Things I Like Abut Europe

Here is a random list of some (but not all) of the things that I like here

Some of the things that I like about Europe -

Magnificent Mountains! The Alps are absolutely beautiful, and they
rise straight up in front of you. I am so thankful to God for the eyes
that He has given me to see them!!

Cuckoo Birds - They remind me of fun times in my life. And, I am so
thankful to God for the ears He has given me to be able to hear them!

The Diversity - you can be in Tuscany in the morning and on the sea or
in the Alps in the afternoon. Each region has their own special
culture, language, etc. History is a part of life here, and is seen in
their celebrations much more than it is in ours.

Painted Ceilings - I love all of the painted ceilings (murals, not flat
paint - I knew what was coming!) You can find murals on the ceilings in
castles, churches, and just regular buildings. I love it!

Murals on Houses - Many of the houses have murals painted on them (much
like the paintings on ceilings). I love them!

Flowers - There seem to be flowers everywhere! And the wildflowers in
the fields are beautiful!

Castles - Some grand, some in ruins - but all wonderful to see -
especially when perched on the high mountaintops (how do they do that
anyway???)

Ruins - I love old ruins - Roman ruins, Greek ruins, other ruins - they
leave much to the imagination!

Some things I like about the way Europeans do things (in no particular
order)

Paying for a meal or purchase - When you get ready to pay for your meal
or purchase, they do not take your credit card out of your sight. They
bring a hand-held credit card reader/printer to you and have you swipe
your card yourself, or they will swipe the card while you are watching.

Paying for a Parking Ticket - The ease of paying parking tickets in
Innsbruck - If you get a ticket, you can just take it to any bank to pay
it. Much easier than having to go to a city office.

Rest Areas on the Highway - The rest areas in Europe have a gas station
and a restaurant, or a snack bar with a mini grocery store. Everything
that you might need when you stop for a few minutes, all in one
convenient location. You do not have to leave the highway and go into
a town - it is all right there in the rest area.

Rotating Toilet Seats - These are funny, but practical - After you use
the restroom, when you flush the toilet, the seat rotates and is sprayed
with a disinfectant so it will be ready for the next person. Ingenious.

European Breakfasts - I overheard an American talking about how the
Europeans serve such strange food for breakfast. Many times it
consists of meats (similar to our lunch meats, but without all of the
additives), cheeses, and "brick rolls" - they are not really called
"brick rolls" but that is how I thought of them when I came over at age
18, because they are hard as rocks on the outsides - but soft inside.
They also serve Hot Chocolate, which I absolutely love! (I'm thankful
to God for my tastebuds, also, but they have gotten me into trouble
since I've gotten older - I wasn't always this size you know!) Anyway,
I love the breakfast. Sometimes they serve tomatoes and cucumbers.
Some of the buffets also have fried eggs, scrambled eggs or soft-boiled
eggs. They usually have cereal and pourable yogurt. But, my favorites
are the traditional meat, cheese and hot chocolate.

Oberammergau, Germany to Kloten, Switzerland

Saturday, June 19
Oberammergau, Germany to Kloten, Switzerland

Today was another fun day! We are still wearing winter clothes (which
means they are relatively clean since it was hot and shorts weather
everywhere else!) When we got up this morning, it was rainy and cold.
I am still so thankful that we bought those rainsuits before we left!!
After a lovely breakfast at the hotel we stayed in, we drove to downtown
Oberammergau where I visited the shops (I love looking!) and took some
pictures. They have beautiful woodcarvings, and beautiful painted
buildings! Saw some great Christmas items and some beautiful dolls, but
all were way over-priced since this is the year of the Passion Play. We
considered going to the Passion Play, until we saw the price of the
tickets. If our German was better, we might have done it. Maybe in 10
years.

After touring Oberammergau, Lonnie once again took a one-lane road to
seemingly nowhere. I asked if he was sure the road went somewhere, and
he answered, "Absolutely, look what is following us." I looked behind
us to see a huge tour bus following. We drove a little farther around a
bend and didn't see the Tour Bus come behind us. I told Lonnie that the
tour bus must have taken a side road, and perhaps we should go back.
Then I looked on the GPS map and saw that the road we were driving down
was a dead-end. We turned around and went back, only to find the large
tour bus just sitting on the side of the road. The side road was shown
as a dead-end on the GPS map, also. There was really no place to turn
around, so I am not sure what the Tour Bus did with all of it's
people. It was really quite funny to think that they were in the same
pickle we had been in numerous times on this trip!

Next we drove to Schloss Linderhof, one of King Ludwig's many castles.
Apparently this was his favorite, and the only one that he truly lived
in. We did not tour it, since we had been there before. When we were
there with Peyton several years ago, they had been working on the front
of it, so there was scaffolding across the front, so that you really
couldn't see it. This time we were able to get some great pictures of
it! Lonnie wanted to drive that road because we had also stopped that
year by the side of a lake for a picnic, and beside a stream for he and
Peyton to throw rocks into. We found both of those places, then
continued on down the road. We also drove by some castle ruins that we
had visited in the past (on top of a mountain, of course),

Then, we ended up going a new way that we had never been before. It
was over a high mountain pass. At one point, we had to wait for some
cows to pass us on the road. They were going to high pasture. As we
were going across the pass, the clouds settled in making it almost
impossible to see. When we started down from the Pass, but still in the
mountains, we were stopped by the Police, who explained something to us
in German (which of course we did not understand). We thought that
perhaps they had closed the road due to low visibility. It turned out
that there was a car race up and down the mountain road - on the hairpin
curves with straight down sides, in the thick, dense fog!! When the
race was over, the police let everyone go on down the mountain! Amazing!!

After going down the mountain, we hit the Autobahn and made good time to
Kloten where we are staying tonight. We plan to travel to Grindelwald
tomorrow where we will just chill for a couple of days until time to fly
home. (We may literally chill if the weather stays as cold as it is).
As we got closer to Kloten the sun was shining, but the temps are still
low. I am really not looking forward to hot, Memphis weather! (but I am
looking forward to seeing family!!)

Salzburg, Austria to Oberammergau, Germany

Friday, June 18
Salzburg, Austria to Oberammergau, Germany

Guess What! My sweet husband took me into Salzburg today before we left
so that we could take a Carriage Ride in Old Town. It was lovely! The
weather was nice, our horses were good, and the ride through Old Town
was terrific! After we finished, as we were going to the Parking
Garage, I stopped to get some Mozart Chocolates (the first chocolates I
have bought since arriving in Europe). Once again, I was starving, so I
also ordered some ham and eggs. As I was eating, it began to rain. By
the time we were ready to go to the Garage, it was raining pretty hard.
But we were very close, and had our trusty raincoats (thanks, Bass Pro),
so everything was good! I have to say that I am so glad we purchased
raincoats and rainpants before leaving Memphis. When it came a downpour
in Rome, we pulled them out of the backpack, put them on and kept
going. Everyone else was running for cover. It was like having Rome
all to ourselves! We just wore them again when we went out to eat. It
is still raining - the temperature was shorts weather in Salzburg this
morning, and is now winter coat weather in Oberammergau. When we got to
our hotel room tonight Lonnie turned the heat on! (Side note: I have
to tell you a funny story - We had several nights when it was really hot
and the hotels did not have air conditioning. We could not open the
windows as we normally would because there is a terrible mosquito
problem in Europe this year. The windows do not have screens, and
always in the past, we have just left the windows open all of the time
with no problem. Anyway, Lonnie got so tired of being hot that we went
to a mall and bought two fans. It has been cool ever since! I told him
that he should have bought those fans on the first day!! Now someone
will get some nice, new fans when we come home next week - they won't
work in the States. Whatever it takes to stay cool!!)

We drove through the rain all day. The mountains are beautiful - we're
in the Bavarian Alps now. I love the ruins in Rome, and I love Tuscany,
and I love the old windmills and flowers in the Netherlands - but I
absolutely love the Alps in Austria, Germany and Switzerland!! We had
to pull over and sleep at one point. I was tired and had just dozed off
(which I almost never do in the car while Lonnie is driving), when I
realized that Lonnie had pulled into a rest area. Next thing I knew, we
were both out. We slept for a little while then kept going. I wasn't
sure if we should go through Oberammergau or not. This is the year of
the Passion Play. It is only performed every ten years, and is a major
production. Most of the town is involved in one way or another. Men
grow their beards for months in advance, and the townspeople practice
for a long time. We found a hotel on the outskirts of town, and plan to
do a walk-through the town before leaving tomorrow. The hotel does not
have a restaurant, so the owner recommended a Pizzeria at the top of the
hill. We went there, and it was very good. I didn't want to have to
drive downtown right now. We did find out, tho, that the Passion Play
is not over until 10:30PM tonight, so it probably would have been okay.

Not sure where we will go next. I thought that a town near here had a
Toy Museum and a Woodturning Museum, but as I was looking for the
addresses this morning, I realized that the town I needed (and thought I
was putting on the route) is actually on the Czech Republic border. So
. . .it will have to wait for another trip. We are winding down now and
headed in the direction of Zurich. We are supposed to be at the airport
at 3AM on Thursday. We are stopping by the airport tomorrow or the next
day to see what our luggage limit is, and to see if we can change that
leg of the flight. It's not that I bought too many souvenirs - it's
just that I like big things! Also, I bought DVDs at several places, and
they take up a lot of room (along with the books that I always buy).

Anyway, we will see where we end up! Tschuss for now!

June 17th - Salzburg, Austria

June 17th
Salzburg, Austria

Happy! Happy! Got to spend the day in one of my favorite places! Had
hoped to see and do a lot more, but got started late, then didn't have
time for everything. Lonnie thought that 4 hours would be too long.
How can you see Salzburg in under 4 hours? We arrived at the Toy Museum
around 11AM. (It opened at 9) We spent about an hour touring the
museum, then had planned to ride the Festung Bahn up to the
Castle/Fortress on top of the hill, eat lunch, tour the castle, then go
back down for the Festival Hall Tour. By the time we finished at the
Toy Museum, it was 12:15 and there was no way to go up the mountain and
be back to the Festival Hall by 2PM. We had a quick lunch in one of the
gift shop/cafes, then went to the Festival Hall for the Tour. The
Festival Hall Tour was great! The sets were amazing to me! One set had
tall pine trees and large rocks. It looked like a real forest.
Nonetheless, they were made of paper. There were at least three
separate stages. One was the large hall that the Sound of Music was
shot in. It is the one cut into the rocks. Amazingly enough, this
stage is only used for about 7 weeks a year. They have a retractable
cover that they cover the stage with in the summer months for acoustical
purposes. The cover is not strong enough for the winter snows, so after
the summer season, the cover is retracted so that the snow can just fall
on the stage. The front set of auditorium seats raise (somewhat like a
drawbridge) thereby creating a wall to keep the snow off of all of the
rest of the seats and auditorium part. It was truly fascinating! The
other stages are used a few more times, but apparently the season is
sold out well in advance, with some tickets going for as much as 500
Euros each (around $ 650 US) for one performance. Unbelievable! And,
some of the seats in the auditorium had names on them. Someone asked
the guide if those were sponsors or people's seats. He said that some
had names of sponsors, but some were reserved seats. The tour really
was very interesting!

After touring the Festival Hall, we walked part of the main shopping
street. We had walked all of it last night (when everything was
closed). Then is was off in search of the Von Trapp's real home in
Salzburg. Not sure we ever found it, but we found many one-lane roads
again, and wondered if we were on bike trails part of the time! It is
unbelievable how the GPS lady can send us on such wild goose chases!! I
was actually watching the map once when it was obvious that Lonnie
should turn right, but the GPS lady told him to turn left! He got lost
and became very frustrated. Of course, he didn't always follow the
instructions either, so we can't blame the GPS lady for all of it. We
drove all over the outskirts of Salzburg. Then we finally went to
Hellbrun Palace to just walk around. It is a very nice place. They
have the Gazebo there that was in the Sound of Music, and an amazing
park. There are great things for the kids to play on, beautiful gardens
to walk through with ponds and fountains, and the Schloss Hellbrun if
you want to take a tour. There is another smaller castle on top of the
mountain, but we didn't climb up there today. There is also a small Zoo.
After walking around the Park, Lonnie decided that we could take the
horse and carriage ride around Salzburg after all, so we went back
downtown. Unfortunately, they don't do horse and carriage rides at
night - only during the day.

For our evening meal, Lonnie wanted to eat near our hotel in Wals,
Austria. We have eaten there before and he wanted to order the dinner
for two. Our entire family could have eaten it!! The dinner for two
consisted of 8 pieces of meat (2 each of steak, Weiner Schnitzel, Pork
Chop, and Sausage or hot dog). Each piece of meat was at least 4-6oz.
Then there was the equivalent of 8 large McDonald's or Wendy's fries, as
well as a huge portion of broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, etc.
Lonnie ordered Kraut on the side. We also had fried mushrooms, and two
3/4 liter bottles of water. I may not sleep tonight! Obviously we did
not eat it all! Some of it was absolutely delicious. Too bad we
couldn't take the leftovers! Now we are back at the hotel, it is
nearing midnight, and I am getting ready to crash. Not sure where we
will go tomorrow. We may have to change plans again since we spent two
nights in Salzburg instead of one.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Lazelberger, Austria to Salzburg

Rajeca Teplice to Lazelberger, Austria

June 16th, Lazelberger to Salzburg

Wednesday, June 16
Lazelberger, Austria to Salzburg

We awoke this morning to rain and cooler temperatures once again. Thank
you, Lord! The only concern I have with the weather is that Lonnie is
now driving on the Autobahn and it is difficult to see. There are a
lot more cars on the road now than when we started driving in 1998.
They still seem to obey the laws better here, and I am wondering if
there is a law against doing anything while you are driving (other than
driving), or if the people are just smarter here. While everyone has a
cell phone, we have not seen anyone talking on one while driving (and,
trust me, I have been watching in every country). We have also not seen
anyone eating while driving, putting on make-up, or shaving, or reading
a newspaper while driving (as we have in the States). The trucks have a
lower speed limit, and can only drive in certain lanes (and they
actually obey those laws, from what we have observed). Some of the
roads are a little worse this year, but apparently that has to do with
the winter they just had.

We finally arrived in the Salzkammergut area aound noon. Since Mondsee
was on the way, I had Lonnie stop there. We walked around the area,
went inside the church where they filmed the wedding scene in "The Sound
of Music", then did some shopping and ate pizza! It was so cold there
that we had to pull out the winter coats, hats and gloves. It was also
misting some. After pizza, we drove down to the "See" and took some
pictures of the boats, and mountains. Then drove on to Salzburg. There
was a bridge that I wanted to take a picture of, but I knew that with
Lonnie driving 100mph, it would be difficult to do. And, would you
believe, they were doing road work on the Autobahn just past that
bridge, so the traffic came to a virtual stand-still at that very spot.
Isn't God good? Not only can He move mountains, but He can stop traffic
on the Autobahn at will. Immediately after passing under the bridge,
traffic resumed it's normal speed.

We had called ahead,so we knew where we would be spending the night. It
should have been such a simple thing. Lonnie got off at the correct
exit, and while trying to find the right road, ended up back on the
Autobahn. We drove to the next exit, turned around and came back. Once
again, we ended up on the Autobahn going a different direction. Yes, we
went to Germany (yet, again!!!). We were on the right road the first
time, so it should have been so simple. We finally arrived at our hotel
later than planned, and checked in for two nights instead of one. By the
time that we got downtown in Salzburg, everything was closed. :( On
our way into town, we had to stop by the Cineplex to see what was
playing. Lonnie wanted to go and see a movie. We walked around
Salzburg for a little bit to get our bearings, then headed out to the
movie theater to see Iron Man 2. Lonnie had seen it several times
already, so he knew what was going on. I had never seen it, so I
understood only a handful of words (all was in German, of course). I
guess the good guys won at the end.

We got back to the hotel around 11PM, I did some research about where to
go and what to see, and then crashed for the night. Now I am ready to
go to breakfast, and get started on my Salzburg Adventure.

June 15th, Rajeca Teplice, Slovakia to Lazelberger, Austria

Tuesday, June 15th
Rajeca Teplice to Lazelberger, Austria

It is 5:40PM and we just got on a highway heading toward the west.
Obviously we are not going to make it to Salzburg tonight as planned.
It has been a very long, frustrating driving day! We left the Hotel at
Rajeca Teplice at 11AM and were supposed to get to the Vampire Castle
around noon. In case you haven't guessed by now, Lonnie loves to just
drive. Ever since we have been married, his idea of fun has always
been to just get on the road and drive (weekend drives, afternoon
drives, etc.) It never mattered where, just drive. He told me that he
drove a little slower this morning because he wanted to enjoy the
mountains. We finally arrived at the Vampire Castle around 3:30PM or
so. In addition to Lonnie enjoying the mountains, the GPS lady was
taking us all over the place. In the last major town before Cachtice
(where the castle ruins are), we drove around for over an hour trying to
find our way out of it. The GPS lady took us down back alleys and roads
to nowhere. It should have taken us straight down a two-lane highway
and we would have been there. It was so very frustrating! I think that
even Lonnie is a little tired of the driving today (or at least tired of
the frustration of not being able to get out of that city!) No offense
to anyone from Slovakia, but I will be so thankful to finally get out of
this country! It has not felt right to me ever since we got into it.

When we arrived at Cachtice, we weren't sure where the castle ruins
were. Knowing that they are always on top of a mountain, and seeing a
sign that indicated they might be up the road, Lonnie took off up the
mountain on a narrow one-lane road. I figured we would be the only car
up there (the road was little more than a trail), but when we arrived,
there were several cars there. I love castle ruins. You can imagine so
many things that might have gone on in them! This one has an especially
interesting past. We had to hike up a mountain to see the ruins. I
went up to the inside of the lower part of the castle ruins, and Lonnie
went to the upstairs part of the castle ruins. But, back to the
interesting past. This castle had a Countess who lived there who
killed hundreds of young girls so that she could drink their blood in
hopes of staying young. A real lady vampire! I don't remember the
rest of the story right now (I have it at home), but it was interesting.

Side note: Praise the Lord! We are finally back in Austria!! Now we
are headed toward Vienna as we travel on toward Salzburg. Actually,
looking at the map, it looks like we may bypass Vienna. Just as well,
because it is not a city that you can effectively tour in a day, and we
are running short on time. I have decided that I want to spend a couple
of days in the Swiss Alps before flying home next Thursday. Much of
what we have seen in the past week or so could have been seen in the
Smokies, but the Swiss Alps are not something you see every day in the
States! I can't wait!

June 14th, Tatranska Javorina to Rajecke Teplice, Slovakia

Monday, June 14
Tatranska Javorina to Rajecke Teplice, Slovakia

Today was another long, long driving day across Slovakia. The day
started early with sunlight streaming through the window way before it
should have. Lonnie got up and adjusted the curtains (but I guess he
also looked at the mountains at the same time - I didn't), then went
back to bed. Later we were awakened by some of the loudest thunder and
whistling wind. It was raining and the mountains were socked in, so I
still didn't see them. It was so peaceful there, that I didn't want to
get up and leave. We had a leisurely breakfast in the glassed in area
so that we could see the mountains and the rain - and the lightning.
Lonnie kept saying "Wow!" every time there was a lightning strike. The
people at the next table kept staring at us. They probably wondered if
Lonnie had never seen lightning before. By the time that we actually
got ready to leave, I was able to see the snow-capped mountains in the
distance. Then we began a long drive through the mountains. Lonnie had
planned the drive so that we could see the mountains all day -
unfortunately, what we saw was mainly clouds. We drove through the
mountains and then on to another town that is supposed to be famous for
their painted houses - Cicmany. I have to say that they were
interesting. We met the couple who run the gift shop - it's not open
yet - and they spoke English. She rounded up her toddler, then opened
the gift shop so we could have a look. It was definitely to her
advantage, as we bought several things there. Now, if we can only get
them home without breaking them!

As we drove through the mountains, we passed into Poland again just for
a brief time. I have to say, I think that we found the Gatlinburg of
Poland! There may have even been more hotels there than at Gatlinburg.
There were only a couple of gift shops though. They are really missing
out on a good opportunity! And, Curtis, we have found the place for you
and Josie to come. The big thing over here is Water Park Hotels! We
filmed one of the smaller ones for you to see. Apparently there is a
huge Water Park Hotel in a nearby city. The other big thing is
"Wellness" or "Spa" hotels. We have stayed in several of those. The
Lord blessed us with another fantastic hotel tonight. If we had not met
the couple that spoke English, we would not have known where to go to
find a hotel. It was getting late, and we were literally in the middle
of nowhere!! There were no hotels in the town with the painted houses,
and we knew there were no other towns nearby. There are a few little
villages scattered here and there, but they didn't have hotels either.
The tourist season doesn't start here until June 26th, so a lot of
places are not open yet. After talking to the girl at the gift shop, we
found that the direction we had planned to travel would have nothing
(and did I say that it was getting very late), so we went to the town
that she told us to go to (even though it was the opposite direction).
The hotel that the Lord sent us to tonight is another "wellness hotel" -
and I told Lonnie that I think it is the first hotel I have stayed in
that provided a robe and slippers for it's guests to wear. The view
from our balcony is a great one - mountains, again. And, the food was
absolutely delicious! I had Pork with grilled vegetables and garlic
rosti. Lonnie had the "Thief's Skewer" which was grilled meats. He
said it was excellent, also!

Tomorrow we will hopefully find our way out of Slovakia. I still don't
feel as comfortable here as I have in other places. I do feel better
about where we are tonight, tho, and I felt good at another town where
we stopped at the mall. That was pretty funny! In most countries we
are able to converse in English, or use our smattering of Deutsch to
communicate. Well, in Slovakia, most people don't know either
language. I was trying to figure out if a dish at the mall was chicken
or shrimp. It is hard to tell from the pictures sometimes. We were
getting absolutely nowhere in determining that. Finally Lonnie started
clucking like a chicken and I flapped my wings. The girl understood
and told me which dishes had chicken on them. It was pretty funny,but I
got chicken to eat!

We have seen some "Gypsy" trailers here and there since we crossed into
Slovakia (but no one in them). They are just parked out in the fields,
awaiting better weather or vacation time, I guess. And Lonnie told me
to let you know that we were on some cow-paths yesterday, because he saw
the "cow patties". Today it was still narrow roads winding up and down
mountain-sides. Lord willing, tomorrow we will find the castle where a
true "vampire" lived, then travel on Westward into Austria - and "The
Sound of Music" country (my favorite movie!)

June 13th, Tarnow, Poland to Tatranska Javorina, Slovakia

June 13
Tarnow, Poland to Tatranska Javorina, Slovakia

Today was another long, long driving day. I hate long driving days.
We were in search of wooden churches and mountains. We found a few
wooden churches here and there, but only one that seemed original. We
saw a few more storks in their nests, and a couple of storks just
standing around on the ground. The GPS lady went crazy today, and sent
us down a few dead end roads, cow-paths, and who knows where else. The
police stopped us in one town - did not speak English - but asked the
other officer in his car what the word was that he wanted to tell us.
Then he said "Lights" - so Lonnie turned the lights on and the policeman
was happy and went on his way. We saw lots and lots of trees, one-lane
roads, and 4-wheel drive trails (we did not rent a 4-wheel drive). We
stopped by a creek and had a picnic lunch when we determined that we
were not going to be anywhere near someplace to eat! We drove through
lots of little villages, and found the areas where Poland was flooded
last month. Roads have caved in, houses were ruined, part of a hill
came down that a house was sitting beside. Some of the towns still have
their sandbags in place in case it rains again. It was misting this
morning, but the sun came out pretty quickly. I was so thankful to God
for the respite from the heat!

It was somewhat surprising to me that the farther East in Poland that we
went, the better things seemed. More new construction, beautiful homes,
large farms - everything seemed to get better and better except the
roads. There are new malls that have sprung up, lots of grocery stores
(some like Aldi's and some like the super Wal-Marts) and everything
looks bright and fresh! I really expected it to be the other way around
as we got closer to Ukraine. Poland has some beautiful countryside, and
seems to be doing well.

Things did look different when we crossed into Slovakia, though. I was
really surprised at that, since Slovakia is already on the Euro. The
areas we have been through so far seemed dirty and unkempt, and very
poor. I know this may sound strange to some of you, but when we passed
through one village, it felt like pure evil. I was so thankful to get
away from there. If I was in Star Wars, I would have said "The evil is
strong in this one".

I was starting to get a little concerned about where we would stay for
the night. Things weren't looking too promising. I know that the Lord
has taken care of us every step of the way, and I knew that he would
provide for us tonight, also. We are once again in mountains, this time
the Tatras in Slovakia. So far they are more like the Smokies than the
Alps, but Lonnie keeps promising me that they will be taller tomorrow.
(another long driving day). When we got to the border between Poland and
Slovakia again, we saw a sign for a wellness hotel at the top of the
mountain (always a good sign). The hotel is magnificent in an
absolutely gorgeous setting!! It would be the perfect place for a
Women's Retreat (anyone game??). When you walk into the lobby, they
have a two or three story glassed in opening that gives a spectacular
view of the mountains. The rooms have large balconies and a wall of
glass so that you can look out at the mountains, as well. They have a
pool, fitness room, oxygen room, floating tubs, saunas, squash, bowling,
and several other things. The restaurant is on our floor. The Lord
provided a gorgeous hotel in a wonderful setting. I am so thankful!!