January 22, 2015

• There and Back Again - Part 2

  As we left New Mexico, we had mixed emotions. It's never easy to say good-bye to family but we were excited about the adventures ahead. Instead of heading straight east as we usually do, we drove straight south. The last time we had taken this route we drove during nighttime hours and we hadn't been able to enjoy the beauty of Southern New Mexico.

  

  We crossed the Texas state line on Interstate 10 and the mile markers began going up. We drove and we drove and we drove and we were still south of New Mexico. We drove and we drove and we drove some more and we enjoyed the speed limit.

  

  We drove and we drove some more and we still hadn't seen a town boasting more then a couple of small eating places and gas stations. We drove and we drove and we drove for hours and we wondered if anyone actually lived in this part of the world. We were enjoying the scenery, but the road seemed to go on and on and on.

  

  The next morning we started early and arrived at Sea World in San Antonio before the gates opened. We weren't the only ones with the same idea and by the time the gates did open, there was quite a line.

  

  Of course at the top of our list was the dolphin show and the whale show.
  

  It became quickly apparent that the water ride was at the top of JJ's list. Since he was unable to convince his older brothers to ride with him, I told him I was join him. Never mind that this was only five days after Christmas. We got on that ride twice and managed to get quite wet. That's us in red in the front of the boat heading for splashdown.

  Photo credit: Justin Shaffer

  Our focus changed the second day in San Antonio as we headed downtown and wandered around until we found the Alamo. We really enjoyed the courtyard that surrounded the church but none of us spent much time inside looking at the exhibits.

  

  We had lunch in the largest Mexican restaurant that I've ever been in. The tortillas were wonderful and we discovered a new dessert- Tres Leches Cake. We ordered a slice to share and after we had taken a couple of bites, we were ready to find a recipe and try it at home. (We haven't.) I snapped this photo of the boys in the restaurant lobby.

  

  The boys and I decided to walk to the Tower of the Americas and found another stone head. Justin did a little sleuthing and discovered that it wasn't made of stone, but we still had to have a picture.

  

  The tower is slightly higher than Seattle's tower that we visited four years ago but for some reason it didn't seem as scary. Perhaps it's because I didn't get as close to the edge this time. It was very windy and cold on the observation deck and I chose to stay out of the wind.

  

  When we left San Antonio, we were back on Interstate 10. We drove and we drove and we drove some more. We drove until we got to mile marker 880 and said hello to Louisiana. None of us are ready to drive all the way across Texas on I-10 again.

  We pulled into New Orleans about the time that Jeremy and Justin turned 15. It seems that we are often traveling on their birthday and this year we spent part of the day at the National World War II Museum. The boys were quite interested in the exhibits and we managed to include a second day of learning during our vacation.

  

  All the boys wanted to climb into the personal bomb shelters. I can't imagine that they were very cost effective since the boys don't think more than two people could get in at one time.

  

  Our trip required many hours of travel, but it also included much beauty, history and family times.

  

  We came home glad that we had gone and glad to get home. We had been there and back again. Now in the midst of our busy days, we bring up things that happened on the trip, or we begin to dream about another adventure that it still out there.

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