Howdy Ya'll,
Its day 3 of our trip, and we are leaving a frigid OK city. We had breakfast at the Hampton Inn, it was not as nice and quiet as yesterday morning. There were "busy bees" everywhere (there must have been a convention going on) and we had not had coffee yet, so we were not ready for all that. After a few cups of coffee and a good belgium waffle we were ready to restart our I-40 adventure.
The weather was cloudy and rainy which didn't make for exciting traveling, but we made the most of it. We continued our journey and enjoyed the ride through OK. We loved all the Indian named cities, they were unique and fun to say. We even named my car Chicotah, after one of our favorites. There were many random casinos along our OK route but I guess they can't be too random or they wouldn't stay in business.
Next our adventure brought us to Texas. I was looking forward to the drive because everyone says they are know for tumbleweeds, and of course I had never seen one except in those old westerns my dad watched. So I had my eyes focused on the road, because I didn't want to miss it. Well.... we drove and drove and drove and never saw one. So I went back to being "multi-media" (as Seth so named me since I was taking pics, trying to blog, texting, and posting pics on facebook :) And just as I became engulfed in my "blog-a-sphere" (again a Seth term :) Seth said "oh my gosh, look Stef, in the median." There stood the largest tumbleweed I could have every imagined....it was the size of a compact car!!!! And praise the Lord it was stationary :)
It continued to rain on our day but we just kept driving. Along the way we kept seeing signs for Big Texan Steak Ranch, home of the 72 oz steak. (yes, if you eat it... it's free) So Seth and I decided to stop there for lunch and check it out. The place is an adventure in itself.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
"Walking in Memphis"
Rested and Ready to go!!
After all the excitement of Graceland and a long discussion about where to eat, we finally settled on a drive thru so we could try and cover more miles today. We drove through the rest of TN and Arkansas, only stopping to get gas, and made it to Oklahoma City, OK. (btw I-40 thru Arkansas is awful). The weather was beautiful up until we hit OK, that's where the rain began (which lasted the whole ride and one of the reasons we decided to stop when we did because the temp was dropping fast.) We stayed at the Hampton Inn in downtown (again points :) and complimentary breakfast). The Hampton Inn overlooked the Oklahoma City RedHawks field, a triple A baseball team, which was pretty awesome. Our 9th floor room had a nice view of downtown to our left and the snow fall that had just began.
For dinner we wanted to eat somewhere within walking distance especially since it was around 9 o'clock. We asked the front desk attendant for some recommendations. He gave us a map of the area and explained what type of food each place had, we felt prepared and ready to eat. But he left out one important piece.....they are all CLOSED!!!! Apparently people in downtown OK city do not like to eat after 9pm. So we wondered the streets of downtown until we found somewhere that was open, excitedly we went in and sat down. The bartender came up and asked what we would like, we asked for menus and she said the kitchen is closed :) Seth asked her if there was anywhere in town that was open for food, she said the only place was TapWerks and they stop serving food at 10p. We hurriedly gathered our stuff and ran up the street. We got there and it looked closed but thank goodness it was not....they were open AND they had food. :) Bellies full... its nite, nite time.
Good night all,
Stef
Well today Seth was up before 530a and outside by 540a checking to make sure the car would start :) Praise the Lord..... it started, no problem. However the seat warmers have not been working since we had the car serviced, and I know it's a luxury but when the temp is 27F I'm thinking it more of a necessity.
Breakfast at the Hampton was good, as always, but quiet. I guess in Nashville guest don't eat at 6am or the dead body smell outside the hotel deters them from eating. (I am not joking that smell was like none other,we thought maybe we should have called unsolved mysteries and tell them mystery SOLVED :) We stopped for gas across the street to save time, however, the first pump we pulled up to gave us some trouble. Seth had to go in and talk with the attendant... but no go, so then she started yelling orders thru the speaker. He nicely replied he had already tried all of her suggestions. She came marching out in her full winter attire (scarf, gloves, everything) and did everything he had just already done. She proceeds to say "I don't know what's wrong." So we tried another pump and guess what....it did the same thing. Needless to say we left with no gas and no time saved :)
Our first point of interest was in Nashville, TN. We saw a pamphlet for Loveless Cafe and Motel with mention of "as seen on the Food Network" (this one's for you mom :) so we decided to check it out and it was only 5 miles off our path on Hwy 100. It was a quaint country atmosphere with a cafe, a long one story motel, a common area, a gift shop, a smoke house, and even a barn. It reminded me of Shatley Springs in a way. After a few photo ops in the cold we were back on the road....Westward on!!
Next on our notable cities list was... Memphis, TN....Home of ELVIS PRESLEY and Bar-B- Que. Of course if we're going to come that close to Graceland we might as well experience it :) Upon getting off the exit onto Elvis Presley Blvd we decided we might want to "run thru memphis," because it didn't seem to be the safest place. There was much to see in Graceland. On one side of the road was gift shops, eateries, his airplane museum and an automobile museum, and on the other side...his estate. There was a shuttle that took you there, and upon boarding you were given a headset with an attached key pad that provided the audio for your self guided tour. The house was decorated for Christmas with a rather large nativity scene in the front yard and lighted trees at the front of the house along the circle driveway. The house is suppose to be as it was when he was alive. The decor (and the smell) is of the 70's :) The upstairs of the house where Elvis's room was, was not accessible to the public out of respect (so they said, but it made me want to go up and see it even more :) The main level of the house had the living room with the piano area, dining room, kitchen, his parent's bedroom, and the famous Jungle Room, where he liked to record because the shag carpet on the floor, walls and ceiling made for good acoustics. Downstairs was his game room with his pool table that had torn felt in the right corner pocket where one of his friends tried to pull off a trick shot :) His media room was also downstairs. He had a large L-shaped sofa that faced 3 TV's. 3 TV's because Elvis said that was what the President did to watch all 3 major networks so he thought he should do the same. No flash photography was allowed on the premises but hopefully you can see what it looked like from our pics. The tour included all the premises, which was not only his house but his garage, horse stable, racket ball room and his separate home office which had been turned into memorabilia rooms, and his pool and meditation garden which is where he and his family is laid to rest. The whole experience personified Elvis.... the Legend, the King of rock-n-roll.
Next on our notable cities list was... Memphis, TN....Home of ELVIS PRESLEY and Bar-B- Que. Of course if we're going to come that close to Graceland we might as well experience it :) Upon getting off the exit onto Elvis Presley Blvd we decided we might want to "run thru memphis," because it didn't seem to be the safest place. There was much to see in Graceland. On one side of the road was gift shops, eateries, his airplane museum and an automobile museum, and on the other side...his estate. There was a shuttle that took you there, and upon boarding you were given a headset with an attached key pad that provided the audio for your self guided tour. The house was decorated for Christmas with a rather large nativity scene in the front yard and lighted trees at the front of the house along the circle driveway. The house is suppose to be as it was when he was alive. The decor (and the smell) is of the 70's :) The upstairs of the house where Elvis's room was, was not accessible to the public out of respect (so they said, but it made me want to go up and see it even more :) The main level of the house had the living room with the piano area, dining room, kitchen, his parent's bedroom, and the famous Jungle Room, where he liked to record because the shag carpet on the floor, walls and ceiling made for good acoustics. Downstairs was his game room with his pool table that had torn felt in the right corner pocket where one of his friends tried to pull off a trick shot :) His media room was also downstairs. He had a large L-shaped sofa that faced 3 TV's. 3 TV's because Elvis said that was what the President did to watch all 3 major networks so he thought he should do the same. No flash photography was allowed on the premises but hopefully you can see what it looked like from our pics. The tour included all the premises, which was not only his house but his garage, horse stable, racket ball room and his separate home office which had been turned into memorabilia rooms, and his pool and meditation garden which is where he and his family is laid to rest. The whole experience personified Elvis.... the Legend, the King of rock-n-roll.
After all the excitement of Graceland and a long discussion about where to eat, we finally settled on a drive thru so we could try and cover more miles today. We drove through the rest of TN and Arkansas, only stopping to get gas, and made it to Oklahoma City, OK. (btw I-40 thru Arkansas is awful). The weather was beautiful up until we hit OK, that's where the rain began (which lasted the whole ride and one of the reasons we decided to stop when we did because the temp was dropping fast.) We stayed at the Hampton Inn in downtown (again points :) and complimentary breakfast). The Hampton Inn overlooked the Oklahoma City RedHawks field, a triple A baseball team, which was pretty awesome. Our 9th floor room had a nice view of downtown to our left and the snow fall that had just began.
For dinner we wanted to eat somewhere within walking distance especially since it was around 9 o'clock. We asked the front desk attendant for some recommendations. He gave us a map of the area and explained what type of food each place had, we felt prepared and ready to eat. But he left out one important piece.....they are all CLOSED!!!! Apparently people in downtown OK city do not like to eat after 9pm. So we wondered the streets of downtown until we found somewhere that was open, excitedly we went in and sat down. The bartender came up and asked what we would like, we asked for menus and she said the kitchen is closed :) Seth asked her if there was anywhere in town that was open for food, she said the only place was TapWerks and they stop serving food at 10p. We hurriedly gathered our stuff and ran up the street. We got there and it looked closed but thank goodness it was not....they were open AND they had food. :) Bellies full... its nite, nite time.
Good night all,
Stef
Monday, December 12, 2011
"Loaded up and Truckn"
Hey everyone,
Well...we are officially West Coast Bound!!!! I have been anticipating this day for over 6 months and I can't believe it's here!! It has been a very emotional day for me... happy, sad, tired, energized, excited, nervous but most of all loved...
So of course we did not leave at 6am...whose idea was that anyway :) We were packed up and ready to head out before lunch but our car apparently wasn't fully rested so she decided to not start :) Yes that's right we had "mechanical" issues after spending a fortune on making sure we didn't have mechanical issues. We had to push her out of my garage, hook her up to my parents car, call the infiniti place, and pray!!!! Between me, Seth, my mom & dad all throwing out ideas we finally decided we were stumped. It didn't make sense why she wouldn't start, it seemed to be some computer issue. So we began brainstorming on a new way to get to CA. As we were mid-thought we decided we would try one more time before "throwing in the towel" and you know what.....she started :) Prayers answered!!! We were once again on our way and I (once again ) was excited and sad...saying goodbye once was hard enough.
Seth drove first and we made it all the way to Hickory, NC before stopping :) We were hungry after all that excitement (and it was 2 o'clock). After lunch at the Atlantic Bread Company we were finally on our way (for real this time). We made it to Asheville, NC before I had to take a short nap (short because of the curves, I thought it was Seth was falling asleep :) The drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains didn't disappoint. There were many little waterfalls flowing through the rocks (the pics don't do it justice) and some good overlook views. Seth said "well, the next time we see mountains it will be the Rockies." Well we will compare views and let you guys know if there's any difference.
The next "big" city was Knoxville, TN. There wasn't much to see from I-40 but there was a very beautiful, colorful sunset that amazed us both. I know we just came from Key West where they are 'known' for their sunsets however, this TN sunset was impressive.
Driving through the dark made us both sleepy so Seth decided the best idea for us was to stop, sleep and start out early tomorrow. We were approaching Nashville, TN so we decided to see the city's night skyline and stay on the west side of the city. The skyline was pretty but quick so unfortunately there are no will be no pics of it. Google maps lead us to a Hampton Inn (since we are Hilton point collectors :) We had dinner at Jonathan's place, a local bar and grill, per the hotel attendant's recommendation. Now are bellies are full and we are ready for a good nights sleep. Full day of driving in the morning so Nite, Nite.
Lov you all,
Stef
Well...we are officially West Coast Bound!!!! I have been anticipating this day for over 6 months and I can't believe it's here!! It has been a very emotional day for me... happy, sad, tired, energized, excited, nervous but most of all loved...
So of course we did not leave at 6am...whose idea was that anyway :) We were packed up and ready to head out before lunch but our car apparently wasn't fully rested so she decided to not start :) Yes that's right we had "mechanical" issues after spending a fortune on making sure we didn't have mechanical issues. We had to push her out of my garage, hook her up to my parents car, call the infiniti place, and pray!!!! Between me, Seth, my mom & dad all throwing out ideas we finally decided we were stumped. It didn't make sense why she wouldn't start, it seemed to be some computer issue. So we began brainstorming on a new way to get to CA. As we were mid-thought we decided we would try one more time before "throwing in the towel" and you know what.....she started :) Prayers answered!!! We were once again on our way and I (once again ) was excited and sad...saying goodbye once was hard enough.
Seth drove first and we made it all the way to Hickory, NC before stopping :) We were hungry after all that excitement (and it was 2 o'clock). After lunch at the Atlantic Bread Company we were finally on our way (for real this time). We made it to Asheville, NC before I had to take a short nap (short because of the curves, I thought it was Seth was falling asleep :) The drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains didn't disappoint. There were many little waterfalls flowing through the rocks (the pics don't do it justice) and some good overlook views. Seth said "well, the next time we see mountains it will be the Rockies." Well we will compare views and let you guys know if there's any difference.
The next "big" city was Knoxville, TN. There wasn't much to see from I-40 but there was a very beautiful, colorful sunset that amazed us both. I know we just came from Key West where they are 'known' for their sunsets however, this TN sunset was impressive.
Driving through the dark made us both sleepy so Seth decided the best idea for us was to stop, sleep and start out early tomorrow. We were approaching Nashville, TN so we decided to see the city's night skyline and stay on the west side of the city. The skyline was pretty but quick so unfortunately there are no will be no pics of it. Google maps lead us to a Hampton Inn (since we are Hilton point collectors :) We had dinner at Jonathan's place, a local bar and grill, per the hotel attendant's recommendation. Now are bellies are full and we are ready for a good nights sleep. Full day of driving in the morning so Nite, Nite.
Lov you all,
Stef
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