Just how long was this vacation, anyway? (251-260)

251

Guns. Guys in uniform. Pretty much Heaven.

252

I still maintain that one day, I will have a cannon on my front lawn.

253

One of the coolest guns I've seen.

254

Simpler times. In some ways.

255

How pretty is that? I could be in Florida! (Or not.)

256

Don't usually hold with pink. But this is nice.

257

258

Try ramping that. Tell me what happens.

259

That's underneath our boat. Slightly terrifying.

260

Still think that's a weird place for a lighthouse. (It would be cool to look inside, except it's almost completely rotted out.)

Resounding Hope

Resounding Hope

I made a new fundraising page for a great cause. Check it out!

Disappointment

I still don't understand the etymology of this word. But whatever.

I've been avoiding posting about this.

Mostly because I'm still disappointed.

A little annoyed. Upset. Consterned? Consternated? In a state of consternation.

Whatever.

If you haven't stopped reading because you yourselves are annoyed, you're probably asking, "Why are you in a state of consternation?" And now you're saying, "Just get on with it already!"

Fine, then.

I'm not going to Turkey.

And I think the really annoying part of it is that it wasn't because of money, either. You guys were awesome about contributing. But there weren't enough people to make the tour cost effective. They were hoping for 40. We had about half that signed up.

Alas, my reenactment of the seige of Constantinople will have to be put on hold for the foreseeable future.

"Fine," I said to myself after months of moping and weeping over scale models of the sea gate. "I'll just find somewhere else to go."

And I did. I was all set to go to Spain with Dynamic Women in Missions, conveniently at the same time as my trip to Turkey would have been.

I love Spain. Maybe not as much as the Middle East. But a lot. Enough that I could see myself living there one day.

Except now my support account can't afford the trip there, either.

I'm trying to be okay with this. I keep telling myself that there is a very good reason for not going, maybe even for staying, and I should be content to follow God's leading.

But it's a struggle.

And it's still disappointing.

The Vacation Continues: 241-250

241

Trains have always held a very romantic feeling for me. Not sure why. Maybe because of their importance in history. But I admire the people who managed to carve a track out of the U.P. wilderness.

242

We were hoping to see quite a bit more wildlife, though I'm not sure what exactly we would have done had we seen a bear. Probably screamed like little girls. I was content with the cranes.

243

It's amazing what wonders one can find in the strangest of places.

244

Not sure if you can eat these. I definitely didn't want to. But it's quite disconcerting to turn around and see these bad boys at eye level.

245

There's a story behind this photo, mostly about the length of time necessary to actually reach this point. And of course, we discovered only when we arrived that there was an option that did not include hiking a few miles in the aforementioned wilderness. But I'm not bitter.

Definitely not.

246

247

The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. I'm still trying to decide if it's worth the money to stay there.

248

I told you I had more photos of the bridge.

249

For a second, I felt like I was living back in the 1920s. Not sure why. But it was nice.

250

Can you count the number of stars?