Saturday, July 17, @ 6am Andrew & I left Surprise, AZ for Panama City Beach, FL. Oh! Let me not forget about our backseat driver, our 100 lb Lab, Jack! He did not sit still for the first 4 hrs. of our journey. We stopped to get gas somewhere in Arizona or New Mexico (I can't remember) and we pulled into this side road by the gas station to let Jack out and release some energy! I was making sandwiches and then placed them in the front seat while I was getting Jack in the back. By the time I shut his door and opened mine, one of the sandwiches was gone! Jack swiped it up so fast! After making another sandwich, we were on our way. Jack figured out he was gonna be stuck in the car for a while so he got comfortable and did so good the rest of the way!
15 hrs later, we arrived in Oklahoma City, OK. After a good nights rest we stopped off at a nearby Starbucks to meet one of Andrew's AF buddies then we were on our way to Memphis! Pam had a delicious Southern home cooked meal straight from the garden waiting on us when we arrived. It was so good! I even ate my first raw tomato! After visiting the in-laws for a little while we ventured on to Birmingham. We arrived at Mom's around 10-ish and got to visit with some of the fam!
Monday morning I visited Mandy at the Beauty Shop and she gave me some much needed highlights! Also met a few friends/family there. Have to see as many people as I can when I'm in town! Around noon-ish we were beach bound! We arrived at PCB around 6-ish with some minor complications and a panic attack, thanks to dear ole' mom! A few hours later, all was fine and are vacation had started!
We spent a whole week at the beach and got to see some familiar faces too! We had a blast! It ended way too soon!
Unfortunately, a week later we had to leave paradise and venture back to the desert. We left Monday morning and stopped off at Serena and Walt's house to stay that night. Serena showed me how to operate my sewing machine that mom let me have of hers (because she had had it for a few years and it was still in the box. No surprise there.) I'm excited to start my new hobby! We will see how talented I am at it! I have already looked at Beginner Sewing classes and plan to attend one. I will keep y'all posted on my progress! Do far, with what little I can do, it has not come natural! I was so out of my element when I went to Joann's this past week to get some supplies to get me started. It took me forever to find what I needed! Anyways, back to the road trip...We left EARLY Tuesday morning from Jackson, MS and stopped off in Shreveport, LA to visit another one of Andrew's AF buddies. We stopped at Barksdale AFB and it was beautiful!!! The on base houses looked like old antebellum houses. They were so cute! The whole base reminded me of what I think Savannah, GA looks like. So green and plush! Big shade trees! Oh! it looked like a cute little Southern town. We couldn't get over it!
Our next stop was the Twisted Root Burger Co. in Dallas, TX! We found it on the Food Network's website for Diners, Dive-in's & Dives. It was by far the best burger I've ever had! It was such a fun atmosphere but a total hole in the wall and we would never have found it if we weren't looking for it! If anybody is ever in Dallas, check it out!
We decided we would stop off early in Midland, Texas and get some dinner and relax! Let me tell you, Midland is a little jewel that we found on this journey. We stayed in the city where all the business building are and, granted, we got there around 8pm, but there was nobody there! It was so lovely and quaint! We walked about 1/2 a block from the hotel to this bar/grill and ate dinner. We got to have a nice conversation with our waitress, who was such a sweetheart, since we were like the only ones in the restaurant at this point! It was a very nice, relaxing, encouraging night! Way to go Midland!
Wednesday morning we slept in, had breakfast in bed, then went on to Surprise, AZ. We got home that evening some time and unloaded the car then settled in for the night.
We had an amazing trip and the driving wasn't so bad! If only we had an SUV! Maybe that will be our next adventure!
