Our Family's Summer Vacation

This summer, our family took a major road trip for summer vacation.  We started out the first day by driving to Little Rock, Arkansas, where we saw my Aunt Trisha and Uncle Richard, whom I hadn't seen since mom's funeral.  As an added bonus, my cousin Luke and his family are home on furlough from Kenya and we were able to see them.  After spending a night in Little Rock, we drove to Omaha, Nebraska, for Joel's family reunion (mother's side).  We were able to visit with family that we hadn't seen in several years.  One of the girls ran a fever most of the time so that cut down on the time I was able to spend with others.  After spending two days in Omaha, we drove to Denver to spend a few days at Joel's parents house.  The highlight of that was celebrating our oldest daughter's 13th birthday with ALL of her cousins (well at least on Joel's side of the family).  I also got to take my good friend Karen to the Hard Rock Cafe in Denver and we got to see our good friend Lori Cooney and her wonderful children - Sean, Shannon, and Ashlyn.  From Denver, we began the journey home.  I wanted to drive through Oklahoma and Texas, so we spent a night in Guymon, Oklahoma, where my mother graduated high school in 1953 (I think I'm correct on the year).  The next day, we drove to Dallas, where we stayed at a nice Homewood Suites in Plano.  After spending a night in Plano, we drove to downtown Dallas and visited Dealey Plaza and the site of John F. Kennedy's assassination (pictured above).  After spending some time there, we drove to San Antonio, Texas, where we spent the night.  The next morning, we went to the Alamo and the San Antonio Riverwalk, two things I have wanted to do for a long time.  We had Puffin (the dog) with us and entered through kind of a side entrance.  After walking through the courtyard where the twisted oak tree is and out to the entrance courtyard, we were informed that pets were not allowed in.  Oh well, at least we got some good pictures before that.  After our time in San Antonio was up, we began the long journey across I-10 from one side of Texas to the other (passing through Houston) and into Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where we spent our last night of the road trip (and Joel's birthday!)  We were less than an hour from New Orleans but decided against driving in so we could make it home at a decent hour.  Everyone was so glad to be home and in their own bed, and Puffin finally was at ease and not worried that we were going to leave her somewhere strange.