The Big Friendly

The girlies and I decided to tag along with Mr. Smith to OK City for the day. He had business meetings, and we had nothing on our schedule.

We started out our day in "The Big Friendly" by walking to the Myriad Botanical Gardens in the heart of downtown. It was a very warmish day, with afternoon temps promising to be over 100º F, so we decided we had better do our outdoor activities before we got into the really "heavy sweater" part of the afternoon! Our morning stroll through the various gardens was actually quite pleasant. 

One of our favorite things in the botanical gardens is the Thunder Fountain. The water feature opened at 10 AM, so we had plenty of time to take a few photos before the water turned on. 

We had the place to ourselves at 9:45 AM, but precisely at 10 o'clock, the "thunder" began to crash, and the water sprays turned on. Almost instantly, this colorful water feature was filled with wet, giggling children. Obviously the locals know exactly when this fountain springs to life. It was almost as if the children materialized out of thin air. 

As we left the gardens, I captured one of my girlies peeking around the edge of a big red sculpture. We agreed that we need some yard art like this at our casa to get the neighbors talking. (This should fit on the top of the car, right?)

We next toured the Oklahoma City National Memorial. The last time I remember seeing this area, it was a year, or so after  the April 19, 1995 bombing. At that time, the rubble from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building had all been cleared, and a chain link fence was surrounding area where the building once stood. Flowers, teddy bears, pictures, ribbons and other memorabilia was affixed to the temporary fence. There is still short section of chain link fence with mementos attached to it, as a part of the permanent memorial. 

Although my middle child was only six months old at the time of the bombing, and the youngest one wasn't even born yet, the girls found this to be an interesting, yet sobering place. The memorial is very well done and it truly honors the victims, survivors, and rescue workers.

Each "chair" represents one of the 168 men, women, and children who were killed in this domestic terrorist attack. 

We continued our walking tour of downtown, detouring through air conditioned buildings a couple of times to get cooled down as the afternoon temps heated up rapidly.

Last, but certainly not least, we happened upon this interesting building in the "Automobile Alley" district of downtown OKC. We did not venture inside, but learned that this is a gallery of sorts. I am a bit curious as to what is on the inside if the outside looks like this!

After a late lunch with the mister, we started our drive back to Texas. We've taken a look in our neighboring state and can confirm that Oklahoma is still OK.

Who Says You Can't Go Home Again?!

My "middlest" child and I drove through Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Illinois just so I could be back home again in Indiana. See, "going home again" can be done! We went to Indiana to spend a few days with my dad -- it was a spur of the moment decision. Spontaneity and summer seem to travel hand-in-hand.

To be honest, the opening lines from "Indiana" did go through my head as we crossed the state line. It always does. Sometimes I actually break into song. 

Back home again in Indiana,

And it seems that I can see

The gleaming candle light, still shining bright,

Through the Sycamores for me.

The new-mowed hay sends all its fragrance

From the fields I used to roam.

When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash

Then I long for my Indiana home.

Let's back up a few miles.

Liesey Lou and I agreed that if the two of us were going to do this trip, there would have to be some interesting diversions along the way. We are all for taking the road less traveled, as long as we can still make good time while having a good time. 

Somewhere in Missouri, this happened.

Road tripping with this girlie is never boring. It was soooo very much worth stopping here to get this picture. And the "Cookin' from Scratch" sign in the background makes it even better.

After nearly 15 hours in the car, we made it to our destination; my home town.

Indiana is a great place to grow up. (I'm sure that there are people from the other 49 states who also think that their home state is a great place to grow up.) 

Indiana is special. And there is more than just corn in Indiana. There are soybeans, too!

You know you're a Hoosier when:

• You measure distance in minutes, not miles.
• You end your sentences with an unnecessary preposition. Example: "Where's my coat at?" or "Where are you gonna go to?"
• You have heard &/or used terms like "catawampus," or "kitty-corner," or "whopper-jawed."
• You know several different definitions as to what a Hoosier really is.
• You've ever said, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity."
• You have no problem pronouncing Terre Haute. And you know the correct Hoosier pronunciation of Versailles. It is not pronounced ver-sahy; it's ver-SALES. Really. Truly. Or what about Milan, Indiana? It is pronounced mai-lən -- nothing at all like that "other" city in Italy. Russiaville is pronounced roosh-a-vul, and Moscow is pronounced muss-go.

There are so many other wonderful names given to Indiana cities and towns. Here are some of my personal favorites:

Toad Hop

Possum Trot

French Lick

Santa Claus

Little
Hooker Corner
Floyds Knobs
Normal

Hogtown

Farmersburg

Bean Blossom
Gas City

Gnaw Bone

Nope. You simply cannot make this stuff up.

As a native of Indiana, I am entitled to poke fun at my home state. It's allowed. It's even encouraged. (I think!) I am really making fun of myself because I am (and always will be) a Hoosier. No matter how many other states I've lived in, I've learned that you can take the girl out of Indiana, but you can't take the Hoosier out of the girl. 

All kidding aside, there are also interesting factoids about the Indiana that must be shared. 

• Indiana produces more than 20% of the United States’ popcorn supply. In a typical year, almost half of all cropland in Indiana is planted in corn.

• I'll bet that you didn't know that professional baseball got its start in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The very first Major League game ever played took place on May 4, 1871. It was a National Association contest between the Cleveland Forest Cities and Ft. Wayne Kekiongas. The Kekiongas won the contest 2-0. (What is a Kekiongas, any way?!)

• Bedford, Indiana, is known as the "Limestone Capital of the World." (That's right, the WORLD!) New York City's Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center, as well as the Pentagon, the U.S. Treasury, a dozen other government buildings in Washington D.C., and 14 state capitols around the nation are all built from Indiana limestone. (These are the hard, cold facts!)

Interesting, huh?! You'll thank me the next time you are on a game show and need to know this stuff to answer the "million dollar" question.

We were happy to get to see these faces.

Liesey Lou got to put the Dixie Chopper to good use.

Our visit overlapped with my seester's visit by a couple of days.
Do we look related? It must be the sunglasses.

No trip to the Indianapolis airport is complete without making a quick lap around the Circle City. 

It was monumental. 

You might even say that we have come full circle.

Does this ring any bells?

The official state bird of Indiana dropped in for a snack.

We told him to "suet" himself.

Obviously, this is the road less traveled.

This trio looks a little moo-dy to me.

We are pretty sure that this corn was way ahead of the "knee-high by the Fourth of July" growth rate. We were in Indiana a couple of weeks after Independence Day, and this corn was sky high! Pretty a-maize-ing.

My daddy even let me drive the Black Beauty while I was back home. This is still the finest $1 vehicle that money can buy. 

We enjoyed driving the backroads and taking in the scenery. Hoosiers have been known to say, "Take your time, but hurry." We took our time. And we were in no hurry. 

Hoosier sunsets are spectacular.

All good things must come to an end. We loaded up the car and headed west. Yes, I am pretty silly for taking a picture of our car's reflection in a big rig's hubcap, but that's how we roll. Silliness adds joy to the journey.

One of the other silly things that we do to pass the miles away throughout Missouri is play the rumble strip game. The rumble strip, a.k.a. sleeper lines, audible lines, "the corduroy" and growlers, is actually part of the painted white edgeline along I-44. If one deviates the slightest little bit from the lane while driving through the "Show Me" state, a rumble is heard. The object of the game is to keep it 'tween the lines for 293-ish miles -- no rumbling, no growling. And it's harder than it would seem. We successfully passed through MO both directions without a single growl. Them's braggin' rights for sure. 

We made the return trip to Texas in fourteen hours, despite taking a slight detour to see this:

Why?

Because we are are off our rocker.

I-44 has all the good stuff. Ha! Ha!

Actually, we had to take a slight detour off of I-44 onto Old Route 66 to find this peculiar roadside attraction. It is 42 feet tall. I think they should have gone for 44 feet tall since I-44 is nearby, but they didn't ask me. 66 feet tall would just be silly. (As if a 42' tall rocker ISN'T silly...)

This oversized piece of furniture is located at the US 66 Outpost and General Store in Fanning, Missouri. It was built to attract I-44 travelers to the store. We only stopped to pay homage to the rocker, so their larger than life marketing strategy didn't work on us.

We have our shades on.

You might say that we are true rock(er)stars. 

Over the past couple of months, my travel buddy has visited Rome, Paris, London, Munich, Geneva, Barcelona, and she's passed through Austria, but I am certain she never saw ANYTHING like this in any of those locations. Thank you, Missouri, for making this trip such a big deal. 

Believe it, or not, it truly is one for the record books! 

California Girls

This summer, the "Blonde Best Friends Forever Reunion" (BBFFR) is being held in Roseville, California. This girl's bag is packed, and she's ready to go.

A BIG hug was awaiting Millie in Sacramento. 

The next three pics are a few of the iMessages &/or SnapChats that I received. 

It's obvious that these two aren't having any fun.

I just hope that they send her home at the end of the two weeks! I'm going to be ready for a reunion of our own. 

There's Always So Much To Wander About

It has been said that one should collect moments/memories, not things.

We have been trying to do that this summer; however, we have also managed to collect a lot of frequent flyer miles along with those memories. Our family has been traveling in lots of different directions, but we managed to meet up in the Pacific Northwest in July.

We have a lot of family traditions.

Some are silly.

Some are not.

Each Independence Day, we gather together in Vancouver, WA, 

for a family gathering.

Not silly.

When anyone flies into PDX, a photo must be taken before leaving the 'port.

The airport sign must be obvious.

Silly!

We flew from Dallas to Portland on June 30th. It's "plane" to see that we are have fun when we are up in the air.

Over the course of an eleven day time period, there were nine flights in and out of the Portland 'port, as family members came and went. My sister actually had the great idea of writing out all of the flight schedules on a whiteboard so that we could keep all the comings and goings straight. We kept a "shuttle bus" rolling to and fro. HA! Thankfully, it is only a fifteen minute drive from Point A to Point B. I think we all had reminders set on our phones, too, so we wouldn't leave anyone stranded at the terminal. Pulling double duty on the reminders certainly qualifies as the old "belt and suspenders" method. It all worked. Airport arrivals and departures all flowed, and no man was left behind.

Grandpa was the first to make it to the Pacific NW.

Then 4/5 of our family arrived.

The "father and son reunion" was a surprise to one, but not the other. It's pretty amazing that we are able to keep secrets and surprises... These two arrived on different days; #3 and #4 treks to the airport.

Cousin Linda jetted in from San Francisco for a few days. It is always a lot of fun to get to spend time with her!

Moments after Linda's flight arrived, the European Wander Woman flew in from Switzerland via Los Angeles. We all were VERY excited to see her!

She was not exempt from having to take a picture by the entrance/exit (depending upon one's orientation!) doors and that frequently-photographed sign.

After a short drive to our "home away from home," Liesey Lou was able to give her grandpa a big squeeze!

Here is how the rest of the week in Washington looked:

Millie Girl got to visit with 'Lina one afternoon. I think it had been three years since our families had seen one another, so we had a little catching up to do. We were so busy talking that we neglected to get a picture of all of the adults together.

German Chocolate Cake.  

'Nuf said.

 These four heeded the call of nature -- or something like that! 

What I meant to say is that nature beckoned, they listened, and took a hike.

Best of all, no one got lost.

Ape Cave had some effect on these two. They are obviously selfie-absorbed spelunkers.

Grabbing lunch at the food truck block in Portland always presents the opportunity to pose for a pic and really mean it when you say, "Cheese!"

 There's nothing cheesy about this crew...

So, what do you call a fake noodle?

An impasta.

These noodles were NOT imposters, they were the real deal. Homemade fettuccine noodle making is the only way these two roll when they are in charge of planning the menu. La buona cucina! (There were no leftovers, and I may have witnessed someone licking the serving spoon.) 

 The twin grin is in.

 All the cool visitors to the 'Couv sport plaid shorts when playing croquet.

Family photos sometimes feel forced, look awkward, and don't quite capture everyone's true colors...

HOWEVER, this pose describes our family perfectly. 

I think we just might have a winner for our 2015 Christmas card picture.