (I made him take me along!) Monterey is BEAUTIFUL! The weather was absolutely perfect, and there was so much to do... We saw sea otters on the beach...

Jon had his first Dippin' Dot experience!
Yum!

Took a walk down Cannery Row...


Found a candy store! Yay!

Tried to be a dolphin ;)
Tried to not get wet...


But it didn't work so well :)
Sunset

And joined all the hippies at their Farmer Market! I love Monterey!

New Orleans for the Fourth of July!

Well, if any of you were wondering, the above picture describes the weather in New Orleans in July... near 106 degrees with humidity around 70%... it was quite a wet weekend :) Although it was terribly hot, we had a fun time! Jon had to be in Baton Rouge all this week, so we decided to head down early and spend the fourth of July weekend in New Orleans. The city was buzzing all day with activities down the Mississippi river front. We spent a lot of time outside walking through shops and hearing fun music on every corner, BUT also spent a lot of time INSIDE where there was air-conditioning... are feet were so tired we sat on anything and everything.. including big stacks of beer!

We met lots of interesting people... including Uncle and Aunt Sam :)

And free watermelon was DEFINITELY a perk!

And the best part was our dinner cruise on the Steamboat "Natchez"! They fed us amazing food- BBQ ribs, lime chicken, corn on the cob, potater salad, coleslaw, rolls, and of course- nanner puddin'! And to top off the night, we watched the fireworks on the steamboat from the river. HAPPY 4th!

Civil War Country

Being deep in the South, we have found ourselves in the midst of Civil War country... and come to find that a major battle of the Civil War took place right in Vicksburg! The "Siege of Vicksburg" they call it! The Patriots came from all sides, and attacked the Rebels of Vicksburg. The Rebels definitely had the advantage, being up on the bluffs of Vicksburg, but when more supplies and aid never came from Jackson, they were forced to surrender on July 4. Because of this, Vicksburg never celebrated fourth of July until about 10 years ago! Hahaha...
BUT there is an AWESOME National Military Park here in honor of that Vicksburg battle. Last Saturday the entrance fee was FREE so of course we had to go :) It's a driving tour (because the park is HUGE) and you can get out and stop at several important spots along the way...

In front of the Illinois memorial...

In memory of all their troops...

Inside, looking up

Inside, looking down

Oh look, there's me :) I didn't dress up for the event...

And there's Jon!

It looks small, but it's really a HUGE statue of Ulysses S. Grant- General of the Union Troops

The best part of the WHOLE park was this incredible iron clad Union boat that is on display. It sunk in the Mississippi river, and 102 years later they pulled it out from the depths of the murky river and restored it! It's now in the park, along with a sweet museum of all the artifacts like clothes, bottles, safety pins, weapons- that had remained on the boat when it sank.

USS Cairo

I'm a sailor- I sail!

Boys and their toys...

Included in the park was the war cemetery....

Near the end of the park we came to a fort up on the bluffs banking the Mississippi. At only 300 feet, we could see all the way into Louisiana :)

Just us and the Mississippi

And we ended our adventures with some deep-fried pickles... Mmm-Mmm!