Weekend Trip to Silverton, CO

Wow. So its been a minute! I'm not even going to try to catch up on 

everything that has happened. I'm just going to jump right in. 

Last weekend I got to take a trip (by myself!) to go visit Barry while he was 

on set shooting in Silverton, CO. We have always had this plan to never be away from each other for more than two weeks. Usually we can't do anything about it because of money or we can't find anyone to watch our dogs for us. But not this weekend! The boys stayed at Nana and Papa's house and my brother begrudgingly watched our dogs. 

I won't lie. I was a little scared to drive by myself. Our car is coming up on 250K miles (love mah baby!) and the idea of being stuck in the middle of nowhere is a real fear of mine. 

Also...desert zombies. True story. 

Lets just start with me saying...I get sick when I travel. Not sure if its motion sickness (unlikely) or if its just anxiety (bingo!) but every time I travel there is puking involved. I traveled to Austin for Celena's wedding and spent the first two hours of her wedding day puking. Not a good look. It  usually hits first thing in the morning. It is JUST LIKE morning sickness. 

If I can get to 9am I am usually good. 

This trip was no exception to the Maria's Travel Anxiety Saga. Unbeknownst to me, I was traveling the weekend of Spring Break so after a nine hour drive I was shocked to find out that there wasn't a SINGLE hotel in all of Amarillo that had a room for me. I was exhausted and freaked out at the prospect of having to drive another two hours to the next "big" town. Luckily there was a room available at the next small town, only twenty minutes away. 

I got in my room and settled down to rest. And that's when it hit. Anxiety about driving across the desert the next day. Anxiety about having to drive the treacherous mountain pass to get to Silverton. Anxiety about the truck breaking down (despite it driving beautifully all day long). I finally got to sleep but a few hours later (like two) I was awake and there was just no way I was going back to sleep. The nausea had hit me and since I was in the middle of nowhere there was no place I could go to to get some meds. So I started driving and it was the most miserable I have been while sick. Long story short I was finally able to get to a bigger town where I snatched a nap and some pepto and the fog lifted and I was just fine.

My trusty Whataburger cup! For vomit.  

There is nothing in New Mexico. Like...nothing. Most boring drive ever. 

But what I DID FIND was another Tahoe just. like. mine. I followed him all the way from Albuquerque to Durango. We were travel buddies. Or I was stalking him. Same dif.

I FINALLY made it to Durango where I was to meet Barry. Durango is only about twenty minutes from the New Mexico border so it pretty much looks like a mountain-y desert town. We grabbed some lunch at a little made-from-scratch restaurant and then 

drove the mountain pass to get to Silverton.

It was terrifying. Honestly, it wasn't that bad but I hate heights and oh man, some of those curves are just maaaade for cars to go flying off into oblivion. But oh goodness, the mountains. 

Silverton is nestled in this little valley surrounded by five mountains and it is stunningly beautiful. 

Most of the crew was off shooting so it was just me, Barry, and Phil doing a pseudo driving tour. I got to see the old mines and learn about the different ways homes are built there. I spent most of the time just looking around with my mouth open in wonder. We got an early dinner and then Barry and I just completely crashed. 

The next morning we decided we would do some more driving and then go hiking in the afternoon. 

Ok, this picture is kind of stupid but for me it was empowering. I finally have a Instagram worthy picture of just my morning coffee. I know, I know. I shouldn't base my life on the scale of others..whatever. I got my picture and I freaking love it. 

I still had some leftover travel tummy issues so I had some tea at the local coffee house and we did some driving. Now, when I say we went on a little drive, its kind of misleading. We went along a winding road north of town and stopped every three minutes or so so I could take pictures of nature.

My first time in real snow!

Mah baby!! I freaking love this truck.

We saw little creeks, a house built right over a mine shaft, and some of the older mines. 

I edited the shit out of this picture. Thank you FaceTune!

 

We talked with an older couple from the area and talked about off roading in the summer. 

We had lunch and then went on our hike!

It was just so beautiful. It was everything I could have hoped for. 

I got stuck in the snow. It was amazing.  Phil didn't even try lol

We ended the hike with a trip to one of the creeks. I've always wanted to take a drink out of a natural body of water. Luckily, Barry had one of those filters that you can sip out of so of course that had to happen. 

 

Just in case you were curious, it tastes just like bottled water.

 

Unfortunately Barry looks very puffy in this photo, but I look cute as shit so this is the one that got uploaded to facebook.

That was pretty much the trip. I wasn't there long and it is an itty-bitty town. Barry and I talked about the possibility of getting a vacation home there in the far future. I want to explore more of Colorado. It gave me this huge incentive to get fit. There is so much I want to do there that involves physical and mental staminia. It was a huge boost for me. 

We are going to take the boys and visit Billie this summer, it should be a lot of fun!

-Ri

A Trip to The Island

It's no secret that I love the ocean. Like, as in "I won't move anywhere farther than an hours drive from the sea" (it is a JOY being married to me). I had been feeling kind of melancholy so Barry and I took at trip with Bear Bear to Galveston. 

And it was amazing. 

We took the Little Man to the Rainforest Cafe where we ate a stupid amount of food and spent a stupid amount of money for that food. Bear Bear had a blast looking at the aquariums and robotic animals. And every thirty minutes the restaurant gets dark and goes through a simulated thunderstorm. It's pretty awesome.

I told Barry we should totally take Bear Bear to the beach just to hang out for a minute. 

Barry: Do you think that's a good idea? I mean, we didn't bring any spare clothes or towels. 

Me: It will be fine! The last time I brought him down here he didn't want to have anything to do with the ocean. It'll be fiiiiiiine!

So after the meal we walked across the street and then this happened:

 

I could not stop laughing.

They played in the water for a good hour and had a total blast (and Barry always says he hates the beach, psh!).

 

We saw some crazy blue jellyfish that I thought were really pretty. 

I finally got to dig my toes in the sand! It was heaven. 

Bear Bear was getting tired by this point but we decided to push the envelope and make one more stop to the Tall Shop Elissa.

 

It probably wasn't the best day for it. They had a bunch of volunteers working on the sails and it made for a crowded boat. Even though it was a great learning experience and the people were super friendly, I was so concerned with getting in the way and watching where all the ropes were going that I didn't really enjoy myself. 

The boat was absolutely beautiful and I think it would be great to go back and take the self guided audio tour. 

 I would love to go back again sometime soon with just the Mister so I can relax and walk the Strand but we had a great day playing with Bear Bear! 

-Ri

Pennsylvania Trip: The Driving

Last week my mom decided to invite me along for an impromptu trip to see her father, my grandfather, up in Pennsylvania. Traveling with three babies is no joke but we made do. By the end of the trip my mom and I were completely spent but we did have fun!

We made a LOT of pit stops. In all it took us three days to get there and three days to get back. 

Bear Bear discovered puddles and it was the cutest thing EVER!!! I didn't even mind the sopping wet shoes. :)

And William discovered air conditioners. At every hotel he crawled from the mirrors to the ACs and back again. He would turn his face away from the air flow and then slowly turn it back and act all suprised when it blasted him in the face. The giggles were endless. :)

There were some moments of silence and we savored those brief times when all the babies fell asleep at the same time. 

This was at Elmwood Park in Roanoak Virginia. It was a twenty minute detour that frustrated me to no end. We were desperately trying to find a park so the boys could run around and play. They'd been in the car seats for hours and were starting to get restless (read they were screaming for release). I finally found this park and when we realized it had no playground we thought we were doomed. But bear bear LOVED running up and down the stairs. He couldn't get enough!!

And there was a water feature so bear bear had many puddles to splash around in! 

Little Nathaniel absolutely blossomed on this trip. I have rarely seen him give so many smiles in such a short amount of time. It was such a sweet thing to see, he's so serious all the time. 

Every night we made it into the hotel just around the time the boys start having screaming fits. This meant I didn't get to bottle washing until very very late at night. It's was kind of soothing to be able to have some peace and quiet after putting the boys down for sleep. I just put my headphones in and got it done. 

It wasn't until we were back in Virginia on the ride home that we realized we hadn't gotten any pictures of the boys with the fall leaves. But luckily at the Tennessee Virginia border we found this gorgeous tree that was losing its leaves and it made for a very picturesque location. The boys loooooved rustling around in the leaves. 

Mom and Mark bought a DVD Player for watching the movies in the car. It. Was. Awesome!! It had two screens and the wire connecting them was just barely long enough so that I could have one screen facing Barry, who is facing forward and the other screen facing the twins, who are facing the back of the vehicle. It was a great investment and made a huge difference to the boys. 

This was a rough trip simply because I was on the timetable to get back to Houston for an event. But I did get to see that the boys do really well on trips. I am now comfortable with the idea of making a trip to Austin or Dallas with the boys and we have a great friend who is willing to watch our girls (dogs) for us. I envision many trips in our future!!!

I'll be posting about our time in Pennsylvania soon!

-Ri

A Visit to Old Town Spring

A little while back Barry and I took a little trip to Old Town Spring. 


It is a cute little shopping center (I use that term loosely) in Spring, TX 
that is full of quaint small businesses. There is Twisted Yarns, Connie's
Bath Shack, Simply Texas Gourmet Foods, and this past time we discovered
The Steel Horse. 


The Steel Horse is a small business that resells furniture decor. But
what is really cool is that their shop is located in what used to be the 
bank of Old Town Spring. That bank was robbed by Bonnie and Clyde. How
cool is that!


When you go in to the shop you can actually go into this tiiiny little back room that 
has the original bank vault that was broken in to.

The Steel Horse found some old articles about the bank and has framed them so

you can read about the history of the bank...while in the bank. 

:D

I was in heaven. 

The vault is actually super super tiny, but back then people didn't really have too

many valuables. Almost everything was done by trade. We forgot to look but the 

very sweet lady working there told us that there was still bullet holes in the front of the

building from the robbery. 

I repeat: How cool is that!?!

The Steel Pony also had a cute cute cute little shop full of baby stuffs. Barry

bought a whole collection of baby toys for Baby Bear, and when I saw this I just had to laugh.

We went on a Thursday so most of the shops were closed down but

that was ok because by the time we had walked through five stores I was done. lol.

Trip to Cajun Country!

So a couple of weeks ago I took a trip to Lake Charles, LA to drop

off some very important paperwork for mom and Mark.

All. By. My. Onesies.

Now, if you don't know me...I hate going anywhere alone. I'm a wuss

and I don't care who knows it. :) 

Since I was All.By.My.Onesies. I had to find a way to fill the time

before the lawyers were done with the paperwork so that I could go back home.

Yay for standstill traffic on the way there. 

So I'm not really sure how this came about but there is a giant Jesus in 

a cemetery right off the freeway. He is around 23' tall and is at the center 

of this cemetery that holds (I believe) some of the first settlers of the Lake Charles area.

What was really weird was that this cemetery was overgrown and forgotten

right next to the freeway but as soon as you stepped foot into the grounds...everything

went quite. It was really weird and comforting. You felt like you were transported

back in time where there was no freeway...just fields and swampland. 

And then I remembered I was in Louisiana and I had forgotten to lock my car

and the moment was broken so that I could go make sure my vehicle was still there.

btw...yes...that does say Bilbo Cemetery.

Right off the freeway, right next to the tourism building-thing
was a really cool feature. A 'gator viewing area!!!!

As it was a Tuesday, I was there All.By.My.Onesies. and it was pretty cool!
I didn't have to worry about the hubby getting bored or what was on
the itinerary. It was a completely different feeling for me.

So I took about a million pictures. 

He is hard to see but the gator head is right in front of
the left side of the tree trunk.

I had lunch at "Sabine Pass Crab Shack" since I kept hearing about
it on the radio on my drive into town. I was expecting true cajun cuisine...
I was disappointed.

While their food was yummy, I could have ordered it in Houston
at our local "fried fish" shack. There was nothing remotely "authentic" about
this restaurant. It wasn't terrible, it just wasn't what I wanted.

In the tourism booklet I saw that Lake Charles has a September 11th
memorial containing pieces of the pentagon and the twin towers.

Being a history buff I had to go check it out.

I was surprised at how this memorial affected me.

September 11th happened when I was in high school. I remember hearing
that something horrifying had happened while I was in gym class and the
coach was sitting next to a radio with the volume turned low.

I feel that this did a great disservice to us. The teachers were told
to carry on as usual so as to not startle us. I believe this is the right thing
to do...for middle school and elementary level children.

We had smart phones...with the internet.

So what ended up happening was some kids figured out what was going
on and told everyone else but by the time you play the telephone game
through a high school...the information is all warped. So we were left knowing
that something horrible had happened but we couldn't go to our teachers (who we
were supposed to trust) to talk about this life-changing moment.

Regardless, this monument is, I feel, one of the best 9/11 monuments.

Lake Charles lost two of it's citizens in the 9/11 attacks. Once the rubble
was cleared they received three pieces. One panel of the pentagon wall, and
two steel beams from the twin towers.

By the pentagon panel there is this plaque of Mayor Giuliani's speech.

And beyond that plaque are the twisted beams from the twin towers,
set in the exact proportion as the towers. That middle walkway is so you
can walk to these beams and touch history. You can touch a piece of the moment
that changed all of our lives.

To me, this memorial is what I needed. No exclusivity, no walls, no secrets,
no looking from afar in confusion, just a chance
to finally touch and feel a piece of that day that was kept from us.

At the base of the beams there are small holes (that are a part of the
manufacturing process) where people put flowers and flags in remembrance.

The colored glass on the wall surrounding the memorial is a representation
of all the lives lost on that day. There is one piece of glass per life lost, over 3,000
pieces of glass collected by the local elementary schools.

After visiting the memorial I drove around, looking at the gorgeous
houses on the waterfront and bemoaned the fact that I didn't find out about the
bayou nature trail earlier. I got the call that the lawyers were done with the
paperwork and I was outta there!

This is how excited I was to leave.

aaaaannnd then there was standstill traffic. Again.

But this time there was at least something to look at! A fire!

Half the state of Texas was on fire at the time...I wont lie...
I was kind of excited to see this little one so that I could one day say
to my grandchildren that I saw the fires when Texas was going up
in flames. :)

I'm big on stuff like that.


-Ri