Nine, Ten, and Eleven

 

#9 and #10. (I'm counting this as two because I decided to include a lot of pictures. Yes, it might be 'cheating' to count one post twice, but it's my blog. So deal with it.) As many of you know, my experiences here have been invaluable to me. It sometimes takes a reminder (often, it's a comment from a friend in the states) to helpe me realize that I'm pretty lucky to be here doing what I do. But I can now also see that it's not just 'luck' that affords me all of this. My thankfulness comes by way of being appreciative of the personality and character traits I possess in order to ALLOW me to dream, experience, and live this exciting life that I am in the midst of. I am aware that not everyone possesses the 'genes' that are needed to live this way and do these kinds of things. I feel fortunate to be one who does have 'it'. Without wanting to sound conceited or arrogant, I'm thankful for being Me. Or, more specifically, for having been given the personality and adventurous nature to do the things I'm doing. With that said...here are some pictures I haven't included in the past from some travels while I've been over here.


This is the lovely town of Chefchaouen, in northern Morocco. Walls are painted a brilliant blue throughout. Such a great place to visit. On my list of places to go back to!


Carpets, carpets, and more carpets

              
More pics below from travels through Europe...




Salamanca, Spain

 

gazing at the Pyrenees

The Pyrenees

Content Cows. Traveling along different Tour de France climbs throughout the Pyrenees.

Love my Life...

#11.  I'm thankful for all of the veterans out there. It's good to have a day dedicated to all of them, as it is a brave and often thankless job they are doing (and have done). I come from a family of military men. My Great Grandpa Junge served in WWI and his uniform proudly hangs in the American Legion Hall back in Keystone. My Grandpa Wardenburg served honorably in WWII. And my Dad joined the Navy during the Vietnam War. I'm proud of all of them, and the others who fought, and continue to fight, bravely to allow us to keep the freedoms we have...and to try to help others obtain a small fraction of these liberties we are blessed with. As Americans, we are blessed. I think we all forget about that from time to time, and other times, we take advantage of some of those freedoms and don't demonstrate them appropriately. But, they are our freedoms nonetheless and one of the things that makes the United States such an amazing country. When you hear talk about people here being kept and tortured for such things as speaking out against the government, it's a reminder to not take our freedoms for granted. So thank you, veterans, for having sacrificed yourselves for what we, as Americans, have.