Spring Break 2012

This spring break found our family off on an adventure.  We decided to DRIVE to Texas!  We loved it...now with that being said, we would do it again in a heart beat, but we would FLY!  We knew that we would be spending 4 days driving there and back and we wanted to have enough time to fit everything in.  We left Kemmerer on Friday March 30th at about 4 pm.  We drove to Denver and called it a night.  The next day we knew would be about an 18 hour day.  It should take us 16 hours, but we counted stops and thought we would give ourselves about 2 extra hours onto our travel time.  Well, I thought that the GPS and I were on the same page, I looked at a route online and thought it looked like a good way to go.  We would go from Denver to Colorado Springs, down into Oklahoma and then straight down to San Antonio.   tom tom had a different route planned.  I was driving along thinking any minute now, tom tom will tell me to turn south...NOPE.  Into Kansas we went.  I didn't want to turn back and lose time so Ted and I decided to keep going.  We had planned to come home this way just to see more of the country, but I hadn't planned on going there this way.  It didn't look faster on the map!  So we went halfway across Kansas, turned south and went on through Oklahoma.  When we got to Oklahoma City, I thought of my brother Bryan.  I tried to picture a skinny missionary walking those streets.  It made me smile.  We drove on into Texas, hit Fort Worth, Waco, Austin and finally at the wee hours of the morning we hit San Antonio.  I had called our hotel and let them know we wouldn't be there until 2 or 3 in the morning.  (GPS', way made it a 20 hour trip from Denver to San Antonio!)  I got out and went to the hotel to check us in and the desk clerk unlocked the door and got us checked in.  He also got me scared to death.  He told me to unload everything and leave nothing of value in the car.  He looked around, said "San Antonio is 'busy', unload and I will lock the door behind you"  ummm....not the warmest welcome!!  Ted and the kids got everything in the hotel, I went and parked the car and then RAN as fast as I could back to the hotel.  (Chicken, yes I know).  After 4 hours of sleep, my eyes popped open!  I couldn't go back to sleep so I got everyone else up and we started our day at the Zoo.  It turned out to be a bust, none of the animals were really in their exhibits...except the fish.  So we saw lots of fish.  And the cutest little baby turtle!  I would show you pictures, but for reasons unknown, my memory card won't let me upload the pictures I took....BUMMER.  After the zoo we headed to the Alamo.  IT WAS AWESOME!  I didn't think I would really like it, I was going mostly for Ted.  But it was so cool!  The only thing I didn't like, was how loud the Alamo is inside.  I was expecting more reverence, I guess.  But I highly recommend going to see the Alamo.  It was worth the drive.  We then went across the street and took in the River Walk.  GORGEOUS!  It was so fun, we went on the river walk cruise, walked the streets and took in some food.  We went back to the hotel, exhausted.  Well, Ted and I did...the kids wanted to go swimming.  I took the older kids and left Ted with Chrislyn :)  Monday morning we decided this would be the day we went to Sea World.  We wanted to miss the weekend crowds.  We drove to Sea World and the GATES WERE CLOSED!  I started to cry, I was so upset.  They were open on Sunday, but were closed on Monday and wouldn't open again until Thursday.  (I didn't see this on their website, by the way!)  So we decided to go back to the River Walk and Alamo and just see what else we could do there.  We filled the whole day, lots of stuff to do!  Tuesday we headed for Bonham Texas, it is about 6 hours north of San Antonio.  We started out and thought we should be there by 2...NOPE.  Mother Nature had other ideas!  We didn't know it, but we were driving into some storms.  I was about 45 minutes outside Dallas, when the radio was interrupted with a Weather Advisory.  It started listing counties, I didn't know what county I was in so we just kept going.  I did think, well, if we are hearing this, we must be near those counties.  I saw several people pulled over at the Safety Rest Area (they have tornado shelters).  After I passed that, I thought, well maybe I should take a hint.  I had talked to my friend and she said I should worry when they put out a warning, but not necessarily an advisory. So I wasn't too worried, then she called me back.  She asked where I was and then told me I need to pull over and find shelter.  It was about noon and we would be to here house by 2 if we kept driving.  We got to a town called Waxahachie and pulled into a parking lot.  The RAIN came from no where!  It had a river running down the street in a matter of minutes.  We couldn't see anything and I was getting nervous.  We said a prayer for guidance and safety and decided that when the rain let up we would continue on our path.  I while later, the rain lessened and we started to drive.  As soon as I hit the free way, it was again pouring so hard, I couldn't see.  So, we pulled into the next exit.  We sat there for quite a while.  Ted had fallen asleep so I said another prayer asking what I should do.  We were near a hotel and I thought about going in and staying there, but got the feeling once again, that we need to move.  So when the rain had let up a bit and I could see, I started driving again.  I had studied a map while we were pulled over and I was listening to all the radio alerts.  I now knew where I was and what counties I would be driving through.  Once we left Waxahachie, in ELLIS county (see how much I learned) I heard on the radio that a tornado had touched down in Waxahachie.  The rain was pouring, but I could still see to drive. The Hail started soon after.  I was worried about the golf ball sized hail I was hearing about on the radio, I didn't see any of that, thank heaven.  They were also talking about a black wall of clouds.  I didn't see that either.  BUT I saw a VERY GREEN sky...weird right!?  We kept going and made it into downtown Dallas.  It was slow with all the traffic stopped on the roads, the wind, the rain and the hail.  Very slowly we made it out of Dallas and headed north to Bonham. I was very nervous at this point, but very grateful that we had been safe.  Listening to the Radio, it seems the storm and I both had the same travel plans!  At about 6 pm, we made it to Beth and Jason's house, without incident!!    I was so good to see Beth and her kids, and meet her husband.  I had missed them. We were able to spend the rest of the week with them.  We went to Chuck E Cheese, swam in their pool, went to the movies and out to eat and just had a fun time visiting with them.  Friday came and it was time to get back on the road.  We headed west, across the top of Texas.  We stopped in Amarillo (I had George Strait's song Amarillo By Morning in my head ALL day!)  for something to eat.  Ted wanted to go the the Big Texan and check out their 72 ounce streak...but he was out voted.  So we didn't get to watch that rodeo :)  We kept on heading west to New Mexico and then north to Colorado.  We stopped in Pueblo for the night.  It was so nice to get some rest!  Saturday morning we continued on and got home early in the afternoon.  It was a lot of driving, it was a lot of heat and humidity, and it was a lot of fun!  We are defiantly going back!  ~if I can figure out what is going on with my memory card, I will post pictures.