We left at 4am Sunday morning on the 2nd of August. We were pretty much traffic free thru LA. It only took 6 hours to get to Arizona! We drove thru Phoenix, which was unbelievably HOT! We were planning on picnicking along the way, but it was too unbearable so we just ate on the road. Our first night we spent in Deming, NM. It was very lovely there. We had a nice room in the hotel and the hotel had a restaurant, which was VERY convenient. It was a pleasure. The desert is so beautiful, especially at sunset when everything turns blue.
The next morning, we left at about 8:30 and drove thru El Paso, TX to Carlsbad Caverns. While in El Paso, I introduced Tampa to jazz, which was playing on the public radio station. She loved it and easily picked out some of the instruments that were being played. We took a back road to Carlsbad Caverns and saw some beautiful sites. The speed limits are really fast thru that area, so I spent a lot of time turning around to get some pictures. We got to Carlsbad Caverns at around 3:00 and it was such a refreshing feeling to be down there in the cool air. Tampa was scared and whimpering about being inside the earth for the first 5 minutes but then she realized how cool it was. She had a great time looking at all the stalagmites and stalactites. We drove thru back roads and towns to get back to 10. The towns we drove thru were in very bad shape. Whole downtowns were closed. When we got to the edge of town, we saw a big Wal-Mart there. Sure, Wal-Marts provide jobs and insurance, on the other hand, they steal towns souls... We ended up staying in Ozona, TX for the night. There was a wool and mohair factory across the street from where we stayed. Unfortunately, it was closed when we left in the morning. I was interested in seeing what was there. That night, there weren't any restaurants open, so we unfortunately had pretzels and snacks for dinner...
We left around 8am the next morning and drove to San Antonio to see the Alamo. It was a very nice drive. The traffic had been very scarce throughout our journey until we reached San Antonio!!! I remember driving thru there before on one of my cross country adventures and how crazy it was. I'm thankful for the GPS system that I have. We found the Alamo and Tampa loved it, even though it was hot and humid. We spent a while there before discovering a nice restaurant there for lunch. We left there and drove on thru Houston. The traffic was starting to get a little too much for Tampa. We ended up staying in Beaumont, TX. We weren't impressed with any of it that evening. (I'm sure it was a nice city, nothing was really working out for us weary travelers, though.)
The next morning we left at 7:30am. We drove to Baton Rouge and stopped at the visitor's center to get directions to the plantations. My GPS wouldn't give me any info on Oak Alley, for some reason. Fortunately, the road we took was a few miles down. Again, we were able to enjoy a back road thru towns. We finally made it to Oak Alley Plantation and had lunch. We didn't go on any tours, because Tampa's too young to know about the horrors of slavery. When we were do lessons on Early American History, we'll go and do the tours, then. It was a very beautiful area. They didn't have any beignets, so we headed out to Cafe du Monde in New Orleans. We walked around Decatur Street a bit and did a little shopping. I LOVE New Orleans and would love to spend more time there. Someday, when my husband can go with us we'll spend a good week there. It was about 4pm when we left there. We drove thru Mississippi and Alabama and then we were already in Pensacola, FL. I asked Tampa if she wanted to get a hotel room or drive on to Grammy's. My 3-year old little girl said "Drive to Grammy's!" At 2:30am she was tired of it all. I didn't blame her. At 4:30am on Thursday we made it to Grammy's in Tampa, FL. We were exhausted!! We slept until noon and realized when we awoke that we were sick. We've had a terrible cold from the heat, humidity and air conditioning.
Being sick hasn't stopped our fun, though. We've been going to the beaches and yesterday we went to a water park. I may rarely have a voice, I have terrible laringitis, but when I was going down some of those water slides, it didn't stop me from screaming! We have another week or so of going to the beaches and exploring before driving home to Daddy. Unfortunately, he's busy at work. Thankfully, he has work. We will be taking 70 home so we can see the Midwest, the Rockies, and then Steiner College in Fair Oaks!!! I'm hoping to meet a certain family who lives there! *wink, wink* We'll also be seeing Tampa's Godmother, my husband's cousin. I am so thankful that I have a kid who loves to travel as much as I do. Anyway, here are the pictures of our adventure.
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| On the Road |
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| Beach Pics |
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