What We Did For Spring Break (Part I)
I actually thought that I would take a few minutes to write a quick blog Sunday night. Unfortunately, we were enjoying ourselves so much on our Spring Break road trip to Arizona that I didn't get around to it.
Because I'm pretty sure that a post about our trip will get pretty long pretty quickly, I'm going to break it into two parts. This first post will be about the road trip to Arizona.
We have some really good friend that moved back to Arizona in December 2007, and we hadn't seen them since. So, a few weeks ago, convinced that we needed to go somewhere and do something fun while Brookie's school was out for Spring Break, we started playing with the idea of visiting our friends. If money had been no object, I'm sure we would have flown. But, taking our budget into account, we decided our best option was to rent a car and drive.
Our trip began last Wednesday after Brookie got home from work. We picked up our rental*, packed it up, and headed for our hotel in Amarillo, TX by about 3:00pm. Ever since we started taking monthly trips to St. Louis, we've embraced the journey instead of worrying only about how quickly we can arrive at our destination. This road trip was no different.
*Brookie would tell you that all I seemed to care about was what car we would get from the rental agency. I not saying she'd be right, but I'm not not saying it either. Anyhow, I was really hoping to get one of the handful of new Honda Civics I'd often seen in the agency's lot whenever we drive by. I'd also seen Accords, Camrys, Corollas, and Chevy Malibus. But when we arrived Wednesday to pick up our car, the pickings were slim, and we ended up with an '08 Mazda6. Not bad. But definitely not a Civic.
The first two stops at points of interest along the way were both in Wichita, and were both designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright. I won't steal Brookie's thunder by telling you about these two buildings here. You'll just have to wait until she posts about them on her blog. We're fairly convinced that sooner or later, she'll have the most comprehensive guide to visiting Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings on the web.
Amarillo is just under a nine hour drive, and it's almost half way to Thatcher, AZ. Adding the time we spent taking pictures in Wichita, along with a short stop to pick up some dinner at Subway, it was about 1:00am when we checked in at our hotel. Neither one of us slept very well (which turned out to be a common theme throughout the trip). And the next morning, after grabbing some of the complimentary breakfast*, we were back on the road, looking for the only Frank Lloyd Wright building in Amarillo before continuing our trek to Arizona.
*On our way home I had a thought: The person who checks you into your hotel at night is rarely the same person at the front desk in the morning, right? So how would they know whether you're a paying customer or not if you just decided to stop at a La Quinta Inn between the hours of 6:00 and 9:00am to partake of their breakfast? I guess that would be dishonest, huh...
We decided to make our way through the Land of Enchantment (after this trip, I for one, have become slightly disenchanted with New Mexico. Honestly, can you think of a better example of misrepresentation?) via US Highway 70. We thought it would be more fun than just sticking to the interstate and going through Albuquerque. I also was very intrigued at the opportunity of driving through Roswell, NM. Lucky for us, it didn't disappoint.
We're pretty sure that guy was just waiting for a bus... we hope... And we had no idea that aliens had such a love of fast food.
Leaving the less-than-enchanted land of New Mexico behind, soon after crossing into Arizona, we called ahead to give our friends and update. It was about then that our car started to act up. With only about 45 miles to go, it started to jerk every time I tried to accelerate. Of course, the check engine light had come on in Wichita, but I didn't think it was too serious. My best uneducated guess is that there was a problem with the fuel-injection. Luckily, when we called Hertz the next morning, they told us they'd tow another car out to us to replace the Mazda6. Too bad for them that our friends live more than two hours away from the nearest Hertz location. Glad I didn't have to pay for that tow.
It was a long two-day trip, but stopping at some fun spots along the way and listening to the Chronicles of Narnia series on CD helped the time go by quicker than it may have otherwise.
Once at our friend's house we did a ton of fun stuff, but more on that later.
Because I'm pretty sure that a post about our trip will get pretty long pretty quickly, I'm going to break it into two parts. This first post will be about the road trip to Arizona.
We have some really good friend that moved back to Arizona in December 2007, and we hadn't seen them since. So, a few weeks ago, convinced that we needed to go somewhere and do something fun while Brookie's school was out for Spring Break, we started playing with the idea of visiting our friends. If money had been no object, I'm sure we would have flown. But, taking our budget into account, we decided our best option was to rent a car and drive.
Our trip began last Wednesday after Brookie got home from work. We picked up our rental*, packed it up, and headed for our hotel in Amarillo, TX by about 3:00pm. Ever since we started taking monthly trips to St. Louis, we've embraced the journey instead of worrying only about how quickly we can arrive at our destination. This road trip was no different.
*Brookie would tell you that all I seemed to care about was what car we would get from the rental agency. I not saying she'd be right, but I'm not not saying it either. Anyhow, I was really hoping to get one of the handful of new Honda Civics I'd often seen in the agency's lot whenever we drive by. I'd also seen Accords, Camrys, Corollas, and Chevy Malibus. But when we arrived Wednesday to pick up our car, the pickings were slim, and we ended up with an '08 Mazda6. Not bad. But definitely not a Civic.
The first two stops at points of interest along the way were both in Wichita, and were both designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright. I won't steal Brookie's thunder by telling you about these two buildings here. You'll just have to wait until she posts about them on her blog. We're fairly convinced that sooner or later, she'll have the most comprehensive guide to visiting Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings on the web.
Amarillo is just under a nine hour drive, and it's almost half way to Thatcher, AZ. Adding the time we spent taking pictures in Wichita, along with a short stop to pick up some dinner at Subway, it was about 1:00am when we checked in at our hotel. Neither one of us slept very well (which turned out to be a common theme throughout the trip). And the next morning, after grabbing some of the complimentary breakfast*, we were back on the road, looking for the only Frank Lloyd Wright building in Amarillo before continuing our trek to Arizona.
*On our way home I had a thought: The person who checks you into your hotel at night is rarely the same person at the front desk in the morning, right? So how would they know whether you're a paying customer or not if you just decided to stop at a La Quinta Inn between the hours of 6:00 and 9:00am to partake of their breakfast? I guess that would be dishonest, huh...
We decided to make our way through the Land of Enchantment (after this trip, I for one, have become slightly disenchanted with New Mexico. Honestly, can you think of a better example of misrepresentation?) via US Highway 70. We thought it would be more fun than just sticking to the interstate and going through Albuquerque. I also was very intrigued at the opportunity of driving through Roswell, NM. Lucky for us, it didn't disappoint.
We're pretty sure that guy was just waiting for a bus... we hope... And we had no idea that aliens had such a love of fast food.
Leaving the less-than-enchanted land of New Mexico behind, soon after crossing into Arizona, we called ahead to give our friends and update. It was about then that our car started to act up. With only about 45 miles to go, it started to jerk every time I tried to accelerate. Of course, the check engine light had come on in Wichita, but I didn't think it was too serious. My best uneducated guess is that there was a problem with the fuel-injection. Luckily, when we called Hertz the next morning, they told us they'd tow another car out to us to replace the Mazda6. Too bad for them that our friends live more than two hours away from the nearest Hertz location. Glad I didn't have to pay for that tow.
It was a long two-day trip, but stopping at some fun spots along the way and listening to the Chronicles of Narnia series on CD helped the time go by quicker than it may have otherwise.
Once at our friend's house we did a ton of fun stuff, but more on that later.
The Mazda6 broke down, huh? Disappointing. Definitely not a Civic.
ReplyDeleteOkay, Roswell is hilarious! I loved the pics!
ReplyDeleteToo funny! I am from the Land of Enchantment. I always tell people I am an Enchantress. Now that you've been there you know why! :) It has it's own kind of beauty...
ReplyDeleteYou drove through Roswell? That is where our Stake Center is. (My parents live in Carlsbad) A funny sidenote: The woman who wrote our state song about the beauty of NM was blind.
At least it was an adventure!