Off to See America: Road Trip!

This summer, we set off for a three-week road trip across about half of America. Mom and Dad started packing up our new car Friday night, then Saturday morning, Hazel, Turner and I went with Dad to Einstein’s for breakfast while Mom finished the job. Hazel decided to start our trip with some excitement. She stepped in an ant hill and got about six or seven bites. Her foot swelled up and hurt. She cried and yelled, “Ants! Ants!” Dad bravely pulled her away to the safety of the sidewalk, brushed her off, and on the way back to the car after breakfast, smashed the ant hill.

When we got home, we found out that not only did Mom finish packing, she relocated our fish, Frank, who as of July 5, we have had for a year. We bought Frank an automatic feeder so he wouldn’t get hungry while we were gone, but it didn’t work. Luckily our friend and his parents were willing to take Frank while we were gone. Mom had to run him to their house, tank and all. We are grateful they were able to do it.

With our fish secure, and Hazel’s foot properly medicated, we set on our way. Our first stop was Brenham, home of the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory. The factory tour is closed on Saturdays, but the ice cream parlor, where they sell ice cream for $1, was open. After we each had one flavor, Mom and Dad let us try another. But we had to share. In the end, we had six bowls of ice cream: red velvet, Italian cream cake, cookies and cream, blueberry cobbler, and crazy cookie dough – 2 of those! We had to drag Turner and Mom out of there kicking and screaming.

Our next big stop was the Houston Children’s Museum. We had a picnic lunch there and played for several hours. I liked the water area best. Turner liked the phone section and putting a rock in a ramp made for golf balls. Hazel liked a pretend veterinary office, where she diagnosed and treated several sick dogs and cats. We also liked the pretend grocery store until Turner got into a fistfight with another kid over some plastic produce. Having two older siblings has made Turner one tough cookie. After that we hit the pretend restaurant. Our favorite thing may have been some real baby chicks that were in an incubator.

After lunch and playing at the children’s museum, we got back in the car and drove to a hotel in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. Dad put us in our swimsuits and we went down to the pool, but when we got there it was broken. So we went back to the room for a nice dinner of veggies, crackers and homemade hummus, then played in a whirlpool tub in our room. Dad turned the jets on before the water covered them, so they shot out water and air in all directions across the whole bathroom. Dad yelled and ran out to get Mom and we all cracked up. We loved playing in it.

The next morning, I woke everybody up with some big news – my wiggly tooth fell out! When I woke up, I started wiggling it and it just popped out! Dad assured me that the tooth fairy would find us even as we moved across the country.

That day was also Mom and Dad’s anniversary. Dad took us down to breakfast so Mom could sleep in, and he gave her a nice card. After Mom got dressed, we went back down for breakfast #2 so Dad could get ready for the day. Then we packed up the car again and headed east, Florida bound!

Our second day of driving was not as successful as the first. We didn’t drive far before we needed a bathroom break, so our first stop was at a Louisiana welcome center. The ladies in the beautiful building seemed overjoyed to see someone. They pointed us to the restrooms, and when we came out, offered us bottles of water, highway maps and ALLIGATORS! It turned out they had two baby alligators in a tank. Mom was very impressed, so we sent Dad and Hazel in to see them when we came out.

It is good we saw gators there because the fun we had planned – a swamp tour, where we would have seen lots of alligators – was rained out. We did see four different states that day: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. We had to stop a lot for bathrooms and traffic, and we were slowed down by rain. So it turned into a long driving day. But it was all worth it when we arrived at Aunt Jen and Uncle Ben’s house in Panama City, Florida!