San Francisco Day 1

Oh! It is tough uploading so many photos! I don't intend to say alot so just check out the photos. 

One shot before heading to San Francisco.

This was our room at Hotel Des Art. It is an edgy hotel but we were disappointed not to get the one we reserved. 

Even the "Do Not Disturb" sign is more funky than the rest. 

My favourite of all times!

Really generous of the hotel to let us snap a few shots of the available room. We would have love to change to this room, if not for the fact that there's no private bathroom in it. 

Go West.

Hola!

We are now blogging at 38092 feet above sea level, somewhere over the skies of Nevada. Yes, we are now on our virgin Virgin American ride to San Francisco. How exciting! We are very impressed by the company's concept. Think cool. Think cyber. Think purple flight interior lighting and touch-screen in-flight entertainment. To top it up, WI-FI is just a swipe of credit card away! Best of all, the 6-hour-long journey costs only $139. We have certainly got ourselves a good deal!

By now, my dearest Daniel has been surfing the Internet, clearing emails (Americans would say, huh? Clear what?), analyzing articles and chatting with a number of people back in Singapore. And I could finally touch his precious laptop because he was tired and had to give his eyes a break. How loving and considerate is that?

Okie, back to this trip. We are heading westward because the soon-to-be-31-year-old man decided not to go to Alaska for his birthday. Yes, he chickened out. He is afraid of the cold and the Northern Lights are not a good enough reason for him to go. He finds the cold in Boston too painful to bear and he cannot bring himself to pay a thousands of dollars to punish himself in the bitter cold winter.

So, I had to compromise. Yes, because after more than 3 years of marriage, what do you expect? Give in lor. He is the birthday boy mah. Since, we have heard so much about San Francisco, we decided to give it a shot.

We are going reach SF real soon. Just 30 minutes and we can give our butts a good massage. =) We will share our photos with you soon. Ciao!

Don't mess with Texas!

"Don't mess with Texas!" - This is the message that greeted us upon our arrival at the airport. Souvenirs are splashed with messages that shout Texans' pride in their heritage. Welcome to Texas!

It didn't take us long before we reached the conference hotel. And it was Hilton again. Well, it comforts me to know that the money we spent at the hotel isn't channeled directly to Ms Hilton's bank account till her grandfather is satisfied with how she lives her life.

Okie, back to purpose of this trip to Austin. The conference was great. The worship sessions were WOW! But what else to expect when there was a band of skillful and anointed musicians and a congregation of prepared hearts? As to what we have learnt and achieved, we shall not blog about it because there are just too much to share.

Despite the tight schedule of the conference, we managed to have a quick tour of downtown Austin.

Statue of Angelina Eberly. The innkeeper and hero of Austin. She fired a six-pound cannon to arouse Austinites about the theft of the Republic's archives by the people of Houston. This history is known as the Archives War in which the Austinites won and preserve Austin as the captial.

We got to know Kim and Eric through Ming aka mother of cute and chubby baby Weston.

Kim and Eric brought us to McKinney Falls State Park.

Black Vultures - tips of their wings are white.
Turkey Vultures - wings that are half covered with white feathers.

Before we left Austin, Kim and Eric treated us to an authentic Texan breakfast.

From left: Me, Leah, Mara, Kim and Eric.
Leah and Mara are their lovely daughters.

And of course, Daniel took a few shots of the Austin fire engines before leaving for Boston.