Day 1 - Tucson to see the Willimanns. So blessed to have such great friends! We had some lunch with them,the kids got to swim awhile, then on to a Las Cruces where we spent a stormy evening in a hotel.
Day 2 - Drove to Balmorea State Beach in west Texas. Completely awesome experience of swimming in a natural spring. It looked more like a giant swimming pool with fish and algea and diving boards. I am on video jumping off a high dive...a dare I had to take! Very cold but refreshing after a hot humid day!
Stayed in Ft. Stockton at a really nice RV park in our apt. sized tent. The boys got it up in a matter of minutes while I made a hot dinner on the camp stove. Heard about 25 RV's through the night.....not ideal, but ear plugs and adrenal vitamins help.
Day 3 - late start off to San Antonio. Stopped by the Alamo and almost wilted in the heat. Rushed on to Houston for a really nice hotel stay and a cool shower.
Day 4 - Houston Space Center - Saw the training facility for astronaughts as well as the actual true to size space station where they practice various missions. Huge excibit of one of the shuttles.....don't ask me which one...."Challenger???" Elizabeth was desperate to see the long horn cows lying under the trees right next door. Left about 3:00 to go see family friends from my chilhood in Kingswood....the Landvoghts....more driving till we reached some city near Port Allen LA. Another hotel
Day 5 - Drove into Baton Rouge and toured their INCREDIBLE Capitol building full of stone, marble and bronze and saw a view of the Mississippii from the 27th floor......Charlie was busted for dropping a penny from it's heights which landed in front of a security guard....ooops. So for you physics majors....how hard could a penny hurt someone from those heights? Next city New Orleans! Charlie drove over the scarriest bridge in the US I believe....narrrow with a train going by....not quite as rattly as i remember it living there! Bob's apt from 1998 has a fence areound it and is either condemned or being redone. I could not find mine but saw many new things that were built after the last hurricane. Went by ferry to the French Quarter, walked and walked and walked....ooops....should have brought a stroller, then ate gumbo, jambalaya, red beans(Dominic ordered fried Aligator) and enjoyed some Jazz in Jakson square and a really COOL mime spray painted in gold, who pretended to be a robotic statue. Will try and post the video from Daniel's pod.
Drove to Tallahassee another hotel.
Day 6 - Up early and on to Manatee State Park.......AMAZING to us arid Arizonans! It was literally a jungle with a nearby swamp to swim in! Balmorea was nothing compared to this! Cool jump into a spring fed lagoon where they have a net up to help keep out the gators! We went to sleep in our tent fully sweaty being kept awake by large chirping insects! If I could have seen them i would have freaked. I expected flying monkeys to fly out of the trees! Did not get a banana spider in my hair, but Michael did leave with two ticks we named Edward and Alice. Their lives ended at the tip of 10 matches which we had to purchase at Walgreens for the occasion. Michael learned his lesson about walking through brush. Video clip on this to be installed later. We know that God in his SUPREME GOODNESS kept the misquitos away for a day since we were not attacked till Florida!
Day 7- Arrived in paradise on earth, know as Sanibel Island! White sandy beaches 20 feet away, the warm Gulf,millions of shells, beautiful condo and pool. Having a blast. put in your shell orders now.
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS
Traveling by car and camping is a great way of experiencing true inadaquacy and relying on God's grace and provision. Our car was a mess although i cleaned it all day. We lost shoes and had to buy sme at a Target.My kids are awesome! They revel at the sight of a bridge and truely appreciate every minute of travel!
I really like the outdoors in all of the camping nastiness even more than a hotel.
One must choose between touring and hotels and driving and camping!
My husband is a gem for staying behind to work to pay for this trip. Looking forward to Thurs. when he arrives!
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