Trip Pictures

A few sights from Texas:


Texas was really dry - no bluebonnets but this cactus was nice.


Jason's grandmother at the old tree

Nora and I with Bonnie

A little bit unhappy about waking up, but bluebonnets make it better.

Fire! In Goliad.

Nora and I on the beach

Home Again, Home Again

We're home, exhausted and ready to stay put for awhile, but home. I finished out our final days of the trip fighting a stomach bug (either food poisoning or a stronger version of Nora's ick) and we did a marathon drive from Port Aransas to Hot Springs - 13 hours in the car straight, including a very, very, very long haul through Houston at rush hour. Nora did very well, and Jason and I survived, although we're still recovering. We spent the two nights with Jason's parents, so they got a good look at Nora and then we headed home on Sunday.

One of the things that really made itself clear in my mind after this trip is how little bragging rights Texas really has. Basically, anything good that state has managed to hold on to is due to the work of a bunch of little old ladies, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (both Kathy and Grant are members). While I might not agree with them on everything, I am happy that they are working on preserving whatever they can get their hands on. Everything else, I think the state would be happy to sell off to developers. And they are worse than the city of STL when it comes to signage. I mean, really, I know your a big state, but would it kill you to tell us how far away it is to the next BIG city? There are only signs showing what's 20 miles down the road. When you are traveling for 10 hours in Texas you sort of want to know how far away you are from Houston, Dallas, Austen, San Antonio and Corpus, not necessarily all of them, just the major city that is on the highway you are traveling on - really, would it kill you to tell us? Oh and side of the road picnic areas suck too. At least you have some plaques.

So listen up Arkansas, I don't want to hear anymore of your sad sack stories about your inferiority complex with your big neighbor Texas. Arkansas can run rings around Texas and every other neighboring state (as well as many others) in the state park arena. While Illinois is shutting down state parks, you are opening them! Building new ones! Arkansas has it goin' on. Texas, not so much - the state park we visited on Mustang Island (8$ entry fee) was sad, sad, sad. Facilities from the 60's, falling down and closed up, no brochures, basically, this state's facilities look like they haven't had an update since the Johnson administration (same goes for those visitors centers), and given that they've had two presidents since then to funnel some money back to them, this is pathetic.

Okay, I'm done with that rant. Bye now.

Notes From The Trip

We're on day 6 of our trip to South Texas and we've learned a few things along the way. 

1. Portable DVD players are a wonderful invention. 

2. One of the most unpleasant things in the world is waking up because a toddler is vomiting on you in a hotel room.  And we were so excited about that king size bed....

3.  The only thing worse about waking up with a toddler vomiting on you at 4 am, is when she continues to vomit throughout the morning,  We felt so bad for her, and it really sucks when you can't make it go away so she'll feel better. 

4.  While considerably less worse than the above, dealing with an explosive diaper blow out in a hot, dirty truck stop parking lot is pretty bad too.  Ganado, you are not my favorite Texas town.  Also bad is calling your friend from the night before and letting him know that you've exposed him to a nasty stomach bug.  Sorry, Bob. 

5.  Despite the unpleasantness above, the look on Grant's face when we finally arrived made it all worth it.  We all had a great time on the ranch, and Nora got to ride in the truck without a carseat, call the cows, and chase the dog, Bonnie, all over.  

6.  Rattlesnakes are really freaking big and really freaking scary.  I'm still freaking out that Nora was within yards of one.

6 a.  We really need to teach Nora some sense of proportion - rattlesnakes are really freaking big and really freaking scary and butterflies are not. 

7.  Texas history can be very interesting and it's worth driving down here to check out the historic sites even if you don't have family here.  Be sure to make a stop in Goliad for the presidio and mission. 

8.  South Texas really needs some rain.  It hasn't rained since August, and then it wasn't much.  When we were taking off it started to rain, but I'm not sure that it kept doing it. 

9.  One of the best things in the whole world is standing on the shore, letting the waves crash into you while a 3 year old giggles and giggles and giggles.  We might have been hungry and sleepy, but really, isn't this what what we came to the beach for?  It's pretty awesome.  

I'm really glad we got that in yesterday, because today is much cooler (okay it's the 70's instead of 84 degrees), overcast and rainy.  While we'll probably go back to the beach today (Nora will be really sad if we don't) I don't think we'll be getting into the water.  Also on the agenda today are the aquariums at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute.  We leave tomorrow morning to start the three day journey back home, although I'm wondering how feasible it is to do it in two days.  Wish us luck on the journey home!