Remember the Alamo!

Big Trip 2... Day 5... July 3, 2007… Tuesday

0715 Wake up.

0755 A hummingbird flew into the window. Doesn’t look like he’s going to wake up.

0825 Ryan is working on his farm workbook. When we were talking about coming back to the ranch he was excited because he would be able to finish the farm activity book he started last year.

0905 Breakfast then out to feed the animals. We found some “goat hair” stuck in the fence but it definitely didn’t get the interest that last year’s leg did. I told them I was walking in my sleep last night, wandering through the yard and I got my hair stuck in the fence but they don’t believe me for some reason. They think it probably just belongs to a goat. Bella tried it on but Ryan and Felisa ran away from it. After we fed the animals we head back to the guest house to get changed (need to wash our jammies so we don’t sleep in chiggers or sulphur powder tonight!). I got to try out the electric incinerating toilet “Ol’ Sparky” and the shower at the new guest house. The kids are playing happily, perfectly content with a handful of toys and a little imagination. Is there a lesson here for me perhaps?

12:12 p.m. Power is flickering. No more computer/blog time for me. Guess I’ll get caught up on today’s handwritten entries.

12:15 p.m. Okay that didn’t take long!

Before lunch the kids are playing outside. I see Felisa touch one of the cacti before I can get the door open to stop her. Oh well. Guess it’s her turn to learn the “Never touch a cactus!” lesson. Ouch!

1:40 p.m. Loaded and ready… heading to San Antonio. Betty Lou is able to come with us so I don’t feel so bad about running off and leaving our hosts behind.

1:41 p.m. See a baby deer along the road – so cute! Ryan says “It has white spots so it can hide in the grass.”

1:42 p.m. Waterfall and water over the road. Antelope, horses, deer, wild turkeys, spiral-horn antelope (Can’t remember what it’s really called.) Bella says “It’s just like the pretend one upstairs!” Ryan starts a running report for me to record in the notebook: “Lots and lots of trees and bushes. Lots of mailboxes. I don’t see any arms or legs or heads or…” Mom: “We saw some hair this morning, does that count?” Ryan: “Okay. We found our thing for this summer.” Mom: “What will we find next year?” Bella: “Horses and cows in the road.” Ryan: “No, we’re talking about person things to find.” Then Ryan continues his report for the notebook, using a reporter’s voice this time: “Water washed out by rocks…Lots of rocks…No water…A rock stream right in front of the river…Oh my gosh it’s covering the trees!” And I think there was probably more but I just can’t right fast enough to get it all down.

1:55 p.m. 3 swans swimming on the lake. Bella: “Maybe one of them is the ugly duckling.” (“The Ugly Duckling” is one of the books she has been practicing her reading with at home.)

1:56 p.m. See a few elk under the trees.

1:57 p.m. Brainstorming ideas for the name of this year’s scrapbook… Ryan: “If you give a mouse a triangle trip.” (because our route is like a triangle) Melissa: “If you give a mouse a country.”

1:59 p.m. Mile Marker 505 on I-10 (505 miles to El Paso/NM border) which means we are at the half-way point of I-10 which goes from Santa Monica, CA to St. Augustine, FL. Wow.

2:00 p.m. Betty Lou: “You know it’s a Texas town because it has a Dairy Queen in it. Kerrville has 3 Dairy Queens.”

2:05 p.m. Reading two books at once is giving me a headache. Ryan and Bella are both reading out loud to me at the same time. I have to look at Ryan so he knows I’m listening and I have to help Bella with some of the words so I’m getting a little dizzy. I’m also scrunched in the very back row since I gave my seat to Betty Lou. Are we there yet?!?

2:13 p.m. Raining… I think we should call this the Rainy Vacation.

2:21 p.m. Passing a BIG house for sale… a big house with a zebra!

2:22 p.m. How about “If you give a mouse a raincloud… which follows you everywhere you go”

2:23 p.m. Raining hard again.

2:31 p.m. And now the sun is shining.

2:36 p.m. Passing George Strait’s old house. Sold it and moved over a ridge or two farther from the highway.

2:55 p.m. Downtown San Antonio.

2:56 p.m. Sitting between Ryan and Bella, trapped between all the chatter and noise is giving me a headache!

2:59 p.m. And it’s raining again.

3:00 p.m. San Antonio was built over a river so there’s a whole other layer down below.

3:02 p.m. Passing the Menger Hotel where Teddy Roosevelt recruited the Rough Riders.

3:03 p.m. Ryan and Bella are telling the bible stories they learned in bible school last week.

3:05 p.m. Parked.

5:37 p.m. Back in the car after our San Antonio adventures. We toured the Alamo, walked along the Riverwalk, and ate dinner at Rio Rio. When we first arrived at the Alamo, Ron asked Ryan if it looked like in the movies. Ryan said yes but it was hotter than the movies!

Our review of our San Antonio Adventure… First question was: general impression and the second question was: favorite part.
Ryan: Cool//Looking at weapons of the Alamo
Bella: Nice//Sitting at dinner and talking
Felisa: “Don’t do me. I don’t want to do anything!”
Melissa: Hot but worth it//Weapons and the Riverwalk entrance because it looked like Atlantis
Ron: Cool to see it again//$6.75 jumbo margarita
Betty Lou: Very hot//Spending time with the our family
Sheila: Smaller than I imagined it would be and I was surprised that it was surrounded so closely by the city – right in the heart of things rather than set apart//Gift shop – lots of cool western themed stuff
Bella bought a pony in a bag at the Alamo, using her money that Grandma D. gave her. As soon as Felisa saw it, she wanted one also but it was too late, we had already left the Alamo. (They have been sharing it very nicely though)

On the way back to the car we passed the Guiness museum, a Ripley’s haunted house, and a Davy Crockett Adventure. Tickets for the Davy Crockett adventure (a 5 minute “small world” type ride) was $16/adult and almost as much for the kids. And I thought the $8 boat ride through the Riverwalk area was expensive. At least that one would’ve lasted 45 minutes. Needless to say, we didn’t do any of them!

5:43 p.m. A little rush hour traffic. And it’s raining. At least the rain held off while we were in town.

6:15 p.m. Stop at Best Buy for Betty Lou.

6:18 p.m. Leaving Best Buy… back on the highway.

6:19 p.m. It seems like Saturday to me. My days are so mixed up now that we’ve been on vacation. Leaving on a Friday and having a Wednesday holiday coming up aren’t helping any.

6:24p.m. Ryan, Bella, and Melissa are looking at the pictures on my camera and laughing. Good memories and good pictures… what more could you want from a vacation?

(joke-telling as entertainment for the ride home)

6:55 p.m. Felisa needs to go potty. Lucky for her there is a rest area coming up. After this one, the next rest area is 120 miles away.

6:58 p.m. Rest area. This rest area is at the highest elevation on all of I-10.

7:25 p.m. I don’t remember now what happened but Bella said: “That scared mytummy out of breath!”

7:30 p.m. Home again at the ranch.

The girls went to bed early with Ron. Ryan and Melissa played risk with Dominique. I worked on catching up my blog but I still have a long way to go!