5/19/2008

Home again, home again

Our great adventure is over, and we are home safely (if not reluctantly). We had so many fun adventures together as a family, it’s hard to remember everything. I’m sure Jory will have to chime in and add parts of the story that I left out.
So here goes. Our adventure started last Tuesday with us leaving early and driving all day to get to Joplin MO in time to eat dinner. We spent some time hanging out with Uncle Jake, and went swimming in the hotel pool. We completed our journey on Wednesday, arriving at the Peterson ranch in time for dinner. Thursday – Sunday we spent hanging around the ranch. The kids went swimming (in a livestock feeding bin), played with Papa’s cars, and just ran themselves ragged while we kicked back and relaxed.
Our real adventure started on Monday, we drove to Las Cruces, NM to visit Jory’s favorite authentic Mexican restaurant (YUM!), and let the kids run off some steam on the campus of NMSU. It was really hot and windy, so we retired to our hotel rather early.
Tuesday we made a long trek from Las Cruces to right outside of San Antonio, TX. We had planned on going to Big Bend Nat’l Park, until we realized it was 6 hours out of the way.
Wednesday we went in to San Antonio. We went to the Alamo – which was amazing and beautiful. We were pleasantly surprised to find out the Alamo is not set in a dry dusty wasteland (like in the John Wayne movie) but rather in a beautiful (and humid) garden with trees and flowers and fountains. We also went down to the river walk area, which was also a pleasant surprise. Lots of fountains, 3 levels of shops and restaurants, and of course lots of trees and flowers. It was absolutely beautiful. We had lunch at the Hard Rock Café on the walk, which was definitely a highlight.
Thursday we found ourselves in the Houston area, looking for Johnson space center. Which we found, but it was closed and we didn’t want to wait for it to open. So we drove south to Galveston Island and got out to look at the gulf, we could have spent a lot of time there, but we had to get going. From there we drove along coastal Texas to Louisiana (a new state for me!), where we continued our trek along the gulf. We took a scenic highway through swamps and marshes. We saw lots of hurricane / storm damage and a few alligators.
Friday we drove into New Orleans. After a fiasco that surrounded a certain Harley store, we wandered into the French quarter, which was awesome. We ate lunch at a restaurant with a history dating back to 1788 – the food was to die for. Then we took a carriage ride through the city and learned lots of local history. It was really hard to tear ourselves away, but we had lots of miles left to go. So we got back in the car and drove ourselves to Mississippi.
Saturday was spent mostly watching the world go by. We did have a brief adventure at a park in Mississippi, but mostly we just put miles under our belt. We stopped outside of Chattanooga, TN for the night.
Sunday we completed our journey, arriving home in time for dinner. We passed the miles by thinking back over the fun adventures we’d had and plotting out future family road trips (Maine is totally calling…).
So it was a long trip, but we totally could have spent another week exploring the Mississippi – Ohio corridor that we neglected in the interest of time. The kids did awesome. It was good. Real life is such a let down.
(Don’t worry, pictures to come. I have to find the camera first.)

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