Vacation 2008: Highlights and Lessons Learned

1. Don’t be afraid to board the pet. Tidbit did great at the vet’s. It was cheaper than having a petsitter come by once a day and she probably got a lot more attention.
   
2. A toiletry organizer will save your sanity. For the first time I traveled with a multi-pocket, clear plastic organizer and boy, did it cut down on the cussing! I just took the organizer out of the suitcase, used the products I needed, put them back in the organizer, and tossed the thing back in the suitcase so we could move on to our next destination. So easy it’s probably a crime.
   
3. Don’t be afraid to use hair conditioner in the west. In Houston, conditioner drags my hair down, but in the desert, it’s the only thing that keeps it from sticking up in every direction.
   
4. Stock your cooler with blue ice instead of regular, water-everywhere ice. Almost everywhere you go now in Texas and New Mexico will have a fridge and freezer either in the room or available on premises for guests. The ubiquitousness of fridge and microwave access in hotels these days means there’s no excuse for not taking decent road food with you.
   
5. Nearly everywhere has wireless internet access, it seems. Still, it’s not a bad idea to keep that dial-up account for another year or two, just in case. I was glad I had it at my Dad’s place.
   
6. Most decent hotels have workout rooms these days. No excuse not to get a little exercise each day, and it really helps for those days where you spend a lot of time in the car.
   
7. When it comes to family, less can be more. It’s great to see them, but it’s a good idea to leave before you or they begin wishing the Acoma natives still threw people off the cliff.
   
8. When you find a place that has a good price on local goods (such as Indian pottery), buy a lot. I wish I had bought more at Acoma.
   
9. Keep extra camera batteries with you at all times.
   
10. Although it’s lots of fun to just take each day as it comes, have a backup plan in case you get to a town only to find the hotels all booked. We had trouble finding a place in Las Cruces and were unable to get a room in Fort Stockton or Ozona. Two years ago we had the same problem, unable to get a room in Silver City and getting one of the last rooms in Fort Stockton.
    
11. Be glad camp food lasts up to ten years. Last year we couldn’t camp because of rain, this year it was wind. Maybe the third time will be the charm.
    
12. Follow those spur-of-the-moment impulses. We found Pagosa Springs that way and it’s on our permanent must-do list now!
    
13. Out of the way places can be really cool. The population of Kingston in the Black Range is only about 30, but the Black Range Lodge is beyond wonderful if you want peace, quiet, a rambling old house in the wooded mountains, and a hot breakfast made with all organic and homemade goodies. Their guest house would make a fantastic writer/artist retreat.
    
14. Host dogs make excellent running companions.
    
15. Do your homework. A lot of fun things, like a massage and a soak in the hot springs can be done for a lot of money or for just a little. Go cheap so you can splurge on an extra day!
    
16. Own a pair of really nice pajamas. I have a pair of red silk ones that I'm not embarrassed to be seen in at any time. Not that I go running around in my pajamas, but it's nice to know that you look great if room service or housekeeping show up.
    
17. Take your own pillow.
    
18. Make use of the guest laundry. Often.
    
19. Cousins have better family gossip than parents and uncles every time.
    
20. Count your blessings. Not everyone can take a paid vacation. In many countries, it's a totally alien concept.
    
21. Remember that vacation is supposed to be fun. When it starts becoming work, it’s time to go home.
    

Day Fourteen (Second Try)

For the first time on this vacation, I was a bad girl and didn’t get up to exercise. The alarm went off and I was just so comfortable that I said “screw it,” and turned off the alarm. I slept until a little after 8:00, and then got up and had a nice breakfast of coffee, banana and oatmeal while Dan indulged with waffles and sausage patties from the hotel’s breakfast buffet.

Then we were off to Yorktown.

















I liked Dan’s great-aunt Elena very much—she’s 75, active, energetic and sharp as a tack. We talked in her living room for awhile, then went to see the church and school Dan’s mother attended as a child. . .






















and then went to the cemetery.
















I was amazed to see Elena walk the narrow concrete borders of the grave plots as if she were a thirteen year old gymnast! I hope I have her sense of balance at 75!

Then we went back to her house and hung around in the garden, playing with the dog for awhile.

















































And then we left for Goliad, where we toured the presidio. Odd that I had never been here before.








































And then we headed home. In the rain.
































































When we got home, we found the power out, due to a big storm that had come through and a lightening strike that blew the transformer. It was cool in the apartment, though, so we figured the power would be back on in a few hours, and started unpacking. Then I took a nap and Dan went to see some friends, and when I woke up later, the power was still out! I called to get a status update and was told that the transformer had been repaired and that any further problems were on site here at the complex. So I left a message for maintenance and puttered around a little, until I heard some stuff going on downstairs and went to check.

It was the electrician! Yay! I went to bed feeling sure that we’d have power by morning.

No such luck. I went for a run and ran into two electricians on my way out and they said they had worked all night but still not found the source of the problem. Upon my return from my run, the problem had been found, but they weren’t sure if their fix would work. But I tried to make my morning as normal as possible, and since there was power in the gym, I went there to dry and style my hair after my shower. Then Dan and I went to pick up my bike from the bike shop, had lunch, and when we returned, the power was back on.

Tonight I finished my unpacking, put together gift bags for my co-workers, and basically tried to put things back to normal around here. I have tomorrow off, so I’m looking forward to a nice rest day before I have to return to the rat race. It’s good to be home and have everything where I expect it to be. But when I took a nap this afternoon, I dreamed I was still on vacation—one of those intensely vivid dreams where you can actually smell the earth and trees, and feel the touch of the wind on your skin. It’s good to be home, but I sure wouldn’t mind home being west of here.

Day Thirteen

My alarm went off at 7:30 but I dozed until nearly eight before getting dressed and going to the exercise room. The room was quite nice, and I had it all to myself. When I was done with my workout, I found Dan still asleep, so I woke him up and we went downstairs and had breakfast.

By the time we went back to our room, it was ten, and I still hadn’t showered yet. But I’m at that point in a vacation where I’m starting to know how to cope with living out of bags, and I was ready in thirty minutes—shower, makeup, hair, clothes, and everything packed. While I got ready, Dan watched the weather report, and we learned that there was a flash flood in effect for Central Texas and that the whole area had gotten a lot of rain. We weren’t too thrilled at the idea of camping in the mud with the possibility of a flash flood, but we figured we would wait until we got to Kerrville before making a final decision.

We took a few pictures on the way out of Fort Stockton, including one of the roadrunner, which they list as an area attraction, which should give some idea of what they have to do in Fort Stockton.
















It was a long trip east to Kerrville, passing mesas and wind farms. . .



















cutting through the hills. . .

















and finally ending up in the Hill Country, as storm clouds swirled all around us. . .

















and we drove through rain.
















In Kerrville, we stopped at a little coffee bar where I had a really great curry chicken salad and Dan had a roast beef and provolone sandwich. We confirmed the local weather conditions with the shop owner, who told us there was flooding in the area. This cinched our decision that we would find a hotel for the night and we decided to push on to Victoria, where we could be sure of finding a decent hotel while being reasonably close to Yorktown, our last stop before going home.

But first we had to go to our favorite bookstore, where we browsed until nearly 5:00. After that, we strolled downtown a little, and then resumed our journey east.


In San Antonio, we did a side trip to find some of the places I remembered from my childhood. We found my church with surprisingly little trouble, for not having been there in thirty years. . .


















But finding home was harder. We finally found the high school, and after that it wasn’t too hard to locate my elementary school. . .


















and finally my house.


















Mission accomplished, we pressed on to Victoria. By now, it was growing dark and soon we were driving down highway 87 in the dark, from town to town.

















We got to Victoria around 9:00 and wandered around a bit before finding a nice place to stay on Navarro. Since our room had a microwave and it was too late to find anything better than a Denny’s open, we went to a grocery store and bought some frozen foods. I got an Amy’s Organics, and Dan got a Marie Calendar’s, so we were set.

And now were settled for the night. Our plan for tomorrow is to see the presidio at Goliad, then go to Yorktown and see Dan’s aunt. Then we’re off toward home.

Tomorrow night’s post will be from the comfort of my bedroom!

Day One

Although I was up until 3 am, I was awake at 7. I would’ve gladly gone back to sleep, but Dan was up, so I started getting doing all the last-minute things that can’t be done until you’re practically walking out the door. Throughout it all, Tidbit was so sweet and curious, tagging after me and begging for attention, that it was hard to leave. But finally we were ready to go:
















We had a clear shot out I-10, which was pretty amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen I-10 between downtown and Katy drivable in daylight hours before. We made good time, and once we were outside Katy, the landscape started getting hillier, and full of wildflowers:
















We reached San Antonio around noon and skirted it on the Anderson Loop, on the recommendation of one of Dan’s friends at work. Yuck. It took us through some very disturbing bedroom communities of all pre-fab McMansions, strip centers and chain stores. I could feel my soul being sucked out of my body as we drove through that sterile wilderness of endless roofs of conformity. The denizens must feel the same way, because on the northern part of the loop we came upon a series of about half a dozen mega-churches all in a row, each with its electric marquee flashing blessings to the cars speeding past on the freeway.

It terrifies me what America is turning into. When God has become a commodity on a par with cheeseburgers, something is deadly wrong.

Anyway, soon we were past that particular circle of Hell and back out in open country.
















We stopped at a rest stop near Kerrville and had a picnic lunch of hummus, crackers and grape tomatoes in a gazebo overlooking a valley.
















It was quite a nice little rest stop.



























We arrived in San Angelo around 4:30 and got a room at the Fairfield within sight of Angelo State University. While Dan tried to figure out the hotel’s internet connection, I went for a run around campus. It’s quite a small campus compared to the one I work at. But with only 6,200 students, they don’t have to be very big. They just had commencement exercises yesterday, so the campus was quiet, except for some families enjoying the tennis courts or letting their children ride bikes around under the trees. It was nice.

After I got back to the hotel and showered, we went for dinner at a steak house up the road that had been recommended by one of Dan’s co-workers who grew up here. I was disappointed with the non-steak options, which were all either fried or distressingly unoriginal. So I went for the grilled tilapia, my first attempt at fish since my disastrous bout with scrombid poisoning a few years ago. I knew logically that tilapia shouldn’t be a problem, but when you have a reaction that very closely mimics anaphylactic shock, it makes you a little gun-shy. But I had no problems with the meal, and Dan enjoyed his steak. We drove around the campus a little after, but I couldn’t convince Dan to get out and walk.

In the morning I intend to use the exercise facility here before we head out. And the breakfast room here is great! We initially thought of trying to make Santa Fe, but given the distance and the fact that we don’t want to spend another full day in the car, we think we’ll go as far as Roswell instead. We can go see the Bottomless Lakes.

And that’s it for today!