Landed in USA!

Just landed in Dallas. We have a 3 hour layover.

On the plane!

Getting ready to taxi out to take off. We are about an hour bhind. See you soon!

Delayed in Paris

Stuck in Paris for a bit but should still make our connection in Dallas. I will keep you posted as best I can.

Update...

Just getting ready to head out the door for our last few hours in Paris, but I was able to upload a couple more of the students' thoughts in the Falcon Corner. Enjoy! Mr. C

Happy Father's Day!

From all of us on tour to our dads back home, we thank you for all that you have done and will do for us! We love you!

France - Day 3 and 4

Ok, we are going to update for two days in one post! Yesterday we made our way through the region of Normandy which is located in northwestern France. We made our first stop in Rouen, which is the capital of this region. We were able to see the main cathedral called Notre Dame, and also so the memorial dedicated to the patron saint of France, Joan of Arc, who was burned at the stake in Rouen. We had some free time to look around and eat some lunch.

From Rouen we headed to a classic fromagarie, which is a French cheese farm. It was an interesting stop as the tour was all in French and the production was on hold that day. From there we went to the city of Caen, where our hotel was, and had a traditional Normandy dinner: chicken with a butter sauce, rice, and an apple tart. We all got to bed early which was nice because we all needed to catch up on some much needed rest.

This morning we started our day with a trip to the Caen Memorial, which is a museum dedicated to World War II, but more specifically to the D-Day landings and the Normandy invasion. It was a beautiful museum and I highly recommend it if you are ever here.

We then traveled down the road to a small sea-side village of Arromanches, which was the location where Gold Beach was, and were the Allies created a make-shift harbor to unload men, machines, and supplies into France after the invasion. We had lunch here and some time to walk around and view the pieces of docks left in the water off shore.

We drove a bit farther down the shore until we got to the American Cemetery, which is located right on Omaha Beach. The cemetery was beautiful, however, it was one of the most sobering and emotional moments of my life as we walked the rows upon rows of white crosses. We also had a chance to walk the beach and try to imagine the hardship and sacrifice made so that we could be on this trip now.

We also were able to drive down to Point du Hoc, which divides the two American beaches, Omaha and Utah. It was seen as pivotal for the success of the invasion. About 200 Army Rangers had to scale the cliffs at Point du Hoc in order to disable the guns that were firing down on the beaches. Some of the German bunkers are still there today, as well as the numerous holes caused by Allied artillery on the Normandy coast. We completed our day with dinner back at the hotel.

Tomorrow we head back to Paris for our last day! It is sad that it is over but I think everyone is eager to get home and to some “normalcy”. The schedule is rather easy with a stop in a small coastal town and then some free time in Paris before dinner and then our final adventure, a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower! I don’t know if I will update the blog tomorrow night as it will be late and we will need to get up early for our trip to the airport on Monday. I will hopefully blog once we are in the airport. I have added Andrew’s comments to the Falcon corner, and will see if I can get some more tomorrow from some students on our drive to Paris. Keep us in your prayers as we get ready for the long road home! Mr. C

P.S. CHECK OUT PICTURES!

France - Day 2

I'm currently writing this post from my phone as we drive to the French coast and Normandy. Last night was a late night in Paris as we had a slight mix up with our bus after our night cruise on the Siene River. So this will be short.

We started yesterday by visiting one of the largest museums in the world: the Louvre. We had a chance to see some awesome things like the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the Code of Hammurabi, ad much more! 

From there we traveled wth a guide on a bus to the Palace of Versialles. We got the opportunity to tour the state apartments and the immense gardens. our guide was awesome and she reminded the kids of Mrs. Overton! 

We then headed back into the city for some free time and dinner. After dinner we made our way to take an hour cruise down the river, which was awesome! We had some great views and as we approached the Effiel Tower it lit up and started to fash!

We got off the boat and were met by a special suprise, Ben's brother Aaron! It was a nice reunion! 

Today we had to the coast and tomorrow we will visite the Normandy beaches and the American landing sites and cmetary. We return to Paris on Sunday. Not sure if we have wifi at this hotel, so maybe I can update you with my phone. Mr. C

Paris - Day 1

An interesting day to say the least. Today was our transfer day from London to Paris. We woke up rather early (5 am!) to make sure we were out of the hotel by 6:45 to get to King’s Cross train station to get on the EuroStar to Paris. Our train left at about 9 am and the ride took just over two hours. The funny thing was that all the kids were excited to “see” the Chunnel, the link between England and France, but almost every one of them missed the short trip through the tunnel as they were asleep! We also skipped ahead an hour once we arrived in Paris.

From the train station we got on our bus and started a three hour tour with a city guide. We saw a ton of different sites and stopped at a couple of locations, including a great vantage point of the Eiffel Tower (picture of the group is below). We ended the tour at Notre Dame Cathedral, which is amazing to think that this church has stood here since the 1300s!

The bus then took us to our hotel and we checked in. We then headed to dinner, so we used the Metro trains to get back downtown. We had a traditional Moroccan dinner (French connection!). Then a bus got us back to the hotel for an early evening, which the group needs badly to catch up on sleep!

Tomorrow we are headed to see the Louvre Museum in the morning and then going to Versailles Palace in the afternoon. We will head back into the city in the afternoon and eat dinner and then take a night cruise on the River Seine. Hopefully I will have time to blog again tomorrow night. I also had Ben Sever and Luke Barulich blog while we were on the train so please check their posts out in Falcon Corner! Au revoir! Mr. C

England - Day 3

What a great and beautiful, but exhausting, day here in London! Our free day started off with a trip to Greenwich, which for those of you who are keeping track, is where you find the Prime Meridian, which separates the western hemisphere from the eastern hemisphere. It really was a great day weather wise and the walk up to the observatory was quite nice and none of the kids realized that they walked from one hemisphere to the next until I told them they had. We got some great pictures, one which I will post with this message.

From there we headed to the Tower of London. Another great stop in London, the tower has lots of exhibits, but most of our students went and saw the crown jewels (and some bought fake crowns for themselves), they visited the White Tower (which holds all the medieval weaponry), saw the place where several queens of England lost their head, a snapped a few shots of the ravens and beefeaters.

We ate lunch together at a local pub overlooking the Tower of London, where most of us enjoyed a plate of fish and chips! We stopped for a short visit to the Imperial War Museum and then headed to Piccadilly Circus to do some shopping.

We then took a nice walk (which apparently some of the kids felt was a bit too long and too brisk!) so that we could make it to Evensong services at Westminster Abbey. It was a really amazing feeling sitting in such an old cathedral worshipping with several hundred people and enjoying the sights and mostly sounds of the service. The Westminster boys choir sang most of the service. I added a picture of the kids outside Westminster at the bottom too!

From there we ate dinner and then the group once again broke off into two groups. One group was dropped off at the theatre to see Wicked (which the kids say was awesome!), and the other group headed with Mr. and Mrs. Craig to ride the London Eye. The London Eye is the second largest observation wheel in the world and it gives you a bird’s eye view of the whole city of London. We got on it late enough that the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben were lighting up as we were taking our 40 minute trip around. Some really fantastic sights and pictures.

It is now almost midnight and breakfast is going to be served at 6 am and we need to be on the bus by 6:45 to get to the train station to head to Paris! We have a bus tour (no walking!) tomorrow afternoon in Paris so that should be nice. I think we have wifi at our next hotel, so hopefully I can update you tomorrow night. Also I will use our train ride to have some students write down some thoughts on their trip so far. Otherwise, we keep on moving and enjoying our time! God Bless! Mr. C

England - Day 2

What a great day in probably my favorite city in the world! The weather was MUCH better to say the least! We started the morning by getting acquainted with the Tube, London’s subway system, and eventually made our way to Waterloo Train Station, where we got our first view of downtown London, including our first glimpse of the famous clock tower Big Ben. We walked around and saw several of the major places, including Trafalgar Square, where the kids climbed on lions, chased pigeons, and played in the fountains. Well, most of that is true. Then we walked over to Leicester Square and to Covent Garden. We were given about an hour to eat lunch in Covent Garden and most of the kids found their way to small little cafés while Mrs. Craig and I enjoyed a traditional English lunch at our favorite restaurant in London, Porters.

After lunch we walked to meet up with our bus and a London tour guide who showed us around many of the sites in London for about 3 hours. In our trip we saw Piccadilly Circus, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and much more! He was a really great guide; however we found out that he would soon be heading on his own vacation to our neck of the woods, as he is going to attend Burning Man this summer. We told him to spend more time at Lake Tahoe and WAY LESS TIME at Burning Man.

After our tour, we had dinner at a pub and then our big group split up into two groups. One group was led on a tour of all of the sites in London having to do with the Harry Potter books and movies. The other group headed to the London Eye to see London from a bird’s eye perspective. Both groups had a great time!

Tomorrow is our “free day” in London and the kids are excited for Mr. Craig to take over as tour guide for a day. We are heading to Greenwich to stand in two hemispheres at once, then to the Tower of London, the Imperial War Museum, shopping, Westminster Abbey, and then about half are going to see the West End production of Wicked and the other half will do the London Eye. It should be a very full day, but the weather again is supposed to be awesome!

Unfortunately, with our very full days here in London, I do not think I will get any students to write blog posts until our train ride to Paris on Wednesday morning, but we will see what happens. I know some of the kids were getting homesick, but I also know some were able to either call home this evening or send email/Facebook messages. I did add a couple more pictures to the photo gallery though. Either way, everyone is still having a good time. Good night from the banks of the Thames! Mr. C

England - Day 1

To transfer or not to transfer, that is the question!

This is what we would call a blanket statement for our experience today. We left our hotel in Wales this morning after a 30 minute delay on breakfast. The morning was quite nice with sunshine, but that soon turned into rain…massive amounts of rain…as we made our way to Stratford-upon-Avon, where William Shakespeare was born, raised, and later retired after his fame and success in London. We stopped in downtown Stratford where we were able to tour the house that Shakespeare grew up in. We learned that his father was a glove maker (interesting business!), and that William was quite lucky to even be in history as he was born in the middle of the Plague, he was able to receive an education as the oldest son of a wealthy family, and he got much of his inspiration for his plays from his bringing up. There were many other interesting facts that we learned as we made our way around the house.

We had a little bit of free time to stroll the street that Shakespeare would have walked hundreds of times, and stopped in a couple of shops along the way. Meanwhile, the rain continued to come, as did the wind. In some ways it felt like I was back at golf practice this past spring! From there we went over to Anne Hathaway’s cottage. Hathaway was Shakespeare’s wife. We first ate lunch across the street: roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots and peas. It was a spectacular meal given the weather conditions. Did I mention that not only was it raining and windy, but also only about 55 degrees! After lunch we headed back across the street to tour the cottage and the information about the Hathaway family. Many interesting facts, including that at least 14 loaves of bread and several gallons of ale would have been consumed each day in that household between the master of the house, his wife, all their children, and any of their servants! Also, loaves of bread were sliced horizontally rather than vertically because the bottom of the bread would have been dirty from all the ash in the oven. Guess who ate this part?! The children! This is where we get the phrase “a cut above the rest.” Another phrase, “the top crust” comes from the idea that the best piece of bread, the top, would have gone to the master or to any guests.

We left the cottage at about 3 pm and expected to get to our hotel at about 6 pm. At about 4 pm, our bus pulled into a rest area for a bathroom break. As we stopped, our driver soon realized there was an issue with the bus (I’ll spare the details!). Long story short, after a visit from a mechanic (1+ hour later), and a call to a new coach and driver (1+ hour), we switched coaches and left at about 9 pm! I think God had some angels watching over us because we got stuck at a huge rest area with food, bathrooms, and plenty to distract ourselves with! The kids stayed in pretty good spirits as both I and the other group leader had preached at our pre-trip meetings: BE FLEXIBLE!!! Along with that, Chloe, our tour director, talked to EF and they felt so bad for us that they gave each of us £8 for dinner! So all in all it worked out, especially as we really had nothing big planned for this evening.

We are currently on the bus as I write this and most of the kids have fallen asleep. Hopefully no more surprises today and we make it to our hotel by about 11 pm and get a full nights rest for our exciting day in London. By the way, weather forcast for the next two days is supposed to be BEAUTIFUL!!! J Praise God! Other than that, I will post two more student perspectives under the Falcon Corner. Today’s guests: Mikey Overton and Tiffany Patrick. Again, thank you for all your prayers and enjoy the posts. Mr. C

P.S. I know I said I would post some pictures, however the internet cut out on me last night so I was not able to get that accomplished. I will try to do that once again, but no promises!

P.P.S. If our day could not get any more eventful, I am adding this on at 12:30 am and we just got back into our hotel room as our entire building of 8 floors was evacuated because of a fire alarm! Some of our students were ill prepared to go outside (i.e. no shoes, no sweaters, no clothes?! Well at least a towel!), but all is well now and heading to bed! What a day!!!! Kids were masterful at exiting the building in an orderly fashion, you would think they had done this before or something. Most of the adults had to take their que from the students! Go Falcons!

Wales

So this morning came earlier than anyone really wanted, but nevertheless we were up and out of the hotel by 6:15 am to get to the Dublin Port to get on our ferry to cross the Irish Sea. We actually had the opportunity to sail on Europe’s largest passenger ferry, Ulysses, which can carry about 2,000 people! It was a beautiful day across the sea and we had some awesome chances to get pictures of both the Irish coast and the Welsh coast as we came into Holyhead Port in Wales.

From there we loaded onto our new coach and made our way to a town that boasts one of the longest place names in the world: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch! That was 59 letters long in traditional Welsh. After a quick lunch there, we headed down the road to Beaumaris Castle on the north coast of Wales. A large, unfinished castle (because Edward I ran out of money!), it was a great place to get an idea of medieval castles and how well they were constructed. The picture below is our SLHS group in the middle of the castle.

We then drove through the Snowdonia National Park, which actually reminded me a lot of driving over our own Sierra Nevada Mountains, just greener and a lot more sheep! We made a few photo stops along the way and probably drove for about two hours through the amazing landscape. We finally reached our hotel for the evening, Beaufort Park Hotel, where we had dinner and are now resting up for a long day of travel tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, we are headed for our next major city, London, but we are also making a stop in Stratford-upon-Avon to visit the home of Shakespeare. As I said before, we are supposed to get wifi at that hotel so hopefully we can post some more tomorrow evening after dinner. Thank you so much for everyone who is reading, and some who are even commenting! I am relaying messages as I receive them to the respective students! Speaking of the students, I will be also posting the first two student blogs under the section titled: Falcon Corner. It is at the top of the screen. Today’s guests include our seniors: Megan Einspahr and Haley Stokes! Hopefully you enjoy them.

One last thing is that we are also going to post a couple of pictures in the picture gallery, so please look at those as well. Again, all is going really well and we appreciate all of your prayers as we travel and your comments. Please become a follower of our page if you like or know how (it is under Mr. and Mrs. Craig’s picture). Cheers! Mr. C

Dublin - Day 2

What another great day! This post will have to be somewhat abbreviated as it is now 11:15 pm and our wake up time tomorrow is 5:00 am to get to our boat that crosses the Irish Sea to Wales! So here is the brief rundown of today:

We started with a great bus tour of Dublin with a city guide. We got to stop at several sites where she gave us some great history, including St. Patrick's Cathedral and Trinity College. We saw the Book of Kells (9th century Gospel manuscripts written in Gaelic). We then had the whole afternoon to ourselves! Some of the students enjoyed Dublin Castle and Library, others tried to find the leprechaun museum (its small), and the kids had their first shot at improving Ireland's economy by buying some souvenirs. We had dinner at a local pub called the Citi Hotel, where we were treated to traditional Irish Stew. After dinner we made our way out of town to a pub called The Merry Ploughboys, where we were able to watch traditional Irish singing and dancing. What a great evening…even some of our students were brave enough to get out there and dance a little! Unfortunately too late this evening to get pictures up, but hopefully soon!

Tomorrow as I said we head to Wales. It is a three-hour boat ride over the sea, and then we are going to visit a castle and tour the country a little bit. I do not think we have internet access at our next hotel, so I may not be able to post until the following day, when we are scheduled to arrive in London. Sunday will be mostly the drive to London from Wales, with a side trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, the home of William Shakespeare.

I am also going to start having the kids write up some things to post on the blog, so be looking for those. Other than that, we are having a GREAT time and we look forward to sharing more experiences and pictures soon! Mr. C

Dublin - Day 1

What a day to start our trip! We landed safely in Dubkin right on time, made it through customs with no problems and everyone had their luggage! We then met our Tour Director Chloe, who got both SLHS groups together. We then decided to head to our "coach" or bus, however, as we left, Mr. Ben Sever decided he wanted to stick around the airport a bit longer than everyone else. Without going into to much detail here, Ben found himself left at the airport. But danger was averted as he did what he should have, which is to stand right there and wait for us to get him (which took a call to the airport, them finding him, and then him getting into a taxi to get to the hotel).

Meanwhile, the rest of the group made their way to the hotel (very nice!) and we dropped off our luggage. We then got back onto the bus to head into downtown Dublin for a quick walking tour and lunch! We had some delicious sandwiches from a cool cafe on one of the major pedestrian streets, Grafton Street. After lunch we walked around a bit looking at the major sites of Dublin, such as Trinity College, St. Stephen's Green, the Millennium Spire among others. We crossed the Liffey River, the major river running through the city.

We headed back to the hotel for dinner (vegetable soup, chicken and rice, apple crumble) and then had a few brief meetings as a big group and then in our respective smaller groups.

The kids overall are doing great and are quickly learning the ins and outs of international travel, such as look both ways before crossing one-way streets as people may be driving on the "wrong side of the road"! They were pretty exhausted throughout the day and I think will be much more energetic come tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, we are headed back downtown where we will get a personal tour from a city guide of many of the places we saw today. We should see St. Patrick’s Cathedral, as well as the Book of Kells. We have some of the afternoon off to shop and explore before eating dinner and then heading to a traditional Irish singing and dancing show. I know some of the kids are quite eager to learn a new dance!

That’s all for now! Hopefully will update you again tomorrow, but it will be a late night so no promises! Thanks for your prayers as we traveled and we look forward to new adventures tomorrow!  Mr. C

The Eagles have Landed

We have arrived in Dublin! All of the kids are safe and sound.  More details to come. Walking around downtown Dublin.

Windy City!

Getting ready to board in Chicago! We will see you on the other side of the Atlantic!

Dallas!

Just landed in Dallas and we have just enough time to make oour connecting flight! Might have to postpone lunch until Chicago. Mr. C

First Post!

It is finally here! We are off and running, well flying to Europe today! Somewhat of an auspicious start as our flight out of Reno has been delayed until 9:00. But the kids are in good spirits still (go figure) and we should have no problems with our connecting fights in Dallas as of yet. Updates to come! Mr. C