Vacation Chronicle: Parts 1 & 2

Dear Diary,                       9 July 2011

Vacation Chronicles: Part 1

Well we’ve been on the road approximately 17 minutes and already have returned to the house once, reprimanded my brother, and been to McDonalds. So far it seems a very promising trip.

Our family has proven that plans don’t always work out the way you think…our goal of leaving at 6AM was an hour and 56 minutes ago. But the point is that we made it out of there with no regrets. None, that is, but from my brother, who repeatedly expresses remorse at having to leave his computer behind.

Our first overnight stay will be Oklahoma City. We’re going to meet some family and friends there for dinner tonight. I bet we’ll be totally wiped!

~

Unfortunately for me, my history book has followed me on this trip. I’m pretty sick of WWII now. What a terrible time to live in… So far nothing very interesting has happened. Of course it is only 2 hours and 10 minutes since we left. Out my backseat window, I can see green leaves of Texas landscape pass by from over a sea of luggage. You know, I thought it was physically impossible for two objects to occupy the same space at the same time…turns out it is. *~*

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It’s 11:25 AM now and we are driving through Dallas at present. A few minutes ago, I was a bit irritated because Mommy didn’t want to plug my iPod into the stereo. We passed by a massive, strange, twisted arch thing. Mommy started tripping, telling someone to take a picture of it. Jacob just looked out the window and said, “It’s just a thing.” That made me burst out laughing and I forgot I was in a bad mood.

Daddy is addicted to frosted animal crackers. He and Jacob have been fighting over the bag. For a few minutes I fired up my laptop and shot a few zombies in Killing Floor (this new game we all have) before we had to make a stop. I read for awhile, but now I am a bit boredish. I thought we were going to be able to have internet through my mom’s phone, but turns out that was only a limited trial period. L Boo hoo for me; I’ll have to take a break from Team Fortress 2.

~

(1:12 PM)

The Shell station we stopped at was in hickville. There was a pickup truck on the other side of the gas pump we were using, In the back was an Australian shepherd mix, panting away while a woman shouted a bunch of kids to get some shoes on as they filed out of the tiny cab. The guy had torn up jeans – and I mean that quite literally, they looked as though something had torn them off below the knees. He and Daddy got to know one another as they pumped gas. I gave Daddy a look and he said, “He’s my buddy.”

Mommy dropped a quarter out in the parking lot and this motorcycle moustache dude snapped it up before I could say anything about it. Is biker accent could have taken me down in itself so I just shoved hands in pockets and shuffled on to the car.

Dear Diary,                   10 July 2011

Vacation Chronicle: Part 2

This morning I was so tired. We’ve been driving since 8 AM…now it is 4:48 PM. Hopefully Colorado Springs is over this next mountain.

The mountains are so beautiful! They’re so resolute and majestic. I want to climb one so bad! We’ll have to take a trip to Colorado sometime for longer than one night. The weather…ph goodness! It’s heavenly!! Not too cold, not too warm. The wind is a bit strong, ut I can deal with that.

For the first 50 some odd miles from New Mexico/Colorado border there were mountains on one side of the freeway and flat plains on the other. New Mexico was very flat and open, but also mountainous with its “glorified hills”, as Jacob called them. Those mountains aren’t as pretty as the rocky, snow-capped ones in Colorado.

During our seemingly everlasting trek through New Mexico and Amarillo, Texas (yes, we spent an hour or two in our home state), we spotted a giant dust devil! It looked like a tornado but it wasn’t as scary. Though Mommy was a little nervous. “Brett! Is it coming over here? What do I do?” Whilst Daddy repeatedly offered his reassurance.

How did we bear the 3 hour-long drive through boring country sides? In a variety of ways. Each of us differently. Mommy had Daddy pop in “The Sound of Music” as she drove, so that was like 16 hours. Daddy put in earplugs and read his “Japanese Candlesticks” book that I still don’t understand why he’s reading. Jacob slept, I guess. He was actually pretty quiet all that time. I worked on World History (I’ve skipped to the Cold War after VJ Day) and on one of my stories.

~

We’re not 37 miles from Colorado Springs. It’s so cool seeing the Rockies out my window. Oooo, I want to be on the top where the clouds are all around you. I’ve never touched a cloud. Gabriel would probably say they would taste like cotton candy. J

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed.” –God in Isaiah 54:10

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The time has now gone back an hour…the people in Houston are in the future now.

My word, Colorado Springs is AMAZING!!!!!! We spent over an hour exploring this place called “Garden of the Gods”, which is basically a rock garden, climbing on massive rocks and gazing upon magnificent mountains. It was easily the most amazing and beautiful pace I have ever been to. The city is surrounded by the Rocky Mountains and peppered with these giant red-rock mountains which we saw in the Garden of the Gods. Jacob just couldn’t get over it. He kept saying how awesome and amazing it was. More than once, he made some comment about moving here and “Why do we live in Houston again?”

After we managed to tear ourselves away and stop taking pictures, we found our way to the hotel from which I now write. For supper, we ate at this delicious Greek restaurant right next to our hotel. When we first pulled up, Mommy, Daddy, and I all instantly decided to go there, but Jacob was violently opposed to the idea. Since we were starving and didn’t want to go to some place we had back home (like Texas Roadhouse) Mommy said, “Let’s just go in and check out the menu. We can leave if it doesn’t look good.”

So we walk inside, and instantly are greeted by the guy who may have been the owner. He came up, kissed Mommy, shook Daddy’s hand, kissed me, and shook Jacob’s hand. “Welcome, thank you for coming,” he said. When he had gone and the hostess was finding us a table, Jacob, wide-eyed, looked at Mommy and said, “We can’t leave now.” Turns out, the place was amazing and we all enjoyed it a lot.

Overall, it was pretty much an incredible day. J