Disturbing

Yes, that is a rubber policeman parked on the side of the road. Can you just picture us turning around and slowly pulling up next to it, with camera ready, not sure if it was a fake cop? LOL

All You Need

It's Big and Tiring

The boys and I spent a night and morning at the Grand Canyon. We took the time to drive to the North Rim which is rumored to be the side that those in the know visit. We stayed in a rustic lodge where we enjoyed big blankets at night and big pancakes in the morning.

The boys summed it up:

Wyatt: "It was big."
Griffin: "It was tiring!"

Desert Moon

One 'S' or two? [teacher voice on] Which would you rather have two of? A desert or a dessert? [teacher voice off] In this case I would rather have had two deserts.

Dinosaur Tracks

It's the unexpected little things that make a roadtrip. We ended up off of the major highways quite a bit on this trip. That's how we came across these dino tracks at dusk in New Mexico.

I just happened to catch a hand painted sign on an old piece of wood saying Dinosaur Tracks with an arrow pointing down a gravel side road. I saw it too late to slow and turn. My natural inclination was to continue "making good time" and drive on by, but that would have violated the spirit of this trip. So I turned around and went down the gravel road to see if there were truly dino tracks or if it was a setup by modern day highwaymen.

As it turned out this was one of the highlights of the trip for the boys. There were indeed dino tracks. They were just behind several dilapidated stands used by local artisans to sell merchandise to tourists such as us. Since we were off-season and the sun was starting to set, the stands were empty.

The boys spent quite some time discovering the tracks. Wyatt, the little paleontologist, made quite a few educated guesses as to what dinosaurs had left the tracks until the dadosaur finally made them get back into the minivan to continue our trek.

High Plains Drifters

I have always been intrigued, and strangely fascinated, by places that time has visibly changed or is changing. Especially when an entire way of life is disappearing. So it was that I found myself snapping a ton of pics in this small, mostly forgotten, town in New Mexico. The boys did not understand why I kept taking pictures of all these old buildings.

This town looks to have been quite a prosperous little burb before the interstate was built and travelers, it's lifeblood, bypassed it. There are at least a few budding entrepreneurs in the descendents of the original businessmen, though I'm not sure why the one is buying "rocks and things" or is looking for a female vocalist!

I could add several more pics but I know that most are not as interested in abandoned building as I am! ;)

Aliens

No self-respecting road trippers would travel across country without making a stop in Roswell, New Mexico; site of a claimed crash landing of a flying saucer in 1947! We learned at the UFO Museum and Research Center that the dead aliens were taken to Hanger 18 in Area 51 in the Nevada desert. That was to be our next stop.

Our Hotel:



Aliens?


Streetlight:


The UFO Museum and Research Center:





The coffee shop where I had a cappucino that one would not call out of this world:

Roadside Stops

We found quite a few cool places to stop for a walk and a snack. This one was on a country road in Texas. It is an historical military site that even had a large teepee or the boys to play in.



Later that day we stopped for lunch at a diner in a town that you could imagine the cowboys stopping at during a cattle drive.

Praise Be!

We found Jesus in Texas. He was on the highway in a pickup. I'm still not certain if it was "gee-zus" or "hey-zoos" though.

(You may need to click on the pic to see the license plate)

Texans & Trucks

We stayed in my brother's loft in Austin, Texas on the second night. It was a treat after the dump we slept in on the first night. We had a great time just hanging out. Dinner was pizza from Whole Foods. The WF near his place is the flagship store. The WF corporate offices are located directly above the store. It was amazing. It had to be at least three times the size of our local WF.

The next morning we headed out across Texas. I have never seen so many pickup trucks in my life. And not just trucks, they all seemed to have something in tow behind them or piled into the bed. I even saw pickups pulling other pickups on trailers! In fact, Texans do not even need to get out of their trucks to get a case of beer. I caught a pic of one going through the drive-through beer barn!

Staying on Target

I have found that one of the keys to keeping the boys happy on a long road trip is making plenty of stops. We stop at rest stops before the boys need to go to the bathroom. We stop for food at local grocery stores. And then there is the boys favorite stop: Target.

Target is the department store that carries the boy's favorite line of super heroes. The boys have not been able to find a few of the heroes in the series. Our road trip has a super hero hunt aspect to it now! We have stopped at three Targets and have been successful in finding two new characters. At $5 each they are well worth it. They keep the boys entertained for hours on end.

Debauchery & Donuts

We spent the first night in a seedy motel just outside of New Orleans. There were not any decent, or even clean & safe, hotels anywhere to be found in the area. We could have gone on further but I really wanted the boys to try the famous beignets at Cafe Du Monde.


In the morning we drove into the French Quarter. This is the historical part of New Orleans (or N'Awlins as the locals call it). It is also Party Central. When we arrived at 8:00 a.m. there were still drunks stumbling about the streets. I'm not talking about have some drinks and get a fun buzz drunk here. I'm talking about falling down get arrested drunk! In fact, we saw one woman getting arested but we are not sure what for. There was at least one police car on the streets for every civilian car. I lived in the French Quarter one summer while I worked a job at the 1984 World Fair. I'm not sure if New Orleans has gone downhill or if my perspective has changed, but it definitely seemed seedier than I recall.

We enjoyed ourselves there anyway. The boys loved the beignets but Wyatt was a bit freaked out by one of the many Voodoo shops that we passed. This was one of the kind that cater to tourists. There are some that cater to real practitioners as well! EEK!

The highway out of town was literally carved out of the swamp.