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Southwest

June - July 2015
A 17-day adventure by Mommy Traveling Pants Read more
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  • TravelerSouthwest
    Day 1

    Troy, MI

    June 25, 2015 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 17 °C

    We are going on our third leg of our 50 States Before They Graduate adventure. We have been to 23 states so far. This year we will add 9 more in 16 days. We will be traveling to Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oaklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky. I have been planning for 6 months to a year booking hotels, the house in Taos, activities and mapping our routes. I, also put a word out for suggestions of things to do on our route to friends, family and strangers. We have gotten a lot of great ideas that way. It has gotten easier to pack because we have been on a couple of trips already. I have our drawers packed in the back, backpacks with underwear, socks, pjs and bathing suits and the bathroom dufflebag is packed with everyone’s bathroom supplies. The bathroom bag is handy to keep all bathroom stuff together. I am excited to get on the road.Read more

  • TravelerSouthwest
    Day 2

    St louis, Missouri

    June 26, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    550 miles
    9 hours and 50 minutes
    2 movies
    1 Missouri 50 states movie (15 minutes-we wouldn't torture our kids...maybe a little. We made
    them write a report about it. KIDDING!)
    4 states including Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri
    0 swear words
    I Bob Evans Bloomington
    1 Residence Inn Downtown City view

    Open road ahead. Pavement leading us to the unknown ahead of us. Joyful singing and laughter.... Really? It's not a Disney movie people.

    Let me start over. Road filled with cars. Semis pressing us against the highway divider. Headphones and a movie passing the time so we could listen to our music and chat.
    Traffic jam. It doesn't matter. We have nowhere to be, only places go.
    Oh, the places we'll go.

    Our departure was very smooth. I think we've packed everything but the kitchen sink. We are lovin’ this van (Explorer conversion van) for it's creature comforts, roominess and it's coolness factor...ok cool for the 12 and under crowd. I still think my "Van Gogh" license plate is clever and chuckle worthy.

    We arrived in St. Louis, Missouri or Missoura (Pronounced both ways depending on where you are from.) We got a great night view of the Arch and Busch Stadium with a summer night ballgame going on as we drove into town. We spent most of drive in the rain, in major traffic that set us back an hour. Thoug, the drive felt faster than I thought it would. We left the rain and ended the day with a lovely sunset over the fields of whatever grows in these parts.

    We will be staying in the Lou for two nights. We will be exploring tomorrow starting with a ride up the Arch. I am a little claustrophobic and a little nervous...breathe... It should be interesting to say the least. I think Grants Farm and the City Museum are on the docket, as well.

    It's so weird laying here in bed, kids falling asleep, Paul checking emails and me writing as if we have never stopped traveling on the past trips. Very Deja Vu. I love it.

    We will check in tomorrow night to share our adventures.    Read more

  • TravelerSouthwest
    Day 3

    Oompa Loompas Live Here

    June 27, 2015 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    80 degrees and Sunny (only nice day they've had in weeks)
    3 miles (of driving)
    3 attractions
    I pool
    1 outburst
    1 clogged toilet (and it wasn't me)
    10 floors
    3000 Calories
    1 free hug

    I...AM...SO...TIRRRED. What a great day. St. Louis is a nice city. I didn't know much about it. We saw as much as we could in one day. Whew.

    We are staying at the Residence Inn Downtown. It's a little better than average Marriott with two rooms and sleeps 6 with a kitchen. We didn't need the kitchen but we needed the sleeping space. Free buffet breakfast and best of all a shuttle to anywhere in the city. How bout' that? The location of the hotel is good anyway but to not have to find parking is awesome. So..

    Our day started at the Gateway Arch. I bought tickets ahead of time online and took tripadvisor advice to go before 10. Great idea. As we were leaving, the lines were looong. The Arch is beautiful. We took the ride to the top which was a harrowing experience in my mind. Literally, you climb through a door the size of an Ooompa Looompa into a glowing pod. Didn't you always wonder where the Oooompa went? In these pods that just fit 5 people (lap children if you dare) with headroom for an Ooompa Looompa. It is so bizarre. You take a (nerve wracking- for me) ride to the top. I was uncomfortable. You can walk around the top and look out windows...let me restate that...they were long retangular portholes to sure death. It was cool to see the city from up there but not a place you linger. You can feel movement and it's very warm. Then you travel back down at a bit higher speed which made the ride a little smoother and over much faster. Worth doing.

    We attempted to go to Grants Farm ignoring the tripadvisor warning to go early. You would not believe how many cars were in line to go there at noon. It was rediculous. It is a free farm owned by Busch and a neat looking place but we are not feeling adventurous enough to fight a crowd like that. So we headed to the park at the Botanical Gardens to have a picnic lunch. We stopped at a little grocery store and got sandwiches. After lunch, we went to the Botanical Gardens which is really pretty. A couple people in the family were not fans. I know this because, one unnamed, person related his experience by saying, "Now I know how you feel at a baseball game." Which is unfair because I like going to baseball games. I don't like watching them on tv every night of the summer or watching kid pitch baseball games which drag on for hours. It was nice to be outside. Everyone agreed.

    After a brief rest at the hotel, we called for the shuttle again to take us to The City Museum on recommendation by a few people. We had NO IDEA what we were walking into. It is indescribable. It is an art museum playground. If you've been to Honey I Shrunk the Kids at MGM, it is that on steroids. It's where the Ooompa Looompas live!! I would NOT recommend it with kids under 8 and even at that, I'd want them to be with older siblings. They will get lost. In order to stay with your kids, you will have to go through mazes and tunnels and tubes that you may or not fit into. There are 10 floors of mazes and tunnels. It is so cool and artistic. You won't believe it. We spent about 3 hours there and burned about 3000 calories (some replaced by a couple of cocktails made available on every floor to keep the parents entertained). A must see in St. Louis.

    What a great day. I am ready for bed. To Kansas City tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerSouthwest
    Day 4

    University of Kansas

    June 28, 2015 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    85 degrees and sunny (all day)\
    514 miles
    7 hours 18 minutes
    1000 smashed bugs on the windshield
    1 mass
    150 fruit flies that found, grew or emerged from the fruit we left in the van overnight
    1 University
    1 Capital
    3 amazingly well behaved kids who actually enjoy road tripping (who wouldn't want to Van-Go)

    Today, before we left the Lou, (and after we found a car full of fruit flies) we went to mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. It is an enormously beautiful cathedral. It may have been the longest mass we've ever been to. Paul looked at Elizabeth and said, " We may have to skip Denver because this mass is so long." It was nice though. I like taking them to different churches so they are comfortable going wherever they are if they decide they want to go to church.

    We hit the road again for a long haul today. We wanted to knock out a bunch of hours off from St. Louis to Denver via Kansas City. We passed through Kansas City and headed for the University of Kansas on recommendation from our friends. A good one, too. What a beautiful campus and area. They told us to start at the Oread Hotel. We stuck around there for a late linner (lunch/dinner). We ate at the Bird Dog in the hotel. We ventured up to the rooftop as recommended by the hotel staff. Pretty awesome view of everything including the campus. We like to see campuses if we can, not so the kids can get a feel for different ones around the country.

    As we drove into a beautiful sunset that painted the Kansas sky pink with temperatures in the 80s, I get a text from my sister-in-law saying, "Seriously, you are leaving a disaster in your wake." with a radar pic from the national weather service that says, "Missouri: tornado warning just northwest of St. Louis!!! Please take cover now if inside red line." What?! We saw nothing. Not a drop of rain. Not an ominous cloud. I am not sure how it missed us since we should have been driving into it. Very strange but we are happy we missed it.

    We arrived in Hays around 10 pm. We are staying at a Fairfield Inn. It is a nice Marriott for a lower end variety. Though, we needed a rollaway bed for one of the kids and it was more like a rollaway box spring. My kids aren't picky but Matthew couldn't sleep on it. Paul couldn't even kneel on it for that matter. He said it is worse than crawling through the tubes at the City Museum. He'd be better off on the floor. Ewww . No, we didn't do that. All three kids slept sideways on the one bed. We'll see how they do considering Ben and Elizabeth shared last night and Ben, in a dream, nearly pushed her off.

    We will get up early to drive to Denver tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Can't wait. Though we are only there for one night and one night in Colorado Springs. I'll take it.

    See you tomorrow. Good night.    Read more

  • TravelerSouthwest
    Day 5

    Denver, CO

    June 29, 2015 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

    85 degrees and sunny
    339 miles
    4 hours and 44 minutes
    1 movie about Colorado
    1 hour to wait for a burger and fries
    2 stowaway flies
    1 hotel upgrade

    Today we headed for Denver. There is a lot of fields and rolling hills in Kansas. Once again we missed some weather that was heading southeast out of Colorado. We had nothing but sun and we are ok with that. I drove the majority of the way to Denver so Paul could do a little work. I listened to my playlist for a couple hundred miles and marveled at my ability to sing songs from every genre (from rap to folk, from my youth to current day) and remember all the words. Think how many words are in a song and how many songs you know. Now go back to your academic school days....I remember nothing. They should be teaching with songs. Crazy thought. One of my favorite groups to drive to is Steve Taylor Three. It got me across the plains of Kansas. Paul didn't care much for The Peter Piper (RunDMC). Hey, I was born in Detroit and lived off 8 mile down the street from the Booby Trap.

    We stopped for lunch at this cool looking diner called I-70 Diner. We almost had to skip Denver because our food took so long. We could have gone to mass in St. Louis and then received our lunch. The food was ok but Matthew's pancakes were so good. Everyone agreed. They were different. On to Denver.

    We are now in Denver at a really nice Residence Inn Denver City Center. Great location. We got a room upgrade. Large room and nice view. We were a little taken aback by all the homeless people around. There is a nice street with stores and restaurants and homeless people. Elizabeth was uncomfortable. We didn't feel unsafe. I suppose you could say we are homeless for the time being. We are hotel hobos. "A hobo: unlike a bum or a tramp, is more than willing to work, but mostly for a short duration, as their main impetus is travel, the love of the journey above the actual destination."

    We ran around town exploring. We found the Money Museum which is free and pretty cool. The kids seemed to like it and we got a free bag of shredded money as a souvineer. We also wandered around Union Station which is a functioning train station. It is really cool inside. They have kept the old train station feel but modernized. A little Harry Potter feel. Lots of places to eat and drink. There was a big fountain for the kids to play in. They loved that.

    Tomorrow we head to Colorado Springs. We are trying to decide if we want to go the long way through the mountains or the short way. It's a big difference in driving of about 3 hours. You'll find out tomorrow    Read more

  • TravelerSouthwest
    Day 1,010

    Charleston

    March 30, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    This evening, we are going to mosey on into Charleston to have a treat and hit the bookstore. We stopped at Barnes and Noble for Matthew to get some more books (that he could read while we were in the store.) We drove into Charleston around 8 PM. The streets were so dark. We couldn’ figure out what was going on and where the people were. There were people just walking to nothing it seemed. They say the city is haunted. Maybe they are people at all come to think of it. We drove around a bit until we found an area very similar to Birmingham. We parked our car. Everything was closed. Stores. Restaurants. We kept walking until the stream of people got thicker and thicker and thought they must be going somewhere. They were. The City Market was open an open air market with vendors and artists. The fresh produce area was not open though. We were looking for a snack. We walked through the market and we found a sweet lady who made plant based vegan cookies. She tempted me with a chocolate espresso. It was glutin free and dairy free. Let me tell you, delicious. The kids even thought so but....they’re MINE! I’m kidding (sort of). I can’t eat half the things they can so when I find something good, I hoard it like the squirrel in Over the Hedge. “I like the cookie.” They got a fresh squeeze Arnold Palmer and I got a fresh Indian coffee with notes of peanut butter. We ended at Bubba Gumps so the kids could get a snack (not our first choice but not terrible). It was a nice night. Sunday, we will be back in Charleston for Easter Mass and brunch.

    Though it was a rainy lazy day, it was kind of nice to veg out. Lay like broccoli. Nobody complained. Makes you feel like you are here a lot longer. It is supposed to be gorgeous the rest of the weekend.    Read more

  • TravelerSouthwest
    Day 1,010

    Charleston

    March 30, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    This evening, we are going to mosey on into Charleston to have a treat and hit the bookstore. We stopped at Barnes and Noble for Matthew to get some more books (that he could read while we were in the store.) We drove into Charleston around 8 PM. The streets were so dark. We couldn’ figure out what was going on and where the people were. There were people just walking to nothing it seemed. They say the city is haunted. Maybe they aren’t people at all come to think of it. We drove around a bit until we found an area very similar to Birmingham. We parked our car. Everything was closed. Stores. Restaurants. We kept walking until the stream of people got thicker and thicker and thought they must be going somewhere. They were. The City Market was open. It is an open air market with vendors and artists. We were looking for a snack. We walked through the market and we found a sweet lady who made plant based vegan cookies. She tempted me with a chocolate espresso. It was glutin free and dairy free. Let me tell you, delicious. The kids even thought so but....they’re MINE! I’m kidding (sort of). I can’t eat half the things they can so when I find something good, I hoard it like the squirrel in Over the Hedge. “I like the cookie.” They got a fresh squeeze Arnold Palmer and I got a fresh Indian coffee with notes of peanut butter. We ended at Bubba Gumps so the kids could get a snack (not our first choice but not terrible). It was a nice night. Sunday, we will be back in Charleston for Easter Mass and brunch.

    Though it was a rainy lazy day, it was kind of nice to veg out. Lay like broccoli. Nobody complained. Makes you feel like you are here a lot longer. It is supposed to be gorgeous the rest of the weekend.    Read more

  • TravelerSouthwest
    Day 1,011

    Folly beach

    March 31, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    March 31, 2018

    Weather: 60s and sunny and breezy

    States: South Carolina

    City: Folly Beach

    Miles: 46 miles to Charleston and back

    Hours Driving: 1

    Hotel: Last Stop Morocco

    Restaurants: Snapper Jacks (snack)

    Sites: Beach Combing and Tide Pool searching, Charleston City Market and Battery and Waterfront Park

    Books: Folly Beach (Paul-award winning series author who grew up around here and mentions our house in her book (Last Stop Morocco)

    Another beachy day. Prettier day though not as warm as we’d like. 60s with strong breezes. The kids are now afraid of the water because we keep finding all kinds of jellyfish on the beach. Lots of pretty shells on the beach too. We vegged around for a while today. I made blueberry muffins for breakfast with eggs and sausage. We also ate lunch in. Later, we headed into Charleston to site see a bit. We walked Battery Park all the way to waterfront park. We walked through City Market again. Though there were more vendors today, the crowds were also bigger. Annoying really. We walked back through the old streets of Charleston. The streets are lined with homes from the 1670s. The 1670s. Hard to believe we are walking down streets by houses that have been there that long. Very charming but very congested with homes. A little claustrophobic. I like Savannah better.

    On the way back, we stopped in Folly for a snack at Snapper Jacks. Very beachy town dotted with drunk vacationers. Entertaining. Now Paul is napping, the kids are hanging upstairs and I am starting to pack up. We had dinner at taco boy last night as recommended by John our tour guide in Savannah. It was really good. Pork tacos, shrimp tacos, tuna tacos, and my golden margarita. We had a nice evening. Sunday we will go to church for Easter and somewhere to eat for breakfast.

    Then, off to Raleigh.    Read more

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