but hey who's counting right?
if you're just checking in, dave and i drove from denver to orlando for our move a few weeks oh heck its really amonth now isn't it? and dave's camera is operational (mine is sadly not). and he was able to take some neat photos on our drive down from colorado and i wanted to share so here we go!
our first day we drove about 750 miles to dad's house in san angelo texas. somewhere along the way. i guess about the time we were leaving colorado we stopped in at the colorado visitor center. (i know i know we were leaving colorado but there is something to be said about free coffee and clean bathrooms) there are quite a few windmills down that way for electricity obviously. and they have a windmill blade mounted at the visitor center. just blows you away (haha) how huge those guys are you don't think about it til they are going the opposite way down the highway onthe back of a flatbed and they've somehow crammed two of those suckers onto one trunk....anyhoo...
next stop, the cadillac ranch just outside of amarillo, tx. well it was not the next next stop but the next that warranted the camera (dave doesn't take quite as many photos as you may have guessed) dave had read about this in an art histroy textbook. i'd somehow never heard of it which is strange seeing as it's just hours from dad's house. it was fun to see. the cars yes actual cars are sunk halfway into the ground in the middle of a farmer's field. theres crops growing out there and everything. you just walk out wander around and judging by the empty spray cans lying on the ground write your name or other things on the cars. and according to neige whose nose was going crazy a few people have relieved themselves on the cars. eeeewww! certainly an interesting stop.
we hung out at dads for a few nights. it was nice to see him and step mom for a few days we hadn't seen them in ages. were abole to avoid filling the car even more than previously had. whew. we really wouldn't have been able to see out if we'd squashed in one more thing! on our way south and east we were passing lots of fields with the crops just getting started and i noticed that there was some of last years cottong still on the edge of the field. dave coming from philadelphia had never seen this oddity. you mean it actually grows on plants? (just kidding) so i ran out to the field and pulled off a couple of bolls just so he could see the pod ad how the seeds are imbedded into the fluff. very fun to see the giant truckfulls of cotton on the side of the road too. always entertaining :)
next up san antonio and the alamo. we had a little car trouble of the salling variety on our way into town. dad suggested letting the car just "set" for a while so we parked. cracked the windows for the pooch (no i'm not a terrible dog mommy it was cool and overcast) and headed in to see the sights. dave had never been i hadn't been since i was like 7 so it was interesting if not that informative to walk around. the historical accounts seemed to be lacking for someone who hasn't had texas hisory in well forver (me) and never (dave). we sort of got the gist of what had happened and headed on out.
we pushed on through houston that night. have i ever told you how much i don' tlike driving in big cities.? well i don't execially ones i know halfway and kinda remember where i am but not really, and theres tons of construction and its evening on a friday and theres traffic.... let me tell you! that is oodles of fun! we stayed overnight in a fairly nice hotel in beaumont which was unfortunately overrun with teenage soccer players. the nice lady at the desk was kind enough to put us in a different building when we asked if we were in their vicinity. (they were currently mobbing the lobby area of the hotel for lack of better things to do for example sleeping at 11 at night when we checked in.)
next morning we got out pretty early and made it through the atchafalaya swamp (which was really neat) stopped in at the visitor center for the national park in...heck i can't remember where...and read up on the history of the area and of the people. it was really neat. if you ever get to drive through louisiana i suggest going. theres avisitor center for plains for swamp and for one other place and its neat the idfferences in the culture.
gratuitous swamp photo :)
finally we ended up in baton rouge. pulled out the trusty old AAA tour book and selected the only restaurant that described its food as creole, cajun, or anything remotely like it. this was our only option as the lady at the aforementioned visitor center suggested chilis or the applebees right off the highway as a solution for lunch....huh? what? we're in louisiana for a few hours only and you think we want to eat at applebees? ok. you've been in the sun too long sweetie! we found the place after a couple of phone calls ( i love my cell phone) and had probably the best lunch i've ever had in my life. fried crawfish. crawfish etouffe. jambalaya. some kind of spicy corn salad in a sweet pastry shell. and andouille sausage wrapped in a chicken breast smothered in a ro-tel cream sauce. yes you heard me right, ro-tel and cream, if you're adventourous in the kitchen try this! i'm certainly going to because it was incredible! the food was fantastic. i even sprung for a tshirt. which i never do cause it was cute an somehow no one ever told them that tshirts most places are 20 bucks. they had theirs for 12. i mean who can resist that huh?
that night we stayed in pensacola. nothing exciting there, or at least we were too tired of driving to extend the trip any more by stopping to look at anything else. we got up early pushed throgh to orlando and here we are. damn near settled and i get to go grocery shoping for dave's birthday dinner now. its tomorrow. he'll be thirty. i wish he had a blog so you could go razz him for me ;) he's no ttaking it too well. but neither would you if you'd always insisted that you'd eat whatever you want because you'll probably have a heart attack before you are thirty. he's eating the words now instead... knock on wood!
if you're just checking in, dave and i drove from denver to orlando for our move a few weeks oh heck its really amonth now isn't it? and dave's camera is operational (mine is sadly not). and he was able to take some neat photos on our drive down from colorado and i wanted to share so here we go!
our first day we drove about 750 miles to dad's house in san angelo texas. somewhere along the way. i guess about the time we were leaving colorado we stopped in at the colorado visitor center. (i know i know we were leaving colorado but there is something to be said about free coffee and clean bathrooms) there are quite a few windmills down that way for electricity obviously. and they have a windmill blade mounted at the visitor center. just blows you away (haha) how huge those guys are you don't think about it til they are going the opposite way down the highway onthe back of a flatbed and they've somehow crammed two of those suckers onto one trunk....anyhoo...
next stop, the cadillac ranch just outside of amarillo, tx. well it was not the next next stop but the next that warranted the camera (dave doesn't take quite as many photos as you may have guessed) dave had read about this in an art histroy textbook. i'd somehow never heard of it which is strange seeing as it's just hours from dad's house. it was fun to see. the cars yes actual cars are sunk halfway into the ground in the middle of a farmer's field. theres crops growing out there and everything. you just walk out wander around and judging by the empty spray cans lying on the ground write your name or other things on the cars. and according to neige whose nose was going crazy a few people have relieved themselves on the cars. eeeewww! certainly an interesting stop.
we hung out at dads for a few nights. it was nice to see him and step mom for a few days we hadn't seen them in ages. were abole to avoid filling the car even more than previously had. whew. we really wouldn't have been able to see out if we'd squashed in one more thing! on our way south and east we were passing lots of fields with the crops just getting started and i noticed that there was some of last years cottong still on the edge of the field. dave coming from philadelphia had never seen this oddity. you mean it actually grows on plants? (just kidding) so i ran out to the field and pulled off a couple of bolls just so he could see the pod ad how the seeds are imbedded into the fluff. very fun to see the giant truckfulls of cotton on the side of the road too. always entertaining :)
next up san antonio and the alamo. we had a little car trouble of the salling variety on our way into town. dad suggested letting the car just "set" for a while so we parked. cracked the windows for the pooch (no i'm not a terrible dog mommy it was cool and overcast) and headed in to see the sights. dave had never been i hadn't been since i was like 7 so it was interesting if not that informative to walk around. the historical accounts seemed to be lacking for someone who hasn't had texas hisory in well forver (me) and never (dave). we sort of got the gist of what had happened and headed on out.
we pushed on through houston that night. have i ever told you how much i don' tlike driving in big cities.? well i don't execially ones i know halfway and kinda remember where i am but not really, and theres tons of construction and its evening on a friday and theres traffic.... let me tell you! that is oodles of fun! we stayed overnight in a fairly nice hotel in beaumont which was unfortunately overrun with teenage soccer players. the nice lady at the desk was kind enough to put us in a different building when we asked if we were in their vicinity. (they were currently mobbing the lobby area of the hotel for lack of better things to do for example sleeping at 11 at night when we checked in.)
next morning we got out pretty early and made it through the atchafalaya swamp (which was really neat) stopped in at the visitor center for the national park in...heck i can't remember where...and read up on the history of the area and of the people. it was really neat. if you ever get to drive through louisiana i suggest going. theres avisitor center for plains for swamp and for one other place and its neat the idfferences in the culture.
gratuitous swamp photo :)
finally we ended up in baton rouge. pulled out the trusty old AAA tour book and selected the only restaurant that described its food as creole, cajun, or anything remotely like it. this was our only option as the lady at the aforementioned visitor center suggested chilis or the applebees right off the highway as a solution for lunch....huh? what? we're in louisiana for a few hours only and you think we want to eat at applebees? ok. you've been in the sun too long sweetie! we found the place after a couple of phone calls ( i love my cell phone) and had probably the best lunch i've ever had in my life. fried crawfish. crawfish etouffe. jambalaya. some kind of spicy corn salad in a sweet pastry shell. and andouille sausage wrapped in a chicken breast smothered in a ro-tel cream sauce. yes you heard me right, ro-tel and cream, if you're adventourous in the kitchen try this! i'm certainly going to because it was incredible! the food was fantastic. i even sprung for a tshirt. which i never do cause it was cute an somehow no one ever told them that tshirts most places are 20 bucks. they had theirs for 12. i mean who can resist that huh?
that night we stayed in pensacola. nothing exciting there, or at least we were too tired of driving to extend the trip any more by stopping to look at anything else. we got up early pushed throgh to orlando and here we are. damn near settled and i get to go grocery shoping for dave's birthday dinner now. its tomorrow. he'll be thirty. i wish he had a blog so you could go razz him for me ;) he's no ttaking it too well. but neither would you if you'd always insisted that you'd eat whatever you want because you'll probably have a heart attack before you are thirty. he's eating the words now instead... knock on wood!
Comments
We ALWAYS stop at that Colorado Visitor Center, too!