We left Dad's house at four am four our long journey to Texas. We stopped at Kum and Go in Johnstown before leaving for the rest of the trip to go pee and pick up some coffee. Dad and Gwyn got coffee and offered it to me many times. I turned it down several times because I didn't really like regular coffee. When we got into the car and the wonderful aroma filled the air of the car, I began to regret my choice and told myself that next time I was offered, I would take them up on it.
We turned on the GPS and the lady giving directions began to blurt out something that sounded like French. It turned out to be French Canadian and our GPS, when my dad updated it, was stuck on that mode so all the way to Texas.
It was hard to see in the darkness with it being only five o'clock but the dense fog made the trip even more difficult. The only thing between Aurora and Limon was the fog, a town I have never heard of, country music on the radio, and the smell of creamy Kit Kat and coffee. Boy, I sure wish I would have gotten one of those delicious convenient store coffees.
As we drove even further, I realized that I should be sleeping but you know how it is; every time you need to sleep you can't but when you actually want to, you can't because the sun will be creeping up out of below the land. When we reach Limon, the sun is already up and we stopped and grabbed some McDonalds.
When we drove further out East, we lost reception for the regular radio and it started to change. Dad didn't realize until Rihanna come on and he was like, "I need to turn off this techno!".
The picture first is of out East in Colorado and the next picture is of when we hit Oklahoma. Welcome to Oklahoma.
We stopped in Boise City, Oklahoma to take pictures with this twenty foot tall steel dinosaur as well as a talk tin man. The dinosaur was made of rusty goodness and I love it! It actually inspired me to make a buffalo with the same technique but smaller to put in the apartment if we get it.
We drove further and further out into the distance and then we found a sign that said, "Big Sandy Creek". I looked below and it was a bed of sand yet there was no creek to go along with it.
The trip into Oklahoma and through it was extremely boring. It was the same constant
Welcome to Texas! The second we got to Texas there was a butcher and it said fresh meat. I decided to expand on that by saying, "fresh meat, fresher than if you stole it from your neighbor". There was also a building that said they sold exotic African wood. We drove by and all we saw was broken up pallets. I laughed a little to myself but I am a bad person.
In Amarillo, we stopped at the famous Big Texan to take a break from driving a grab a bite to eat. We were welcomed by the giant Texan sign in front of the building adorned with decorations and an old west hotel on the side. There were cut outs in front along with a giant bull and a giant lizard. They are known for their 72 ounce steak that you have to eat in under an hour and then it is free. I wanted to try it but I didn't think that my appetite was up for it and neither was my wallet. When you walk inside, there is a candy bar full of large candy that you can buy and a gift shop of the left hand side. If you go to the right, you are greeted by the staff of cowboys and cowgirls along with animal mounts gathered upon the walls and antique lamps above each table. Boy, this is the Casa Bonita of Texas!
Outside, on their deck, there was an armless slot machine man, a huge cedar chair, a stagecoach, as well as Indians, and a giant boot!! Tons of things to play on while you are there. I would highly recommend going there if you are in the Amarillo area.
There were even kitties running wild outside that you could pick up. We found one that had to be only a few weeks old! Gwyn said that she saw a lady go out there, pick up something, put it in her purse, and walk quickly out to her car. I think she stole one. The little one we were holding was flea infested.
They also had slot machines inside that you could play with if you used tokens.
While driving through Chillicothe, Texas, we saw a bus that was completely gutted with no sides or windows but the windshield was still there. Dad said that this is how they do air conditioning around here. Sometimes my dad says the funniest things.
The second we got to Julie's house, we were greeted with warm hellos and hugs. Julie, Mark, Dylan, and Dakota, had the food ready and we sat down and had dinner. Julie made green enchiladas, rice with bananas, beans, and mayo salad. During dinner, everyone was talking about the trip and all the plans during the weekend but all I could do was play I spy with all the beautiful collections in her museum house! She has so many interesting things and displays everything so well and the best thing of all is that most of everything is from garage sales and flea markets. After we finished up dinner, Julie took me on an official tour of the house. She has a cute chalkware cow, cool drawers on the wall, and knick knacks galore! One of my favorite things in her house were all of the ribbons that Julie and Dylan have won at the State Fair. They were on the cow and all in the kitchen. After the grand tour, Julie so kindly fixed my swimsuit and we jumped in the pool for a late night swim. The water was great but the conversation was even better!
In the morning, we went to look at the houses in Granbury and the surrounding areas. My first impressions of the town was that the newer part of Granbury was trashy but the older part was beautiful. I wish the whole town was like that. The town was also a lot bigger than I expected. The houses that we looked at today seemed be to disenchanting. None of them seemed worth trading his house in Loveland for.
These are pictures of this crazy huge shed that was at one of the houses we looked at. Wyatt and I could have totally lived there if Dad would have gotten that house. It has two rooms downstairs and upstairs, in the loft, that would be where we slept.
Below, is the house that the shed was a part of. Too bad the inside of it looked so crappy.
I also saw this beautiful purple plants growing around. I wonder what they are called.
We stopped in a little tiny town and went to a Mexican buffet. The food wasn't that good but it was very expensive. If we would have know how expensive it was, we would have gone somewhere else. In the bathroom they had these mounted butterflies. I especially liked the black one.
We stopped at one house that had a cute little dog running around the land.
We even looked at one with a spider with a body the size of a fifty cent piece. One house looked like they never changed any of the decorations since 1962. In the backyard, they had a whole set of my vintage motel furniture. If only I could have just bought that set.
After we looked at all the houses, we decided to stop by my brother, Roger's house. He has llamas and chickens. The llamas are free range and they came right up to us. I thought that they were going to spit on me so I was nervous to pet them.
After we checked out Roger's place, we met the family at Babe's which was two hours away from the house. At Babe's there is only two choices which were chicken fried steak and fried chicken. The whole parties' food was brought out on one giant platter and we got to choose our food form that. The whole family got corn, biscuits, and mashed potatoes that were unlimited.
On Saturday morning, Julie, Dylan, and I went on a girls day to the Keller Farmer's Market.
We got fried pies and then walked around, eating the pies, and checked out all the little shops around.
We stopped at lots of garage sales and about four estate sales. In Colorado, there is only like one estate sale a month here and we went to like four in one day in Dallas. At a garage sale, there was this beautiful headboard and footboard. They were only $120 for both.
We also passed this pretty cool building in Dallas. We passed and went into some gorgeous houses while estate sale shopping. One house was so big that I got kind of lost in there. They had marble floors and cedar closets all over the house. It would be wonderful to live in one of those.
My favorite part of the trip was when we stopped at this store called Curiosities. Inside, was a large store jam packed with oddities and antiques. They had some taxidermy there of which I loved.
There was this Mexican candle holder made of tin. It was beautiful but it was also $35 bucks.
Julie and I did find these adorable taxidermy ducklings!! She got one and I also got one. I haven't found the best way to display it yet so it is still in my bag I got it in. Julie took this adorable picture of Dylan with a few mink scarves on. I love that picture!
Julie took me on a tour of the downtown Dallas area. I even saw where JFK was shot and killed.
After the tour, we stopped by this store called Tim Oulton. Tim Oulton is a British furniture designer with an incredible store in Dallas. I guess there is only a few stores that have his furniture. The second we walked into the store, and they gave us the option to get wine or water. They came in a glass with fancy British straws and napkins to go along with it. Julie took the fabulous pictures of the drink with the chandelier and candles. Those candles smell amazing! However, they cost $45 for the small ones. There were zebras on the walls and furniture that looked like it was made of an Airstream. They would even look great in an Airstream!
We stopped for lunch at Jerry's and had hamburgers and hot dogs. It was expensive but pretty good.
After our adventures around Dallas, Julie, Dylan, and I went over to my grandparents for a brisket dinner. I was quite delicious!! I had a wonderful time visiting with the family. Zach and Lauren even showed up even though they didn't go to Babe's.
On the way home from the grandparent's house, we saw a falling star. That must be good luck. I also thought that I should take a picture of the Keller Carnival since it looked so pretty at night.
In the morning, we were going to leave at four am but we were all extra tired so we decided to leave at five instead. I took a shower and tried to flush the toilet after I went pee and the toilet started to overflow and come out of the bottom of the toilet. Luckily, my dad was there to save the day, again.
We stopped at a gas station to get gas and Dad's card was rejected. We were unsure of why because there was money in the account and we called the bank before we left. It turns out that the stupid bank was updating everything and so they closed down the accounts momentarily. Luckily we had cash. I ended up getting my convenience store coffee after all!
I looked at some of the magazines Julie had and I found these. What a cute lobster. I love the cupcake.
