Natural Bridge, VA was amazing. It is a testament to God's handiwork, really. It certainly looks hand crafted to me.

The presentation at night was interesting. They did a light show on the rocks as they read Genesis 1. It was interesting to hear

And God said, "Let there be light!"

booming down from the bridge. Oh, and when you see the pictures realize that there is a road going over it for perspective's sake.

You sit on one side of the bridge for half of the show, and on the other side for the finale. The ending starts with the song The Lord's Prayer, then the last days of Creation. The finale is more singing; beautiful renditions of two songs: God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again and one of my all time favorites Holy, Holy, Holy.

Christa and I couldn't help but sing with the choir at the end. And the bells resounded all the way down the path. It was one of the most lovely arrangements of Holy, Holy, Holy I've ever heard.

Thomas Jefferson used to own the bridge, back in the day. Christa and I were wondering who owns it now that this highly religious performance can continue. I haven't found out yet.

Well, here are the pics.

Okay, so I haven't posted in a while. I'm sorry. I need to write more. And I don't mean fluff. I want to really write some of the crazy things in my head. For posterity. And for your amusement.

I have been working on my constructed language. That has been nice.
And I composed a new tune for Fanny Crosby's poem To God Be the Glory. I have been "working."

And as a special treat I have pictures for you. These are from my little vacation to CO for Ben and Stephanie Young's wedding. The pictures are not that good. I'm working on the whole photographer thing.

pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Things I've learned about cameras and taking pictures

1. recharge camera before you leave


2. turn off flash when taking pictures through windows


3. push Kammer out of frame


4. recharge camera when you have arrived at hotel


5. don't forget the 35mm

My family and I are going on a little vacation tomorrow and Saturday. We are staying at A Thousand Trails campground near Lynchberg. But our main goal is to visit Natural Bridge, VA. My parents have been there before and liked it very much.

We are leaving bright and early in the morning.

This was from June 2 when we were just coming into St. Louis. Kammer was sitting next to me (I had to do some editing, let me tell you), so I'm sure he has all the good pictures of the Arch. But I at least got the Arch, City Limit St Louis, and Missouri State Line--all in one picture.

I had the pleasure of watching the movie retelling of Our Mutal Friend last night. It was long, but well worth it, in my estimation. I have not read the Dickens book, but now after seeing the movie, hopefully the book will be better and not worse. Here is my revised list of movies and the post that provides explanation.

Movies to Watch

1. Our Mutal Friend. Charles Dickens.

suggested by Hillary
2. ROTK. J.R.R. Tolkien; and Second Hand Lions

suggested by Joy
3. Powaqqatsi

suggested by Kammer
4. Unbreakable

suggested by apelles
5. Shadowlands

suggested by Christa
6. LOTR extended verserions: Fellowship; Two Towers; Return of the King. The Recruit

suggested by Cruv
7. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

suggested by JRC
8. The Pianist

suggested by Valien

jbo: simon says

I am waiting to hear from my camping compatriots. They should be back next Tuesday. I'm sure they will have a lot of stories to tell from their trek out West to see canyons, falls, national parks, etc. I wish I could have gone with them, but alas, I could not.

Well, here's to living vicariously.

I have pics from our trip last week. I am going to put them up slowly because I am slow. Here are Justin, Brannon and Ben. And I threw in a shot of the moon at sunrise in Kansas for kicks.

I made it home around 11 pm EST. I had a 2 hour delay in the plane at Denver because the right engine wouldn't start. But that made my wait in Atlanta go by quicker.

I called my Dad by pay phone to tell him I had arived earlier than expected and I was going to sit outside, but when the phone started ringing I actually heard his phone ring too inside the airport. He was right across from the pay phone on a bench. Funny.

All in all, it was a good flight home. I have pictures as promised. I will get them up when I can.

Oh, I got to meet Joy. It was fun talking with her. She is an awesome photographer by the way, don't let her tell you anything different.

I'm sitting in a hotel in Colorado. It's hard to believe. I left Greenville on Wednesday morning. We made it to NC pretty fast. TN was our next state to cross. After that we went to Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri.

We stopped in St. Louis for dinner. It was so odd. It was about 6:30 and there was no one around. It was like the city was empty. (We were downtown, by the way.) We ate dinner in the pizza place. It was okay, the pizza was a little greasy, though. There was a policeman there who explained that when the Cardinals were away, downtown pretty much shuts down at 6. Even with the explanation it felt bizarre walking around this huge city without any people walked with us.

Next we went through Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas. It was pretty dark though, so we didn't see much. After that we hit Topeka and were well on our way through Kansas. Boy is it flat there. We stopped at sunrise to get pictures on the side of the road. It was so cold we were jumping around. My teeth were chattering. I didn't pack for cold weather.

After Kansas we made it to Colorado. It was beautiful. Denver was really nice. We ate downtown and walked around for a bit. Then we headed for Rocky Mountains National Park. We were able to go up Trail Ridge (?) Road. All the way up to the snowy peaks. I wasn't as brave as Justin, Brannon, and Ben, but I was near the edges occasionally. We were up 12,000 ft. It was incredible. I have never even imagined.

We camped in the national park. We hiked (I thought I was going to die) up a steep hill for quite a ways. Put up our tent; had hotdogs over our cooking "stove"; talked and laughed. We were only missing the camping songs, I guess.

This morning we packed up, (the hike down was easier than up, but not by much) and headed to Ft. Collins. An unfortunate turn of events lead us to Wyoming, we missed the exit. Wyoming wasn't the bad part though, it was the almost running out of gas. There are miles of nothing in the West. But everything was fine. We fount Ft. Collins, and met the Geters. Saw Ben and Stephanie and the Youngs. Went to the hotel and now I am sitting here typing on an unfimiliar Mac.

I had one bad experience in this whole thing. I forgot to charge my camera. It died when I was just starting to take pics of the mountains. Oh well.

Well, I made it to Greenville all right. Thankfully, my sister enjoys driving, and knows the drive so well. I am sitting in Ben's wonderful house in Greer. Ben, Kammer, Brannon, Davidand I had a nice talk this evening.

I'll be leaving with Kammer, Brannon and Justin in the morning for our trek to CO for Ben's wedding. It will be good times.

The wedding is on Saturday. I'll be flying home all day on Sunday.
And in the near future, I'll be returning to Duke for another doctor's appointment: June 10.