The Bergs

Texas.After Michael was kind enough to drive us to the airport, we flew down to Dallas / Fort Worth on February 20th. We arrived to 70º weather and clouds. The flight was nice. It lasted for 2.5 hours I think.

We got to the terminal and found our bags fairly quickly. Then we had to find the rental car facility. We hopped on a bus and rode our way around with standing room only, and finally got there. There was a line about 20 people deep. We had already pre-booked the car, so we couldn’t go to any other place that had no line… After a few minutes one of the employees came out and gave each of us that were waiting a “free upgrade” coupon for our troubles.

We were hoping that it meant a convertible! But nope. It was a Suzuki XL7 . It was actually very nice except for one thing, but… I’ll get to that in a couple days.

We decided to drive down to San Antonio and stay in a Hotel near the River Walk. It was a pretty nice place and the next morning we went down the walk towards the Alamo. The river was a nice healthy green color. We saw a gardener floating down in his boat and asked him how deep it was. 6 feet he said.

It was about 80º. The Alamo was a couple mile walk from the hotel and we had already checked out so we thought it would be cool to see. The last time I had seen it was in 1993, but it was closed to the public at that time so we couldn’t go inside.

This time however, we were able to take the whole tour. We saw the History Channel reproduction of the history of the Alamo and wandered through all of the exhibits. It was pretty cool. We got Michael’s gift there.

We then hopped into the car and drove down south. We hadn’t decided how far yet, but we figured that we would head to Corpus Christi. After a few hours we arrived to 65º weather. We had kind of expected that it would be warmer, but it was after all, February. We drove around the pier area and found a hotel to stay in. It had a good view, partly because we were on the 7th floor, but also because it was set sideways so that there was no rooms looking away from the bay.

That evening we went out to eat at Landry’s seafood house. It was a wonderful meal. I had a steak and Becca had a whole variety of seafood. It was very filling and it was the most expensive meal we had.

The next morning we made our way to the USS Lexington aircraft carrier that is berthed near the public beach. It was totally cool. We spent a full 3 hours there. We walked along the flight deck and saw all the various planes and the helicopter there. We wandered through the tunnels, saw the captains quarters, smelled the engines, saw the hospital and dentist areas. We even were able to go up into the tower to the drivers cabin. As part of the ticket cost, we got to see a movie about an Tomcat pilot going to his first Red Flag. My dad would have loved that movie. Becca bought a shirt for herself that has the “Rosie the Riveter” poster picture. She says it is cute. I agree.

We left to head over to Mustang island, only we got turned around a bit and found ourselves entering the US Navy / Coast Guard base. They let us turn around and got us back on track without much hassle. Just a cavity search… Just kidding.

Mustang Island is the northern part of Padre Island. You might be familiar with South Padre Island. We entered the southern part on highway 358 and headed north on 361. Every once in a while we would notice a “beach access” road on the East side. We decided to turn onto one and eat the lunch we just picked up. We made our way along the access road and came to sand dunes and then white crystalline sand. There were a couple of other vehicles there so we pulled up along side one of them overlooking the water. We proceeded to eat our lunch. While doing so, a big Chevy truck came barreling through the sand to our right and parked out farther on the beach. Two guys got out and setup chairs to fish.

After we got done eating, we got out and walked down the beach for a while. There were tons of “Man-O-War” jellyfish laying on the sand. As we were walking we saw a car sitting out near the water so we thought it would be fun to drive on the beach too. We walked back to the XL7 and pulled forward towards the water. After a short distance we hit the “road” part of the beach and turned north. It wasn’t long until we came to the northernmost part of that beach that allows vehicles. There were huge wooden pylons set into the sand and water. We turned around.

We drove back south towards the access road and came up to a little Toyota truck that was blocking our way. He motioned us forward so I drove us around him.

Remember the part about the Suzuki being nice, except for one thing? Who ever heard of an SUV that doesn’t have four-wheel drive? It is almost unheard of here in Minnesota, but in Texas, there are lots of vehicles that are only two-wheel drive… We had one of them.

When I turned towards the access road, the front end of the Suzuki just sank. I tried to rock us out and it didn’t get us anywhere. While this was happening, the red truck just drove off and we didn’t see it again. Luckily the big Chevy and it’s passengers were still there. I walked up to the driver and asked him how he would get unstuck. He laughed and said he would ask a guy like himself to pull me out, so I did.

He was getting into his truck to turn around and line up when a girl came running up yelling “wait!”. I turned around and saw the car that was down the beach stuck as well! I told her that he was just lining up to pull us out and that if she asked him nice, he would probably pull her out too. Just then the guy’s wife stuck her head out and laughed at the both of us. She said that she was sorry and she shouldn’t laugh, but it was just too dearned funny…

We got pulled out and we helped the girls get their car out too. Then we left the beach because Becca wanted to go shopping. We wandered around the retirement community of Port Aransas, which was really pretty nice. Becca bought a couple other things. I got my parents a gift and we got Sol and Abe something there too. I got a pirate shirt.

On the way back to the hotel, we went along the northern road to the ferry.  We got to ride the ferry back, which was pretty cool.  We got back to the hotel and got ready to head out the next morning.

We woke up and decided to go sit at the public beach before we left for Austin. We spent an hour or so there so Becca could get her sun. It was pretty relaxing, even if it was chilly and the sun was still hidden by clouds.

On the drive to Austin, we decided to take a road less traveled. It took us a bit longer, but we ended up seeing a mill that we stopped at. I don’t remember exactly when it was built, but I think it was around 1850. Now it is a historical site and we explored the grounds, but we couldn’t actually go inside any of the buildings.

There were lots of farms and cattle and trees. It was crazy all of the oak trees down there.

We arrived in Austin only to find that the center of town is not actually down-town. We made our way there and found a hotel to check out. Becca went in to the Driskill, but they didn’t have room. It was probably way expensive though too. We ended up staying at one near by that was normally $500 a night, but we got it for much cheaper than that. Presumably because it was a weeknight. The best thing about it was that it was two blocks away from the downtown clubs. They (whoever they are!) say that Austin is the other Nashville and they are kidding. Every block had multiple clubs with live music. We ate at one place and then just wandered around until some music caught us in it’s weave.

We got back to the hotel fairly early and decided to look on the computer for a place to go the next day. Lake Travis is within a 30 minute drive from down-town, so we looked for some parks and beaches there. We found one. It’s called Hippie Hollow. I would not suggest looking it up because it turns out that it is a nude beach. One of the only ones in the USA evidently.

We decided that since we were there, we would see what all of the fuss is about it. The reviews said that it was the best beach on Travis. We disagree. Luckily there were only a few people there and the “beach” is really just large rocks that are on the shore. There were a couple of naked old men walking around, so we left.

The lady at the booth told us about Hamilton’s Pool Preserve. We went there after we stopped at the boat landing area to see some of the big boats there. It was the warmest of the whole trip, somewhere around 89º. Who would have thought that it would be almost 90º in February? Becca loved it!

Hamilton’s pool was originally an underground river that collapsed in on itself. Now there is a 45 foot waterfall, which was just a trickle when we saw it, and a swimming area. The trail down there forks and a nice walk that leads out to here. You can see the open scrub area to the east of the big rock in the river. That is really a small stream that leads from the pool. You can follow it on the map and see the overhead view of the pool too. It was a nice hike and it was not too populated. The water was pretty cold otherwise we would have probably jumped in there.

That last evening we went to the HEB, like Cub here, and bought some groceries to use for the next couple days. I am not a seafood eater, but Becca was shocked to see Snow Crab for $4.99 a pound. She got a pound and ate it for dinner that night. I wasn’t feeling super well, so I settled for a TV dinner style turkey and gravy. It actually wasn’t too bad though, but Becca was beside herself in luxurious taste sensations. It was quite funny.

We moseyed on back to Austin and stayed another night, woke up and packed to spend our last night in Texas closer to the airport. We drove up to Dallas, actually it was Irving, and found a nice little place to stay. It wasn’t as nice as Austin, which was the nicest of all though…

We slept in a little bit in Dallas and checked out. We had a couple hours to kill before we had to be to the airport, so we went looking for something to do. There was a movie theater near us, but it wasn’t open. We ended up going to a strip mall and Becca went shopping again while I got lost in Barnes and Noble.

We got a couple of books, got hungry, and went back out to the car. While trying to find a place to eat, we stopped at this little Italian place called Michaels. It was okay, but Becca said the spaghetti was not even close to her dad’s. I had a little taste and I can heartily agree.

After lunch we went back to the car and reclined in the seats and read our books for about an hour. Then we left for the airport. We dropped of the car and found out that we had driven 1081 miles in basically 5 days. It didn’t seem like it though.

We got to the counter and saw that our plane had been delayed. Two hours! We sat and watched people and planes. Becca played solitaire on the laptop and we took turns walking around while the other stayed with our carry-on. Finally we were able to get onto the plane and take off.

The cold wasn’t actually that cold to me. Overnight in Dallas a front came in and the temperature there dropped down to the 40s, so it wasn’t a big decrease to get to 15º that it was here. Anyway, it was a nice flight home and Michael came to get us. Our bag was the first off of the belt so we didn’t have to wait too long before we walked into our house, looking forward to our own bed.

We will put the pictures up as soon as we upload them.

Well, another Berg house party is wrapped up.  We had over 30 people come to our house this past Sunday.  Almost all of them are fellow Eaglebrookers, while the others were friends of Lenora’s. We had a great time with everyone!

The party was one of the best that we have had. Especially after seeing the underdog Giants squeeze out the win.  We had plenty of sugar and tons of food especially chips and Becca made some awesome chili.

All-in-all, it was a great day.  Becca will upload some pictures when she gets them off the camera.

Jonn had his birthday party the weekend before his actual birthday.  It was a great time spent at the Country Inn and Suites in Vadnais Heights.  We swam, went down the water slide, had a pool party style dinner and spent a night away from home. That night we also celebrated Solomon birthday who turned 4 on the 25 of January. On then Saturday we celebrated Grandma Berg’s birthday.  Happy birthday to all of you January babies!

I think we have some pictures from the party, but if not, Miranda has some that she may share.

Update later but we put the Christmas 2007 Pictures from December 25th up.

We made it up here safe last night.

It started raining near Staples on Hiway 10 and then by Wadena it was snowing. It snowed the rest of the 34 miles to Park Rapids and the next 8 to Osage. It made us thankful for having the truck. Thanks Cathy and Mike!

We are now going to My sister and her husband’s place to go sledding.

Tonight after I pick up Becca from work we are heading to the great white north of Osage, near Park Rapids and Detroit Lakes, to stay with my parents for a couple days.  We will be celebrating the Berg Christmas on Sunday before we come back down to the cities.  Becca has to work a half-day on Monday so we can’t stay the originally planned 4 days.

That means that we will be down here for both, the Fruci  Christmas and the Collova Christmas.  I don’t know that I have ever had 3 Christmas celebrations in one year!  It will be fun!

Until next time,

Jonn

Thanks to Miranda who took these pictures while we were outside on Saturday! We put a harness on Dougly to pull Sol and Abe around in the snow. Unfortunately the sled flipped over and Abe did a face-plant in the snow and didn’t want to go back on the slide again.

Last weekend we went to Omaha. It was really nice. The drive went well, and Becca and I had a great time with Duane and his mom. Judy seemed happy to see us and meet Becca.

We left on Friday morning and drove down through Des Moines. The city name made us wonder what the history was so I looked it up.

“The history of Des Moines can be traced to 1834, when John Dougherty, an Indian Agent at Fort Leavenworth, Ks, recommended that a military post be established at the point where the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers merge. Nine years later, May 1843, Captain James Allen and a company of dragoons from Fort Sanford arrived on the site. Captain Allen proposed to name the
garrison Fort Raccoon but was directed by the War Department to use the name Fort Des Moines. The origin of the name is uncertain, but most historians agree that the name probably initially referred to the river. Some people feel that ‘Des Moines’ is derived from the Indian word ‘moingona’ meaning
river of the mounds which referred to the burial mounds that were located near the banks of the river. Others are of the opinion that name applies to the Trappist Monks (Moines de la Trappe) who lived in huts at the mouth of the Des Moines river. French voyagers referred to the river as La Riviere des Moines.”

Anyway, we made it into Council Bluffs Iowa and East Omaha right around sundown, so it was interesting driving. I have to plug my GPS again though. It saved us quite a lot of time and it was fun being able to look down at it and see the amount of driving left. When I first got it, it was interesting to note that the time estimation wasn’t always right, but it seems as though it is getting better. Perhaps it is alive?

While in Omaha we went to a place called the “Texas Roadhouse”. It was very cool. They had a huge barrel of peanuts in the entryway to snack on while waiting to be seated. We had 40 minutes or so. The food is like an American Steak and Seafood place. The gimmick is that the wait-staff come to your table if it a special day and do a sort of line dance while you sit on a mounted saddle. We were going to get Becca on the saddle, but by the time we had the chance, we were too full and had to be rolled out!

We also went to the dog track and watched some greyhound races. Becca bet a couple dollars and was very close to winning $55. She bet on the top three coming in at 4 – 1 – 3, when it was really 1 – 3 – 4. It was pretty cool. After that we went to the casino and watched people put money in machines. I decided to play a $.50 poker machine and put in $2 and pulled out $5. So I basically made up for our losses and some. It was pretty cool.

We left on Sunday, even though we didn’t want to. I had to play hockey at 8pm and we needed a day to do laundry and the stuff that we normally do on the weekends. The drive home was uneventful.

Hockey went well. The team we played had come very close to beating some of the teams that we have lost to in the past so we were up for a tough game. They didn’t score on me until the 3rd period when I started to tire. We ended up winning 5 to 2. The first goal they scored was a three-way pass and I had no defense on the the last two players. The second was totally my fault. I lifted my stick as the guy stuffed it from behind the net…

That’s about it for now. I have to head off to work, dropping Becca off on the way.

It is amazing how fast things happen the way you want them to when you just let God take control. After the wedding I had been looking for a job at a clinic so I could get the same hours as Jonn and to also get different experience. I had applied to 10 or 15 other places but after about a month and a half later with no calls for an interview I started to worry. So I thought of other clinics I could go and bring my resume to. As I started to think Maplewood Cancer Center came into my head so I gave them a call to see if they had any openings. They said that they had just opened up a new LPN position so I hurried and turned my application in the next day. A day or two later I received a phone call for an interview so of course I accepted and was so nervous that I was nauseous and during the interview couldn’t think of the correct answers. I felt like I failed miserably and told my husband I doubt I’d get the job. The next day I received a phone call from aspen clinic offering me a job at their clinic so at least I had a job no matter what. That same day Maplewood Cancer Center called me back to see if I would like to come in for a shadowing with another nurse, which I accepted! I spent the morning following a nurse around while she gave chemo and did blood draws and a variety of different things. I had such a blast. About two or three hours after the shadowing I received a call from Maplewood Cancer Center and they offered me the job.  I started on October 8th.

So far I have been at the job for two weeks and I have learned to so much and still have so much to learn, at times I feel inadequate because I am so inexperienced but at other times I feel like I can relate to the patient. It has been over six years since my cancer diagnosis of Hodgkin’s disease and working in the clinic where I had gotten treatment has brought a lot of memories back that I had forgotten it is overwhelming at times. I know God had a hand in me getting this job and he wants me to work there because I couldn’t have called at a better time, if I would have called any sooner or later the job would not have been open or it would have been taken.

Thank You God

Jonn and I recently celebrated our one month anniversary on the 18^th of September on yet again, another rainy day.   He bought me flowers and we reminisced about that day that was so blurry for us. Looking at the pictures it still seems so surreal  that we sometimes can’t believe it actually happened.   Even living together now it is still sometimes a shock.    I am still trying to get rid of a lot of Jonn’s bachelor stuff and the house is slowly starting to feel more feminine… I mean more like home.   We are also feeling an overwhelming sense of humility from all of the gifts that were given to us over the past few months. We are so blessed to have such great people in our lives that are able to open there hearts and pocketbooks to some crazy newlyweds.   This weekend we will be celebrating my 24^th birthday on Saturday by going to an Arabian Fall Festival at the state fair grounds, then we will be heading to celebrate another friends surprise birthday and then heading to church and possibly back home for a bon fire. Then Sunday we will be going to my parents for a yummy spaghetti dinner along with Jonn’s parents and his sister’s family.  Life is actually starting to simmer down a lot and once I get my Thank You’s done from the wedding (by the way there are about 250 cards) I will feel unburdened and so much more at peace.  I am sure my mother will also!