This is the fourth and final installment of the story of my visit to the Gaylord Texan resort through winning the Grand Prize in a contest put on by Steinbrecher and Associates in conjunction with the publication of Susan Steinbrecher’s book, ‘Kensho: A Modern Awakening’. You can start at PART ONE here if you want to go back to the beginning.
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Break Fast
Day Three at the Gaylord started with room service for Caitlin, since she had to get up and going to work really early. Simple enough oatmeal, but they made it the right way and it was delicious she said. I often take sunrise pictures at home and post them on Facebook so I decided I might as well do it in Texas as well.
Simple and Delicious at Sunrise
Linda and I meanwhile had heard about a very unique Texas breakfast spot down in Grapevine, the town we had meandered through the day before. It was called ‘Out West’ and was the genuine article, pure Texas. How ‘Texas’ was it? It was SO Texas that the table we sat at WAS Texas!
Linda looks over Amarillo
Small Town Time
We hadn’t really seen one side of the street as well as we wanted the day before so we took another stroll through Grapevine after breakfast. We came upon a pretty witty name of a store.
Coffee and religious books - Pun divinely intended, obviously
The ice cream store, a shaded gazebo and a cute farmer’s market called to us after our walk.
Where's John Phillip Sousa when you need him?
Linda in the distance getting yummy peaches!
Meeting Susan
One of the most exciting parts of the holiday for me was actually part business. I obviously had read up on Susan Steinbrecher, the person who awarded me the prize. She turned out to be a pretty amazing person, successful business woman who had a very unique and individual approach to her chosen profession of leadership consulting and training. She told me to let her know when we would take the vacation so she might come by and meet me. What exactly that meant, I didn’t know. Would it be a handshake, hello then off she would go, or would we have time to sit down and talk a bit? I wrote her a week before the vacation telling her that we would be there and we arranged a time to meet on our last day. I wrote back and asked if she would be willing to take a quick look at my Napkin Dad presentation, ‘The Six Stop Signs on Creativity Road’ that I would have on my iPad. I thought it would be a good way to let her know what I do and maybe how I could help her in her business. If not, perhaps she would have some good advice for a newbie speaker/presenter. She was gracious in saying she would be happy to.
Susan Steinbrecher and me
She gave me great advice about how to develop my speaking career and offering to help by giving advice into the future. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I am now excited to read her books, ‘Heart-Centered Leadership’ and ‘Kensho: A Modern Awakening’.
Right as we were finishing up, a couple came into the Celebrity Services offices where we were having our conversation. Susan knew them and introduced them to me. They were Angela Mitcham, the VP and Hotel Manager and John Imaizumi, the Senior VP and General Manager, who had a broken arm. They were the ones who had put the package together at Susan’s request so really it was them I had to thank for the incredible attention we received. Linda came in right at that time and we all talked for a few minutes about John having taken a nasty tumble on his bike. Luckily it looks like he will have a full recovery!
Dashing for the Airport
Then it was off for a hopefully traffic free dash for Love Field for me to get a flight home. Linda was going to be staying the weekend with Caitlin at her apartment while I bachelored it for the weekend with the dogs and cat. Dallas, not known for light traffic, opened up it’s highways and byways and we made it at the speed limit just in time for me to get in line as the plane boarded. I was a bit winded from running through the terminal but not sweaty enough to worry about my row mates being overwhelmed by my lack of cologne. I ended up sitting next to a very cool woman who told a great story about the dreams she had, and actions she was taking, to one day open her own boutique, but that’s a story for another day.
The End
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Thanks so much for traipsing through the 4 part series. I really didn’t expect it to be this long but I felt very privileged to get the prize and wanted to give it justice in my recounting of it. I wish I had taken more photos (an odd thing for me to not take many) but I think I gave a good visual flavor of the trip nonetheless
Please consider staying at the Gaylord Texan (or any of their resorts) if you are in the Dallas area. They truly are an amazing company and the service was as excellent as one would hope for. I have not been paid or compensated for this series, beyond the initial awarding of the 2 night stay to begin with, which was not dependent on me writing or sharing anything about it.
If you are in business management and leadership, I hope you will consider Steinbrecher and Associates‘ services in developing custom plans for leadership training. Once again, I have not been paid or compensated for my mentioning of her company or services beyond the initial awarding of the contest prize, which was not dependent on any writing or sharing on my part.