Beck's Trip

 For a year Beckham worked and saved to pay for a school trip to Europe. They went to Germany, Switzerland and Austria. We were proud and impressed how hard he worked to pay for the trip. Also, he pretty much went alone. He knew kids on the trip, but he was going because he wanted to go. He packed the night before they left. An international flight put off until the end. He has a calmness to him that I will never have. I would have had to be packed or have piles ready to go, at least a week beforehand. It all worked out well and he packed what he needed. 

I made Brad take him to the airport. Leading up to it I had to stop myself a few times from getting emotional, I knew I could not drop him off and cry a little. So I hugged him goodbye and cried while Brad dropped him off. Waiting for the 'we landed in Vienna' text took way to long to come, but they made it safe and he had a great time. 

A few pics the teachers sent. 

This is now Beck's account of his trip. 

"On about the 6th day we made a detour on our way to Germany to a small town on the edge of France. We were given free time and a group of about 7 kids found a cat café. I assumed it would be like a regular cat café, but instead it was a gentleman's house with 8 different Persian cats. As we were there, the man explained the names and differences between his multiple cats. After about a half hour we left to get with the rest of the group and head back to Germany."

"This was a massive statue of a lion carved into the wall of a very large cliff. It represented a group of men from WWII. The story was along the lines of a captain being away from his soldiers as they were attacked, and his sorrow for his party resulted in the statues. The lines within the cliff side are intentional to the art piece, representing arrows falling toward the sad injured lion."

"On one of the final days, we went to one of the largest churches in Europe. The place was gargantuan in comparison to everything around it. The funny thing was right next to this castle was not only a McDonalds, but a Five Guys nearly directly in front of it."

"This was on the 4th or 5th day, where we went on a tram and a train up to the top of a very large mountain. It was about 7,000 feet in the air, and there were clouds of fog surrounding the entire area. There wasn't much up the mountain except for a few hiking areas where you could go higher up the mountain."

"During one of the first days we went to Salzburg, Austria which is known because it is where The Sound of Music is set. Though I have never seen it, there was a bike tour around town that showed us the different filming and set locations for the film. This photo was in front of the abbey that the lead character left."

"For the final and most unexpected photo, it is the line for security check in the Denver airport... at 3:30 in the morning. We were there because the previous flight back home got cancelled and we needed a hotel to stay at for the night. Though it looked and was very long, I didn't have to walk through it. One of the other students on the trip needed a wheelchair accommodation and I was given the job to push the wheelchair. Because of this we were aloud to cut through lines and it only took about 1/2 and hour to traverse the entire line. But after that I got to the plane that would eventually take me back home.

Over all I really enjoyed the trip. Everywhere we went had beautiful scenery and phenomenal food to go with it. The experiences were fantastic, but I am glad to be back home for a while."

The souvenir Beck made me. I've never had anything with my name spelled correctly on it.