Day Seventy-Five: Music Trail

Yesterday, we decided that we were going to leave Texas today. Erik woke up early, which woke us up early. He had to work today, so we said our farewells. He was actually disappointed that we were leaving, which totally surprised us! After he left, the three of us had breakfast and talked for a few hours. I'm pretty sure it was Sarah's way of making us stay longer. It sort of worked. We ended up leaving around 9:00, which is probably our latest starting time all summer.
It took us about three hours to just drive out of Texas. There wasn't too much traffic, except for the beginning through Dallas. We got through that and some construction, and then it was a straight shot to Arkansas. I did find it kind of funny that you could tell what state you were in because all of the bridges on the Texas side of the border were accented with blue stars and the shape of Texas. Once we crossed over they were all red. There wasn't much in Arkansas. We did see the sign for Bill Clinton's birthplace, though. We ended up stopping in, or at least near, Little Rock. It didn't seem like a big city, which was kind of surprising. It took about 4.5 hours of driving to get through the whole state. There wasn't much on the other side of Little Rock either, except for a bunch of trucks. We did see a circus drive by, with all of their rides. One of them was broken down on the side of the road.
We decided that since we were so close to the Mississippi border, we were going to dip down so we could add it to our list. The city of Southaven is right on the border. We were afraid they didn't have a sign since it had been like three miles into the state before we saw it. We turned around and headed back for Tennessee. Actually, we crossed into Tennessee, then Mississippi, and then back. So, we drove through Memphis and stopped for a coffee. We kept going towards Nashville. We got into the city around 10:00. We were planning on stopping and spending a few days there, but decided to keep going. We ended up finding a hotel about 15 minutes outside of Nashville, on the eastern side. It was a good time to stop. It was in a small town, with not much around. Another early start tomorrow!

States Visited: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho,Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, , South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming (24/50)

Day Seventy-Four: It's Starting to Feel Like Fall. A Little...

Today is our last full day in Texas. Sarah and Erik are not very happy with us leaving...Our day started off pretty slow. We finished up some more crafting and did some hunting (jobs, etc.) in Washington. We took a quick trip to the store to pick up some things for dinner. Sarah and I made a bet. Who knew cheese and cheese product does not necessarily have to be refrigerated?! We stopped at Starbucks, since today was the first day they had their pumpkin spice drinks out. It made us excited! The girl asked if we were double fisting- kind of wish we were able to!! But we were nice enough to share with Robyn and Erik. Nothing is more fall than a pumpkin spice latte and weather that is cool and breezy!!
When we got back, we played with the puppies for a little bit. Luna played ball with us. Woody is finally getting used to us being around, and now that we're going to be leaving... He was friendly enough and came up to us, without barking!! A little later, we started dinner. We made queso (aka cheese dip) and quesadillas. The dip was surprisingly delicious, and a little spicy. The quesadillas were pretty good, too. Not a huge fan of BBQ'd chicken quesadillas, but they were different, so it was good.
Tonight, Sarah thought it would be a good idea to read scary stories. She started reading us one by Stephen King called "1408". Robyn switched with her. I was sitting all by myself. It's about an author who wants to stay in a haunted hotel room, but the concierge was trying to convince him not to. I couldn't tell you how it ended. The beginning of it was a little slow, and I ended up waking up right after Robyn finished reading it. She tried to explain how it ended, but I didn't get it. After a nice nap, we stayed up a little longer and talked a little more and packed up. Now it's bedtime- getting ready for another long day tomorrow. The break has been really nice!!

Day Seventy-Three: Happy Labor Day

Since Emily had a lot to do today, we left College Station pretty early. The drive to Euless wasn't too bad, except that the closest coffee place was an hour away. It was a long hour, but it was worth it! We had a pretty easy drive back, so it was good. We got back to the house at 11:30 and filled Sarah and Erik in our excursion. Not sure who won the bet- Erik says he did, but I'm not sure if he actually did... At around noon, we headed over to Sarah's parents' house for lunch. We had chicken and ribs and some pretty amazing mashed potatoes (Sarah made them...) Sarah's Grandmother came over after lunch, so we spent some time talking. It was rather interesting, to say the least! Here's to the shaggy outdoors-man and the clean-cut business man!! But, we can't take anything too seriously! As we were talking, Sarah's dad and granddad cleaned Robyn's car. It looked great! After a few hours, it was time to leave. We were planning on going for a 'yog' with Sarah, but it was getting late. So, instead, we watched some television and chilled out. Later on, I went out to see the puppies, and all of a sudden, there was another stuffed animal on the patio. I hadn't seen this toy yet, and they told us about the possums the dogs play with. It looked like a baby possum but the dogs weren't doing anything about it. All of a sudden, it turned over, off the patio, and the dogs ran over to it. We got the dogs away and sent Erik to scoop him up. He was not very happy about it, and the possum started to move, but decided against it. Erik move it, so hopefully the dogs won't find it and attack.

Day Seventy-Two: Aggieland

We started out pretty early today. Last night, we finalized our plans with Emily and decided to visit her. We left early to drive down to College Station, to Texas A&M. We started out by looking for a Dunkin Donuts. Apparently the only one on our route was in Cowboy Stadium. Needless to say, we didn't get it and it was a little disappointing. Our way down wasn't too exciting. We did see a pretty big fire, with lots of smoke, drove through Baylor, and then a whole lot of nothing. Finally, we made it to College Station and reunited with Emily. It was great to see her again! We went to the Texas A&M football game against SMU. It was absolutely crazy there! Nothing like the college football games we've been to. There were so many people there, all the girls in their little game-day dresses and cowboy boots, and all the maroon. It's a good thing I had a grey tank-top on- the yellow would have definitely stuck out in the crowd. Apparently some girl gave me a dirty look because of what I was wearing. We met her friends down there, played some boccie (Robyn is pretty good in the short game), and tailgated a little. We watched the game on the jumbo-tron. They won by quite a bit. Apparently, now we have someone to stay with when we visit southern Texas and the Houston Space Center. After the third quarter, we left and headed back to Emily's apartment (it's really cute!) Her friend had to decorate an "I'm sorry" cake, which was pretty impressive for a guy. We went to bed pretty early, since Emily had to work early on Labor Day.
(Emily- thanks so much for having us! We had a great time and it was wonderful to see you again! Glad we could bring a little bit of home down to Texas for you!! Hope you got everything done today!)

Day Seventy-One: The Best Way to Spend a Very Hot Saturday

So, I'm not going to lie, it's been a few days since I've updated this. I was doing OK, and then fell off the bandwagon. So, this post is not quite full, but here's the gist. We spent today making arts and crafts. We worked on our "secret" project, which is adorable! We tie-dyed a little, which came out pretty cool. Much better than I had expected, actually. The colors looked good together. It seemed to take up a lot of time, so by the time we realized it, it was kind of late. I think we kept working on some projects, watched a movie, and came up with our plan for tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing Emily and can't wait!

Day Seventy: Already?!

I can't believe it's already been seventy days!! Only a few more to go, I think. Since Erik had to work and Sarah had work to do, Robyn and I decided that we would get out of their hair for a little while, and take away the distraction we cause. We went to the craft store to pick up some things for a project we're doing. It is so much nicer to go without someone complaining about being there...We found what we needed, and more, and then headed to Target to look around. We found the stores fine, but then we couldn't get back to their house. The GPS was all sorts of confused, leading us in the wrong direction. It took us an hour to get back, when it should have taken 25 minutes at the most. By the time we got back, our coffee was watered down and Robyn was not very happy. Erik made some snarky comments, which weren't appreciated.
We worked on our project for the night. It is about 1/2 way done and coming out adorably! So cute! We came up with some ideas for the holidays, and helped Sarah come up with some, too. Tons of projects to work on!! Can't wait. Our plan is to finish this project tomorrow and then we'll see what's next on our plate!

Day Sixty-Nine: What a Toot!

After Erik and Sarah convinced us they didn't have anything to do, we spent part of the afternoon out and about. We spent some time at Dave & Busters, which is like a grown-up Chuck E. Cheese. We had some intense games or air hockey and basketball shoot-outs (imagine Erik and Robyn competing against each other. I think Robyn had more wins.) Sarah beat us all by a ton in the football throwing, but I guess that's the difference between southern high school football and Connecticut high school football. Not to brag, but I got the most tickets, at 500. Sheer luck. You can't put that many in your pocket, though. It doesn't fold up nice enough.
Afterwards, we came back and relaxed a little. We made some cookies, Sarah did some work, and Erik helped Sarah's Granddad do some work in the yard (I think. He was MIA for a while, so I'm not sure.) This evening, we went to dinner at the Melting Pot. Oh boy! Talk about too much delicious food and drink! We talked to the waiter- about Paula Deen and her butter obsession. He was also flirting with Robyn-Sarah kind of non-verbally put an end to it. We all ate too much and had a hard time staying awake! And making it to the bathroom in time, for some of us (hence, the title.) We had to throw the black flag in at the end. After dinner, we came back to the house and chatted a little. Tonight is a little earlier night than others. We'll see what tomorrow brings for us. We may have to spend some time planning out the rest of our trip, seeing as the storm is supposed to hit New Orleans soon, which is supposed to be our next big stop. Hope Sarah and Erik don't mind us staying a little longer...

Day Sixty-Eight: Movie Day

After looking through some magazines, taking up some more time, we decided to do some "work". We put Twilight in for our background movie and did some work. We pointed out the places we've been. Some applications were worked on, some blogs were updated, some e-mail was checked, etc. Erik wasn't too annoying watching the movies, which is a plus for him. After a while, we needed a break, so we made some dinner and played with the puppies for a while. Woody was excellent tonight! He only barked once and licked my hand a little. He's coming around to us, I think. Afterwards, Erik came home from work and we finished our Twilight day. I think we may work on some more craft projects tomorrow. We'll see.

Day Sixty-Seven: What an Interesting Night...

So, I have been told that it takes too long in between blog posts and that I'm not keeping up with them very well. (Thanks, Sarah...) So, here is today's post. On the correct day. We started off today by stopping at Starbucks, in order to get a daily dose of caffeine. I finally beat Erik at something, but I guess it's not something to be proud of. He gave in way too easily! We then went to the grocery store to pick up some stuff for dinner and dessert tonight. We're making some brownies tonight! So exciting!
In the afternoon, we tried to reintroduce ourselves to the dogs. Luna was fine once she found her ball and started playing with us. Woody has a massive bark for such a little pup and kept on barking. Hopefully he'll come around to us soon. We spent most of the afternoon crafting for Halloween. Since Sarah has her decorations up, she wanted to add some more to her get-up. We made some lanterns (which are super awesome, if I might say!) and some mice. They found their way through the house. Not my idea... Anyway, after that, we decided to take a break and spend some time making brownies. For gluten-free brownies, they were delicious! They weren't dry and crumbly and they tasted great! We watched a movie, too, as we were making dinner, which was boneless buffalo chicken. It was a little too spicy, but eatable. With a little help.
Erik had to work, so we spent the night updating the blog, looking on-line, etc. We've learned some interesting (although maybe not necessary) information. Sarah and Erik would like a longer blog post tomorrow, so we were trying to plan something. By the looks of it, it will be a short one tomorrow...

Day Sixty-Six: Another Manic Monday

Actually, no. It was very laid back. Erik had to work early today, so us girls spent the morning talking. By the time we were finished, Erik came home. After a few minutes of "What do you want to do today?" we decided to go out. We drove through the Dallas area. We didn't get too lost, until we tried to get back to the house. Luckily, we had the GPS to get us back, and to a gas station. Also fortunately, we didn't have to push the car to the station!
After getting back to the area, we went to Joann's to get some stuff for some projects. Erik was not very happy to be there (apparently, it's his least-favorite store. I don't know why.) We had everything under control, but it was taking too long for Erik. So, like a man, he took over the list and delegated. We were able to find everything, so now we'll have a project for tomorrow.
When we got back to the house, we watched a movie and made dinner. We spent the night watching another movie and now it's time for bed!

Day Sixty-Five: I Know Today is Sunday, but...

So we found out that today is Son's Day. What the heck is Son's Day?? Isn't Erik's birthday enough?? I get Mother's Day and Father's Day, maybe we should have a Daughter's Day? Perhaps the 3rd Sunday of July... What do you think?
Anyway, so after sleeping till 11, we went out for "Son's Day Dinner" to BJ's (not the wholesale club!) They had a ton of beers to choose from! And really good food that we brought home for leftovers. After lunch, we went over to PetSmart and found some Halloween fairy wings and bones. We also played with the kittens who were up for adoption.
Then we went over to Sarah's parents' house and met the dogs! They are Luna (a pound puppy mix of somethings) and Woody (a rat terrier). Woody's head is too small for his body and gets made fun of for his not proportional body. (He also has a nubbin for a tail...) They like to bark a lot. Especially Woody. We're working on being friends. Luna likes to play ball and is a good sharer. Then we watched Tangled, a movie I can relate to on several levels. Now, it is time for bed. These time changes are throwing us off big time!

Day Sixty-Four: Deep in the Heart of Texas

Since we weren't able to get to the Four Corners yesterday, we started off today with it. We were able to pack everything up in 20 minutes and were out of the campground by 6:00. After stopping for gas and breakfast, we headed out to the Four Corners. Once you leave the town of Cortez, Colorado, there isn't much to see. The 4 Corners landmark is managed by the Navajo Tribe. We were able to get there at 7:05. We walked around to the corners of each state, read the marker for each of them, took some pictures and then headed off. We were glad we got there early, but it would have been neat to see the exhibits and shops the people were setting up. We didn't want to waste too much time, so we would be able to make it Texas tonight. After the 4 Corners, we headed towards Texas. We were told it would take 14 hours to get there. We already lost an hour or so, and we were super confused with the time changes. The first city we got to was Albuquerque, where we stopped to load up on some snacks (because that's what we do). We were told there wasn't much to do here, so we continued on.
After what seemed like driving through New Mexico for EVER, we made it into Texas. The first big city we got to was Amarillo. We stopped to get some coffee- boy, are there some strong accents here!! Eventually, the sun started to set, so we missed everything in between. We heard that was a good thing, since it wasn't very attractive. We did stop at one of the nicest rest stops- playground, picnic area, and tornado shelter! Even Sarah knew which one I was talking about when I mentioned it to her! (She says she knows all of the rest stops in the South.) Finally, we made it into Dallas-Fort Worth, which was the only point where Robyn got feisty with me- which is totally impressive at 11:00 at night. Although, I must say, the GPS was the culprit! We finally made it to Erik and Sarah's at 11:30 at night. We spent a while talking and catching up, and now it is definitely time to got to bed after such a long day!

States Visited: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho,Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming (19/50)