Road Trip: Heading Home

Time to make the drive back across the country.

 

First stop: Some of my favorite red rocks near

Vermillion Cliffs in northern AZ.

Then we got to meet some family at the

Root Beer Stand in Winslow. Yes!

Colt and Daneen

Sydney and one of her friends

Mark and Paul

It was a super fun, but very short visit.

We stayed the night in Grants, NM.

The next day our fun stop was in Old Town Albuquerque.

We loved looking around,

doing some shopping and window shopping,

and eating ice cream.

This was our first time here and we are fans.

This sign reminded of the Lil Nas X song,

Old Town Road.

I thought my lollipop was so fun.

Occasionally you'll drive by castles and forts next to the freeway.

While we were on the road, we received news that my

Great Aunt Mary, one of Grandma Cuca's sisters, had

passed away. She had been sick for a while and had

quite severe dementia. If Care Bear and I altered our route

home just a bit, we could make it to the funeral.

We decided that would be worth it.

We set the GPS for Dalhart.

There was a viewing the evening that we arrived.

Then several of us went out to dinner together

at XIT. It was delicious.

It felt very Texas.

The lobby had all of these brands from ranches in the area.

So fun to visit with family that I don't know very well.

Margie House and her husband, Lee Bo Garza, Brandi House

This is my Uncle Luis Gonzales.

I was good friends with his daughter, Christina,

when we were younger. And he lived two doors 

down from Grandma Cuca, so we spent lots 

of time at his house in the summers.

But he and his wife divorced many years ago.

He re-married and I haven't seen him in over 20 years.

It was good to see him and meet his wife and daughter.

We were so happy that we got to see

Grandma Cuca and my parents again for

a little while.

I'll miss Aunt Mary.

She was very kind to us when we would

visit her on road trips. She made super

yummy beans and tortillas.

She let us sleep in her comfy memory foam bed.

And she thought I was crazy for being afraid of a tarantula. :)

I had been to a couple other funeral masses and the 

priest would include personal messages about the deceased person.

But this was just a regular mass.

They didn't talk about Aunt Mary at all.

We didn't get to hear any stories about her life.

It didn't bring the same feeling of closure that I'm used to.

Here we are with Elva, my mom's first cousin, 

the daughter of Nick and Janie. I also hadn't seen

her in YEARS and loved catching up with her.

After the funeral, we hit the road again.

We drove by a bison farm.

I don't remember ever seeing one before.

Get your kicks on Route 66

Drove through Memphis.

Stopped for a pedicure.

It felt amazing.

Also drove through Nashville again.

Enjoyed some pretty skies as we drove.

As we got back into the lush trees and rolling hills,

it started feeling like home.

Home Sweat Home

Reunited!

I LOVE traveling and I also love coming home. We were so happy to be back with Whit and Drew. We missed them while we were apart. I'm so happy and grateful for safety as we traveled and the blessing it was to visit with so many loved ones. Another road trip in the books! Let's see if we get to do it again next year. :)