Stops:

Miles traveled: 2,100

Friday, June 23, 2006: The Journey Begins

I was so nervous about the trip that morning I dry heaved while hosing off our dusty, spider-webbed lounge chairs (almost as bad as my pregnant sister). We departed at 8:30 a.m. and  headed for our first stop, Fredricksburg. The ride there was exciting at first.

We stopped for a picnic just South of Canadian, TX and then continued on. Once we got past Perryton, we began to realize how long the trip would take. So we started making lists: churches we saw on highway 83, semi trucks we counted, the music we listened to, crossing off each city on the way of our destination, and interesting names. Here are just a few:

Quirky: Needwater; Panfork Bible Camp; Tuxedo; Tell; Padusca; Katempsey. Cool: Hamlin--school mascot: the Pied Pipers (like the fairy tale); Wellington--school mascot: the Fighting Skyrockets. Pretty: Silver Valley; Loyal Valley; Cherry Mountain Loop; Cherry Springs.

We arrived at Fredricksburg around 8:30 p.m. and found it to be the quaintest little tourist town ever. We walked a main street chalk-full of shops, one of which made homemade ice cream treats. Lori and I bought ourselves smoothies made with homemade ice cream and fresh fruit....delicious.

Note: You know you're in a tourist town when a 20 oz smoothie costs $4.25.

Saturday, June 24, 2006: Sea World Adventure Park

After a continental breakfast, we headed for San Antonio and Sea World. First we saw "Believe" featuring Shamu and the killer whales. Their majestic beauty made me tear up.

Yeah. This was the Steel eel, Lori and I's first roller coaster ride of the day. (It was Lori's first roller coaster ride in her entire life.) See how terrified we were? We screamed the whole way. But this was nothing compared to the Great White.

It's a very good thing I took Lori on this one first, because if she'd have ridden the Great White, she'd never have gone on another roller coaster ride.

The Great White. This picture was taken just after our first loop-the-loop. Lori had her eyes closed, but she didn't scream at all for the whole ride. I, on the other hand, screamed my lungs out.

We went upside down about three times and got flung out sideways...I was gasping for air when we got off, and one of the ride guys asked me if I was okay. Lori said my face looked a little more pale than usual.

A two-minute ride, and my stomach was queasy for a half hour. Thank the Lord we decided to wait and eat lunch until after the roller coasters, or both of us would have puked.

We also saw "Vive", a show featuring Pacific Dolphins, Balouka Whales and acrobats.

 They opened their mouths and sang with the unique voice their Creator gave them. "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord!"

We also went and saw the "Sea Lion Caper," a delightful mystery-theatre type presentation that featured sea lions acting like humans. I laughed and laughed. The whole story-line was about the missing "Uncle Max" a huge walrus.

 We left Sea World at around 5:30 and headed for Corpus Christie.

June 25, 2006: South Padre Island

After staying the night in Corpus Christie, we got up the next morning and headed for South Padre Island, Texas, a three-hour drive.

We knew we were getting close to our main destination when we noticed the palm trees becoming more prominent.

South Padre Island, Texas, as we crossed a long bridge that connected it to the Mainland.

The water was almost warm. "This is Maui right here," a California man we met commented to us.  Lori and I made good use of the waves with a boogie-board we'd rented. I caught some pretty big waves from the water traffic going across the gulf; waves that carried me good distances. Lori said I won the "Big Kahuna" award for my body surfing. Then she went to lie on the beach, and I played in the waves. I loved standing waist-deep in the water, and then diving over the waves, head up, to feel myself SWOOSH down the other side. I could have done it all day. Lori said I looked like I was having a great time.

Don't we look like we've been out in the sun and waves all day? This was at Blackbeard's, a sea-food restaurant that served food fresh from the gulf. Lori and I ordered shrimp and flounder. We couldn't eat all of it, but we came quite close.

Monday, June 26, 2006: On the Way Home

 On the way back to Abilene, the Mexico border was only a few miles to the west of us. Sure enough, we had to go through a check point. Lori was driving, and I woke up when she started saying, "I know we're on highway 83, I just saw a sign!" as if she was panicked that we'd taken a wrong turn and somehow ended up at the Mexican border!

The drive from South Padre to Abilene was a 10-hour stretch. Lori and I felt like we were really in Mexico instead of the U.S., and we were relieved when we finally made it into central Texas. We stayed the night in Abilene and then finished the last six-hour leg of our trip.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006: Home Sweet Home

Yes, after all we'd seen in southern Texas, Lori and I were quite grateful for the blessings we have in Kansas and where we live. Ergo, I am literally hugging the sign that says "Welcome to Kansas." If you look close enough, you can see the "souvenir sunburn,"  on my upper thighs, at least an 8 on a scale of 1-10. It's just now healing, and itches like crazy!