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?"
Grandma said someone told her that traveling with kids is like living in the bathroom day after day. Let's just say I've learned a lot on this trip.
For one thing, it's all about Doodle, and Grandma is her personal pet/best friend. Just ask her. For another thing, it's all about Peanut and since her needs cannot be fully met -- namely, her necessary alone time -- she can get a bit pissy. She's also reading The Hobbit and has gotten into the habit of calling everyone "my precious" which is making us nuts. And finally, it's all about Little Man. He needs a job to do constantly or he is climbing the walls. He's fantastic when we're out and about, but oh, how I miss his buds from home during Doodle's nap time. He wakes every morning full throttle ahead, never needs a break and becomes Doodle's main source of entertainment at bedtime, which I might add is the wrong time.
Also, any version of privacy is a thing of the past. And they need food constantly. I was already aware of this, but it's far more noticeable when you don't have your refrigerator or pantry in the next room. We're going through apples, bananas, jicama sticks, carrots and water like nobody's business. I also have a lollipop stash for those long stretches of road.
Even with these annoyances, we are having a great time. I never expected the kids to be so proud of this undertaking and to personally own it. They feel very much like this is their trip to enjoy. And it's been such a wonderful conversation starter for them. No matter where someone is from, they'll say, "We're going there this year!" and the next thing you know, the stranger turned friend has our blog address!
The number one question people ask is if I'm Homeschooling them. I find this so strange because I think they're learning so much more on this trip than they could ever learn from a book. It's not like they're taking Advanced Physics! We're certainly not practicing letters on this trip although Doodle did announce today that she wants to learn to write her own name. Instead, Peanut is keeping a journal and Little Man is collecting things. We've spent a lot of time talking about all kinds of things, but mostly the characteristics of the desert and the Native American experience in this country. And how to cope with stickers and fire ant bites.
How come no one told me what happens to a body when it sits in a car day after day and then goes to bed instead of using the exercise room in the hotel? I guess you all figured that was irrelevant and I suppose it's true.
But ouch! I looked at a picture today and barely recognized myself. We've only been on the road a week or so, right? The other morning I woke up with a kink in my neck. Grandma brought me some Advil and I dropped one. We looked and looked and finally she goes, "Pick up your boob" and there it was! I'm starting to get lumpy all over though. And parts of me that should be neatly tucked are making surprise appearances when I lift my arms or bend over. I know there are new terms for fat rolls, but I'm really out of touch. I recall hearing something about a muffin top. If that's the case, I'm approaching bakery (please, please let it be the Cloud Cliff Bakery in Santa Fe) and I've got to get this under control soon or I'm going to be as big as the 50 states when this is all over.
But why start doing something about it in Santa Fe? I adore this cuisine more than any other in the world. I love to answer "Christmas" when I'm asked "red or green", meaning the type of chili I'd like on my enchiladas or my eggs. I get a little of both! And I love to eat an eclectic lunch like the one we had today at The Blue Heron Restaurant. This had to be the nicest place my kids have ever eaten and they were little champs. (Granted we got there at 11:30am when the place was empty along with their stomachs.) Grandma and Little Man split a shi-shi cheeseburger with cactus fries, and Doodle and I split grilled shrimp with yucca and capers. She also took over Grandma's portion of the very decadent crab and corn flan! Peanut ate for the first time in 3 days -- the chicken from my Caesar Salad, which wasn't a salad at all, but 3 pieces of the most delicious grilled lettuce I've ever tasted.
Having said all that, my absolute favorite thing to eat in Santa Fe are the enormous sopapaillas. For those of you who aren't familiar with these, they are an Indian fry bread. You can get them in Texas but they're weak comparatively. You've got to have them (after a proper chili relleno, of course) at Tomasita's Restaurant where they are absolutely enormous. Take off a corner, grab your knife and the little ramekin filled with honey-butter, and get to it. As you munch away, you can always add more honey!
On our way out of town, I drove the kids to see my childhood home. It's pretty much a dump. I'm not sure how much nicer it was when we lived there; my mom and sisters struggled pretty hard when we moved there right after the divorce. This didn't keep me from walking around the entire house (which was vacant and for rent), peeking in every window, going down my checklist of memories prior to age 5 when we moved to Texas.
Our best neighbors, Mr. & Mrs. Garcia, are still living there according to the garden stone with Garcia carved on it. (I guess there actually are people who stay put in a house and grow roots.) Anyway, I loved this man as a child and was very aware of how clean and tidy their house was. The living room was a bit dark and cool and they had a squishy couch and a piano with pictures of their family up on the wall. This impressed me then and I was dying to see if they remembered their darling 3 year old neighbor from so long ago. No one was home, so I left a note on the porch...
After a visit to Walgreens for Ava's prescription, we headed to Santa Fe. What a treat to pull into Corona, NM for gas and a snack. I saw CAFE painted on the side of a wall and told the kids, "Check this place out! It looks like the Wild West. I'm certain cowboys used to come here. If these people left it would look exactly like a ghost town!" I should have known this would open an entirely new bottle of questions, "Do ghosts live here? Well, is this a real ghost town? Are there real cowboys here? Do ghosts eat? Do cowboys?"
This is actually making me think of something back at the Tucson Dude Ranch. We walked into dinner and a very nice woman from Illinois was sitting there. She invited us to her table and I said, "Are you sure? You do realize we come loud and loaded with questions, right?" She was so wonderful with the kids, engaging them all in their various conversations (at nearly the same time) and answering all the personal questions they asked her. For example, here's what I could hear of Doodle's conversation as she took the floor:
"What color are you eyes?" brown
"I like pink." what else do you like?
"Oh, well I'm also interested in Belle and Jasmine." oh princesses!
"What does your house look like?" very patient detailed description
"Why are you so sad that your dog died?" well, she was my companion
"Why was she your companion?" well...
And when she told us about Shelby, the dear dog she'd just put down, Peanut and Little Man couldn't wait to tell her all about our pets. Sure we have the lovey Samson cat and the feisty Delilah cat, but they were particularly interested in telling her about Atlas, my beloved cat of so many years and how he met his end. "Well, my mom named him Atlas because he was so huge, but then she took us to school, and when she got home she remembered something in the house she'd forgotten, and she ran in to get it, and when she came out Atlas had run under the car and she ran over him! But we burned him and then we buried him under a tree we planted for him. It makes her sad, too." Breath. Little Man added that we put a rock there that said Atlas and Peanut corrected him by saying, "No it's a big stone that says In Loving Memory, Atlas." Would you believe this gracious woman actually chose to sit with us for breakfast!
So where was I? Corona, NM. We walked into El Corral Cafe, which was virtually empty save the pictures of Indian Chiefs all around (can you imagine the questions from the kids???). The owner, Kathia Beltran, got us situated and I quickly realized she was una mexicana. Jumping at the chance to practice my Spanish, she was a little stunned and pleased all at the same time, assuming we were up from El Paso. I told her our story and very slowly her family started to emerge from the back -- her daughter, her mother Nubia, her uncle, her friend with her son. It took about 3 minutes and I knew I'd love to be this woman's friend. She told every person who walked in what we were doing and that we speak espanol. I felt like a proud student once again!
In fact, if I haven't mentioned my love for the Spanish language and culture, especially Mexican, let me do so now. I love it. All of it. I love it so much I want to live in Mexico someday and make tortillas and sit around with other women complaining and loving nos maridos.
She served us the daily special (Rick Steeves always says order the daily special), chimichunga with green chile sauce, rice and salad. Apparently Cowboy Punch is only available in Arizona (iced-tea with lemonade) so the kids got a real caffeine treat and I let them drink pure iced-tea. It only now occurs to me that's why they didn't fall asleep in the car! If you ever find yourself traveling out here, stop at this wonderful cafe in Corona, NM and meet the wonderful Familia Beltran who run it.
About 2 seconds after we left this cafe, a warning light came on in our car -- low air pressure in the tires. I went back to the gas station only to find they didn't have air so I flagged a guy in a big pick-up and he directed me to the other side of town (2 or 3 blocks away) where there was a mechanic. Perfect! This kind young man with oiled hands checked each tire and filled them up properly. We agreed on 5 bucks for the job. We were discussing the rain and how happy everyone but us was to see it arrive. He informed me that even if it wasn't raining, it'd be this cold. We were in the high desert now with a 6,685 elevation, supposedly the highest train crossing...which is why this isty-bitsy town is called Corona, the crown of New Mexico.
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.
New Mexico Dirt Sample.White Sands, New Mexico.
Phoenix is a nasty sprawl of condos and golf courses so we rented a car and drove down to Tucson where the beautiful desert begins. Nothing can beat standing in the shadows of a 150 year old Saguaro Cactus. We're at the White Stallion Ranch and I can't wait to come back here in a couple of years when Doodle is 5. You have to be 5 years old to ride the horses, but there's still plenty to do if you're a tot. Peanut, Little Man and I had two morning rides, one with a cook-out breakfast. There are more birds here than I can keep track of and little rubber horses that poop goo in the gift shop.
This will come as no surprise to anyone with little boys, but between the pooping horse toy and the real horse endowments, the potty mouth conversation potential is endless here at the ranch. Check out the quote of the day for today!
Peanut started to crumple yesterday morning with a 101 fever. Poor baby. I anticipated the occasional break-downs, and came prepared with thermometer and some meds. She had a wild sleep with horse and critter dreams. I know this first hand since I (didn't) sleep beside her all night. Hopefully it'll wear off before it turns into something more significant.
Hey! I got to witness a most spectacular sight at my riding. A woman's cowboy hat flew off her head and spooked her horse which sent her flying into the air for what seemed like minutes. She was on a big gorgeous black Draft Horse and it literally turned sideways into my "lane". Good old Yankee bucked but I managed to stop her and back out of the way. We were all sitting there agape letting flies into our mouths. It was a stunning display to say the least. The poor woman was an experienced rider, too. She's out and about today in a wheelchair with no serious damage. The kids were pretty shaken up about it so we wrote her a get well card and took her some tulips and chocolate. That's how I found out there's a Safeway out here in the middle of nowhere! And a Starbucks inside to boot!
Little Man got to stay up late last night and wrangle with Loop Rawlins. It was a specialty show with lots of lassos and gun flingin' tricks. He got back to the room wired as hell and had to show me all his new cowboy tricks, like flipping his cowboy hat over and catching it. I guess he was the other star of the show, being the only 5.5 year old boy there. Grandma said he was a perfect prop!
Arizona Dirt Sample.Sedona, Arizona.
It rained all day yesterday but we made it down the coast to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Here's our lunch: 6 cheese samples, a scoop of ice-cream and a grilled sharp cheddar and swiss cheese sandwich with a pickle. We also learned that if a farmer has to birth a cow in the middle of the night he'll only get 2 hours sleep...
Our goal was to get to my brother's house in time to get ready for my nephew's wedding reception. How were we supposed to know that we'd spend so long at the world's largest wooden structure or that Meare's Lighthouse would be so exciting to the kids? We tried to call but lost cell service in the middle of the beautiful forest!
Luckily, my brother had left the house key with a neighbor and when we finally got inside and took over their living room, I yelled "STRIP!" Peanut goes, "Right here?" I screamed, "YES! Strip!!" And that's when we found the wee but oh-so-stinky gift Doodle had made in her underwear. Along with the comment, "I'll poop in the potty when I'm SIX!" Never the less, we had this traveling family turned out for the ball in less than 7 minutes. (I have always been able to clean-up in a hurry. Having a curly top helps.)
It was great to see my brother's family, especially my nephew, who even with his new bride will remain forever in my mind, a 3 year old little boy.
And on the way back to the house, who would have ever thought we'd pass a small Alpaca farm? Of course I freaked out and made Tomcat stop the car in the middle of the small road so I could traipse across the wet sod in my heels to meet the farmer and his wife! Peanut and Little Man followed their mama and it quickly became one of their best stops so far.
We hit it lucky at Haystack Rock. The moon was just right for the tide to dip to -1 below sea level. That means we could almost walk into the cave. It was truly a tide pool wonderland with huge rocks covered in mini-anemones, brightly colored sea stars and numerous other critters waiting for us to get personal. It was almost a mile walk out and so we were all worn out by the time we got back to the hotel.
Back at the room, it was time for naps, but only one of us slept. Tomcat, of course. Grandma and Doodle were "playing" in their room so I let Peanut and Little Man play at the beach while I hung out on the balcony. It got pretty exciting from up there when Little Man did an accidental back flip off a huge driftwood log onto the rocks below. I ran out there to find Peanut quite in shock as Little Man bled and bled and bled big droplets onto both of us. I carried him from the rocks, up the beach, over the grass, through a nice couple's room and finally into the hotel lobby where 911 magically appeared minutes later.
The nice couple had taken Peanut up to the room to wake Tomcat and we all drove to the E.R. in Seaside. Can you believe we walked right into a room and a doctor was waiting for us? That doesn't happen where we live! Anyway, he has a perfect puncture wound at the back of his head with one of those groovy "fill up the hole with $400 super glue" fixes, a sprained foot, and a strong urge to retell every detail of the story to everyone we've met since.
I want to take a picture of the kids under each "Welcome to State" sign and it occurs to me that this might not be as easy as I thought. The first Oregon sign was above us on the truss of a bridge. The next one was smack under a traffic light! I managed to get them all under that one though and when the light changed, I ran out into the intersection. Picture under State #1, a success! Good example for the kids, maybe not.The Oregon coast is absolutely breathtaking, especially in spring. Every flower and tree is blossoming and the new foliage meanders in and out of all the evergreens on the mountains. When I think of Oregon, I think of Tree Huggers and Hippies and as you drive through these forests, it's easy to see why. The scars of logging are truly an eye-sore in this beautiful part of the country and long gone are the old growth forests. Still, it's beautiful country to drive through, even in the rainy season. Do other states' State Patrol wear shower caps on their hats?Remember the movie Goonies? Our kids are too little to see it, but we enjoyed going to Astoria where it was filmed. The kids enjoyed old Fire Station #2, running circles around the Astoria Column and especially Fort Clatsop. Next stop was the little aquarium in Seaside and finally Cannon Beach where I have always wanted to go. We stayed at The Ocean Lodge with a view of famous Haystack Rock. It's the kind of place where the employees love on your wet beach dog and then correctly point you to the hot chocolate and cookie jar in the lobby.
Early in the planning process, I admitted that I'd need an adult rider with me. Unfortunately, Tomcat works hard for the money (so hard for it, honey) and he can't just pick up and go like we think we can. He's here for State #1 along with Grandma and let me tell you, the car is crowded. And it's loud.
I also know for a fact that the more adults you have, the easier it is to lose sight of the kids and what they're doing. So that's how it is that in the above picture of us crossing the bridge into Oregon, Peanut is seen without her seatbelt. And that's also how later we manged to find Peanut and Little Man locked in the car down the street after entering the hotel with just Doodle.
So far everyone is still alive and smiling. Doodle hasn't pooped in 3 days so her smile occasionally looks a little strange, but I hear you don't actually have to worry about that until Day 6.
Oregon dirt sample.
People are surprised and perplexed, but mostly excited for our family as we embark on this adventure to see all 50 states within a year. When they find out we intend to do the majority by car, without movies or other electronic distractions, they clearly think we're nuts. They also want to know why. Why do this now? It seems there's a litany of reasons why we should rethink this: Gas is so expensive right now. The kids will miss school. Doodle won't even remember the trip! And the best reason by far, "The kids will be miserable and you won't even like them by the end of it!"
We shall see.
Grandma said someone told her that traveling with kids is like living in the bathroom day after day. Let's just say I've learned a lot on this trip.
