July Recap - Part 1 (Getting Down)

Getting There

July Recap (It's Coming!)

What. A. Month. I am still trying to remember it all and do it justice with my recaps.

We started off by driving down to Florida in our small commuter car. All 5 of us. Yep, we were as close as a family could be, even closer than when we drove down last summer because the kids are growing like weeds. We should probably have a t-shirt or something for the surviving that trip.



Speaking of t-shirts, I probably need one for making it to/through my 30. Year. Reunion! We ended the month with that.

More to follow soon...

Recharge & Go

After the long/late visit with family on Independence Day, it was really hard to get going the next morning as planned. I got up early to let the dog out, but then I got back into bed, and wanted to stay there all day. We had to shoehorn ourselves out of my mom's house and our stuff into our car (which was difficult as our stuff had expanded and we had the 3rd kid riding back with us) and get on the road already. Just a few hours late. But we had one more important stop to make before home.

We weathered another massive rainstorm on the way to see the Best Neighbors Ever! It was just like the deluge of rain we received when we neared my mom's place at the beginning of this trip. So things were a little damp when we got there and our friends were in the middle of a kitchen renovation, but it was great to be with them again.

Northbound - Bloodline Route

So the whole point of going to the Keys was to visit places we'd seen while indulging ourselves on Bloodline... We had researched it a bit - locations to see - and we ordered them by exit route for us. We didn't get to all of the places we listed (like Alabama Jacks's where Danny had the fish sandwich) because it was too far off of our route and we had lunch reservations at Marker 88 Restaurant.

Marker 88 was not on the original agenda, but when I was googling "mile marker 8" to see why that was significant to me and Scott on the way down to Florida, Marker 88 came up as a highly recommended restaurant, so we decided to check it out for lunch on the way back to Riverview.

“We’re not bad people, but we did a bad thing.”

During our two weeks in Florida, we finagled a couple of days to get away for a kid-free adventure. This past spring we got hooked on Bloodline so we researched some of the places that the Rayburns frequent.

We Made It

We were up at the butt crack of dawn trying to eat breakfast, walk the dog, repack our stuff and get on down the road. Let's just say that my little family of 5 is not as efficient as we could be. Luckily we didn't have anything pressing scheduled for Tuesday. We breezed from Louisiana through Alabama to Florida in no time at all.

Summer Road Trip - Day 1

We recently drove down to Florida for survived my niece's wedding, family reunions and fun side excursions down in the South. We decided to caravan down with my sister and her family early Monday morning after hosting Father's Day lunch at our place.

Look at all of those good looking dads!

Chi Town

Ten years ago when Emi was two, we road tripped to Chicago to visit my cousin and meet her new baby, Jovi and see my mom who was there visiting a friend. We drove straight through and even though we were tired when we got to our seedy hotel, we wasted no time in getting some deep dish pizza.

Deep Dish YUM!

Catching Up, Part 3

We used to get scones delivered to our door when our friends lived right next door, so when we arrived for our brief visit, they had freshly made scones for us. (And we had some freshly dug up Butterfly Ginger for them).

We sat out in the gazebo drinking some really good coffee and noshing on some really good scones (Thanks, Pete and Ruth!)

Little slice of Heaven

The cool tree with ferns and moss and the COOL swing

Aubri traded her brother for this tractor...

Gracie played with her new friend

And Emi played with an old friend (David's new friend)

We were almost persuaded to stay another night with our dear friends and would have loved more time with them but we needed to head back home. They loaded us down with a Hefty bag filled with Legos.

It was hard to say goodbye to our friends and I hope that we get to see them again, Sooner rather than later (Gator). ;.)

We drove for a few hours and then stopped to eat dinner at Po Folks somewhere in North Florida (we needed to eat some Black Eyed Peas for luck).

After that, it was serious business as Scott and I decided to drive through the night to get home. The kids slept and we took turns sleeping and driving (Scott drove most of the time).

We made it back around lunch time on the 2nd. Just in time to take the girls in to Urgent Care...

Catching Up, Part 2

On the way to Lola's house we stopped by the new Trader Joe's in Gainesville and stocked up on wine and chocolate and other goodies.

We had only been at Lola's for a few minutes before the kids started harvesting citrus from her trees.



It was balmy and warm and nice. Love South Florida this time of year!

Under the Massive Mistletoe

I actually miss the Spanish Moss

It is so beautiful and peaceful here at my mom's....

Kumquats - we brought back a ton of these!

Fishing off Lola's pier

Emi testing out her driving skills with Lola's golf cart (and I'm in a tank top in JANUARY!!!)

We didn't do much besides eat, sleep and be merry at my mom's place. We did get to IKEA to get some wire baskets for the Little Ones' closet (and lunch) but that was the only outing...

For New Year's we made (and ate) a lot of food and karaoked with a couple of my mom's friends. It was a very laid back way to ring in the new year. Poor Emi was coughing her head off and was miserable.

David took this picture...

Dancing with Lola

The next day we needed to head back home so we packed up Beulah and said good bye to Lola and headed down the road.

Stuffing his pockets with kalamansi

Loaded up with kalamansi

Me and My Mom

About 10 minutes after we left my mom's place, my mom called me and in a stage whisper asked "Hey Nolita, where's your dog?" Whoopsie!

So we turned around to retrieve our sweet little Gracie girl who had no idea that we had left her behind. She was sleeping in front of the refrigerator...

And then we were on on way again...

Catching Up, Part 1

I haven't had a real chance to update on what's been going on so I thought I should start with our road trip to Florida. (which seems like so long ago now!)

It was really wonderful to get away from the snow and sleet (14 degrees!) of Oklahoma to warmer temps and friends and family in Florida.

We loaded up the car and planned to head out Christmas night, but it was so blizzardy out that we decided to wait until the light of morning just to be on the safe side.

The first 3 hours on the road between Norman and the Dallas-metro area were treacherous to say the least. Snow and ice and deserted cars on the side of the highway. It was slower going as we drove into different counties and the highways were in differing states of slickness. Outside of Dallas it was smoother sailing for us. We took sweet little Gracie with us and she rotated between my lap, Scott's lap and Emi's pillow.

Where's Daddy?

We would drive for a few hours and then stop for bio breaks and meals. We really wanted to drive straight through to Gainesville, but Google had us take a "shortcut" in Mississippi that forced us to we call "Uncle" in Daphne, AL.

On the chilly morning of the 27th, we filled our bellies with hotel breakfast and headed South.  We arrived at our friends' home mid-afternoon and hung out with them just like we used to when we were neighbors. We were so heartbroken when they left 3 years ago so it was so good to spend time with them again. It was chilly (in Florida?!) so we had a fire going and we caught up on life.

That night after we went to bed it rained and stormed and it would have been really enjoyable but we had a crazy fur ball wigging out in our room. The next morning we ate porridge and sultana for breakfast and I had quite possibly the best cup of coffee I've ever had!

After a relaxing morning, Scott and I broke away (leaving the nippers with our friends) and checked out a local mall. I got a couple of pairs of skinny jeans (the hot pink ones took me back to 1985). Later we snacked and played games...

Hanging Out

...and talked about the possibility of us becoming neighbors again. If we moved in with my mom, we'd only be a hop and a skip away!

Aubri loving on Ruth

Scott loving on a cup of coffee...just LOOK at that beautiful mug!

The next morning after breakfast we went exploring the woods around the house. It took me back to when I was a child exploring the woods with my grandmother.





When we got back it was time to head further south to my mom's place. We knew we would see our friends again (on the way home) so it was only bye for now.

Us with the Best Neighbors Ever

(Continued in the next post or two).

Away

Home Again, Home Again

We slept in this morning. I wanted to savor the peacefulness of our room for a bit longer...



After we loaded up Beulah, we headed to The 40 and put some miles behind us before stopping for gas and breakfast at Sedilla. We ate our authentic breakfast burritos and quesadillas family-style outside the car in the nice NM breeze. Favorite road-side meal so far. Reminded me of our stop in LA eating shrimp boudin from a gas station.

Sweet nectar of the gods

We were in Santa Rosa by 11:30 and decided not to stop for lunch in favor of just getting home already. We opted to grab some quick snacks and only stop when someone absolutely couldn't hold it any longer (twice). We were greeted to a few short rain showers as we entered the panhandle of Oklahoma but nothing in our neighborhood.

After we lavished a good amount of affection on to the dog and unloaded the car, Emi and I got started on dinner (spinach quesadillas and chicken tacquitoes), I opened up my celebratory beer and we tested out the TJ's salsa.

Verdict=Yummy

It is soooooo goooood to be home!

Heading Back

We left Rancho Cucamonga at 5:15 PT and it was sprinkling. As we made our way to I-40 (referred to as "The 40" by Californians), we were treated to a nice soaking rain. The rain lasted until we hit Barstow an hour later. Barstow is the last bit of civilization for a while so we stopped for breakfast and gassed up at the same travel center we hit on the way to Rancho.

7:30AM Still raining in the desert and 68 degrees outside. So much better for traveling...40 degrees cooler!

8:00AM  No rain over but clouds still covering. 69 degrees and kids are still asleep. Score!

9:00AM bio break at Shell/DQ. Switch drivers.

We kept on trucking until we reached Flagstaff and then we drove around until something looked appealing for lunch...something that we don't have in Oklahoma. We ended up at CoCo's (my spicy shrimp salad was really good) and on the way out Emi mentioned her bag of Hi-Chews (something we were all introduced to at Costco) and we all started chanting 'Hi-chew! Hi-chew! Hi-chew!' until she gave us each one. Yes, it did seem a bit Griswoldy, but it wasn't the first time this trip.

3PM (4PM Okie time) twisted my ankle trying do the Eagles' 'Take it Easy' thing (see below). As we drove up to this corner, there was a man with his backpack adjusting his pack. I think he thought we were going to offer him a ride as we were exiting the car and he started walking off rather quickly. Wonder what he was up to...

Standing on a corner in Winslow, AZ *

**Thanks to my co-worker Carl for this suggestion**

We rolled in to Albuquerque in the early evening and decided to wander around downtown in search of some authentic New Mexican cooking (with lots of green chiles). It was a fail for sure. The first place we stopped at looked like a questionable place to stop (bars across the windows) and it only got worse from there.

While downtown seemed nice and hip while the sun was up, it transformed into something less desirable as the sun went down. We saw people hustling to their covered/locked parking garages looking over their shoulders and then we saw a couple of guys get arrested. There were cops everywhere and we did see what appeared to be real live hobos. They are not as cute as my hobos!

This bike stand spoke to me. It said 'Get on your bike again soon, woman!'

After wandering around and consulting a few applications that led us to closed restaurants, we decided we just needed sustenance and asked one of the nearby police officers for a recommendation. He pointed to Lindy's, a place that looked questionable earlier but that Emi was pushing for nonetheless, so we decided to just make do.

This place couldn't be too bad, right?

Wrong! It was a mistake and a half. The food was flavorless except for the very hot (not complaining about that heat) chiles. There was no authentic New Mexican fare being served after 8pm, so we got diner food. Oh well, at least we had a nice hotel room to settle into for the evening. 

It was too late to swim when we got back so we turned on Parking Wars and eventually got to sleep....

California Road Trip, Day 2

Woke up early in our seedy hotel, washed up and headed into downtown Flagstaff for some wicked coffee (Emi and I got coconut lattes - yum!) and an everything bagel with egg, ham and cheese (called The Weatherford) at a cute little place called Late for the Train.

Coconut Bliss

California Road Trip, Day 1

We wanted to leave at 4am but we didn't get to bed until really late and ended up leaving closer  to 5am. We expected that the kids would file into the car and go back to sleep at such an early hour so we could power through 4 hours to Amarillo where we'd make the first stop for breakfast. No such luck. We made it almost an hour to El Reno where we stopped at McD's to get breakfast. When the drive-thru worker let us know the McCafe machine was "broken" we high-tailed it to the next McD's and got our breakfast and McCafes for the road. We promptly ate this meal in the parking lot of the Burger King next door. [Side note: It appears that BK had a nice breakfast menu but they were not busy at all. Wonder if they might need some better marketing?]

Sunrise in Oklahoma (wind farms on I-40)

We stopped for lunch at a Dairy Queen in New Mexico where we kept marveling at the clouds. Actually we marveled at the clouds the entire way. There was not much to see on the ground so the eye was drawn upward where there was much more interest.


The kids were good some of the time and fighting a good chunk of the time. It's amazing how quickly they go from best friends to throwing each other under the bus. Mostly they were happy...

Happy Camper

After lunch at DQ, the next interesting place we stopped was at the Continental Divide.





We decided to punt trying to see the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest in favor of getting to Flagstaff for the night, but we did wander off the I-40 trail just a bit to try to see some meteor crater. We thought we could just drive by but apparently you had to pay to go into the visitor center for an hour before the tour so we punted that and made tracks to Flagstaff.

We got to Flagstaff before nightfall and arrived to our skeevy hotel in time to order some awesome pizza and Caesar salad from Scott's Chicago Pizza.  It was at this point that I realized that I was missing my debit card and thought I must have left it at Natural Grocers but then I recalled booking the hotel after the NG trip, so I must have had it at home. I texted my nephew who texted me back a photo of my laptop with my debit card. Good kid!

Side note: Do not book your hotel at the last minute like I did. We did the same thing back in 2004 when Scott, Emi and I road-tripped to Chicago. At least we ended up with some really great Chicago deep dish pizza both times.