Shannon Warren.com

Saturday was shaping up to be a stressful day. My lowest-among-the-standby-passengers status was making things look pretty bad on a popular travel day.

I found myself stranded in NYC, which would have been fine any other day, except I had to get back to Texas ASAP. In order to make my Escape from New York I needed a Plan B. The circumstances dictated a move south; i.e., since the only flight in the North East with an empty seat was in D.C., Plan B put me on a train to that flight.

Generally speaking, trains are stress free. In fact, I managed to enjoy the ride despite the four hour + $85 inconvenience.

Well, just about time I was convinced that my day was simply traveling from A to B to C, the coolest thing happened. Half way to D.C. my good buddy Tim, from Dallas, randomly called to chat. As it turned out, he happened to be in D.C. - not Dallas! - due to an interview.

How cool is that?

A drop of fellowship materialized in an otherwise drab day. Solitude had turned into a reunion filled with laughter. Tim & I both remained a little overwhelmed at it all.

�??You know Tim, faith comes easier on some days than on others. Today faith comes easy.�?�

I guess seeing a good friend in such an unexpected environment was a reminder that, as Jonny says, �??Daddy loves us�?�.

Tim & I had lunch near Union Station (photos) and then we threw a Frisbee around the Capitol Building’s lawn. Unfortunately, just as quickly as our reunion had commenced it came to a close. I was on the last flight back to Houston in very nearly the last open seat on the plane.

Daddy does, in fact, love us. Days like that remind me of these lyrics by Enter the Worship Circle:

I was a hungry child
A dried up river
I was a burned out forest
And no one could do anything for me

But You put food in my body
Water in my dry bed
And to my blackened branches,
You brought the springtime
Green of a new life

And nothing is impossible
For You

He put water in my dry bed.

I took these pictures while in a hurry to catch a train at Penn Station… Think of them as snapshots rather than photographs; i.e. McDonalds rather than food.

Nonetheless, I like how they turned out. I guess it is hard to take a bad snapshot of Times Square.

Enjoy.

From Chicago I took an eight hour Amtrak train ride (pictures) to Minneapolis. Here I am taking a few days to relax and visit family.

These pictures are from an afternoon in downtown Minneapolis with my cousin & a few of his friends. We visited the Minneapolis Sculpture Gardens as well as city center.

I like Minneapolis. Generally, I would say it is somewhat like Houston; i.e. it is not the biggest or oldest city around, but does provide its residents with a vibrant life & ample opportunities. But the real treat for me has been the ability to experience “Minnie” through the eyes of my family living here.

BTW - On Sunday my uncle gave a really moving presentation in support of Lifeline of Hope (LLH), a ministry to the orphans of the developing world. I’d like to make a quick plug for that organization & his work with it. If you or your church would like to support a worthy cause, please prayerfully consider LLH.

Here are a few pictures from my recent visit to downtown Chicago. I think they turned out pretty great.

Becky told me that I needed to spend an afternoon in Millennium Park and I’m glad she did, it was awesome! Most of my pictures are of the interesting things & people in it. Take a look.

Generally, Chicago was very impressive. The people were exceptionally friendly, the public spaces & museums were above average, and the weather wasn’t too terrible in mid-August. The Cubs fans are less obnoxious in Chicago than in Houston… but they were still obnoxious! Much like Aggie fans, they stand by their team for famine and feast. Very admirable!

The one disappointing part of my trip was my accommodations. The youth hostel I stayed in (Arlington House) was the worst, dirtiest, poorest-run hostel I�??d ever stayed in. And I�??ve stayed in plenty. Whatever you do, do not stay there!

Nonetheless, Chicago isn�??t to blame for one crummy youth hostel, and all-in-all I look forward to another visit to The Windy City.

Since so many of you care so deeply for me, I’m happy to report that I survived the terrible fate of having to travel to Hawaii on the way back from Japan last week.

No really, we HAD TO GO. Our direct flight from Japan to Texas was full, which forced us to fly to Hawaii on the way home. But please, don’t worry. We’re all ok.

You may notice that Hawaii is not an ugly place, and you’d be right. Good eye. In fact, I’d say that I liked it just fine…

Ok, I’ll admit it. Hawaii was wonderful…

Getting from Hawaii to Texas was the catch, involving an overnight flight to L.A. & 22 hours of non-stop driving. Thankfully I had good company along the way.

500 KM west of modern Tokyo lies Kyoto, a delightfully ancient city which our group unanimously agreed to be our favorite between the two. Jon observed that Tokyo seemed to be filled with robots in dark suits (Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto), whereas Kyoto was more vivacious.

Here’s a bit of history, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Kyoto is considered the cultural center of Japan. During World War II when firebombing was conducted throughout the country, Kyoto and its 1600 Buddhist temples, 400 Shinto shrines, palaces, gardens and architecture were spared, leaving it one of the best preserved cities in Japan.

To say the least, we are very glad that Kyoto was spared the fate of Tokyo & Hiroshima. Dad reported & Wikipedia agrees that Henry L. Stempson’s romatic honeymoon is to thank:

…the only person deserving credit for saving Kyoto from destruction is Henry L. Stimson, the Secretary of War at the time, who had known and admired Kyoto ever since his honeymoon there several decades earlier.

I had the good fortune of travelling with Tim, Jon, Tom & Ryan during thier vacation time this year (Tim & Jon last year also).

Owing to my father’s unused international buddy-passes we had the opportunity to make a grand trip on a shoestring. Flight availability & our low boarding priority led us to to Japan.

The group never lacked for conversation. Between us we had one medical doctor, one Ph.D. in Anthropology, one Masters in Architecture, one Masters from M.I.T., and my relatively insignificant year of law school. As a result, our discussions were always stimulating, sometimes heated, and managed to cover life, the universe, and everything.

Our trip, however, was not entirely academic. We did manage to have quite a lot of fun.

Tokyo represents the center of modern Japan & the seat of Japanese power. There we explored the Imperial Gardens, saw the heart of the video arcade universe, and witnessed the orderly anarchy that is the Tokyo Metro.

The Photos
For the most part I really like how these pictures turned out. Note that my camera was largely shared, so attribute the good pictures to Tim, Tom & Ryan, and the rest to me. Finally, Tom is an Architect with a trained eye for design. I’ve placed many of the pictures he took of buildings in this sperate album.

So on my way to Yosemite I decided to stop off in Las Vegas for an evening.

I have this to say,

Viva “Las Vegas”…
… Muerto “forgetting my tripod when taking pictures on The Strip at night“.

O well. All things considered, I think the photos turned out pretty well.

A Few Sorted Observations:

Hey everybody, here are my favorites of the pictures I took while at the Grand Canyon. I think I took ~300 photos and have narrowed those down to about 25.

I hope to someday add some text and stories to this post; however, in the meantime I would summarize my visit with the words “life changing”. Otherwise I would note that the most frequently heard conversation is that of a mother to her child, “Kimberly you get back from that edge!” And, even though my mom wasn’t with me, her voice rang in my ears the whole time.

Here are the pictures:

Enjoy!