Travel Tuesday

For anybody coming to Nashville, here are a few things you need to know.

Me on Monday

Happy June 1st! I can't believe we're in June and haven't even had a single pool day yet! We had planned one for Saturday, but it rained.

Well, we're home from our Route 66 road trip. Why is it that it takes a couple days to get things done to get out of town? Then, when you get home, it takes a couple days to "catch up" on all the stuff you weren't doing while you were gone.

To top off the chore list, our credit card was hacked the day before our trip. There was no way that we could get a replacement card that quick. Butch has AMEX, but he can't always use that. Then, he remembered that our Sam's card is also a credit card. We've had that forever. So, when we used it for the first time on our trip, we got a message. It looked suspicious since we've never used it before for anything outside of Sam's. Luckily, we got it resolved quickly--especially since we were going to be using it in 7 different states!! 

When we got home, I had to try to remember all of the places where I had my credit card linked for auto charges like: Spotify, Netflix, Amazon, PayPal, SWA, my travel agent/friend, Mary and several others. Now I just have to wait and see what notices come in that my card is not working. What a hassle! I just hope my "fingerprint recognition" has updated my info. I've been spoiled by that!!

It rained just about the entire week we were gone. For the most part, that has been good for all our flowers. So much has bloomed while we were away. Here's the new view from my bedroom window:

The Annabelle hydrangeas are in full bloom!

On the other hand, my "sucker" plant--the fuscia--is not doing so well.

I'm hoping that it's just water-logged and will recover. 

This is how it looked when we left 10 days ago.

Basically, I got about a week with it. We'll see what happens.

This was a surprise--none of this was in bloom when we left.

The water hyacinth has its first bloom. This seems pretty early.

Everything on the patio is looking good.

I have some pruning and dead-heading to do, but I'm looking forward to enjoying the patio! We'll sit out here every evening all summer long.

Okay, that's enough about me on Monday. Just a lot of work. But, I am seeing a movie today--The Breadwinner with Nate Bargatze (pronounced: bear-get-ze). Looking forward to it.

Scrapbook Saturday

Our AYM layout for April was "this family room."

This layout was from our trip to Paris last June.

I cut the title on my Cricut and put it on an insert.

This is the other side of the layout. The envelope holds our trip journal.

This layout is in Mindy's album and reflects her Christmas decorations.

One year, she had this elf paper made with their pictures--so cute!

I loved it so much when Jordan texted me about finally getting rid of "my" 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee, I knew I had to scrapbook it!

When she turned 16, I gave her my car. She's had it for 15 years. Below is her text to me. I used her first line as my title. 

I was excited to scrapbook our trip to Costa Rica and did it pretty quickly when we got home in March. 

There is a folder on the left. The envelope on the right holds our trip journal. I printed the pineapple and then cut it out and used with a sticker I bought when I was there for the title.

My travel layouts are always very picture heavy! I don't want a lot of little books, so I always make the layout within the confines of one double-page spread. 

I already have my idea for Route 66 and can't wait to get started!

Friday Frustrations!

Well, I hate to end our Route 66 trip on a negative note, but I just couldn't believe my eyes!

We were sitting outside on a balcony overlooking a beautiful park and this cute cafe in Santa Fe, New Mexico having a drink and an appetizer. 

Along came a woman with a cute black and white cocker spaniel. All of a sudden, that dog did his business almost next to that family sitting there. I was shocked! The woman scooped it up--although she left behind a turd. Still, I couldn't believe it! Why in the world wouldn't she get that dog away from where people were trying to enjoy their dinner. That was disgusting! And how thoughtless. It definitely would have ruined my dinner. The smell alone would have been intolerable to me!

Really, I have no words.

Travelin' on Thursday

I decided to interrupt my normal Thursday post for a little more Route 66.

We were seeing this ice cream/restaurant all over Oklahoma. Finally, we stopped to check it out. We got turtle sundaes. The clerk told us that all of the shops have to be within 100 miles of the dairy so that all of the products could be fresh. 

It is also a market--fresh meat, cheese, ice cream--just about anything you can think of. The prices were very good. Ground sirloin was $9.99 a lb. Ground chuck in Nashville is $12 a lb. Our small sundaes which weren't all that small were $2.59 each. That's have the price of a Starbucks drink!

There were many murals all along the way. Lots of old-time gas stations, cafes, and motor courts/motels. We stopped all along the way and probably have 200 pictures to prove it!

We had the best dinner here--this is the oldest steak house in Texas! The food was so good. They started us off with yeast rolls. I ended up having a second one for dessert--they were that good! We both ordered the beef tips over horseradish mashed potatoes. Butch had Caesar salad while I had the coleslaw--I didn't love it. We shared the fried okra and the cowboy beans--both were delish. The portions were so big that we couldn't finish. I had iced tea and Butch had an old-fashioned (alcoholic beverage) and the bill--are you ready for this? The total bill was right at $60.00!!! Unbelievable! There were two cowboys going to each table to sing and play the guitar. I gave them a $5.00 tip. 

They have one of those deals that if you can eat a salad, 72oz. steak, 3 shrimp, roll, and a baked potato in one hour, the you get it for free. That's 4.5 lbs. of meat alone! There were two people doing it while we were there. They have them up on a platform. If that cannot do it, then they have to PAY $72.00! OMGosh! I told Butch that if we lived here, that would be a deal. Take the challenge, lose and take the leftovers home for 72 bucks!! In Nashville, a 6 oz. fillet is like 60 bucks! Talk about a deal!

We've had some great food on this trip and have been very surprised at the prices. Very reasonable! We had a fabulous breakfast at the MidPoint Cafe--half-way from Chicago and Santa Monica--1139 miles each way. We shared the plate with 2 eggs, 4 pieces of toast, hash browns, 2 lg. pieces of sausage and the half order of biscuits and gravy (3 huge biscuit halves smothered in delicious sausage gravy) and a humongous, gooey, hot cinnamon roll. Coffee and iced tea to drink. Total with tip--$35.00. Again, we couldn't eat it all. 

The table next to us had so much food--I don't think anyone shared. The boy ordered the pancakes. I have never seen anything like it. They were overlapping a dinner plate--and there were two of them--about a half inch thick. I'm not even sure how he ate them. Everything is definitely bigger in Texas!!

The green door on the left on the second floor was our hotel room. It was across the parking lot from the Big Texas Steak Ranch.

There was a sing to encourage you to sign the door. We didn't do it as there's no room left. I didn't think it seemed right to sign on the wall. Plus, I forgot about it. I might have signed on the door frame.

The wall were a corrugated metal. The doors to the bathroom were swinging bar doors. They were pretty loud. At first, I thought the kids next door were bouncing a ball on the wall. Butch figured it out that it was the doors. 

One of our stops was the Slug Bug Ranch.

They are buried in the ground.

And just down the road was the Cadillac Ranch. I had a thought that it was going to be muddy walking out there, so I passed on going. I'm glad I did!

Butch met Betty Boop at an old Texaco station! That was almost the highlight of his trip!!

But, something really fun happened! When we started this trip, we decided that we were only going to listen to 60's music on our Sirius radio. The famous DJ--Phlash Phelps--is our favorite. I made a sign before we left and used it in many of our pictures.

All along the way, as we took the pictures, Butch sent them to Phlash. Yesterday, as we were listening--he mentioned us along with many of our stops. It was such a fun surprise! We texted all of our friends and family! It was the highlight of the trip for Butch! There's something surreal about hearing your name on the radio!!

And that's how we "got our kicks on Route 66"!

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

Still on the "mother road"--cruisin' 66 as much as we can. I would highly recommend it--so much fun and dozens of interesting things to see. I'm so happy we did it now during the 100th anniversary. So far, as you read this, we have made about 65 stops over 3 days! Today we driving through Texas to Santa Fe, New Mexico. One more day and then home on Friday--late. 

Now on to "Words of Wisdom"!

I know what euphemisms are, but I have to admit, I've never heard the word dysphemisms. I'm not really sure how to pronounce it. Actually there's no need as I most likely will never remember this word! 

Still pretty interesting. I've heard many of them and have probably have used some too.

Travel Tuesday

Yesterday was a super busy day. We left Carthage, MO at 7:30 a.m. and didn't get to Oklahoma City until 6 p.m. I can't even get in to it all! But let's suffice it to say that we made over 45 stops! By stops I mean, just getting out of the car to take a photo. We did go inside a few places, but for the most part, it's just interesting-- original businesses and attractions as we traveled along Route 66.

Some of the highlights were:

Standing in 3 different states at the same time (Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma). 

Visiting the apartment where Bonnie and Clyde lived in Joplin, MO until they had a shootout right here--killing a lawman. I realize now that I should have edited out the trash can! I'll do that before printing.

Mickey Mantle's childhood home in Commerce, OK.

This one was quite a surprise.

The RAF Memorial in Miami, OK. 

Apparently, the RAF sent boys over for training and these boys were killed in accidents. Since it was Memorial weekend, there were flowers on each grave.

We stopped by the Paul McCartney sign. I had made the "Phlash Phelps" sign before leaving home. Butch has been emailing back and forth with him about the George Harrison billboard in Benton, Illinois (a little town where his sister lived and he visited). Phlash Phelps is Butch's favorite DJ on the 60's channel on Sirius Radio. We are listening to it our entire trip. I told Butch that I might be sick of 60's music by the time we finish and I might not want to ever listen again!! We'll see about that! It's comfort music to me! 

More about Paul McCartney:

He and his girlfriend stopped here while on his own road trip on Route 66 in 2008.

We decided to skip lunch as all our stops took a lot longer than we thought. Plus, we wanted to go to the Cattleman's Steakhouse in Oklahoma City--the oldest steakhouse--over 100 years old. By the time we got to the restaurant at 6:30, I was pretty "hangry!" I wasn't happy that we had to stop and check in at the hotel so Butch could change out of shorts--which turned out to be totally unnecessary as the restaurant was super casual. I was certain that we would have an hour wait at least. Instead, we walked right in and had a fabulous meal! Everything about the place is super old and not necessarily in a good way. But we were there for the food and it was so good. Butch got a steak, I got the cat fish. The homemade salad dressing and croutons were amazing too. 

Tomorrow, we leave OK and head to Amarillo, Texas. There won't be as many stops along this leg.

It's now 9 p.m. and I'm "pooped!"