More Road Trip Details... Louisiana to Santa Fe

Welp, this blog is going nowhere, and it's because I'm not starting where I left off.
See, in my mind, there are all these stories left untold, all these pictures left unposted. And somehow, I've got to start waaaay back in the middle of October and tell what we've done since then, or I think I may never blog again. A small tragedy, for sure.

So, where were we?? You probably don't remember, so let me refresh your memory... We spent our fifth night in New Orleans, in that schwanky hotel on Bourbon Street, remember? And then we saw the mighty Mississip the next morning and started our drive to Houston. Let's just start there, okay?

Day 6: Baton Rouge to Houston
Thursday, October 4
A little geography lesson for us... New Orleans is on the south side of a relatively large lake, called Lake Pontchartrain -- love those Cajun French names, eh? Did you know there is a bridge across the middle of that lake? And it's got this amazing causeway that stretches right across the middle of it. A full 23.8 miles of continuous bridge over water -- longest in the world, in fact. Close your eyes if bridges scare you, because you can bet we had to drive across it, and, of course we had to take a picture or two, while driving across it...

Amazing!! Water, water everywhere! It's even longer than the bridge across the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay that we drove across in 2011. (And a little side note, for those who may wonder: sometimes bridges make me a little squeamish, too. But I just be brave and I'm still alive. surprise!)

By far, the most impressive capitol building we saw on our trip was Louisiana's, in Baton Rouge. Louisiana also gets extra points for having a very nice state visitors' center, right next to the capitol building, with very nice displays and restroom facilities. (We were unable to spend much time looking at their displays, which was very disappointing for their very enthusiastic, young, front desk man. Next time, Mr. Louisiana Man...)

Looking straight up at the capitol -- 34 stories, 450 feet tall. It's the tallest capitol in the U.S. No joke.

From the top, with the Mississippi in the background. And no, Natalie is not trying to leap off the top, even thought it kind of looks that way...

Baton Rouge, from above.

Looks like it'd be a fun city to explore, if we didn't still have a six hour drive ahead of us, at 2 p.m...

At sunset, we crossed the Texas border, not even taking time to stop at the welcome center. I have pictures in my mission scrapbook of Elder Woodland's head, poking out over the top of this Texas sign, yes he climbed to the top!...

I took a little mental trip down memory lane as we drove through Beaumont and Baytown and Houston that evening. That's where I served as a missionary, 15 years ago. We didn't have time to stop at any of my old places, but I sure had time to get that sentimental, weepy, melancholy feeling that sometimes creeps up on me when I am looking down the doorways of my past. It was one of my favorite nights of our trip, just because of the many emotions I had, remembering a time of my life that was truly transforming, for me.

I was driving, the kids were quiet, Brian was busy. So, I was alone with my thoughts, remembering so many places and faces, memories and moments from a chapter of my life that was closed so long ago... The door in our apartment that got stuck shut with the humidity; the long, spindly banana spiders -- harmless but disgusting and huge; the taste of the sulfur water at the chapel in Beaumont; catching crabs in infested waters in Baytown; helping Laura N. pick out the perfect set of scriptures; watching General Conference reruns with H.C. on his massive tv; planning our own crawfish boil; visiting the Water Wall; watching Yvette water her flowers, even though it rained twice a day; ... on and on. So fun!

We stayed that night with my dear friend, Gay Rushing, who was a Stake missionary when I was in Houston. We've kept in touch through the years, and loved catching up. Sadly, no pictures of her, or her lovely home. But we enjoyed our visit, though it felt too short, for sure!

Day 7: Houston to Austin
Friday, October 5 -- Happy Birthday, Natalie!!

We woke up to a beautiful day in Houston. Small world that it is, we discovered Brian's cousin and family live just around the corner from my friend, where we spent the night. So, we got to have lunch with them -- delicious Mexican food, yum! Again, no pictures, too bad.

We were also right around the corner from the Houston Temple, so we drove the kids over to see it, lovely place...

There was an injured bat on the front steps of the temple. I don't know why I feel it is important to include this detail and picture. But I do...

It was weird, and memorable, and my kids were a little creeped out by it. We told the front desk people about it, and it was gone by the time Spence finished using the bathroom. 

But they soon recovered for some fabulous posing by the water fountain... 

And more posing, by the flowers. Cute girl...

And with that, we said goodbye to Houston and headed off to our next stop: Austin.
Biggest billboard sign we saw on our trip... True, too true...

Even their capitol building was bigger, as in, it didn't fit in any pictures in its entirety, from any angle. But here's the best I got...

We went inside, just so we can say, "we've been inside the Texas capitol building." Natalie, looking up...

 And everybody, looking down...

 The dome...

After visiting the capitol, we drove a few miles north to the booming metropolis of Round Rock, Texas. Yes, there really is a round rock, after which the town is named...

And... we got to stay with these lovely LaPierres! yay!!

Our kids became fast friends... Bridgette and Natalie, born only a few days apart.

Spencer and Travis, just a few months apart...

And Samantha and Sophie, also just a few months apart...

(We didn't get a picture of their darling newborn, Brooke, too bad!)

Since it was Natalie's birthday, Lisa baked her a cake, complete with chocolate frosting and pink candles. Happy Birthday Natalie. (You can tell she was thrilled, right? :)

And check out those curls! I tell you, Texas was doing good things for her hair! :)

Day 8 - 9: Round Rock to Oklahoma City to Santa Fe
October 5 and 6 (General Conf. weekend)

We left the LaPierres and started our longest days of driving. 8 hours on Saturday, and 9 1/2 on Sunday, I think? It looked like this, in our car...

 And sometimes like this...

 And other times, like this...

And out the window, it looked like this....

Turns out, Oklahoma is very boring. Even singing the musical and listening to General Conference talks didn't do much to make our views more interesting. Oh well.

We stopped in Fort Worth, on our way to Oklahoma City, and bought Natalie some belated birthday gifts at Walmart... Hello Kitty pez dispensers, Minnie jammies, Dora coloring book, and Kitty slippers. She was thrilled, and agreed to share the Pez, thank goodness!

In Oklahoma City, we drove by the memorial for the bombing of 1995. Pretty sobering, and hard to explain to the children...

There were all kinds of mementos and personal items hung on the fence around the outside of the complex. Heartbreaking, even now...

We also drove by the capitol building, but it was closed. Looks like a capitol, doesn't it? ;)

Lots more of this...

And we finally made it to this...

We stayed in Santa Fe that night, so we could visit their capitol building, as well. Very underwhelming, I must say! We could hardly even FIND it! They need to take some capitol lessons from Louisiana!!

Well, I know you're probably starting to feel the lengthy weight of this here road trip. But... um.... we still have days 10 thru 14 left to cover. Are ya with me for the long haul?? I'm already working on the next round. Stay tuned, and if you care to give me any encouragement to FINISH this blasted road trip business so I can rejoin the blogging world, I'd appreciate it. ;)