9 months on

There have been a lot of requests for updates to the blog, and we have both been reluctant to do so. There were several reasons for this. Primarily we were just happily settling into our country, city, and church.

This has been a time of adjustment, peace, and refreshment. If I looked back at the earlier blogs that chronicled our journey I can see how tired we had become. The Lord has truly blessed us with space, love, and time in which to prepare for the next stage in our journey together.

Sadly, but as expected, that next stage is now with us. Judy's last scan has showed tumour growth on the liver. She started chemotherapy this morning.

I can't say exactly what this means to us yet. It's too early for the effectiveness of the chemo to be measured. It is also to early to see how well Judy can tolerate the chemo. We were somewhat apprehensive this morning as we drove back from Wanaka, but it was 'all good'.

 

 We have read of women in the UK on the same chemo treatment as Judy who have been on the same treatment for a number of years, so our expectations are open to a very wide range of possibilities. We have learnt to just focus on 'today' however.

We have just had a brief trip around the southern South Island, visiting family and seeing both new 

and beloved sights.

I don't really have a lot more to say. We are looking to buy a house here in Christchurch and we will continue with those plans. In the meantime we continue to trust in the Lord and count it a blessing to have been able to come so far together, in distance as well as time.

Goodbye America

This is the final post of our cross country trip.  All too soon it has come to an end and it feels as if we have only skimmed the surface of a few stunning locations in this vast country.  We have been amazed by the diversity not only geographically but also in the variety of personalities and cultures in states and towns.  En route to the Grand Canyon we stopped on iconic Route 66.  

The food was actually pretty good and the history of the cafe and town where it was located made for interesting reading.  

An authentic jail in a group of historic buildings adjacent to the cafe which was used for lawless citizens.  Unfortunately, we had to leave Troy behind.

Our next stop was the Grand Canyon, Arizona, which i have very few photos of.  The day of our visit was very warm (although much higher temperatures were to come) and i didn't have much energy so much of the scenery i viewed from the car.  

This place is so vast that no photo could capture the scale of it.  The lower two photos are taken from a helicopter ride which took us to the north rim.  It was a 30 minute ride which only covered a small portion of the Canyon.  Seeing the landscape from a bird's eye view only reaffirmed the enormity of this national park.  

Driving further west toward Los Angeles we briefly stopped at Hoover Dam, an amazing feat of engineering.  The Dam has tight security as do many other sites around America which are potential targets for terrorists.  Our driver, a.k.a Ron, approached the checkpoint at 15 mph instead of 5 mph and received a stern reprimand from the officer.

Our final stop before Los Angeles was Las Vegas.  While driving from Arizona to Nevada the temp kept climbing.  It peaked at 120F which is almost 49C.  While these temperatures are hotter than what folk here normally experience, i find it hard to imagine why people live here at all, even in the more typical temperatures of the low 100s.  Every time you exit the car or a building you feel as if an oven is blasting  hot air towards you.  The parched landscape is devoid of any greenery, aside from tussock like plants.  

New York is purportedly the city that never sleeps.  It doesn't have a patch on Las Vegas.  I have never seen city lights like this.  Huge electronic billboards were competing for your attention everywhere.  The wealth in this place is stupendous.  While i can appreciate the skill in replicating different parts of the world such as a French courtyard or even the canals of Italy with gondoliers who were singing excerpts from operas as they ferried tourists around, i was not sorry to leave this place.  

Accommodation can be very cheap here, around $30 for a reasonable hotel room, but you have to put up with slot machines everywhere.  We initially tried the el cheapo option but since it was saturday night we were not successful.  There are several large (1000 rooms) hotel complexes well away from the strip which we tried- no availability.  Bad idea to pitch up on Saturday.  In retrospect i am glad, although it was much more expensive, that we stayed in a hotel with no casino.  I wanted to shake the dust off my feet as we left sin city.  

We have lived in the United States for all of Troy's 14 years.  I was 6 months pregnant when we arrived.  There are many aspects that we will miss and we have been grateful to have had the opportunity to learn more about this great country and become fond of it.  We have benefitted from its hospitality and generosity, Canada included.  In particular, we have been blessed with some outstanding friends and are sad to leave them.  God has enriched our lives through you here, and our prayer is that He continues to bless all of you.  It is our hope that you will visit us in New Zealand, time and funds not withstanding.  At the very least, we hope you will stay in touch regularly.

We are leaving our oldest son behind.  Please look after him, America.  

We love you, Eliot.  Happy Birthday on the 4th.  Remember all those fireworks are for you.

I imagine this blog will be silent again for a period of time.  Until then,

Love from the Snoeks

On we go.

Back to Aspen.  No expense has been spared in beautifying this city.  Everywhere along the sidewalk are planter boxes and baskets full of annuals.  This place buzzes in winter and in summer.  It is difficult to find a park anywhere.   We have been taking turns selecting where to eat.  Sadly, it was Troy's turn which meant we had to forfeit the numerous appealing cafes for the golden arches.  Euuw.

For those of you who have only visited Aspen in winter, you may find it interesting to see how it looks in summer.

Journeying on we headed to and through Utah.  We thought Wyoming was sparsely populated but we were wrong.  Utah was unbelievably barren.   Apparently much of the land we were travelling through is owned by the government who leases the land in winter for stock grazing.  In summer there is no water so there is nothing for hundreds of miles.  No farmhouses, no trees, just puny grey/green coloured plants and the occasional cactus that dots the landacape.  When we stopped at the welcome center we spoke to the lady who staffs the center, who lives in a town of 35 and has done so for about 30 years.  Yes, everyone knows each other well. 

The welcome center was beautifully landscaped with named plants.  In general, rest areas and welcome centers are very well appointed and have great facilities.  In some states it is an expectation when you travel on toll roads but we haven't been on a toll road since we left the eastern states.

A partial view of the Welcome Center which was quite conspicuous among the barren landscape of Utah.

This is the state where we discovered the beauty of  Bryce Canyon which i have already posted and is probably my top pick for our cross country trip.  Our original plan was to also visit Zion National Park but we reluctantly dropped that from the itinerary due to time constraints.

Until next time,

The U.S. Snoeks

Rewinding

Dear all

Backtracking to our travel between the Badlands and Bryce Canyon, we traversed miles and miles of  sparsely populated landscape.  On the map the distances look so deceivingly short.  In reality it is quite the opposite.  Living in a small state such as CT makes the contrast all the greater.

Wyoming landscape.

Sunday morning we attended a lovely local Baptist Church in Hot Springs, SD.  The people were welcoming and the preaching was edifying.  The pastor was raised in Hawaii but has lived and ministered in this area for about 25 years and loves it.  What a contrast, geographically!

Aptly named but forgettable cafe where we stopped somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

After church we headed for Wyoming.  Now and then one sees the quintessential windmill providing necessary water for stock.  One also sees oil pumps here and there.  Very few dwellings though.
We stopped in Cheyenne, Wyoming for the night at a seedy motel but the outdoor pool was a blessed relief.

Just another exaggerated story.  Sigh.

Eliot has been watching too many zombie movies.

The next day we drove to Denver, Colorado and spent the afternoon at an outdoor water park, an activity selected for the lads.  We walked around in our swimsuits with no need for a towel since the weather was so hot.  One ride was absolutely terrifying and i don't say that very readily.

Our next stop was Aspen, Colorado, the city that oozes opulence.  However, on the way we got waylaid in the cutest quaint town off the beaten path.  Driving through Glenwood Canyon is a town that was a sociological project back in 1900 by an entrepreneur with the name of John Cleveland Osgood.  He established Redstone (aptly named for the red stone everywhere) to mine coal and was convinced that workers who lived in an attractive environment were more productive.  He built appealing homes for his workers, many which remain today.  This town is one of the most unspoiled, picturesque towns we have ever seen.  The quaint homes are situated in a verdant valley beside a babbling brook.  We stayed overnight here in a rustic lodge and explored some of the history of the village which has about 130 residents today.

The redstone evident on the hillside.

The lodge parking place.  No one was on site when we arrived.  A sign in the open office building directed potential customers to phone the proprietor who lived down the road.  The keys were in the rooms of the unlocked cabins so you could have a look.  Talk about trusting.

Outside the back door.

The interior of the cabin.   The furniture looked hand made.

Another view of the river/brook.

Some of the homes in the village.

The Redstone Inn.

The Redstone Museum which unfortunately wasn't open.

The ovens which were used to bake the coal (into coke) which was mined from nearby.

Next time I will tell you about Aspen and Colorado.

judy and co.

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Dear all

Chronologically this post shouldn't go here as we visited this park today and i have many other photos (by the way, i love my camera, thanks for the recommendation Franci) of the last several days.  However, the Bryce Canyon deserves an exclusive post and i do not want to get too behind with chronicling our trip.  We found the scenery so breathtaking, even moreso than the Badlands.  

This is a lesser known National Park.  I, Judy, had never heard of it before we embarked on our road trip.  It has amazing colours and rock formations - many look like extensive fortresses atop other layers of rock, other formations have rocks precariously balanced on top of each other, yet others are rock arches, and the park is so vast.  Additionally, one can see the orange coloured rock miles and miles after leaving the park.  We also saw interesting wildlife but i captured only one animal on film.  Black bears and cougars are occasionally sighted.  At the uppermost point of the park the rangers had removed all the trash cans because of a recent bear sighting.  

The beginnings of the vividly coloured landscape as one gets closer to the park boundary.

An arch on the access road to the Canyon.

This is truly the colour of the rock; not photoshopped.

A close up of some of the formations.  At one of the many viewpoints along the roads is a formation named 'organ pipes' which i wanted to photograph for Opa Snoek but i didn't come across it.  There are so many places to stop.  We also could have walked miles of trails but at 33C there was little incentive!

Another view.

This a tame walking trail.   Most were very steep which is no surprise since we were at around 10,000 ft and at view points it was a sheer drop down.  Not good if you are afraid of heights.  We saw quite a few groups of horse treks.  Instructions went like this; the horses are trained to walk close to the edge, please do not scream as this will frighten the horses, if you are scared please close your eyes.  

It kind of defeats the purpose really.

This photo shows the strata well.

We saw many interesting plants and trees.  This one is good for Lord of the Rings or Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz.

This is either a pronghorn or an elk.  We have no North American animal experts in our family to identify the beast.  

Another amazing arch.

This looks like some sort of animal's head.

This was the tiny tourist town of Bryce appropriately in a western theme, just before the entrance to the National Park, 

The rocks to the right of the pathway are petrified and selling for between $5,500 - $7000.  Inside the little stores pictured above were a plethora of rocks, minerals, fossils, carvings, antiques, etc.  

We met an elderly customer who had been many times to Chch on business, and a retailer and his wife who had visited chch as recently as November.  What a small world.

Troy has a penchant for a wide variety of hats.  He has been asking for a stetson since we began the journey so we acquiesced.

One final picture of this beautiful landscape that God created.  A verse from one of the selections in the blue Trinity Hymnal  comes to mind when i think of this marvellous creation;

He built the earth, He spread the sky, and fixed the starry lights on high.

Wonders of grace to God belong, repeat His mercies in your song.

Until the next post, 

The travelling Snoeks