Trip To Texas In August

So,
   I've started going through the 300+ shots I have of this trip and it occurs to me that no one is going to read that novel and I am not going to want to write it. Instead I will be breaking the trip up into at least 3 parts so that I can properly report the occasions and stories for posterity and such.
    We set out in the pre dawn hours headed for Tucson AZ. By the time we made it to Blythe CA everyone was ready for a break so we found a park in the lovely border town. It was the first of a series of strange, crazy, hot towns we would end up in. The kids played and were still generally of the opinion that this road trip thing was a good idea. Sam wasn't as sure.

Note that these graffiti'd stairs go nowhere.

1st hotel room ever!

We arrived in Tucson AZ with relatively few problem after a long day of driving only to discover that the hotel pool was a dirty pond. We had planned the trip with relatively short drives so that we could get to town and wear the kids out with swimming. The hotel had a deal with another local hotel that we could go and use their pool. We got ready, piled in the car, drove over there, swam for about 10 minutes and the BOOOOM! thunderstorm on it's way. So we went back to the hotel and picked up Sam, drove around Tucson (not great) and eventually ended up eating pizza, salad, and hot dogs in front of the local Costco.
    The next days drive was supposed to be shorter so we figured we'd see something along the way. The most interesting sounding thing (and free) was Tombstone AZ. It was only a slight detour from our route so we set out to see the backroads of AZ.
   Tombstone is a bit like Jackson Hole. An old west set up town with scheduled gunfights but unlike J-Hole it isn't super posh and there are people dressed up in costume all the time. The kids liked it a lot!

Lots of cool stuff to look at like bears heads on indian manequins. Oh and that's A's reflection.

A ready for his High noon showdown.

High noon showdowns make a dude want Ice Cream!

Cheese! Cheese. Cheese?

The first of many broom sightings on the trip, there was this one, the hotels, joe and heathers, the museum in Houston, the blue bell factory and probably more. Kid likes brooms.

Cowboy 

Cowgirl

Family and stagecoach.

Ice Cream for everyone!

The famous O.K. corral. Which really is just a corral. This wasn't a high noon gunfight on main street. This was a shooting in a small cramped horse pen, that they now charge money to see. They were standing within 15 feet of each other. Ahh history.

You Talkin to me!?

She liked this dress. She has the taste of an old western "saloon girl" YAY!

 We continued the drive through AZ into El Paso. El Paso is a really odd place with a nice looking downtown almost immediately across from the border fence and Juarez Mexico (one of the murder capitals of Mexico). Even the US side of El Paso is pretty darn sketchy. We passed through into West Texas and stopped in Van Horn TX. Upon arrival we were told that their pool was out of service and they didn't have our room! HOORAY! instead they put us up in a 2 queen room and Z got to sleep in her very own Queen sized bed. She slept well. We also arrived so late that there was only one restaurant open in the entire town. A place called Chuy's with a long history and a longer story about John Madden stopping there.

Little Girl, lots of bed.

The next day we hopped in the car and finished the drive to Austin TX. That will be the next part of our epic 3 part (at least) story. Stay tuned!

RTSZA