Home sweet home!

Well... this is our last day of our 12 day, 9 state, 6 hotel, 5 dog park, and a lot of great food, road trip.  All I had to do was entertain myself and the dogs for half a day while Lana is in convention, then we can hit the road for home. So that's what I did.

So after walking around Deadwood for a short while and seeing some tourist attractions.  Like "Saloon No. 10" where Wild Bill Hickok was allegedly shot, and "Morning Star," the restaurant and casino owned by Kevin Costner, I decided to take the dogs for a walk on a trail I had read about in the hotel guide.

This trail was probably the best place I took the dogs the whole trip!  It was a trail that was created when the state decided to turn an old railroad track into a walking trail.  They basically just covered up the tracks with dirt to make it.  It was a beautiful trail that ran along the river in the country side of the Black Hills.   We walked for a good hour and a half.  Here are some pictures...

Now if those aren't happy dogs!  So after our walk, we picked up Lana around 4:45 p.m. and hit the road for home.  It was a beautiful night to drive, and a nice way to end our trip.

We drove home on the east side of a beautiful sunset.  Down through the Black Hills, through Wyoming, and into Colorado.  The dogs were even more excited to be home then we were.  In fact, they were so excited that they played all over the house for a good half hour, upstairs and down, and then George continued to do laps around our back yard.  It was a great trip, and I must say thank you to everyone back in Iowa who put us up for the night and dealt with the dogs and their craziness.  And I also need to give a shout out to the "Big Man Upstairs," J.C. for keeping us safe throughout this entire adventure.  Tomorrow we are off to Vegas for Trent and Ann's wedding.  What a crazy month!   I'll keep the blog going... so keep reading. 

BBQ and South Dakota

Well... after staying a couple nights in Avoca with Lana's dad Mike, we headed back to Council Bluffs for a BBQ at Trent and Ann's place. 

Ann's cousin's little boy Donovan was loving the dogs, and really made things easy on us by taking the time out of his day to wear little George out. 

I mean really wore him out  (I took this picture with my camera phone, sorry its not the best)!

And in the morning we took off from Council Bluffs to Deadwood, South Dakota (our longest driving day yet).

And of course on an eight hour drive...you're gonna pass some awkward things.  Like this giant bull's head on the side of I-90, and of course the infamous "Wall Drug" shopping center.  What a weird place! 

We made it to Deadwood around 5:30 p.m. only to grab a quick bite to eat with our friend Laura from Greeley and then head to bed, so Lana could get up and attend a conference in the morning. Although we are still having a good time, I am anxious to get home tomorrow.  I know that Lana and I are both tired and I am pretty sure the dogs are ready to be home. 

Sweet Home Iowa

Well we finally made it to Iowa to see Lana's side of the family and get some much needed R &R!  We haven't really done much, which is why I haven't done any blogging, but I thought I would put up a small blog to catch everyone up.  To start the weekend off we stayed with Lana's brother Trent in Council Bluffs then headed to her father's house in Avoca for the next couple nights.  We pretty much have been taking it easy and catching up with family.  We went to the park this morning in Avoca with the dogs, Lana's sister Mallory, and Mallory's little baby boy Donnovin.  Then this evening we visited Lana's mom Marcia and had a very nice steak dinner.  Its been very nice to be back in a familiar place with familiar people.  It really makes Lana and I miss the Midwest!  Tomorrow its back to Council Bluffs for a little BBQ at Trent's, then a very early departure for South Dakota on Wednesday morning.  I did snap some pictures when we took the dogs to the park, so I will throw those up for everyone to enjoy.

Wichita, Topeka, Lawrence and a blue plate special.

Hi all... Mike finally decided to let me write a bit! So, I'm gonna give this a go!

This morning started off pretty typically.... the sound of Frasier whining in Mike's face because he needed to go outside, which can be a little annoying when you still want to sleep, but ya have to love the fact that he lets us know when he needs to go out! After the early morning trip outside (6:30am) it was back to sleep for a couple of hours.  I had an appointment in downtown Wichita today, so Mike and the boys had to take me downtown, then back out to pack up for the trip to Topeka!  So, I did my work, and then called Mike to find out where he was waiting for me downtown... as I walk out of the building where I was having my last appointment there are cops and news stations EVERYWHERE! It was a very surreal thing, as cops were evacuating buildings and people were running down the sidewalk... I guess there was a bomb threat, or mysterious device found in a building in downtown Wichita.  Needless to say, it was time to head out of that area! But not before a trip to a local favorite for lunch, The Old Mill Tasty Shop..and yes it was tasty! I mean you can't go wrong with homemade sodas and shakes.... oh and the blue plate special that actually came on a blue plate!

This is the type of place that is truly old fashioned through and through... good Midwestern people.. and good Midwestern food! 

After lunch, we headed out on our shortest day in the car yet, just a little over two hours.  Being back in the Midwest, and seeing all the green grass and trees really makes us miss being home! We got into Topeka, relaxed a bit, and then I needed to go to Lawrence for a reporter.   I wanted to take Mike, as it is one of the cities I really like to stay at when I am on the road.  Lawrence is home to KU, and always reminds me of Iowa City where Mike and I went to college... a nice downtown with a lot of activity!

 

Oh, and a couple pictures of the football stadium!

I also scoped out a dog park for the guys to go burn off some energy.  This was one of the neater dog parks we have visited.  It was out in a nice wooded area and actually had quite a few trails you can take your dogs out on.  There were no fences to restrain the dogs, and the guys loved the openness and the tall grass!

The guys had a great time and were certainly wore out.. as you can tell, but we were a bit concerned they might not make it back to the car......

Yes, he is laying down right in the middle of the path.. and look at that tongue!!!  He was all down hill from here... plodding his way back to the car!

George went for the grass! It takes him a bit longer to tire.. but once he does he turns into this crazy monster who will run circles around you and everything else in his way! At that point, all we want to do is get him back in the car where the movement of the vehicle forces him to lay down!

After the dog park it was back to the hotel for a much needed bath and the boys were immediately down for the count!

Day 4: Amarillo (through Oklahoma) to Wichita Kansas

Woke up in Amarillo and (you guessed it) off to the dog park we went, before another 6 hour drive to Wichita Kansas. 

Thought I would snap a photo of Amarillo as we drove by. 

 

 Although the drive from Amarillo to Wichita was long and boring, we did get some entertainment from George as he slept in the back of the car.  We stayed at the dog park a little longer than usual because there was a lot of big dogs there to play with and both Frasier and George were having a really good time.  That... and this was the first dog park we had seen with actual grass and we knew we had a long drive.  But either way the dogs were exhausted and it showed.  George was so tired that he ended up falling into the crack between the back and front seats and didn't even bother to wake up.  So we just let him sleep, but he did look a little dazed and confused when he finally woke up.

Then, just inside the Oklahoma boarder, we spotted our old friend "Mater" from the movie "Cars." 

This one's for you Owen!

Other than that, it was a pretty boring day.  A lot of windshield time, got into Wichita around 7 p.m., let the dogs run around a bit, grabbed some dinner and went to bed.

Leaving Las Cruces...Amarillo by evening.

Well, we scheduled our day around two significant deadlines.  First, we needed to be in Riudoso, NM by 3 p.m. so that Lana could meet a prospective reporter, and second, we needed to be in Amarillo, TX in order to sleep.  Seeing that Riudoso was an easy two hour drive Northeast, we started the day in a very relaxed manner.  But first, I'd like to show you just exactly how tired George was the night before...

He slept like a baby!

So off to the dog park we went, to let the "i-dots" burn some energy, knowing that we had a long day in the car.

So with the dogs tired out and a little time to spare before we headed off to our first destination, we decided to visit a small town just south of Las Cruces called Mesilla.  Mesilla is a very quaint, very cool little historic Mexican town.  All the adobe houses have hand-made wood fence porches and long strands of red chilies hanging from their walls.  It was straight out of the movies. 

In Mesilla, we ate lunch at a place called La Posta.  This was by far one of the coolest restaurants I have ever visited.  It was very large inside and the entrance/ waiting area/ atrium, was a wide open area with three large fish tanks and a very large bird cage, which carried a variety of parrots and one toucan.  Although we got our food to go and ate in the car (due to the dogs), it didn't take long to recognize just how unique this restaurant really was. 

And the food was good too!

After lunch we headed just around the corner from La Postal, to a little shop called "The Chocolate Lady."

Here we picked out a variety of small chocolates (chocolate covered Oreos, chocolate covered Ritz crackers and peanut butter, toffee, milk chocolate bark, and chocolate chile- mangos).  It was pretty much awesome!  Then we hopped in the car and headed north towards Riudoso, NM.  But I will tell you about all that tomorrow.  I'm tired.

To pick up where I left off...after the chocolate we hit the road for Riudoso...but not without a little visit from the boarder patrol. 

But don't worry!  "Boarder Patrol" was us driving through this station, rolling down our window for a guy in a uniform who said, "are you both U.S. citizens?"  We replied "yes," and he waived us on.  Pretty intense stuff!

As far as Riudoso goes, this little mountain town is a little hidden treasure.  Its like Estes Park without the high price tag.  Lana had one client visit here, so we didn't stay long but we did get the chance to drive around and check out the town, and of course check out the dog park. 

So, after tiring out the dogs for the second time of the day, we hit the road for the first part of our longest leg in the trip.  Off to Amarillo.  Because we left Riudoso at about 5 p.m. and still had a 6 hour drive to Amarillo, we didn't take too many pictures.  We arrived in Amarillo about 11 p.m.  Not that bad of a drive...pretty flat, saw some weather, and got our first speeding ticket about 15 miles into Texas (oops)!