the Browns

We made it to Texas!

Can I tell you about the drive? Here's our state by state report, with some phone pictures thrown in.

Utah: beautiful canyons and fall colors.

Wyoming: Nothing. Sweet, desolate nothing. WIND. Cold. The baby puked in the middle of nowhere, which is always a delight. We drove through a rainbow!! That was a first. We also drove through a SNOWSTORM, which was pretty unbelievable for September 11th.

Independently drawing in the back seat. Clearly, she has all the room in the world.

Cleaning barf out of car seats on the side of the road.

Wyoming/Colorado: More people wearing camouflage than I've ever seen in my life. And all the gas stations were selling guns and ammo by the front door. We're pretty sure it's hunting season. We're also pretty sure we were the only ones not wearing camo.

Colorado: Beautiful. A lovely state to drive through. So frigid. We were not expecting 30-degree weather.
Our Colorado motel was the worst we've ever stayed in (even worse than our $30 Manti motel that we thought we were going to get murdered in). It was so bad. Our opinion was further swayed when the baby fell off the bed and town sirens went off in the morning. Continental breakfast was rotten milk and green bananas and that's about it.

Cold and miserable.

Same caption could apply here.

Kansas: Nothing but cornfields, Christian rock radio, and anti-abortion or "Trust in Jesus" billboards. Which was more than Wyoming, so at least it's got that.

Oklahoma: Surprisingly lush and green! A fair amount of nothing. Tulsa was surprisingly delightful--a good, big city and we had a blast visiting Jordan. We may have locked our keys in the car and had some unexpected time waiting for a locksmith, but at least we were with good company. We gorged ourselves on a good BBQ dinner and Braum's ice cream to really get the full Oklahoma experience.

Visiting uncle Jordan's school. 

Pretty pleased to take uncle Jordan around. Or as she affectionately started calling him, "Grandpa."

Our third morning on the road, and feeling pretty homeless at this point. Notice the two plastic jelly shoes on top of the car near Jason's shoulder? Unfortunately, due to bad communication on the part of Greta's parents, neither parent removed these shoes before we started driving. Sadly, this is the last sighting.

Texas: Not as pretty, but considerably more inhabited with more signs of life along the interstate. We reached Dallas pretty quickly. So far, I'm pretty freaked out by the bugs and the birds, not going to lie. That constant rattle of the cicadas kinda gives me the creeps.

I think this was actually just over the border in Oklahoma. It was one of my favorite establishments we saw. 

Sleep on, sweet sticker baby. You're almost there. I also highly recommend stickers to anyone else trying to pass time with a one year old.

Arrived in Dallas.

We are thrilled to be off the road and that everything went relatively smoothly. We are also pretty impressed that our 16-month old has now set foot in 16 of the United States -- North, South, East, and West included. I'm sure she'll remember her well-traveled childhood (wink).

More from Texas soon!