Crazy Water and Dr. Pepper

Spring Break Day 2

We started the day off in Abilene. We saw the old Paramount theater and hope to come back to see an old movie on the big screen. Next on our list was the sculpture “Pig on Wheels.” We were in for a great surprise, because there were lots of crazy sculptures. We even got to ride a Buffalo! Cars were honking at Aunt T as she was riding! As we were crossing the railroad tracks on foot, Mom and Aunt T thought it would be a cool picture if I lied down on the tracks. I am sure it made for a cool pic, but I got grease all over my pants in the process! So then I had to change pants, which is not a good thing because the second pair of jeans were just a little tighter than the first. Not much room to overeat.

The Callahan County courthouse was next on our journey. Then we left for Albany. On the way there, I decided to watch the episode of Vampire Diaries I missed last night (so glad that I was able to watch it), while Mom and Aunt T talked about the differences between Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. They were also trying to determine if Papa ever voted for a Republican president. After calling Greg and Debra, they decided to call Grandma to verify. She said he always voted democrat. The courthouse in Albany was the prettiest we have seen on this trip. We saw some more art sculptures including another armadillo. Then we headed out to Fort Griffin State historic site, which is the home of the official state of Texas longhorn herd.

Next on the trip was Breckenridge. We saw the courthouse and an oil derrick downtown. While driving to the next stop, we continued to listen to 70s music while debating about the lyrics. Then we went onward to Cisco. Here we saw the First Hilton Hotel and the bank that was robbed by Santa Claus. In 1927, a man dressed up like Santa Claus robbed the bank. Children from the street had followed him into the bank because they really thought it was Santa!

In Eastland, we saw where Old Rip (a toad) was buried in a time capsule at the courthouse and supposedly was still alive when they opened it 30 years later. Mom does not believe it! We also saw a stamp mosaic at the post office.

 We left Eastland, it was after 1:00 pm, and we still had not eaten. I may have had a slight mental break down. Hunger can do that to a girl. We finally arrived at Strawn for lunch at Mary’s Café (Completed #47 on the Texas Bucket List). We each had a small chicken fried steak. Small is a relative term. It was still too much for me to eat (and remember I was starving). This chicken fried steak was worth the wait! It was super delicious! My pants are way too tight now! Oh, and we had lemon meringue pie (Clarification – Mom did not eat any of the pie).

The only thing to see in Palo Pinto was the courthouse. As I headed back to the car, I was texting and missed the last step. Disaster! I was also holding mom’s super awesome camera (Cannon digital SLR) and was afraid that it was going to break if it hit the concrete. I dropped my phone, but saved the camera! My ankle was hurting pretty bad, I must have been hollering pretty badly because Mom had thought I had broken it. Luckily I am okay. Lesson learned, don’t text and walk. 

Our next location was Mineral Wells or as Theresa says “Miserable Wells.” We stopped by the Crazy Water Bottling Company. We tried Crazy Water No. 1 (no minerals), No. 2 (some minerals), No. 3 (even more minerals), and No. 4 (lots of minerals). We only liked No. 1. Mom and Aunt T bought shirts that say “Crazy Runs in the Family,” which is fitting since their mother’s maiden name is Nutt. We also saw a Christmas tree made of metal scrap pieces and a huge very disturbing looking Snowman. 

On the way to Dublin, Mom saw the World’s Largest Cedar Rocker. Aunt T made one crazy u-turn so we could have our picture taken. The rocker was much too tall for us to sit in, but we found a smaller one to test out instead. In Dublin, we shared a Dublin Dr. Pepper. Theresa had to buy them in Granbury ($25 for a six-pack) and bring them with us since they do not make Dr. Pepper there anymore. We forgot to bring a bottle opener, but we were resourceful and got it open. We have now completed #10 on the Texas Bucket List. Clarification – I gave up Coke for Lent. Dr. Pepper is not Coke or as good as Coke and God knows this. Another Clarification – Lynda did take a sip of the DP.

Then it was off to Bluffdale to drop Theresa back at her house. The next stop was Wetherford. Here we saw the courthouse and the gravesite of Oliver Loving (the man whose life inspired the book Lonesome Dove). We then drove back to Fort Worth to end this Spring Break Road Trip. We drove over 1,000 miles on this 3-day trip!

Favorite part of the day:

Lynda: Albany

Julie: The Chicken Fried Steak at Mary’s

Theresa: Riding the Buffalo

Later gaters,

Julie

Sculptures and Snowballs

Day 2 Spring Break Road Trip

Since my mother tried to starve me yesterday, we began the day at Target, stocking up on snacks and new music (Hits from the 70s and Whitney Houston’s Greatest Hits). On our way to Archer City, we sang loudly and car-danced crazily. Archer City is the home of the Booked Up bookstore  – which has four buildings around the square. We bought first editions of some random books (completed item #57 on the Texas Bucket List) at this bookstore owned by Larry McMurtry. We found a stack of ledgers priced at $15,000! We didn’t even touch them!

Windthorst was our next destination. Here we saw a gorgeous Catholic Church and then stopped at Windthorst General Store to get German sausage. I didn’t like it, but the two sisters ate it. 

 

Next was Jacksboro. We had lunch at the Village Kitchen known for its Chicken Fried Steak, onion rings, and chocolate pie. We skipped out on the Chicken Fried Steak, but Aunt T had some of the onions rings, and we shared the chocolate pie. The food was alright, but the pie was delicious. Clarification – my mother did not eat the chocolate pie, even though there were three forks. 

Then we headed to Graham. We drove into the local drive-in and pretended to watch a show. We saw the courthouse and the old post office, which is now a museum, and a cowboy sculpture. Mom found a friendly old guy that proceeded to shoot the breeze for several minutes. Then we decided to find some tree – the National Texan Champion Live Oak. It is on private property in the middle of nowhere, so we were having difficulties finding it. And we had no cell phone signal so we couldn’t look it up for a better address.  Therefore we moved on to the next destination. 

On the way to Woodson, all hell broke lose. I was trying to take a nap, when they roll down the windows and start jamming out to 70s music. There went my nap. Mom decides to save Aunt T from eating too many snacks (Mom was acting like Grandma) and throws her second green snowball out the sunroof. Aunt T slammed on the breaks while crying hysterically. Drama! Another Clarification: It may seem like all we do is eat, but that is not true. We just try several new things, but share.

In Woodson, we searched for the crater caused from being bombed by the Japanese during World War II. Supposedly this happed, but we could not find the crater anywhere. Mom refused to stop and ask the people of Woodson. I am not sure if she was embarrassed that we were crazy tourists or she was afraid that they would have a long-winded conversation like with the guy in Graham. We left with no pictures.

Throckmorton was a little dull, so we just saw the Courthouse and left for Haskell. On 380, we saw a huge longhorn sculpture. Mom and Aunt T got out to take a picture, and Aunt T decided she needed to go to the bathroom and couldn’t hold it until Haskell. So she went on the side of the road. She would have gone in Throckmorton, but I told her never to go to the bathroom at Allsup’s (thanks to my high school basketball teammate Heidi, who said she always thought Allsup’s bathrooms were gross, so she would go to the restroom in the sink rather than the toilet).

Haskell – stopped and looked at the courthouse. This seems to be a repeating pattern; these counties are not as cool as some of the ones down south. Aunt T still can’t let the whole snowball thing go. I couldn’t tell if she was laughing or crying. We stopped to get water and some more snowballs for Aunt T (this time we got purple ones).

The next stop was Stamford to see the dinosaur sculptures. It was one scary T-Rex! There was also a haunted building (the Old Stamford Inn), complete with a black cat, and one huge Methodist Church. We saw another cowboy sculpture!

Next was Anson (location of the book No Dancin’ in Anson and some say the inspiration for the movie Footloose). Here we saw a mural in the post office of people dancing and drinking. How ironic.

We trekked to Buffalo Gap to eat at Perini Ranch Steakhouse. A giant armadillo statue aka Barbadilla was there to greet us as we pulled into the off-road location. Mom and Aunt T had the rib eye (completed item #14 on the Texas Bucket List). Aunt T and I finished the meal with the bread pudding. Mom didn’t eat any because she gave up sweets for lent. Great service, the food was good.

  

At the end of each day we talk about our favorite thing (we forgot to do this yesterday). Here are our favorites for today.

Julie: The Dinosaur Sculptures

Theresa: Snowball fight and Longhorn Sculpture

Lynda: Random field of flowers

 Motto of the day: just because you put a cute top over your muffin top, it does not make it a cupcake

Later gaters,

Julie

Pictures and Memories

Wednesday, March 14

This is my first time to blog!  I have been trying to think of all the things I should say but I keep hitting the delete button repeatedly.  Theresa and Julie (along with Bob, Katy, Wanda, Deniece and Greg) are trying to help me finish something that I started with my Mom and Dad years ago.  I am trying to visit all 254 counties in the great state of Texas.  You are joining us about halfway through with this task.  At first we simply drove into the county (sometimes just for a few minutes) and then Wanda said "You know.  You really need proof that you have been to all these places."  So I started going back and taking a picture of something in the county.  It started with courthouses but then I rediscovered something I had already known for a long time.  TEXAS IS A UNIQUE STATE!!!!  Now I try to find something unique in each county.  But before you panic, I won't be blogging about all 254 counties just the ones we have visited since we started this blog.

I got the end of the day blog.  It took me a while to download some the photos and I realized that is why my favorite younger sister and my favorite middle daughter left that task to me.  They are both sound asleep.

We left Tarrant County and headed to Denton.  Denton has a beautiful courthouse but because we had already been there we stopped by the Bayless-Shelby House.  It is located at 317 W. Mulberry. 














Our next stop was the "Little-Chapel-in-the-Woods" on the Campus of TWU (corner Bell and University).  The chapel was built in 1938.  There was no charge to go into the chapel.  We enjoyed visiting the chapel while the students walked by going to class.  The stain glass windows were beautiful.

 

When we travel we all like to look at different things but I especially love to go inside churches.  We saw three very different churches in Cooke County.  Our first stop was in Gainesville  to check out the First United Methodist Church (214 South Denton).  We were so glad that allowed us the opportunity to visit their church. The church was built in 1892.  It was beautiful.  Theresa loved the curved pews, Julie loved the stained glass but I loved the organ.

Next we stopped at St. Paul's Episcopal Church (415 East California).  This church built in 1884.  A woman was setting up for a lunch at the church.  We offered to help her carry her supplies in and she took us on a brief tour of the sanctuary and provided us with some information regarding the history of the church.

After a brief stop at the courthouse and fueling Julie and Theresa with some fried pies we headed to Lindsay to visit St. Peter's Catholic Church (1918).  We were told that the church had been restored over a two year period.  Julie and I had been to the church before but it was even more beautiful this time.  I enjoy visiting painted churches.  On our road trips Catholic churches are usually unlocked and welcome visitors.  I wish I could add more pictures!

We like to add quirky things to our list so we headed to Saint Jo (Montague County) to check on the Lady Bug VW's on the Running N Ranch (located on Hwy 677, south off US 82 about 1.5 miles).  Julie climbed over the fence to help support this very large piece of artwork.

Please feel free to tell us what it is!

We headed through Henrietta (Clay County) to check out their courthouse and some murals before we headed to Wichita Falls (Wichita County).  We won't even talk about their courthouse.  But we headed to Lucy Park to find a suspension bridge and "The Falls".  Julie did whine a little about having to walk .43 miles to the Falls and .43 miles back but Theresa and I had a good laugh when we saw the first shirtless man of the trip.  We tried to warn Julie but she didn't have her cell phone on.  lol

Next we headed for "The World's Smallest Skyscraper".  This building originally called "The McMahon Building was completed in 1919.  The outside dimensions are 40' high, 18' deep and 10' wide.  The rest of the history made it very interesting as we climbed the steps (too small for an elevator) to the top floor of the building.  Julie loved it!  It was like a math problem to her.

Theresa and Julie both thought they could live here.





We headed out to Electra to check on a post office mural and the Grand Theater.  This historical landmark opened in 1920.

 We searched 287 between Electra and Oklaunion (Wilbarger County)  for the Convertible Mannequins but it wasn't meant to be, so we headed to Vernon for a look at the county courthouse.  As we left Vernon and headed to Quanah (Hardeman County) we read information about the Medicine Mounds which are visible from 287 and stopped long enough to take a picture.  They look like giant fire ant mounds.  Quanah has a beautiful mural on the inside of their post office (219 W. Third).  We had to take the picture through the glass because it was after 5:00.

 Theresa and Julie were starting to get hungry but we couldn't find anywhere we wanted to eat in Quanah so we headed down the road to Crowell (Foard County) and Benjamin (Knox County) to see their courthouses before we had to put the growling stomachs at ease by stopping in Knox City for a burger at the Rockin Grill Steakhouse.  After Julie and Theresa decided on a burger I decided to try their Fire Burger.  I only took two bites before my mouth was on fire.  I started coughing and had to leave the restaurant while Julie and Theresa laughed the whole time.  I came back in and drank about a gallon of water before my lips quit burning.  It warned me on the description but I really wanted to try something different.  But what we really came to Knox City for was the tractor art!

It was time to find a place to stay for the night and there was no place to stay.  So we drove a quick tour of Goree (a very quick tour) and then stopped in Bomarton (Baylor County) to check out St. John's Catholic Church, a historical landmark that is just a shell of a building.  We went in to look around at the bear walls of a once active church.

It was a beautiful sunset.  We headed to Seymour to see their courthouse and to find a Dairy Queen so Julie could get a Brown Derby (item #28 on the Texas Bucket List).  We found a hotel and headed back to Wichita Falls.

We had a great day.  We laughed a lot, we sang a lot and we learned about blogging.  I promise we will get better at this.  I am not going to be the last blogger tomorrow!

Thanks for traveling with us.

Lynda

Technology and travels

I spent most of the morning driving and my niece Julie was blogging.  We finally traded chores, but I had difficulty working her laptop.  I was having problems getting the laptop to connect to the internet. After about 15 minutes, I asked her if her computer had a touchscreen.  It didn't!  No wonder it didn't work when I touched it!  Ha ha!

So now, I am connected and ready!

This morning we visited the most beautiful Methodist Church in Gainesville.  It had wooden floors and wooden ceiling, and best of all it had curved wooden pews.  Loved the stained glass windows as well! Lynda picked up a nice little wooden cross in a box outside the sanctuary..."take one for your home, office or auto"....so she did.

Of course, we stopped by The Fried Pie Company and had fried pies.  Lynda gave up sugar for lent, so she didn't partake.  It was delicious!

We stopped by the Center Restaurant in Muenster.  It is highly recommended for it's German cuisine.  We tried the Corned Beef on Rye, and the Chicken Schnitzel sandwich.  Even though the food was good, we decided that German food just isn't our thing!  lol

So now, we are in Wichita Falls at Lucy Park.  Time to take Julie on her first hike of the day!!  We LOVE to listen to her whine!!!

Check back later!

Sisters on a Trip

Morning of Day 1

After getting a late start (Mom left her phone and I left my underwear), we are seeing lots of things this morning of Day 1.

• Chapel in the Woods (Denton)
• Chihuahuas in the Window - random car parked and pleasant surprise
•  First United Methodist (Gainsville) - Loved it!
• St. Paul's Episcopal Church (Gainsville) 
• Fried Pie Co and Restaurant
• I had a cherry pie - which was awesome
• Aunt T had the buttermilk pie, which I thought was a little sweet, but she loved
• St. Peter's Catholic Church (Lindsay)

No rules have been broken yet, but I am sure Mom will be the first to break one. We are about to go eat German food in Muenster (which I am not really excited about).

Later gaters,
Julie

Road Trip Rules

Before we leave in the morning for our "EPIC" road trip (that reference is for Julie's friends that don't believe we make these trips and actually enjoy doing it!), we need to layout our road trip rules:

#1 Never eat at chain restaurants.

#2 In an argument, you must agree with the people on your side of the car.

#3 Don't buy the cookies.

#4 Whiners must walk.

#5 Always wear a bra when you leave your hotel room.

#6 Beware of men without shirts sitting in trucks.

#7 Just because they say it's good doesn't mean it is.

#8 If you don't know what it is, DON'T EAT IT!!!

Of course, we add to these rules from things we learn on every trip.  So, the countdown is less than 7 hours until we leave to explore 29 counties in less than 3 days.  

And remember....just Honk and Wave!

Sisters on a Trip

On the Road Again...Almost!

During our fun-filled, adventure packed trip in July to the hill country, my sister and I joked about writing a book about our journeys on the road.  Sis puts so much time into researching and planning our trips, it's a shame not to share our "finds" with others. But it's not just about what we find on the road.  It's about the fun and fellowship of the trip.  It's about pushing the limits (speed limits), setting some rules (Road Trip Rules), and making new memories to cherish for years.   It's about laughing so hard that you cry, singing at the top of your lungs even if you don't know the words, taking pictures at every place you stop, and pretty much eating anything you want...(as long as you know what it is!!!)....and for my niece Julie, it's about getting to whine a little...(usually that's what starts the spontaneous laughing!)

For a couple of years, my sister and her daughters have traveled down a few roads with two of our great friends since childhood.  Later this summer, we will ALL be heading for Vegas and The Grand Canyon!!!  This will be the first road trip of multiple sets of sisters!!  (Sounds like good odds for VEGAS!!)

On my birthday trip in November, our younger brother joined us.  And man, oh man, the fun started before we ever left the airport and didn't stop until we got back home.  Our family road trips when we were kids were NEVER this fun!!!  (Ok, we might have laughed at stuff that everyone else didn't understand, but it was funny to US!!!)

So we decided to start a blog to share our adventures with you!  We will share pictures and places throughout each of our trips!  We don't always have time for all the things on the itinerary, but we will share all the info on our blog just in case you decide to hit the road with your family and friends!

The countdown for the next adventure is NINE days!!!  I can't wait!!

If you see us on the road, HONK and WAVE!!!

Sisters on a Trip