Thursday, November 02, 2017

Texas 2014 Road Trip

I found this post as a draft on my blog and am going to publish it... 3 years later.  I did write some at the beginning and then loaded pictures.  I meant to go back and add commentary but never did.  So, this is mostly pictures of a great trip I had with Conor.  I am hoping we can do another road trip in the next couple of years sometime.

Conor and I took a road trip to Texas in the summer of 2014 - we had a great time.  It was just the two of us and I had a great time with my baby.  On the way down, we went through Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, then Texas.  We stopped to go to Genevieve's baptism first, then the two of us were on our way.  There were a few issues on the first night, but nothing too terrible.  We tried to stop in Memphis the first night - but all the hotels were booked.  As tired as we both were, we drove into Arkansas.  I'm not sure I will ever go that way again.  Every hotel we saw off the highway looked like it belonged in a horror film.  Conor was tired and wanted to stop and got just a little bit cranky, but he didn't get too bad.  He knew I was tired too - and looking.  We finally called Jeff for help - I asked him to find us a hotel that was half way decent as close as possible.  Closest one ended up being 200 miles from where we were - we made it and went right to sleep.  

Conor loved that we were staying in hotels with pools so he could swim at each stop.  When we woke up, the first thing he wanted to do was swim.  We had to wait until they opened the pool, so we had breakfast and got all of our things packed and ready to go.  Then he swam for about an hour while I read a book.  We weren't in a hurry, we didn't have a schedule to keep, but we did want to make it to Texas that evening.  

We arrived in Temple while it was still daylight - wasn't too late, I believe it was 8pm-ish.  My memory is a little fuzzy after a couple of months.  We got settled in, ate dinner, and relaxed.  




We stayed with Phyllis - a long time, best friend of my mom's.  She, her husband, and her girls were great hosts.

The porch Wayne built after visiting my mom's house and falling in love with her porch.  I love both of them - very relaxing peaceful places. 



Hannah and Conor played a lot of games together. 


And we went to a local water park to swim - I loved it.  It reminded me of the past - just looked like it was from a time in the past.




Conor tried so many times to grab that ring... I don't think he ever got it. 







We had a great time.



Texas was where Conor discovered his love of horses and he took 2 years of riding lessons when we returned home. 















We were there to celebrate Hannah's birthday, too.  It was a fun evening. 




On our way home, we went through Oklahoma, Missouri (stayed overnight there), Illinois, Indiana, then home. 

Conor attempted to climb up the star above, but was unable to get very high. 




The hotel in Missouri:





We revisited a pizza place Conor liked when we went through the prior year.




Swimming, and more swimming - of course. 









Bye Missouri!  See ya next trip - the new preferred route over going through Arkansas.