claytona

Blast from the Past

Feb 022012

“An Indian Travel Stop?! We NEED to stop there and get some fry bread”, said Clayton. Thus is was decided where our next gas tank was going to filled. We pulled over and were greeted by giant arrows stuck in the ground around the vaguely pueblo-style travel center. We hopped out and immediately went in search of fry bread. Clayton began a circuit around the store while I was caught off guard by some of the items for sale. Looking at the turquoise jewelry I began to have memories surface in my mind from my childhood.

My family lived in San Angelo, Texas when I was 4-6 years old and in Alamogordo, New Mexico when I was in 7-12 years old. So I spent a significant part of my childhood in the Southwest. As I looked at the turquoise jewelry on display I was reminded of when I wore my silver and turquoise bracelet to preschool. Like any good 4 year old, I promptly buried it in the sandbox never to be seen again. They also had stone bear figurines. After one of my grandparents visits, my grandfather decided to try to make some of his own. He went on to make several bears and other animals. Sometimes I would find rocks I thought were pretty and give them to him to carve. He died when I was in college, and while I was there for the funeral my grandmother gave me a large stone bear and unfinished buffalo pair that he had started from a rock I had previously given him. This past June for my birthday she sent me a pink hued owl he carved, because owls are one of Autumn’s favorite animals. Looking these and several other items in the Travel Center store, I felt pangs of longing for this part of my life long ago. It was completely unexpected.

Perhaps because I grew up moving frequently as a military kid, there many places and objects that spark memories for me. But the Southwest holds a particularly special place in my heart, specifically New Mexico, because I was there during such formative childhood years. In no way would I have thought that a simple stop for fry bread (which they ended up not having anyways) would have brought these things up. But once I became aware of them I enjoyed reflecting while we visited my sister Sarah and Blair and toured Albuquerque.

Arizona

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Jan 282012

We have reached the desert! The land is flat and dusty. The sky is blue. People grow cotton. And we can go outside without jackets.

Tonight is the last night of our time in Arizona where we got to visit with my sister Mary’s family. The thing I looked forward to the most was getting Autumn together with her cousins. There have been a few challenges, mostly to do with the need to share and hitting when sharing wasn’t happening, but overall it has been awesome.

We all had a great day at the Goldfield Ghost Town. It was a cheap, entertaining place to visit and really beautiful next to Superstition Mountain. The kids enjoyed dressing up as cowboys, watching a gunfight, and exploring the different places in the town. That night we went to San Tan Flats to eat “cowboy food” (as my sister called it). This ended up being burgers, potato cakes, and an awesome margarita. Everyone lit fires in barrels and listened to a guy sing country music. Very fun place to dine outside!

We also had fun around the house. Mary taught Clayton and I how to make espresso on her machine and we have had tasty lattes every morning (and most afternoons too). We also made a “volcano” for the kids by combining mentos and diet soda. This is something Autumn has looked forward to for a long time. It was a brief explosive volcano experience, but a lot of fun. Tonight we made a fire in their backyard firepit and ate s’mores. Bonfires are always fun, especially when none of the 6 children get burned or their eye poked out.

Thanks Broussards for letting us crash your house and relax with you these last couple of days!

Not the Roadtrip We Imagined

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Jan 212012

Now I know from experience that the northwestern United States is beautiful. I was looking forward to driving south from Seattle looking at the mountains and the coast. But our first day out was less about seeing the scenery and more about making sure we could see the lines on the road and car in front of us. It was also a lot about staying within those lines and off the bumpers of the cars in front of us.

Day 1 was full of rain, spray, limited visibility, and mostly careful driving. What we can say is we made it safely to our destination in one piece. Since we can’t see the countryside from our car we are supplementing it with a trip to Cabela’s this morning so Autumn can see some wildlife.

Snow Days

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Jan 192012

Seattle was hit with its first snow of the winter season this weekend.

Day 1: Light snow fall. It was a little disappointing that we could still make it out of the house without emergency provisions. Dad went to work, we went to the mall to shop and drink Starbucks.

Day 2: Heavy snowfall. We had several inches of quality packing snow. What better thing to do than go swimming in it? This has become one of our favorite “winter in Seattle” experiences. It is just awesome to swim in a warm pool with snow falling on your head. We had a mini snowball fight in the pool, and made a mini snowman that we watched melt in the pool.

Day 3: Ice storm. There is a decent coat of ice on top of the snow today. Our snowman’s hat solidified and even taking one step outside is unthinkable and irresponsible. We plan to hunker down and pack for our road trip tomorrow (by which time the roads are supposed to return to normal).