Where we're heading next:
Home Sweet Home
Quote of the Day
Peanut, "Wow, mom, now we can say we've been to all 50 states! What are we gonna do next?"
If you ever plan a vacation to San Antonio be sure and come in late April for the vibrant week of Fiesta. Usually the bluebonnets are blooming in the hill country and the triple digits and bugs have yet to take over.
Even with the breezy, and I 
dare say perfect day, the kids were miserable in the shade, much less the sun. That's what happens when you grow up in the Pacific Northwest. I was so grateful to get some Vitamin D that didn't come out of a bottle, but the kids were far more focused on water, snacks and going inside somewhere --anywhere with air conditioning.
My sister with my niece and Flowerbaby drove us all over downtown for the day, even though the Riverwalk was closed for the parade. Still, cracking cascarones on everyone's head in El Mercado was a laugh (Little Man took absolutely no joy in this Fiesta tradition), and The Alamo turned out to be much more educational for Peanut than I'd anticipated. She was fascinated with the glass cases full of found objects: buttons, guns and soldiers' real letters describing the aftermath of battle as the Mexicans headed South.
We were just looking for a nice spot on the San Antonio river for a dinner picnic and ended up underneath the 300 year old Mission Espada Aqueduct. The Mission Trail is a must if you want to experience the true flavor of San Antonio although it's helpful to go before 5pm when they're actually open. Shoes were thrown off immediately and the cool, shallow water beckoned. A minute later Peanut started shreiking with glee and begging for us to come see the ants. We each crossed the river to find a gigantic Leaf Ant colony in action. A treasure!
San Antonio is my hometown and it's a great place to be from. We visit once a year, eating our way through Tex-Mex restaurants and visiting family. Here are the requirements: Taco Cabana for cheap breakfast tacos, a stop at Rudy's for bar-b-q sauce, Bill Millers for sweet tea, Mi Tierra for dinner and lard-induced pastries, kolaches from a road side stand, etc.
As it turns out one of my dearest nephews planned his wedding during Fiesta so we decided to start our Southeast Road Trip here. (Our visit was much more about family than food this year.) Now, Texas -- the biggest state in the nation -- except Alaska, gets a proper place in our blog.
The bride and groom were gorgeous (such babies), but can you handle these darling kiddos? Little Man wanted to be anywhere but next to Peanut, Doodle or any of his girly cousins!
Yesterday was supposed to be our longest stretch of road on this drive across the states, with the Kansas/Nebraska crossing a close second. We navigated almost 600 miles across Southern Arizona, dipping into Texas and then back up into New Mexico, place of my birth.
A note about Texas: We go to Houston and San Antonio once or twice a year to visit family. The kids hunt for frogs in the early evening and we fill our bellies with as much Tex-Mex as we can. So, we decided to just cross the border into Bush Country for a picture under the Welcome to Texas sign and call it good.
Peanut and I discussed the meaning of nostalgia as we drove across the different looking desert scenes. She was still feeling sick and limp in the backseat, and I told her about a time, at her exact age, when I was sitting in the backseat on this same stretch of road, with heat stroke. More than the memory of being sick, I remember the look on my sister's face and the panic in her voice as they searched for an Ice House. They finally found one but it only had big blocks of ice, so they chipped pieces off with a finger nail file and hand fed me.
We also passed the place between Lordsburg and Deming where, at Little Man's exact age, my other sister and I were in a terrible car crash with our aunt and cousins. My aunt lost the use of her legs, one of my cousins lost her life and I ended up in a cactus, the needles scarring my left side into adulthood. Funny thing how your body remembers such life tragedies, and I felt the location in my gut before we even realized we were there.
On a brighter note, I also had a memory rush back of driving to the Sonic at the edge of town and heading to White Sands with my older sister and all her high school friends. This has to be one of the coolest places on Earth. I never tire of coming here and believe me, I've been here a lot. It's out in the middle of nowhere, the bottom of an ocean without the water or fish. Pure white sand for miles in the middle of the brown desert. I knew it would be a highlight for the kids and it was. They couldn't accept that it wasn't snow until they actually stepped into its fluff. Climbing and running and rolling, filling their hair with the soft sand. Magic.
We had been feeding Doodle digestive biscuits for a couple of days, but I never expected to hear Grandma yelling at me across the dunes, "Curly! Curly Top! You better come check this out!!" Doodle, I'm pleased to announce left her deposit at the bottom of one of the dunes.
White Sands is about 20 minutes outside Alamogordo, NM. I can't imagine it's a priority stop on most people's map, but Doodle couldn't wait to see the hospital I was born in. Why? Because it's pink, I promised her. Unfortunately, we learned they tore it down years ago and built a new one, by the same name, up on the mountain. Doodle lost interest, but when Peanut's fever went up instead of down and she couldn't swallow even a drink, I took her to E.R. in the new dig. Grandma was sure she had Strep, but alas it was just a wicked case of tonsilltis. We were there a couple of hours and I watched her drift in and out of a fever sleep, "I love horses! I said I loooooove horses!" We decided to cancel Carlsbad Caverns today, hang out here in this nothing-to-do place and force her to rest. She's mad as hell.
