Our road trip plans seem to change by the minute, and as I perused the map (and this is why paper maps are still a very good thing to use at times) I noticed two things near our route in Wyoming that looked interesting:  Fort Laramie National Historic Landmark and the Oregon Trail ruts near Guernsey.

Actually, neither of these things would have caught my eye so quickly if we hadn’t visited Scotts Bluff National Monument a few days earlier.  As the kids completed their Junior Ranger booklets at Scotts Bluff, one of the questions was about the wagon ruts, and Fort Laramie was also mentioned.  So, for the second time in five days, we took off to learn about the Oregon Trail.

Wyoming has long stretches without roadside services, so we ended up eating lunch at 10:30 a.m. before heading to the landmarks.  The Oregon Trail ruts are amazing–they date back to the 1850′s and are still plainly visible.  The cut in the ruts was made over time by the wagons; a park ranger explained that in a two-week period one year, half a million people followed that path that was part of three trails:  Oregon, California, and Mormon.  After seeing the size of the covered wagons (much smaller than I expected), I was even more awed by the things the pioneers did to start a new life.

Fort Laramie National Historic Site is a well-maintained fort on the Wyoming prairie, and was also a stop along the Oregon Trail.  Here, the kids earned their fourth Junior Ranger badges in a week as we walked around the fort in 95-degree heat.

From Fort Laramie we headed back to Rapid City to retrieve our vehicle from the friends who were babysitting it, and then began the task of moving everything from the Twizzlers van back to our own vehicle.  The amount of stuff a family can fit into a vehicle for a week’s vacation will never cease to amaze me.

Tomorrow we head for home.  Although we’ve seen 95-100 degree temperatures every day of our trip, we missed the extreme heat and humidity at home in Minnesota, and we also will return to a working state government.  Vacations are always fun and interesting, but it’s always good to go home again.

Thank you to Twizzlers for sponsoring our travel this week.  Be sure to follow the other Twizzlers Traveling Families this summer, and enter to win a road trip of your own and other prizes at twizzlers.com.

Read about the rest of our Twizzlers trip:  Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4.

Today was just a driving day.  We hoped to get home before dark, because we knew it was going to be cold.  Unloading a car in daylight cold is one thing, but in the dark is quite another.  The kids were also anxious to get home and play with their Christmas gifts, which we had opened just before we left, bringing just one per child along on the trip.

Today was also kind of a big deal because we’re starting a very restrictive diet with one of our sons tomorrow.  The doctor gave the ok to “live it up” during the holidays, but tomorrow we get serious about the restrictions.  And live it up we did, to try to give him a good last “normal” day before several months of restrictions begin.

As we approaced Des Moines, he remembered that there’s still a Krispy Kreme there, and asked if we could stop for doughnuts.  (Since Krispy Kremes from doughnut shop are the only ones we trust to be peanut-free, these are the only ones he gets.  We cried the day the Twin Cities Krispy Kreme stores closed.)  I knew about where the store was, and it was approaching lunchtime.  This same son has been begging to go to Chuck E Cheese for months, and we’ve been avoiding it.  So we told the kids that if we passed a Chuck E Cheese, and they spotted it in time for us to turn in, we’d eat lunch there.  We were a mile from Krispy Kreme and had never been on that road before.

Wouldn’t you know it, there was a Chuck E Cheese just off the exit.  And the kids, of course, spotted it.

So we ate at Chuck E Cheese, which was probably a good way for them to get some wiggles out after days of riding in the car.

We continued driving, and stopped for gas and ice cream cones in Owatonna, another last indulgence.  I suppose we looked kind of crazy to be ordering ice cream in the cold, but we’ve looked silly before.

Usually on the last hour of a trip, the kids get goofy in the car, but thankfully they were pretty good.  We pulled into our driveway just before dark, with thanks to my brother-in-law for clearing the snow and turning the heat up in the house.  We didn’t waste any time unloading the car, and the kids didn’t waste any time finding their Christmas treasures.

I put supper in the oven, sorted the laundry from the trip, and started to get back into the routine of home.  All the kids have school tomorrow, and our responsibilities, which were temporarily left behind, now return.

We don’t know when we’ll hit the road again.  For now it’s just nice to be home.

Related:  Notes from the Road:  Texas, Day 11

We found the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and even with its cowboy hat on top it was smaller than I expected (and surprisingly unmarked from the road).  It had taken us three hours to get there; they sure do fit a lot of Texas on a map.

Then we zipped through Oklahoma, where there are an awful lot of toll roads.  The kids would say, “ANOTHER toll booth?”  They weren’t exaggerating.

From Oklahoma we moved into Kansas on Route 66.  After the Old National Road and the Lincoln Highway and the Jefferson Highway and Old Red Ten, driving a bit of Route 66 was to be expected for us.

On Route 66, in Galena, Kansas, I had input the address for Towmater.  We got into town and the GPS announced we were at our destination.  Right in front of us was an old service station that was nicely painted, and was next to a park with Route 66 displays.  But we couldn’t find Mater anywhere.  We circled the block just to be sure, and there was no sign of the old tow truck.

So we turned around and retraced our steps out of town through the tears of a three-year-old crying, “I waaaannnttt Maaattteerrrr.”  The crying lasted for about 20 minutes.  She’s been a trooper throughout this trip, but today we could tell she was nearing the end of her rope.

We ate supper along the way, checked into our room, and I took allergy-son to Whole Foods for one last provisions run before we start his specialized diet Monday.

When we got back to the room, I plugged in, and logged onto Roadside America to tell them Mater’s gone.

And then I realized that we had been at the wrong service station.  I looked at the map again.  The GPS did us wrong.

We missed Mater by 5 blocks.

If you zoom in on the map until you can see Galena’s streets, look for the name of Galena, right above Hwy 66.  Then look to see where Mater really is.  Yeah.  We were that close.

This shouldn’t be a big deal to me; after all, we’ve had a great trip, we’ve seen a lot of things, we’ve rolled with the punches.

But we were that close and missed it?  Normally I would have investigated a different route out of town, which would have taken us right past it.  Normally I would have double-checked the location this  morning, but I thought I’d done my research.  I had, but it was one birthday, one Christmas, one roadtrip-packing week, and one specialized-diet-planning-session ago.  I guess I’ve had a few other things on my mind that precluded remembering exactly what Mater’s home looks like.

Does it make the blow any less?  Not really.  I don’t think I’m even going to break the news to the girls. They’ll cry again.

I suppose this means we’ll be taking a trip to Kansas again before too long.

Related:  Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 10 Notes from the Road:  Texas, Day 12

Today was supposed to be sunny in Galveston, and we were looking forward to watching the sun rise over the Gulf of Mexico from the balcony in our hotel room.  Unfortunately, our “view” of the gulf was about two blocks away, over an empty lot, a lot of wires, and a road.  Besides that, it was cloudy.

We were glad we’d walked the beach to pick up shells in Louisiana, because it was even colder in Galveston this morning.  We drove around the island and did stop once to walk a bit of the beach, but there was no dipping of toes.  No one complained about staying out of the water on the chilly, windy morning.

Galveston is still showing a lot of damage from Hurricane Ike in September of 2008.  While some businesses have been repaired and reopened, others remain in their damaged state.  In the clouds of the morning, it wasn’t a very impressive place.

Our next stop, though, made up for it.  We arrived at Space Center Houston just before it opened at 10 and didn’t leave until after 4 p.m.  Interestingly, admission cost less than Underwater Adventures at the Mall of America (which takes up about 45 minutes of our time). I think we saved the best for last.

Space Center Houston’s visitor center is well-done, with lots of hands-on activities, films, talks by NASA personnel, and the kids’ favorite, a big climbing/ball structure.  But our favorite part was taking the tram tours, where we got to peek in on the real Mission Control room and see the astronaut training center with its mock-ups of the various spacecraft modules.  Then we went into Rocket Park, where a building holds a huge rocket.  Huge.  Really big.  Taller than the Statue of Liberty.  I believe they said this was to be the rocket for Apollo 18, which never came to fruition.

I’ll write more about Space Center Houston another day, but for now I’ll say that it’s definitely on my recommended list of things to do in Houston (especially for kids 3 and up).

From Space Center Houston on the southeast corner of the city, we headed up I-45 a ways, and tomorrow we’ll collect a few new states on our way home.  It looks to be really cold there.  I wonder if anyone would mind if we stayed in the south for a few more weeks?

Related:  Notes from the Road:  Texas Day 9 Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 11

A flat tire will do the trick temporarily, though.  When we had our flat on Day 4 of our Texas trip, we weren’t sure what caused it.

Until two days later, when we found this gem stuck into our bumper.

Apparently we drove over it, and then it was flung from the tire to the bumper.

It slowed us down for a few hours, but it didn’t stop us from enjoying our vacation.

For more (and better) travel photos, visit Photo Fridays at DeliciousBaby.

This morning we started by driving to downtown Austin.  We were a few minutes early for our planned museum stop, so we walked a few blocks to view the state capitol.  We got close enough to snap a few photos, and then headed to the Bob Bullock State History Museum.

Our Minnesota Historical Society membership netted us free admission, but we splurged on the “Big Texas” IMAX show.  While waiting for the show to start, we went into the museum galleries, where we were met by a friendly docent who talked us through the exhibit of the earliest inhabitants of Texas.  After the IMAX show, we continued through the museum, which is very well done.  I especially liked the small theaters throughout the museum that presented short films on various subjects.  Often, if my husband and I were still reading information in the exhibits, the kids could go ahead and watch one of the films until we got there.

Although there aren’t a lot of hands-on activities for the kids, we managed to spend four hours (including lunch in the cafe) in the museum.  It’s a beautiful place with a wealth of information.  Our kids declared that they prefer Minnesota’s history center with its Grainland climbing structure, but they also learned a lot at the Texas history museum.

From Austin, we headed west on 290 and then wound our way down through the small town of New Ulm, Texas.  This was a quirky thing to do since we live near the town of New Ulm, Minnesota.  Minnesota’s New Ulm is much bigger, but it was fun to see the other town of the same name.  It was also interesting to see the sign indicating the first German settlement in Texas, in 1931, in nearby Industry.

We got into Houston and didn’t fare too badly in the traffic.  Houston may not look so big on a map, but it certainly is sprawled out.  We stopped for supper at 5 p.m., not knowing if everything would be booked with New Year’s celebraters, but we walked right in to a restaurant and had a good meal.  From there we stopped at a grocery store for more bread and sandwich meat, and then headed to a New Year’s Eve church service.

After church, we had a 30-minute drive to Galveston.  The balcony in our room is supposed to have a view of the Gulf of Mexico, but we won’t know for sure until morning.  We’re set back a bit farther from the shoreline than I’d expected.

The kids all fell asleep on the drive here, so putting them to bed consisted of rousting them out of the car and into the room.  Hubby and I will turn in early as well.

A year ago were in the northeast U.S., and a year later we’ve traveled many miles and are in Texas.  It’s been a year of many adventures traveling with these kids of ours, and I’ve loved (almost) every minute of it.  We’ll see what 2010 has in store for us.  I hope you’ll continue reading about our adventures.

Related:  Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 8 Notes from the Road:  Texas, Day 10

I’ll say this: Texas likes its historic markers.  We stopped for the first one indicated, and then made a three-mile trip through back backroads to Polly’s Church near Pipe Creek.  We enjoyed this drive through the ranches and across creeks before returning to the road to Bandera.

After a while, we decided we couldn’t stop for all the historic markers or we’d never get to Austin!  There are a lot of them, and they’re well-marked a mile ahead of time for the most part.  There’s a lot of Texas history that can be learned along the highways.

We drove through Bandera and then wound our way to Kerrville.  The “mostly cloudy” skies were bright blue and clear and it continued to warm up all day.  At Kerrville, we detoured to Hunt to see Stonehenge II, where we played a nice game of hide-and-seek.  We stopped at one of many roadside picnic areas for lunch, and then headed back through Kerrville.  There was no shortcut to Fredericksburg from Hunt, and it took a long time to go through Kerrville.  I was baffled that a town of 20,000 people would have four McDonald’s.  Kerrville was a drawn-out mess of businesses and stoplights, which bodes well for the town but not for the traveler trying to move through.

Fredericksburg was a delight, my favorite stop of the day.  By the time we got there, it was 70 degrees.  We looked at the Vereins Kirche in the beautiful Marktplatz, and debated going ice skating in the seasonal rink.  Wouldn’t it be funny for a family who’d driven from Minnesota to go ice skating in Texas?  In the end, we opted for some time on the playground instead.

We were amazed at the number of businesses in Fredericksburg, and especially the number of people in town.  Parking spaces were all full and people were bustling in and out of the shops on the main street.  With business names like “Haus,” we were reminded much of New Ulm, Minnesota, but although smaller in population, Fredericksburg seems to have a much healthier main street.

We stopped for ice cream on our way out of town, and then headed to Pedernales State Park.  There we hiked down to the falls and enjoyed the rest of the warm afternoon.

Usually my husband drives, but I took the last stretch into Austin, and by the time we got there his all-day headache had gone fully into migraine mode.  Thankfully we are at a hotel with an evening reception so the kids and I went down the hall to eat while he slept.  When we came back, I did my best to keep them at a whisper and got them into bed.  No one’s been sleeping in the car, so 7:00 bedtime has been working pretty well.  We’re up early in the morning just like at home, so the readjustment to school should go well.

I’d love to return and see the rest of Hill Country.  I had planned to drive about three times as much as we had time for, and we didn’t see the LBJ sites, or spend any time shopping in the towns along the way.  There are RV parks all around here, so maybe someday we’ll come back and stay longer.

Tomorrow’s plan is to spend some time in Austin, then head to Houston and then start for home.  So far, so good!

Related:  Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 7 Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 9

First stop, the San Antonio Children’s Museum.  With three floors in an old storefront downtown, there’s a lot to do here.  I followed my youngest as she explored everything in the museum; the older kids discovered the ball-suction-tube area and would have stayed there all day if allowed.  We got there right as the museum opened at 10 and it steadily filled up after that.  In a couple of hours, we had done everything we wanted to do there.  I was impressed by the number of staff and volunteers at the museum, especially in the store area.  Children’s museums often have pretend stores, but this one was impressive in size, had a real scanning checkout, and had staff on hand to help put items back on the shelves.  We spent a lot of time in that area.

It was still raining at lunchtime, so we headed across the street to the Buckhorn Saloon.  Here we had decent burgers and chicken fingers, although the “affordable” prices that were advertised were not bargains.  Kids’ meals were $5.99 and included a burger/chicken strips/grilled cheese, fries, and drink.  Hubby and I split a 1/2 lb burger with fries for $8.49.  It wasn’t outrageous, but cost more than we’d expected.

Son #2 really wanted to go to the combination Buckhorn/Texas Rangers Museum, but at $20 for adults and $14 for kids 3+, it would have been spendy even with the $1/ticket discount for eating in the cafe.  (It would have cost even more than Ripley’s, believe it or not!)

Instead, we went to the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures in Hemisfair Park.  We had a coupon, so it cost us about $32 to get in, and it was very interesting.  Although there weren’t a lot of hands-on activities for the kids, there were lots of pictures as well as various homes set up throughout the museum.  The kids liked the film that is shown hourly in the central rotunda; we were there long enough to see it twice.  Most interesting about this museum was the number of cultures that are represented in Texas today.  I learned a lot by reading the exhibit boards and could have spent a lot more time there.

Last stop was the Witte Museum.  We have a reciprocal membership that we had planned to use, and I had read that the museum was open late on Tuesdays.  I had neglected, however, to notice that it’s free from 3-8 on Tuesdays, so when we arrived at 2:50 people were lining up for free admission.  Free admission=crowds, so we made a beeline for the H-E-B (is that pronounced H. E. B. or “heb”?) Treehouse area.  This is a four-story interactive science area for kids.  After spending some time there, we walked back through the regular part of the museum, but in one gallery the combination of dim lighting, keeping track of the kids, and the crowds had me near panic stage so we headed for fresh air.  (Strangely, Hubby had been feeling the same kind of light-headedness in that area.)

We hit the road back to the hotel at 4:00 and were surprised at the lack of traffic congestion on the San Antonio highways.  Are they better designed than Minnesota’s, or is it because of the holiday week?  We haven’t had any real traffic or navigation problems in San Antonio.

We’re eating leftover pizza tonight in the room.  (I sent my brother pics of last night’s pizza and it wasn’t my imagination.  He called it “one of the ugliest pizzas I’ve ever seen” and “embarrassing.”  So if you’re going to eat Pizza Hut pizza, I might shy away from San Antonio and try one in North Dakota instead.  At least it wasn’t my imagination that it wasn’t the quality we’re accustomed to.

Kids are watching PBS and we’ll try for early bedtime again tonight.  After four nights in the same hotel, we have to pack up everything and move on tomorrow.  The rain is supposed to move through and tomorrow should be warmer again.

We’re on the home stretch now–a few more days of fun and then we start heading north again.  I hope you’re enjoying following our journey.

Related:  Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 6 Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 8

The Missions were interesting, and the kids each had their favorites.  Our little one liked the information film at the Mission San Jose visitor center, and each of the others had something at the missions that was their favorite.  I liked seeing the artwork that had been painstakingly restored so that we could see parts of the original colors of the missions.  We went to Missions San Jose and Concepcion first thing in the morning and completed the Junior Ranger program, then headed downtown.

The Alamo was our first stop when we arrived downtown and it was very crowded.  Although it’s one of those places that you feel you should see while in San Antonio, and it’s free, the kids were not at all impressed with it.  My husband would like to learn more about the Alamo when he doesn’t have little ones tugging at him.

We at lunch on the patio of a restaurant on the Riverwalk and then strolled along the river.  Although the morning was cool, by afternoon it was in the mid-50′s and quite pleasant.  The kids had requested a river tour, but we waited too long to do it.  By the time we got in the ticket line at 2:00, all tickets were sold out until boats leaving after 4 p.m., when it would be first-come, first-served.  The kids’ legs, as well as their patience levels, were wearing thin by then, and we weren’t sure how well they’d handle the wait.

The boys begged to go to Ripley’s Believe It or Not but that was far too expensive for our tastes.  Instead, we drove back to the missions we’d missed in the morning, San Juan Capistrano and Espada, and then went back to our hotel.

We ordered in pizza, and while we were waiting for it to arrive, I ran to the nearby Target for a few things we needed.  I got back just in time for the pizza, which was mediocre at best.  (My husband joked that a blogging mom with a Pizza Hut regional manager for a brother is a deadly combination when it comes to not-up-to-snuff Pizza Hut pizza.)  The kids declared it good, however, especially since ordering pizza isn’t something we ever do from home.

We’re attempting an early bedtime since the kids have had some long days.  It’s 7:10 and at least two are asleep now.  We have some board games and card games in the room that we can play in the morning if they wake up too early.

Tomorrow’s supposed to be cold (low 40′s) and rainy, so we have indoor activities planned.  Maybe if the skies are clear we’ll put on our winter coats and attempt the river tour.

We’ll see.

Related:  Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 5 Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 7

Today we shuffled the itinerary a bit.  We had planned to visit Sea World on Tuesday, but a high of 43 and rain in the forecast made us think twice about that.  Today was forecast to be 60 and sunny, so after church, we headed out to see Shamu and company.

I had been to Sea World in San Diego when I was a kid, 1984, I believe.  I don’t remember too much about it except that it was one place Mom made sure we saw.  (Other stops on that trip were Disneyland, Old Town San Diego, the Wild Animal Park, and an overnight stay in Lawrence Welk Village.  Those were the days.)

Since I don’t remember much about that Sea World trip, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  Above all, I was hoping the crowds wouldn’t be too bad.

We found Sea World to be an interesting mix of zoo, aquarium, and amusement park.  The admission price was steep by my standards, but we did spend six hours there.  If we’d had taller, or more adventurous, kids, we would have been there longer to go on more rides. We each had our favorites:  the penguins, the rides, Shamu, the Sesame Street show.  We rented a double stroller and it saved some sanity by keeping the number of wandering-off and whining-about-tired-legs kids down; on the other hand, we were continually having to go back and retrieve it from the stroller parking areas after every show.

The shows were good; they were probably my favorite part of the day.  I was surprised at how full the seating areas were, even though this was an off-season day at the park.  Unfortunately, we didn’t realize how popular the Shamu show would be, so when we arrived 15 minutes early we had to sit in the splash zone.  You might not think this would be a big deal, but when you’re three and Shamu flaps his tail and gets you soaked, it’s a little different.

After Sea World, we ate supper and headed back to the hotel.  I’m not much good for deep thought tonight, so I think I’ll hit the sack and revamp our daily plans in the morning.

Good night!

Related: Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 4 Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 6

From Baton Rouge, we zoomed east on I-10.  The raised road through swamp land was interesting.  (Is there a technical name for a road on stilts?  Bridge? Causeway? Something else?)  We saw fields of rice and sugar cane and passed trucks carrying both commodities along the way.  For us, it is very interesting to see varying types of agriculture, and if we’d found the right opportunity, we’d have turned off onto a road and watched the southern farming operations in action.

Instead, we turned south at Sulphur.  We have a morning at the beach planned for later in the week, but concern about weather led us to detour for a while so we could at least do some shell hunting.  From Sulphur down to Holly Beach was about 30 miles through bayou land and the Creole Nature Trail.  We saw alligator crossing signs, fishing or trawling boats, and not much else along the way.

On our map, between Holly Beach and Johnsons Bayou there was a picnic area symbol.  We thought we’d stop and eat lunch at this park area and then walk along the beach.

Instead, at Holly Beach we found a sobering surprise.

There were maybe a dozen colorful houses, raised up an entire story of the ground.  Paved streets were laid out with stop signs and street signs.  A sign pointed to a convenience store with all the necessary items.

The surprise was in what wasn’t there.

Block upon block of Holly Beach had foundations of houses that once were there.  RV’s sat on lots in some areas, but most were deserted.  An occasional porta-potty dotted the landscape.

It reminded me a lot of old Hibbing, Minnesota, the town that moved south a few miles in the early 1900′s, leaving behind streets and foundations but no life.

Those of us who live in the north hear about hurricanes and their destruction, but I wasn’t quite prepared for the devastation Ike left behind a year and a half ago.

We drove farther west, past other small communities that had faced the same fate.  Some houses were being rebuilt.  Some were lived-in, but still had boarded up windows.  Some had simply been vacated.

We never did find our picnic area.  Instead, we stopped at the end of a street, ate our lunch in the car, and donned our winter coats for a walk on the beach in the 44-degree air.  Yes, it was cold even for us.  It’s unusually cold for this area of the country.

The kids had fun finding shells, and each picked up a small bagful.  Debris also littered the beach, and large chunks of concrete, bricks, and other remnants of the old community form a sea wall now, separating the homes from the beach somewhat.

It wasn’t a very pretty sight to see.

Down the road in Johnsons Bayou, I noticed the ample number of swings on the school playground before I noticed that the concrete school building was in ruins.

Other than a few homes here and there, and these communities that are now so changed, the only other things on the landscape were operational sites for oil companies.

As we neared Port Arthur, Texas, we heard a sound from the car, and three of us asked simultaneously, “What was that?”  A few miles later we found out as the tire pressure light came on in the car.  There was nowhere safe to stop along the narrow road, so we limped along for a few miles until there was a gas station.  We pulled in to assess the situation and found that our driver’s side rear tire was completely flat.

Now, a flat tire on vacation might seem like a really bad thing, but we’re feeling that we were very blessed with it for these reasons:

• We had just driven 60+ miles with nary a gas station or other business to be seen.  My husband was able to change the tire on a flat, paved, safe surface, the kids had room to move around and play outside, and there were restrooms and snacks available in the convenience store.
• We were only 10 miles from Port Arthur.  A call to AAA gave us the name and phone number of a tire shop.
• The tire shop was next to a shopping area, so we ate an early supper and let the kids browse at toys while we waited.
• We really didn’t have anything planned for today other than driving to San Antonio.  The tire stop put us on a later arrival than we’d planned, but we got in just after 9 p.m.
• We had talked about replacing the tires when we got home.  This saves me the trip, and we now have four new tires to drive on for the rest of our trip. Perhaps most surprisingly, they had snow/mud tires available, and a call to a shop in Minnesota to be sure they’d be decent let us know that they are good northern tires.

And so it is that we weren’t excited about the prospect of a flat, it certainly could have been worse.

We continued on our way, zooming through Houston without any traffic problems.  The drive from San Antonio to Houston was dark and long but uneventful.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings, though, as one of the girls had a fever when we arrived at our hotel.

The kids learned some important lessons today.  We had a good talk about hurricanes and evacuation lanes and how people must have felt to have to flee their homes, not knowing what would be there when they returned.  They learned about flexibility and changing plans and making the best of an unplanned situation.  And they learned that yes, they can indeed fall asleep in the car even if their blankies have been buried under coats in the spare-tire shuffle.

It took us four days, but we finally made it to San Antonio.  Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be able to get out and explore our destination city.

Note: I’ll have photos of the places we visited in the weeks to come.  At the end of the day, it’s all I can do to write these updates.  Details on our stops will be forthcoming.

Related: Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 3 Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 5

Today was quite uneventful, driving-wise.  We left Cape Girardeau, Missouri, at 7 a.m. in light snow and a lot of wind, but the roads were fine.  We got quite a geography lesson heading south.  I didn’t realize the Mississippi River valley was so flat–almost like the Red River Valley in North Dakota.  We saw fields of cotton and rice that still had stalks standing, and a lot of flooding from the heavy rains of the past few days.

We pulled in to Memphis in time for a beautiful Christmas Day song service.  One of the things we enjoy when traveling is attending church services along the way.  We attend church regularly at home, and it’s no different when we’re on the road.

Our biggest concern about driving on Christmas Day had been finding a place to eat.  On the way from the church to the Interstate, there were three restaurants open near one interchange.  We chose IHOP and had a nice meal before getting on the road again.

From Memphis, we headed south on I-55.  After a 3-hour drive, an hour church service, and then sitting through lunch, we weren’t sure how the kids would do for the rest of the day.  They were real troopers, as we drove from 12:45 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. with just one stop.  The kids had a few minor arguments, but for their third day of 8-hour drives, they did pretty well.  Two napped in the car, two didn’t, and we listened to a lot of music and had snacks along the way.

We got to Baton Rouge just after dark and it was 44 degrees outside.  Apparently, that’s quite cold for this territory, but we’re glad to be clear of the snow.

I made a quick supper in our room and now we’re having a quiet movie night.  Bedtime will be soon and in the morning we hope to finally make it to Texas.

Midwesterners, please chime in with a weather report.  Are we missing a good, fun winter snow, or did we do well to get out when we did and head south?

Related: Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 2 Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 4

Hubby and I both prayed for the same thing last night:  thanks for getting safely to a stopping poing, and a prayer for a hole in the weather that we could sneak through to continue our journey.

If the hole hadn’t been there, we would have stayed in the Dells.  We may be adventurous, but we’re not risk-takers.  Thus, we were a little apprehensive when we awoke this morning.  (Actually, I had heard sleet on the window at 2:30 a.m. and checked the radar and road reports, likewise at 5:00.)  My husband, however, slept well all night and didn’t know what would greet him when he looked out the window.

It wasn’t too bad.  Although the car did have a layer of ice on it, by the time morning came it was 33 degrees and was raining lightly.  We took our time at breakfast, packed up, and rolled out at 8:30 a.m.  The best news I had all morning was talking to the desk clerk who had driven in from the north and said the Interstate was clear.  The roads in town were still snowy, but the Interstate was just wet.

All in all, it was a gloomy day to be driving, and we drove in rain, sometimes heavy, for all but about 30 minutes of the 9.5 car hours.  Northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin had ice-covered trees; that combined with the snow made it look like something out of Narnia.

We left Wisconsin Dells at 8:30 a.m. and had lunch at McDonald’s at 11 in central Illinois; trying to assemble a picnic in pouring rain didn’t really appeal to me.  We got through St. Louis and the kids were excited to drive past the Gateway Arch even though it was raining.  (They were even more excited to learn that Dad and I had been up in the Arch before.  We’ll return to St. Louis and the Lincoln sites in Illinois on another trip.)

Just south of St. Louis in the small town of Pevely, we stopped for supper at 4:00, hoping to find a restaurant that hadn’t closed early for the holiday.  Subway and Burger King were already closed, but guess what was open?  Yes, McDonald’s.  So amidst warnings of “don’t count on eating at the arches again on this trip,” we did our second McDonald’s stop of the day.  The manager was very nice, and brought out a bag of cookies and toys for the kids to open once she learned we’d been on the road all day.  And on the way out, a man stopped to talk to my husband.  He was formerly from Minnesota and our accents had given us away.

We continued on to Cape Girardeau, now in the dark and quite heavy rain.  We checked into our hotel and changed clothes and then headed out to church.  We had called for service times earlier in the day and learned that it was a rural church we planned to attend.  The pastor asked if we needed directions, and then suggested Mapquest.  He had good reason to make that suggestion, as the church was several miles from town on winding roads.  Our trusty GPS guided us there in the rain, and we attended a beautiful children’s Christmas Eve service.  With only four children in the program, it was not large or showy, but it was beautifully done and we sang all of our favorite Christmas hymns.  Just like home, the kids were excited for the candy bags that were given to all of the children at the end of the service.

Back at the hotel, we had missed their milk-and-cookies hour for Christmas Eve, but the staff brought a plate to our room for us.  Now the children are asleep, with visions of sugarplums in their heads, and Santa has just one more cookie to eat before performing his duties.  It’s amazing how he can find children even if they’re in unplanned hotel rooms for Christmas.

We’re hoping to have less rain tomorrow so that we can actually enjoy the drive a little more.  The kids are hanging in there; they got a little squirrely for a while but playing some Alabama put them back on track.  One of the worst things about the rain today was the additional noise it made; we had to have the kids shout from the back for us to hear them in the front as the rain was hitting the windshield.

On a side note, something fun that’s coming of the trip that was unplanned is the number of state capitals we’re going through.  Today was Madison and Springfield.  Tomorrow will be either Little Rock or Jackson and Baton Rouge.  By the time we get home, we have the possibility of adding Austin, Oklahoma City, Topeka, and Des Moines as well.  That is, unless hubby’s comment about having to come home through Colorado and Utah comes true.  Here’s hoping we have better weather for the return drive.

Thanks to all who are following us on our trip.  We’ll keep you posted as to how things are going.  Our journeys are always interesting in some way or another.

I’m also going to give shout-outs to some people who made our trip-planning and re-planning easier.  Meteorologist Mitch Keegan at KEYC in Mankato, MN, has social networking figured out.  He’s given me advice on twitter and via his daily live chat and helped us think the possibility of an eastern detour might just work.  Theresa Jorgensen’s site, Six Suitcase Travel, has been invaluable as I book and rebook hotel rooms.  Instead of combing through dozens of hotel sites for each city, only to find that none have a room large enough for us, I go right to Six Suitcase Travel and get the short-list of hotels that will work for us.  If you have a family of five or more, you should be using Theresa’s site every time you travel.

Where will we end up tomorrow?  We don’t really know.  Our little one just keeps asking when we’re going to be in Texas.  Soon, sweetie, soon, we hope.

A blessed Christmas to you all.

Related: Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 1 Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 3

Last night was a little bit of deja vu.  We’d been planning a trip to Texas since Thanksgiving, just for fun.  This one was my husband’s idea.  He liked the idea of 65-degree weather on Christmas to break up the long Minnesota winter.  The vacation planner of the family (me) took over, and we had plans to spend Wednesday with family, have the kids be in the church children’s program Christmas Eve, and leave bright and early Friday morning for Texas via Iowa.

Then the weathermen got involved.  “Big storm coming,” they said.  We watched the storm track and told my parents, who were planning to be with us Christmas Eve and then head to Ohio to see my sister, that they had our blessing to outrun the storm.  They did, and are safely in Ohio.

My husband and I tossed around a lot of ideas.  Maybe going farther to the west, through Nebraska and Kansas, would help.  Then we looked at the forecast for those areas and decided it didn’t look so good.

We thought that if we could get out on Saturday rather than Friday, we could still do the trip.  Saturday’s still not looking good for travel in Minnesota and Iowa.

We even got a little crazy and thought, if the storm’s coming from the south, maybe we could escape it by going north and west.  What’s Seattle like this time of year?  I think our last name should be Adventure.  Or Crazy.  Or Alternate Plans.

After watching and waiting and planning and watching another forecast and replanning, we had the trip all but canceled.  But we kept watching.  And we found a possibility.  Although Iowa looked to be out of the picture, by heading east through Madison and down through Illinois, we might be able to miss most of the ice and a lot of the snow.  We’d also have to leave earlier than planned.

So, yesterday, we packed up the car–clothes for the six of us for eleven days, boots and snowpants for everyone in addition to the normal winter survival gear, a cooler and a box of food for keeping food costs down, and of course all of the trip-planning material–and headed to my husband’s parents’ house for his family’s Christmas get-together.

Here’s the irony:  While most people who are traveling are attempting to see family members, we ended up leaving our family early to start on vacation.

For this year’s trip, we have a slightly different informatin arsenal than last year.  We both have Blackberry-type phones, and mine can be tethered to my laptop for use as a modem.  So as we were driving, trying to decide if our route should be through Minneapolis or Rochester, I was flying at the keys, looking at the radar and road conditions.

For a short period of time, it had looked like we might be able to zoom through Iowa without too much trouble.  But within the course of an hour, their road reports for I-35 in the north half of the state went from wet and “partly-covered” to “completely covered–towing services prohibited” to “travel not advised.”

We’re thankful to have the tools that helped us avoid that route, and we headed east instead.

It was snowing most of the way.  Roads were clear in some areas, and snowy in others, but for the most part we had our wheels on the pavement instead of packed snow.  We drove from anywhere between 25 and 50 miles an hour, and added 1.5 hours to a normally 6-hour trip.  Visibility was good the whole way, and I was never really nervous about the drive as long as we could take it slow and steady. Most other travelers were doing the same.

Just after Mauston, Wisconsin, we started seeing more cars in the ditch.  We had discussed Madison or Portage as stopping points, but seeing the road conditions website info and watching the conditions deteriorate, we decided on Wisconsin Dells.

The last 15 miles were slow going and we were happy to get off the road and to our hotel.

So here we are again, on Day 1 of our winter vacation, having left ahead of schedule and being parked at Wisconsin Dells.  Today will be our make-or-break-it day.  The freezing rain is supposed to switch to rain at some point during the day, and we’re hoping to be able to head south safely through Madison and Rockford, Illinois.  If we clear that area today, we should be out of the snow and ice zone.  Here’s hoping.

If we can’t get out of here comfortably today, we may be spending Christmas in the Dells.  Actually, if you’re going to get stranded somewhere in the Midwest in the winter, the Dells isn’t the worst place.  There are lots of hotels and amusement parks to help pass the time.

But we’re dreaming of Texas, and hoping that we can make a break for it to get there by the weekend.

For those who might be wondering, this eastern route will add 400 or 500 miles to the trip.  And four or five extra states.  The kids are excited about that.

This situation is exactly what I meant by my #1 travel tip of planning, yet being flexible.  We’re thankful that we’re road-tripping, where we can call the shots and change plans as necessary.  Getting stuck in the Dells would be much better than getting stuck in an airport for Christmas.

With that long post, I’ll leave it as a cliffhanger and wish you all a very merry Christmas.  Safe travels!

Related:  Notes from the Road: Texas, Day 2

They made it to within 15 miles of their goal.  When they learned their fate, the arguing turned to tears.  And we kept driving.

By the last day of a vacation, it seems that we just want to get home.  So we took the fastest route, made a quick stop for lunch, and made it home by early afternoon.

Now we have laundry to do, a garden to tend, a lawn to mow, and of course all the mail to read.  Vacation is fun, but I think the kids were ready to get home again.  School starts in just a few weeks, so we need to get back into the routine of home.  On the other hand, with precious few days left of summer, we’ll probably find another outing to enjoy before our schedule is once again taken over by the school calendar.

It’s been a fun summer for us.  Have you done anything interesting this summer?

After lunch, we debated our options and decided against the children’s museum and state capitol because of the kids’ state of being at the time.  (Read: sharing, taking turns, and being quiet were not going well for them.)

We decided on a nice drive through the countryside–who doesn’t love a nice Sunday drive?–but we needed a destination.  With my Wisconsin travel guide in hand, I spotted the Milton House museum in Milton and remembered that The Mother of All Trips and her family had enjoyed a visit there.  As we wound our way between farm fields and through small towns, we remarked that we might happen upon a small-town festival of some sort.

When we got to Milton, we found our festival right there at the Milton House.  Fun and concessions in the park, special activities at the museum, and a craft show outside had the street blocked off, so we found a place to park and jumped right in.  The history in the Milton House was fascinating, especially the tunnel and cellar that protected slaves along the Underground Railroad.

We meandered back into Madison for supper, and now the kids are enjoying a movie night in our hotel room while Hubby reads and I take advantage of the wi-fi.  We’re heading home tomorrow but haven’t decided what, if anything, we’ll do along the way.  Time to get the travel guide out again!

Next: Day 5

I had planned a few places to visit in the Baraboo area, but we arrived at Circus World at 9:20 and didn’t leave until 2:30.  It’s more than just a museum; there are many circus shows, and the times are planned so you can just move from one to another all day long.  The kids were too shy to participate in the Interactive Children’s Circus in the morning, but by the afternoon showing, they raised their hands to volunteer.

I was also glad to learn that I wasn’t imagining that there was once a Ferris Wheel at Circus World.  My grandma took my cousin and me there when I was 10 years old, and I’ve always remembered that Ferris Wheel ride.  I was disappointed to see it gone, and learned that liability insurance was the culprit.

After Circus World, we headed south out of Baraboo on Highway 12 to see the Land of Evermor.  It’s a lot filled with sculptures made from scrap metal of all sorts.  It’s somewhat reminiscent of North Dakota’s Enchanted Highway, but it’s all in one place and there are lots more sculptures.  At the Land of Evermor, you can see all the sculptures on foot.  It’s something interesting to see if you’re driving in the area.

Then it was back to Madison to have supper and spend some more time in the pool.  Our hotel pool is just the right size for our kids, and they’re showing off a lot of their swimming lesson skills.

Not too much vacation left.  The kids have figured out that our days of fun are drawing to a close, but we’ll see a few more things before we head for home.

Next: Day 4

Our next stop was the Cedar Grove Cheese Factory in Plain, Wisconsin.  I had tried to call ahead to be sure they were making cheese today, but I couldn’t get a good enough signal in Spring Green.  We drove to Plain, and as luck would have it, there were no tours today.

We set the GPS for our next stop and were delighted at the back roads it put us on.  Driving through the hills of southern Wisconsin reminded me a lot of driving in Brown County, Indiana, and near Zanesville, Ohio.

Cave of the Mounds is a National Natural Monument, and we took the one-hour tour.  It’s a beautiful cave, and the tour was done much the same as the Mystery Cave tour near Preston, Minnesota.

From Cave of the Mounds, we drove through Mt. Horeb and spotted some trolls along the street, and visited the Mt. Horeb Mustard Museum, where they showcase and sell all things mustard-y.

We returned to Madison, had supper, and let the kids splash in the pool for a while.  Almost everyone is asleep, so it should be a quiet evening, and another busy day tomorrow.

Next: Day 3

Then it was off to Wisconsin Dells.  After a quick bite to eat, we headed over to the Original Wisconsin Ducks.  These World War II-era vehicles operate on land and sea, so our tour took us through the woods and onto the water.  We all enjoyed the ride, but the “cheesy” (yes, this is Wisconsin, and that’s the caliber of the joked along the way) humor on the tour left the kids with blank looks on their faces.

We headed over to Pirate’s Cover, where they have 90 holes of mini golf.  We split up, and each group hit a different 18-hole course.  It was a nice evening once the light rain stopped, and it’s a well-kept-up course.

In the Dells, we used the savings card that comes with this year’s visitor packet.  With it, kids are free with purchase of adult admissions.  It will be a big money-saver on this trip.  It’s only good for a few more weeks, but if you’re heading to Wisconsin Dells this summer, be sure to get one of these cards.

Our trip to Madison had a little excitement when we were pulled over for driving without our headlights on.  This took us both by surprise, since our headlights are always on.  Then I realized we’d had service done on the van this week, and the setting must have been changed.  The officer sent us on our way with a warning, and it was a learning situation for the kids to see that the police are looking out for our safety, and how to behave if the police do pull you over.

I’ll write in detail later about the Country Inn & Suites, but for now I’ll say it’s going to be a pretty nice home away from home for our stay.  There may be a mom sneaking down for cookies every night after the kids are in bed. 

Off to start our next day of fun!

Next: Day 2

Friday we stopped at Lunds Landing west of Williston and had delicious Juneberry Pie and Juneberry Pancakes.  If you’re familiar with Juneberries, you know what a treat this is; if you’re not, you don’t know what you’re missing.

Then we continued on to Stanley to try a WhirlaWhip at the drug store’s soda fountain.  DQ thought they had something original with their Blizzard, but WhirlaWhips have been around since the 30′s or 40′s.  The machine in Stanley is the last original one known to be in use.

Then it was off to Minot and its Scandinavian heritage.  Even McDonalds has a Scandinavian flair to it!  The Scandinavian Heritage Park is beautiful with its replica and reassembled buildings.  The kids enjoyed the Roosevelt Park Zoo as well, although the Magic City Express wasn’t running around the park, to their disappointment.

We spent last night with friends; we had a good time catching up on the things of life while the kids played together.

Today was cold and rainy. Er, snowy.  Yes, it’s true, we saw several snowflakes on June 6 in North Dakota.  (Sorry, North Dakota tourism folks, it may be hard to convince people the state isn’t frozen all the time when it snows in June!)  Nonetheless, we saw the state’s (world’s?) largest walleye in Garrison, drove across the Garrison Dam, visited the Knife River Indian Villages, and then saw the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in Washburn before the 4-hour drive to my parents’ house where we were reunited with the youngest member of our family, who has been loving her one-on-one time with Grandma.

At the Lewis & Clark center, I bought a $5 audio CD about the Lewis & Clark trail in North Dakota; I wish I’d found this a week earlier as it was very informative and would have been good background info before we visited many of the sites.

We’ve driven about 1200 miles so far, I believe, and overall it’s been a good trip.  I wish I had another five or six days so we could have spread things out a little more and seen the rest of the state!

We’ll stay here for a few days before heading back to reality and responsibility, and then I can begin to write about the specifics of all the places we’ve visited.

Wednesday was spent in Medora and we had a beautiful day there.  With mini-golf and a wonderful children’s park right next to our hotel, the kids had a blast, but they also enjoyed Cowboy Lyle’s branding discussion and the children’s day tour of the Chateau des Mores.  We drove through Theodore Roosevelt National Park and saw the beautiful creation there, then went back into town to have some ice cream and shop a little.  In the evening, we ate at the Pitchfork Fondue, took the Behind the Scenes tour, and of course attended the Medora Musical.  Staff and volunteers were friendly and helpful everywhere we went, and the kids are asking when we can go back to Medora.

Today we drove from Medora up to the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, where one junior ranger earned his badge.  We stopped for lunch in Watford City but didn’t have time to see anything else.  We braved walking across part of an old railroad bridge (that’s a feat since I’m not fond of heights) before touring Ft. Union, Ft. Buford, and the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Center.

Everyone is finally settling in and a good night’s sleep will do us all some good.

It’s hard to believe we only have two days of touring left before heading to my hometown.  We’ve seen a lot of North Dakota that is interesting, fun, and family-friendly, and so far I’ve only used two tanks of gas.

Stay tuned for our further adventures, as well as details on all of the places we’ve visited.

Next: Days 7-8

I was so surprised that parking was abundant, close, and free.  This is such a difference from visiting the Minnesota State Capitol.  It was a real treat!

Speaking of treats, we happened to be at the Heritage Center next door during the state’s Summer Reading Program kickoff.  These people know how to have a fun event!  We got to hear the First Lady read a book, listen to a symphony orchestra, see a ballet, sign up for prizes, do craft projects, and step into a bookmobile in addition to seeing the Heritage Center itself.

Kim from the North Dakota Tourism Office stopped by to see how things were going.  Thanks, Kim, for all your help in organizing this trip.  We’re having a good time!  I also found out that my reputation has preceded me, as a park ranger from the Knife River Indian Villages put two and two together and said, “You’re the writer!”  We’ll be seeing her again later in the week.

We stopped at the Gateway to Science Center, which is a small but jam-packed science museum.  The kids had trouble deciding which exhibit was their favorite.

Our original plan was to ride the Lewis & Clark Riverboat but the cruise was canceled due to lack of reservations; the kids didn’t mind, however, as it gave them more pool time.

Tomorrow we head for regions farther west, so it’s about time for me to start packing.  I’ll keep you posted as I can.

P.S. I’ve been told that I’m the featured Famous Fan this week, so you can see my smiling face right on the main Famous Dave’s page.  If you want to help with this week’s weekly challenge, head over to my Famous Dave’s blog for more info.

Next: Days 4-6

We ate lunch at Space Aliens, which the kids think is fun–half for seeing the alien stuff and half because of the arcade.

Then it was off to Ft. Lincoln State Park, where we had guided tours of the On-a-Slant Village of the Mandan Indians and the Custer House.  It was a beautiful day to be out on the prairie.  My kids are in disagreement about this part of the day.  One says he thought there would be more to see at Ft. Lincoln (only a few of the buildings have been recreated); the other says the Custer House is much more exciting (his words) than the Commandant’s House at Ft. Snelling.  They were all impressed with how cool it was in the earthen lodges during the heat of the day.

Supper was at Paradiso–I almost forgot that kids are free on Sundays.  This is our family’s Grand Forks favorite but they have other locations around North Dakota.  I must be getting old, though, because after the chips and salsa, I couldn’t finish my seafood burrito like I could in the old days!

The Dakota Zoo was on our agenda for tomorrow, but the evening was so nice (and tomorrow’s forecast not-so-nice) that we spent the last two hours before closing there.  The kids each had some favorite animals, and they also liked the train ride around the zoo and the nice playground area.

Back to the hotel for some pool time, and soon to sleep.  There’s more to see in Bismarck tomorrow!

Don’t forget, specifics on the places we’ve visited will be forthcoming, but I like to give an overview of how we spend our days when we’re on the road.  We always manage to find a lot of fun!

At 70 degrees and sunny, it was a beautiful day to drive across North Dakota.  Everything is green due to the plentiful snow and rain they’ve had this year.  Several areas are still flooded.

In Jamestown, we were escorted through the pioneer village and National Buffalo Museum by Nina from the tourism bureau. (Thanks, Nina!)  The pioneer village receives 125,000 visitors a year.  Not too bad for only being open in the summer!  There’s a small charge for the National Buffalo Museum, but the rest of the area is free.  We spotted all three albino buffalo (the only ones in the world) from a distance, and of course took the kids’ pictures by the World’s Largest Buffalo, just as I did when I was little.   He’s 50 years old and was recently spruced up due to a grant from Hampton Inns.  (Thanks, Hampton Inns, for preserving landmarks such as this.)

The kids each left Jamestown with a souvenir: one a stuffed buffalo that he’s now snuggled up with in bed, on a “Birds of the Dakota” book, which he’s already compared with its Minnesota counterpart, and one with a beautiful necklace.    I also paid for pony rides since my daughter, who is generally very fearful of animals, asked for one.  She loved it!

In Steele, we stopped to see the World’s Largest Sandhill Crane.  We’ll see a few other Really Big Things before we get home.

Driving across North Dakota, I was struck by the varied terrain.  From the absolutely flat Red River Valley, it moves to rolling farmland and deep valleys at Valley City and Jamestown, and then more pastureland as you go west.  I had forgotten how many “no services” exits there were off the Interstate, but also how many small towns there are along the way that do have gas and food.  North Dakota has also done a nice job of making I-94 look nice.  The bridge and wall in Fargo are decorated with sunflowers and wheat, and the newer overpasses have a pretty diamond pattern to them.

We got to Bismarck for supper, and found a new favorite Famous Dave’s.  By the time we got to the hotel and spent a little time in the pool, the kids dropped into bed without a sound.

Look for details on the places we visited in the weeks to come, and I’ll try to update on the trip as Internet connections allow.

We did it!

Only 5 hours in the car today and the kids were much calmer.  We left Iowa City at 7 a.m. and got home just after noon with a quick stop for milk along the way.  Shortly thereafter, freezing rain started, so we were glad to be home!

The house was 40 degrees when we walked in; hubby figured out the problem and now it’s gradually warming up.  The older kids are wrapped in blankets, the youngest begged for a nap and is sleeping soundly, and we have the car unloaded and laundry started and piles of home-again things to do.

In the coming weeks I’ll share specifics and photos of the places we visited.  Thanks for following us along the way!