Category: Travel

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Carhenge!!

Since this day was waaaay too big to take in one piece,

I give you…

Road Trip–Day 2B!

From Chimney Rock we packed our cute little selves up again and headed to our true destination. But first we still had to pass…

more corn fields…

and a million more trains. No, I’m not kidding.

These people are absolutely crazy about trains.

They LOVE them…

They want to MARRY them.

And if you’ve ever wondered where those sunflower seeds you eat actually come from…

ask us. We know.


At last, at last we see the sign that we’ve been searching all this time for!

Yes, my darlings here it is in all it’s glory!

CARHENGE!! In Alliance, Nebraska–some guy planted tons and tons of dead cars and wired them into the same configurations…

as Stonehenge…you know…the one in England…built by the Druids a million years ago.

Jillian is the only one of us who has actually seen the real thing…in real life. Even she was impressed.

The shorter folks were just thrilled to be turned loose in a big field and told to run.

What do you think? Crazy, huh?

Lyndi has wanted to go here since she was a pup. I guess all she had to do was marry a guy who was a good enough sport to actually take her there.

Some of the stacks looked precarious enough that they looked like they’d fall on our heads and squish us dead. But in reality–a place I don’t visit often–the cars are all carefully wired together.

I probably wouldn’t stand next to them in an earthquake, but they felt pretty solid to me.

Then there was a spooky old dinosaur made from spare parts. Ooooh looky. Dane’s sooo afraid.

Not me. I bring my own dinosaur with me wherever I go.

Ha! Go bald kid.

It was cool and amazing to look at and we never saw any Druids…

well, except this one.

 

 

Oh, and BTW– we did end up with a winner in the “Destination Quiz.”

jenna said:

carhenge!
my friend just told me about it from her last trip to omaha!

I’ll be sending you a marrrrvelous mug from Carhenge. Way to go!!

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Wyoming’s Winding Roads

or is it Hawaii? I sometimes get them mixed up. ha. ha.

Road Trip–Day 2A

This little dolly is up bright and early because we are excited to get going…you see, we have found…

a real, honest to goodness farmer’s market–

with every kind of fruit and veggie that you could possibly imagine.

Hey they even had some guy roasting peppers in a big cagey thing. And I thought they did that in a frying pan.

Well, I did.

Breads, cake, jellies, jams, candy, jerky–I had no idea. Dude.

Apparently, I have never really been to a real farmer’s market.

I was totally taken in with this fancy Peanut Spread, and Blueberry Jam that you see here.

Then there was the huge loaf of Asiago Bread…and the Cinnamon Streusel. No picture. Sorry…ahhh…bears ate it all…

yeah.

So after our cool little…ahhh…breakfast we realized that we needed to find a grocery store.

Let me introduce you to “Vikki” our GPS navigator. She’s brave and fearless and knows how to find absolutely everything. So we said, “Grocery Store” and she took us…

here. It’s supposed to be Safeway’s but if you look closely, you’ll see that the whole place is totally boarded up and abandoned. Perhaps we should have added, “…with people inside” to our request. Yikes.

Nevermind–we like the open adventurous road better anyway…

with all it’s trains…

and silos…

and cows.

Ever wonder where those fancy Angus Beef burger’s come from?  Let’s not talk about that right now.

Soon we came up on what is known as Chimney Rock. They say that a hundred years ago it looked much more like a chimney than it does now but time has marched across the old girl and now it looks like a big birthday cake with one huge candle.

For the earlier pioneers–it also marked the point in their journey, where the flat, rolling plains ended and the more rugged Rocky Mountains began. To be about halfway to Utah was wonderful, but now their trek got really gritty and dangerous.

And we whine about leg room in the car. Well, that, and having to travel with crazy people.

Sheesh.

And some of our crew couldn’t possibly care less…about any of it.

Grammy will have to save the amazing history lesson for another day.

I can do that.

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Road Weary

This moment~

A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from our lives.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you have a “moment” of your own and would like to share–please link to it in the comments.

Happy summer weekend everyone!

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Off We Go!

Roadtrip Day 1

With  just a few meager weeks of summer left to us–if was obvious that a huge, wonderful, amazing trip of some kind was in order. Not just any trip, but a real, live road trip.

A magnamonious one.

We are indeed ready and waiting…seat belts fastened…sippy within reach. If you’ve been following carefully, you may have a clue where we’re headed. If not, just follow along.

Here we go!

We have about 7 or 8 hours of driving ahead of us–so toddler entertainment is essential.

Big people entertainment is dang important too. We played the license plate game that kept us busy for a lonnnng time. We even spotted a Maine and Alaska–clear out here in the mid-west.  Stunning I tell you. But I’m holding out for Hawaii.

Well, I am.

Pretty easy to tell when we crossed the border into Wyoming because there were THESE stores all over the place, but since the type of fireworks they carry in there are totally illegal in our home state…we just kept on driving.

Til lunchtime that is. Taco Bell is a lovely place to take a break. Oh, and I showed my BagBag–the one made from Taco Bell bags–to the Taco Bell ladies. They told me to send a picture to the corporate because, “they’d be dang impressed.” Who knows? Might be good for a free Chalupa or something.

Most of us were just glad to get out and stretch around for a minute.

Then, of course, it was back in the car, for more…

of this…

and this…

and this.

Luckily, we had a bit of “Ponyo” going on as well. This, my friends, is one high-tech road trip.

Which is lucky, because there was a heck of a lot of this to look at. Beautiful, yes…but after a few hours…

even the most stalwart travelers get hazy.

The scenery was occasionally broken up by construction cones–we have them at home, thank you very much–and…

huge piles of sand. Almost thought we’d driven clear to Egypt when I saw this one.

After the pyramid thing, it was pretty exciting to see a semi-truck filled with Burmuda onions.

Filled, I tell y0u.

At the end of the day we were so pleased with the good natured, patient, happy little travelers we have here.

Yes…yes. What good-natured, patient, exhausted travelers we have here.

Sleep well my lovelies.

We have a big, big day tomorrow!

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Destination Quiz

We are going on a road trip my friends. From our little Rocky Mountain home to a couple of places we’ve always wanted to see. Can you guess where we’re going?

Here is a picture of my sweet Jillian, while she was in England, goofing around about where we are going this week. See if you can figure out the clues. First one to guess it correctly will win…

something from our trip. Don’t know what it is yet because I haven’t been there. Oh, and the friends and family that already know where we’re going–you don’t get to guess…because when you know something–it’s not a guess anymore. You know that.

Sheesh.