Vacation
August 24, 2005
Haven't done much posting lately because we were away on vacation and then having to catch up after coming back from vacation. Here's some photos, click on the photos to see a larger version. We first went to visit our friends George and Kim Logan who pastor New Day Christian Church in Morganton, NC. They also have 4 kids. We had taken a little drive up to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a picnic and then we went for a walk around this lake:
I got to minister at George's Church that Sunday. What an awesome group of people and what a great job they are doing in Morganton.
Sunday after church all 12 of us took off for Washington D.C. It's about an eight hour drive so we stopped for the night in Raleigh/Durham.
The next morning we took off for D.C. We got in kind of late but managed to make it to Arlington Cemetery, where we saw President Kennedy's grave, the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the unknown soldier, and Joe Louis's grave.
Here's a shot of us during the tour of the capitol we were given by an aid to Kim and George's congressman.
Washington is a very impressive place. I kept thinking what an great vision the founders of the United States had. The buildings and monuments they built were too grand, too spectacular, too awe inspiring for the tiny country that the United States was when they were first built. But they built based on what they saw in their imagination not what they saw with their eyes and the United States has now grown up to become a nation worthy of those buildings and monuments.
We said goodbye in D.C. and the Marquez's took off for a couple days in Greg & Becky's favorite city, New York.
Here's a shot of us in our hansom cab after taking a ride around Central Park at night. 
We approached the cabbie at Tavern on the Green to see how much the ride would be. He told us it was against the law for him to take all six of us. They were supposed to take only four, but he said that if we would pay him double he'd take us all and risk getting a ticket. He was a Turk. Very friendly. It was all a little confusing but we agreed and boarded the hansom cab. The ride immediately turned a little weird when a police car started following us and the Turk turned around and told us, "Now the price I'm charging you is $55 dollars right, I'm giving you a discount, right." The police car drove past and we thought all was well. But a little further on we saw it lights flashing pulled over to the side. Again our driver turned around and told us to "Remember that the price is $55 dollars I'm giving you a discount." Never one to pass up a discount, I agreed, although I wasn't entirely sure what I was agreeing to. So the police pulled us over came up and began questioning our driver. They asked where we were from and informed us that it was against the law to be carrying more than 4 people. Mind you, 3 of ours weighed a total of 100 lbs, let's not talk about what the other three weighed. Then the moment of truth. "How much is he charging you?" Hmm… Anyway, they confiscated his license and told him to go ahead and finish our ride and they'd meet him back at Tavern on the Green. As they drove away the most surreal moment of all. Now these men were dressed in police uniforms. They had guns. They acted like police. But as they drove away we noticed the side of their police car, not NYPD but ASPCA Police. Wow! I love New York.