Texas Road Trip

carhenge_nVacation starts tomorrow 🙂 Always a happy statement. This time I am especially excited because I am headed to Dallas to see my youngest, Ashley! I haven’t seen her since Christmas, a long time in the life of a mom. So anyway, I’m driving. Its about a 13-14 hour trip. When I share my plans everyone asks “Why?”  Not why on the visiting my daughter part, but why on the not flying in 2 hours part.

There are several reasons. First, it allows my dog and best friend, Laddie to come along for the ride. Second, I’m not a big fan of flying, not sure why, maybe it has something to do with the feeling of being out of control and for a control freak like me, that’s hard. But probably the best reason is I just like road trips! There is so much to see across our beautiful country, even in those “fly over states” as Jason Aldean so aptly described them. My favorite thing is to stop at every cheesy roadside attraction. The “World’s Largest” anything, always grabs my attention.  Every trip to California always involves a stop and photo op at the World’s largest thermometer. We’ve seen the world’s largest giraffe, a real six-legged cow, the world’s largest pop bottle (seriously if you are ever near Oklahoma City, you’ve got to see this-its one of my favorites). And if you are unfortunate enough to find yourself in northwestern Nebraska, you cant miss Carhenge. What could be better than an exact replica of Stonehenge, made out of old junk cars (see pic above) I’ve posed in front of giant cowboy boots, teepees and stuffed animals of numerous varieties.

So tomorrow begins another excellent adventure. I’m spending the night in Amarillo, Texas, where according to the internet, there is another fabulous site for me to visit. I’m not going to give it away right now, but come back tomorrow for pictures and the whole story. Do you like road trips? What are some memorable sights you’ve seen?

Graduation and moving thoughts

Look at this photo. That’s me on the right in the attractive cap and gown.  When I graduated from law school almost twenty years ago, I really thought it would be the very last time I ever donned one of those lovely gowns, but there I am again two weeks ago. Why? was I graduating, no, something even greater–my youngest was graduating from medical school (That’s her the attractive young one on the left!)  It’s still hard to believe that I can now call her doctor.  Seems like just yesterday when she was starting kindergarten and telling everyone how she was going to grow up to be a doctor and grow up she did!  Anyway, I was given the amazing honor of walking across the stage with her and hooding her.  Yes, for one day I had the title of “personal hooder”.  Something I had never heard of, but was honored to be. It was so fun to celebrate with her and close family members and send her off to her residency in Emergency Medicine. I cant tell you how proud I am of her. 

The next week, found us loading all of her stuff into and rental truck and heading to Dallas, Texas for the next chapter of her life.  It was exciting (I know its Texas, but despite that-Imagestill exciting!)  After closing on her first home, amid the heat and humidity, we settled her into a cute little house built in the 1950’s.  Lots of home improvement projects in store for her.  I will miss her while she’s there the next three years, but I wasn’t sad to get back home to the nice, dry Colorado air.  I hope she likes Texas, just not enough to want to stay permanently!