I changed the title..When we woke up to leave, Jeff (our host) threw that out there, and we liked it..Texas, in general, certainly has it’s own personality. I love seeing the road signs “Don’t Mess with Texas” and “Drive Friendly”. They’re everywhere! After what we thought was a great dinner last night on the Riverwalk, I woke up this morning not feeling very well. We’ve decided that shrimp will no longer be in my diet - I’ve just gotten sick too many times following shrimp dinners. Luckily, I’m traveling with the greatest guy out there and got us out of San Antonio and took care of me all day. I slept and Brad drove. Had some weather coming up, but luckily only lasted about half the trip. By the time we hit Waco, it had let up. Read the rest of this entry »

We slept in this morning. We’re on vacation, right? I have to say that San Antonio is a really nice city. The Riverwalk is such a cool attraction…great restaurants, nice people, and a lot of history. After a leisurely morning/early afternoon stroll to get our iced coffee down on the Riverwalk, we did a little window shopping, and grabbed a late lunch at Rita’s..yet another little restaurant serving mexican faire! I think by the time we hit Charlotte, we’ll have had our fill! The afternoon seemed to slip by and we needed to get back to the hotel to refresh the camera battery before heading out to our tourist stop. Besides, it was getting a little steamy..I know, I know..we have no idea! The Alamo was very cool, but after a brief History Channel documentary, and a walk around the area, we understood much better the impact that this site has on American history. Read the rest of this entry »

Luckily, I woke up this morning thinking that I needed to get reservations for the Kings Palace tour at Carlsbad Caverns. The reservation line opened at 8am and I had tickets reserved by about 8:10 By the time that we got to the caverns, both the 10am and 11am tours were sold out…yet another time on this whirlwind trip that all has worked out for us Were we in for a surprise at the caverns!?!? We’d both been in caverns before, so thought that this would be close to the same thing…not even close! The plan was to take the 1.5 hour tour, visit the gift shop quickly, and then hit the road…we just didn’t realize how much there is to see outside of the tour! The caverns were absolutely amazing! If you haven’t been there, you’ve got to go. We’d definitely recommend the tour (despite the very interesting/dorky tour guide). We could have spent all day there, but we did have to hit the road. Read the rest of this entry »

Following a wonderful afternoon and evening with Gavin and Liz, and a nights rest, the longest distance to do in a day awaited us. According to the GPS, the route would take us south through Tuscon then east toward New Mexico, with a dip down through El Paso, and then back up into NM, and into Carlsbad…560 miles.We left Mesa (outside Phoenix) about 9:45 after a great breakfast at the Valley Eatery Diner Restaurant (honestly, that was the name of the place..look at the picture!) with Gav and Liz. We decided on the southern route into Carlsbad (through El Paso) because something caught my eye in the atlas we’ve been referring to. Evidently, Guadalupe National Park is home to the highest peak in Texas. There are some photos in the gallery. Actually a very pretty sight to see, especially as the sun was setting and the shadows cast across the face. We figured that since we be seeing a lot of flat over the next few days, this little taste of Texas may as well have a purpose. Read the rest of this entry »

We woke up to a very bright morning in Williams thinking that it was going to be a warm one…well, we were a bit mistaken. The temp was in the mid to high 60’s and the wind was blowing like crazy (a little chilly) which didn’t help us to keep warm as we were dressed for weather in Phoenix! No worries, we didn’t have far to go for our final meal at Max & Thelma’s Diner (a cute buffet restaurant where we ate most meals at over the 2 days at the canyon). We even got to check out the steam engine as it took off for it’s first journey of the season into the Grand Canyon. Very cool way to start off the day! Read the rest of this entry »

This is getting tougher and tougher each day. Keeping this updated, especially with pictures, is definitely a chore. We’ve been doing our best to do it nightly, but sometimes we are just exhausted from the days activities and/or traveling. We got a good night’s sleep last night..I think I got a bout of dehydration yesterday. I guess the beers at Poncho McGillicutty’s didn’t help, especially that early in the evening. Should’ve drank water. All was well this morning though, and we awoke to a beautiful morning. Yes, we succumed to the tourist trap that is the Grand Canyon Railway, but had a very enjoyable time. We were treated to a “gunfight” before we boarded the train to the South Rim, and the first class car was definitely worth it. The Steam Engine Bloody Mary was excellent, and the ride up was relaxing and scenic. Even had our own in car entertainment…Colonel Jim Garvey serenaded us with traditional country tunes. Read the rest of this entry »

Falling Down, Falling Down…London Bridge is Falling Down, My Fair Lady! After a late night (trying to get caught up on the blog), we woke up and headed out just in time to catch the free breakfast at the Best Western. There was the necessary stop for Starbucks (of course) where we felt a little strange getting hot coffee when it was 93 degrees out (it was only 10am!!!). One last stop to stroll across the London Bridge and to check out a souvenir shop (we needed to find another shot glass for Brad’s collection) and we were on our way for Williams, Arizona. Read the rest of this entry »

California is finally behind us…it only took us 4 days, (plus over 1000 miles on the Jeep already!) We spent almost twelve hours on the road today, but luckily it didn’t seem like it. We backtracked a little to get headed east because we wanted to head through the Joshua Tree National Park before spending the night in Lake Havasu City. We took a quick detour through Palm Springs, filled up the tank ($3.45/gal..for regular!!) and headed east on the I10 until we got to park entrance…what an absolutely beautiful place. I don’t think we anticipated spending the entire day there, but after a 3 mile hike, and a few other milers, most of the afternoon had passed. I didn’t realize how big the park was, and how different the vegetation and surroundings are from one end to the other. The pictures just don’t do it justice…we’re both really glad we got to experience it. Read the rest of this entry »

Believe it or not, we survived a GREAT (and exhausting) day at Disneyland and was still able to stay on track for destination F - San Diego the next morning! We even got a chance to experience a morning in the life of the Davis family! Mark hurried off with Martha in order to get her to Disneyland and Tricia hurried off to get Becca to school on time…all this while Tricia was making cookies for her get together at 9 - it was definitely exciting to watch as it all play out seemlessly After everyone left, we picked up our room, got ourselves ready, loaded the car, and were on our way. Read the rest of this entry »

Heidi inadvertently set her alarm clock using Mountain Standard time..it’s one of those Oregon Scientific thingys with a little “zone” button on the back. So, it wasn’t really 7:00 am . Read the rest of this entry »