Road Trip 2012, Part I

 

We left Dallas on Monday, July 16th.  Our first pit stop was in Oklahoma City.  We stumbled upon their downtown botanical gardens, with a water fountain for the kids to splash in.   Free parking.  Free admission.  Are you listening, Dallas?  Found a shady table and chairs, had lunch and let the kids splash around.

Got back on the road and soon afterwards heard a strange sound.  Something under the front bumper was making noise so we just hacked it off with some manicure scissors and were back on our way.

Spent our first night in Wichita, KS in a Spring Hill Suites (Marriot.)   Best set up of all hotels we stayed in.  Had a small desk which partitioned the beds from a sitting area, so at least felt like we weren’t all in the same room.  Also had nifty reading lights on the headboard so I could read easily.  Score!

The best coffee of our entire trip was in Wichita.  Actually, was the best coffee I’ve had possibly ever.  Found this place on Yelp and were over the top pleased with it. 

Kansas is not very exciting.

But sometimes you make new friends at gas stations.

And Mommy gets to read a bit.

And when you finally get to Denver, you just go to sleep!

On Wednesday, we took the day off from driving and just went sight seeing around the Denver area.  First stop, Hammonds Candies.  Free tour, free candy!  Tons of fun.  From there, we went to an old mine.

Tried to strike it rich, but I’m afraid only left with enough gold for maybe a Sonic Happy Hour drink.

Thursday morning we left Denver, armed with new movies like The Wizard of Oz and Hello Kitty, and headed for Salt Lake City.  Very long day.

Had to institute the “side of the road timeout” rule.

But finally made it to the really lovely little town of Ogden, UT.  Stayed a nice full-fledged Marriot so had the Executive/Concierge Level privileges but no reading lamps on the headboard!

Part 2 Coming Soon.