31 Awesome Things in 31 Days: Thing #3—Road Trip to Houston

Hollie drank an entire sippy cup of milk before we had even left the driveway. 

Yesterday turned out to be a crazy day of grading, paper-writing, packing, and cleaning, so we decided to take one of our "extra" days between my birthday and Dave's birthday to be less awesome. (Although, I did finally watch the new version of True Grit on Netflix while I packed a bag for Hollie and me for our trip today, and it was quite awesome. Especially when David left to get a Coke from Sonic and came back with a chocolate sundae and mozzarella sticks for his pregnant wife. Midnight snacks are pretty awesome.)

Today, however, we took a totally awesome road trip to Houston, and we arrived just minutes ago. Hollie is asleep in a Pack 'n Play in the next room, and David and I are chatting with bro-in-law Andy while we wait for everyone to get back from the airport (where Mary and Mom are coming back from their own trip to see Drew and Rach in DC). It is 10:54 p.m. as I write this. 

We left our house at 10:00 a.m. The typical 9-hour drive was accomplished in 11.5 hours. All in the name of adventure!

Because our old Hyundai Elantra is less trustworthy these days, Dave's dad rented us a car—a Dodge Avenger. Since the radio is all but busted in my car, and the only other source of music is a broken tape cassette deck, it was fabulous to be able to plug in an iPod and have crystal clear reception the entire way. Not to mention cruise control. 

Hollie was surprisingly pleasant for the most part. We were really impressed with her. She definitely could use a playmate in the backseat, though.

Fed up with us.

I read Austen's Sense & Sensibility out loud to David whenever Hollie fell asleep (she hates my reading voice when she's awake, unless I'm reading one of her stories to her). I'm studying for my qualifying exams right now, so every hour counts!

Documentation that Hollie does indeed bite her thumbnails when she is bored, just like her dad. We haven't had to clip her thumbnails in months.

We made significant stops in just a few places. We had lunch in Abiline, which took over an hour—we found out a little too late that it was graduation day at the local university, so everyone was at Jason's Deli dressed to the nines. Still, it was very fun, and we chatted with good people while we waited in line.

The next layover we made in Hamilton, Texas, where we finally checked out The Kaboodle, a store we had already pegged as the precise halfway point between Lubbock and Houston, designated by a giant pink and zebra-print high-heeled shoe beckoning women to come and purchase their glittery wares.

The Halfway Point

The store is an adorable little side house behind a garage behind the house the owners lived in (behind the house that Jack built, etc.) Can you see the polka-dotted white building on the right? That is the store. We rang the bell and a super nice ponytailed man came from the house, through the garage, to the store and let us in. I felt a little guilty not purchasing anything after all that effort.

Hamilton has always been a favorite stop for us. The large gas station there has lovely bathrooms, and a whole row of rocking chairs out front. They also have these nice big slabs of benches for picnicking.

Pregnant Texan.

Seriously. Hamilton is the coolest pit stop. We couldn't ask for a better halfway point.

I'm a bit exhausted, so I will be wrapping up the post now. The drive was lovely—the bluebonnets are in bloom and we actually drove through the kind of green, hilly country that makes one proud to live in Texas. Wildflowers were everywhere, in all different colors. We saw a lot of Indian Paintbrush, and another bright red flower that I couldn't name. There were many papery pink blossoms, too, as well as yellow and white. I ached to have a field guide on me.

We only saw one scissor-tailed flycatcher this time (last year we saw several), but we did spot the one, as well as many cardinals, a million vultures, and some waterfowl that we couldn't quite make out from the car. 

We also ate at a Whataburger that was literally like the ones depicted on the television commercials, in which everyone shouts a welcome to you when you arrive, and the woman bringing meals sneaks your daughter a free cookie for eating all of her fries. (You know, because fries are almost vegetables.)

The Houston adventuring awaits! But first, some sleep, fingers crossed (since writing this blog post, Hollie has since woken and David is currently in there soothing. I'd better end this now so I can take the next shift and let Dave finish his paper).

Thing #3: Drive across Texas—ACCOMPLISHED.