We're back in Oklahoma for a day. Spent the day doing laundry and re-supplying (and also visited the boys' favorite rock climbing wall at a local park). We had to make our second stop of the trip at Academy, a sporting goods store here, for more sneakers for the boys. Craig's feet have grown a size since we left home! They love Academy, and the prices are good, so we always resupply them with sneakers and cleats when we're here.
We had a nice dinner, with plenty of left-overs for Ken's dad tomorrow. We just watched Ice Age and had brownies for dessert.
Tomorrow, back on the road. We have one more night in our camper, then we hit the 4th of July weekend and will need to stay in a hotel our last night. Tomorrow's just a 6-hour drive to our campground, with a lunch stop to meet one of my online friends, Dominique, in Tulsa. The last two days will be long ones, but then we'll be home again. Our house was re-sided while we were gone. A friend sent us photos - we hardly recognize it!
We'll be home in time for the Hockessin 4th of July fireworks. It's been a great trip!!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Cadillac Ranch
Heading back east
Monday, June 28, 2010
Santa Fe
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Harry's Roadhouse
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Eating on the Road
If you've been following our trip blog, you may have noticed frequent mentions of good food! For us, finding really good food is part of the fun of traveling and enjoying the local culture. We have two favorite sources for recommendations while on the road:
One of our favorite TV shows is Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network. The show's host, Guy Fieri, travels across the country looking for good food, often in unexpected places. If you like to travel - or just to dream about traveling - it's a fun show to watch (just don't watch late at night - it makes you very hungry!) Their definitions of diners and of dives are very broad, but one thing is always true - the food is all homemade and all delicious! Here's a list of all the places featured on the show - take a look and see if there's one in your hometown.
We arrived in Santa Fe tonight and sought out one of Guy's recommendations here - Zia Diner (see the following photo post). Wow, the food was amazing! They had a combination of traditional dishes (meatloaf, shepherd's pie, fish & chips) done with a special flair (the meatloaf had green chiles and pinon nuts in it), plus some New Mexican specialties. Throughout the trip, Jamie has been telling me over and over that the food is good but not as good as what I cook at home - enchiladas, quesadillas, pancakes, and more - he's enjoyed it all but always says mine is better. Tonight, he took one bite of his shepherd's pie and said, "OK, Mom, this is finally some place that beat you! Your shepherd's pie is good, but this is amazing!" And he and Craig agreed the banana cream pie was the best they'd ever had.
Our other resource for good food on the road is Roadfood - they have lots of books and also a website. We carry one of their fat guidebooks in the car with us. You can also look up places by location on the website. Roadfood is, as they explain, "great regional meals along highways, in small towns, and in city neighborhoods." It's a tasty alternate to the typical generic fast food that you most often see along the road - sometimes you have to hunt a bit for these local places, but it's always worth the trip! Dude's Drive-In in Christianburg, VA (a real, old-fashioned drive-in) and Fork in the Alley in Roanoke, VA (mentioned earlier in this blog) are two good (but very different) examples.
So, here we are in Santa Fe, camping just outside the city, in the foothills of the Santo de los Cristo Mountains. It's a big change for us - a huge RV campground with lots of services. For the past 3 days we've been camping in the Santa Fe National Forest - no services at all but one of the most beautiful places we've ever camped. So, we're missing the natural beauty a bit but were very glad to get showers this afternoon! The WiFi is a nice treat, too.
Tomorrow we plan to see Santa Fe - mostly the Old Town area. We can tell just from driving around tonight that it's a very cool place.
One of our favorite TV shows is Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network. The show's host, Guy Fieri, travels across the country looking for good food, often in unexpected places. If you like to travel - or just to dream about traveling - it's a fun show to watch (just don't watch late at night - it makes you very hungry!) Their definitions of diners and of dives are very broad, but one thing is always true - the food is all homemade and all delicious! Here's a list of all the places featured on the show - take a look and see if there's one in your hometown.
We arrived in Santa Fe tonight and sought out one of Guy's recommendations here - Zia Diner (see the following photo post). Wow, the food was amazing! They had a combination of traditional dishes (meatloaf, shepherd's pie, fish & chips) done with a special flair (the meatloaf had green chiles and pinon nuts in it), plus some New Mexican specialties. Throughout the trip, Jamie has been telling me over and over that the food is good but not as good as what I cook at home - enchiladas, quesadillas, pancakes, and more - he's enjoyed it all but always says mine is better. Tonight, he took one bite of his shepherd's pie and said, "OK, Mom, this is finally some place that beat you! Your shepherd's pie is good, but this is amazing!" And he and Craig agreed the banana cream pie was the best they'd ever had.
Our other resource for good food on the road is Roadfood - they have lots of books and also a website. We carry one of their fat guidebooks in the car with us. You can also look up places by location on the website. Roadfood is, as they explain, "great regional meals along highways, in small towns, and in city neighborhoods." It's a tasty alternate to the typical generic fast food that you most often see along the road - sometimes you have to hunt a bit for these local places, but it's always worth the trip! Dude's Drive-In in Christianburg, VA (a real, old-fashioned drive-in) and Fork in the Alley in Roanoke, VA (mentioned earlier in this blog) are two good (but very different) examples.
So, here we are in Santa Fe, camping just outside the city, in the foothills of the Santo de los Cristo Mountains. It's a big change for us - a huge RV campground with lots of services. For the past 3 days we've been camping in the Santa Fe National Forest - no services at all but one of the most beautiful places we've ever camped. So, we're missing the natural beauty a bit but were very glad to get showers this afternoon! The WiFi is a nice treat, too.
Tomorrow we plan to see Santa Fe - mostly the Old Town area. We can tell just from driving around tonight that it's a very cool place.
Santa Fe
McCauley Warm Springs
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Saturday, June 26, 2010
Jemez State Monument
La Cueva, New Mexico
We're having lunch at the Ridgeback Cafe in La Cueva, NM (thanks once again to our friends, the Whites for their excellent recommendations!). This area is gorgeous - towering cliffs, thick forests, mountains - absolutely beautiful. Yesterday's outing to Bandelier National Monument wore me out (Sue) quite a bit, so we're taking it easier today, with short visits to some interesting places along the road here (I'll send a picture as soon as we have cell coverage again!).
Ken and the boys plan to hike to a warm springs today, and maybe we'll take another dip at the foot of Jemez Falls if it gets too hot this afternoon.
Tomorrow we head to Santa Fe. New Mexico is amazing - we're really enjoying it.
Ken and the boys plan to hike to a warm springs today, and maybe we'll take another dip at the foot of Jemez Falls if it gets too hot this afternoon.
Tomorrow we head to Santa Fe. New Mexico is amazing - we're really enjoying it.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Bandolier National Monument NM
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Bandolier National Monument
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Thursday, June 24, 2010
Jemez Falls
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Sophia's Place
Boca Negra Canyon New Mexico
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Boca Negra canyon New Mexico
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Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Historic Route 66
Texas countryside
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Westward ho!
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Oklahoma City
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Oklahoma!
We're at Ken's Dad's house in Oklahoma this week, helping him out with some stuff around the house and enjoying some time together. His next-door neighbors gave us the password to their wireless internet, so we're connected for a few days - hurray!
It's been 100 degrees every day here, so we're not spending much time outside. We've been riding in his new car - a very sporty (very purple) Dodge Challenger - cool car (check out the photo below)! Ken and his Dad are making homemade ice cream today, and tomorrow we're meeting some friends at a restaurant to celebrate Father's Day.
I had a wonderful time last evening with my old high-school friend, Rita. Believe it or not, she and I (both from western NY) both married guys from Oklahoma, so she and her family live nearby in Oklahoma City, and we try to get together whenever I'm out here. We had a great dinner at a new restaurant and talked and laughed for hours. I amazed her with the quantity of useless facts I remember from high school - just don't ask me the name of the last movie I saw!
You may have noticed - from the amusing captions - that Jamie has been posting most of the photos since we straightened out our technical problems in TN. I see here that all of the posts automatically say "posted by Sue Jackson", but you can usually tell which ones Jamie posts by the captions or by who's in them (yes, for the first time ever, I appear in our vacation blog!).
So, we're having a nice time and trying to stay cool.
It's been 100 degrees every day here, so we're not spending much time outside. We've been riding in his new car - a very sporty (very purple) Dodge Challenger - cool car (check out the photo below)! Ken and his Dad are making homemade ice cream today, and tomorrow we're meeting some friends at a restaurant to celebrate Father's Day.
I had a wonderful time last evening with my old high-school friend, Rita. Believe it or not, she and I (both from western NY) both married guys from Oklahoma, so she and her family live nearby in Oklahoma City, and we try to get together whenever I'm out here. We had a great dinner at a new restaurant and talked and laughed for hours. I amazed her with the quantity of useless facts I remember from high school - just don't ask me the name of the last movie I saw!
You may have noticed - from the amusing captions - that Jamie has been posting most of the photos since we straightened out our technical problems in TN. I see here that all of the posts automatically say "posted by Sue Jackson", but you can usually tell which ones Jamie posts by the captions or by who's in them (yes, for the first time ever, I appear in our vacation blog!).
So, we're having a nice time and trying to stay cool.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Mt. Magazine state park highest point in Arkansas
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Bear Cave trail Petite jean state park Arkansas
Bear Cave trail Petite Jean state park Arkansas
BBQ in Arkansas
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Tuesday, June 15, 2010
A Rough Day in Tennessee
We have a bunch of CDs I made years ago that we listen to on our road trips - Road Trip Songs, Summer Songs, etc. I even made a whole CD of Tennessee songs (there are lots about Nashville and Memphis), and one of our favorites is "Tennessee Sucks in the Summer" by Ryan Adams. It's funny because it's often true! Last year, we tried camping in western TN (the lowlands) and sweated all night. This year, poor Jamie woke up in the middle of the night at Panther Creek State Park (east of Knoxville) with a stomach virus. Ever spent the day in a car with a stomach virus? Not fun.
We tried to hang out at the campground for as long as we could today so that Jamie could rest, but the thunder started booming again around 11 am (big storms when we arrived last night). So, Craig, Ken, and I rushed to get the camper packed up before we got drenched again.
We set Jamie up lying down across the back seat...and poor Craig was squished into a tiny spot in the third-row seat among all our luggage!
We had planned to drive to Memphis today, but we got as far as Jackson, TN, and decided to stop for the night. After last summer's very hot and uncomfortable night camping in TN, we had planned on getting a hotel room anyway. Thanks to the hotel's WiFi, we finally got Blogger set up to receive photos from Ken's and Jamie's phones (see the last two posts), so they should be able to post here now, too.
Jamie's doing better now- even ate a piece of toast tonight. Let's hope the rest of us escape this one, and we can resume our vacation tomorrow.
P.S. We've actually had lots of good times in TN in the summer, too, but that song is just so much fun!
We tried to hang out at the campground for as long as we could today so that Jamie could rest, but the thunder started booming again around 11 am (big storms when we arrived last night). So, Craig, Ken, and I rushed to get the camper packed up before we got drenched again.
We set Jamie up lying down across the back seat...and poor Craig was squished into a tiny spot in the third-row seat among all our luggage!
We had planned to drive to Memphis today, but we got as far as Jackson, TN, and decided to stop for the night. After last summer's very hot and uncomfortable night camping in TN, we had planned on getting a hotel room anyway. Thanks to the hotel's WiFi, we finally got Blogger set up to receive photos from Ken's and Jamie's phones (see the last two posts), so they should be able to post here now, too.
Jamie's doing better now- even ate a piece of toast tonight. Let's hope the rest of us escape this one, and we can resume our vacation tomorrow.
P.S. We've actually had lots of good times in TN in the summer, too, but that song is just so much fun!
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Panther Creek State Park Tn
Monday, June 14, 2010
Lunch in Roanoke VA
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