Texas-The Alamo

     I realized that I never posted about the Alamo. The trip to Texas was several months ago, but still, we can talk about it. Then I will get back to Horse-fest.

     We went to the Alamo after we went to the Japanese Tea gardens. Victoria's mom said to me that it was a lot smaller than you think and the first time she saw it that was what she noticed. The first thing I noticed is it is in the middle of a city. I realize they built the city around it, but they left the oldest building in Texas. Which is pretty cool. 

    I didn't really think it was small, though the Alamo church (which is what this building is) isn't huge. 

     It's been a bit, but I am pretty sure this tree has some cool history. If nothing else, it looks very cool. I will have to go back to Texas and figure out why this tree is important. 

     Here's another view of the church. 

    Currently, the Alamo is undergoing restoration. The building is slowly falling apart and there are efforts to save it. There are signs in many places, and you are warned before you go in, that you are not allowed to touch the walls. I don't know what the gated off rooms on the side were originally for. 

     The church was originally the chapel of a Spanish missionary group. Later, it was a key part of the battle of the Alamo. Many people fought, and died, at the battle of the Alamo. Including many people from New England and 6 (I think it was 6) from Massachusetts. Their names are on plaques at the back of the church.

    This was the layout of the original Alamo complex.

And the description card of what was in the diorama. 

    It really was interesting to see the outside of this incredibly old building with new high rise buildings right across the street. 

     The gardens were gorgeous, and since it was April, it was nice to be outside. Especially in the shade. 

This is a statue of Emily West, the "Yellow Rose of Texas"

     You can read about her on the sign.

This was a hospital room in the long barracks.

    And more reminders not to touch the walls. 

     Since this post was so long overdue I thought about skipping it all together. But from all of the people I met over the last weekend who say they read my blog, and enjoy it, I figured you all might be interested. So this wraps up the recap of the Texas trip from April. The only other thing that happened was we went to another escape room (which I already talked about) and we had some drinks and played Cards Against Humanity. Aiden stated the more messed up the responses, the better. I won. Having grown children is a lot of fun! The next day we drove around frantically trying to get everyone everywhere they needed to go to get home. It was a good trip and I am looking forward to another. 

Home

     We made it home late last night. Our flight out of Lexington was delayed and I had some vague concerns about missing the connection in Philadelphia (again...). But it was a long enough connection that I wasn't too concerned. We eventually made it and had to take a shuttle across the airport. The American Airlines app said that the flight was loading, but it was not. I guess there was a plane and a crew, but the plane was super hot and they were trying to cool it down. Whatever, as long as they eventually let us get on it to go home, I was fine waiting a little bit. They did eventually let us get on the plane and then I feel like we had to sit for a bit, but I was reading and didn't really care. Just as long as they brought us to Hartford, eventually (that night) that was pretty much all I cared about. 

     We did eventually take off for our 42 minute flight. One of the girls behind me, maybe halfway into the very smooth flight, started freaking out. Full blown sobbing panic attack. Absolutely nothing I could do about it. I did manage not to get super pissed off when someone kept slamming into the back of my seat (interrupting my nap). I think it was the girl's mom, which is why I was vaguely annoyed at all. Anyway, the other daughter (for the record, both kids were teenagers) refused to keep her seatbelt on and the mom was snapping at her and trying to sooth the freaking out one (while also sort of snapping at her for having a panic attack). A couple of the flight attendants were telling stories to the girl, trying to help her to be calm and one of them looked over at Travis, asked the guy next to me if we were together, then asked me if Travis and I were together, I said yes and she ignored me and asked Travis if he was OK. Now if she had asked in a nice way (or not just ignored me) I wouldn't have been annoyed. But it was one of those really snotty, judgey are-you-OKs. Travis was rocking. And smiling a bit, because he really likes to fly and he gets excited. To be fair, it was kind of dark on the plane and you couldn't really see his sunflower lanyard. But I looked at the woman, said "he's autistic and he's actually having a great time, he loves flying" and then I looked away. Maybe I am overly sensitive, but after a weekend of people being so genuinely happy to see Travis happy and rocking out (what we usually call it, since he's clearly having such a great time!) and then she asked in sort of a rude way. Maybe somehow this not-young flight attendant had never in her career seen anyone stim. Maybe she was concerned that she would have more than one person freaking out on the flight. No clue. But she left us alone and Travis kept enjoying the flight. We got to Hartford, they had all of our luggage, and we found the car without much hassle. And went home. 

     

    My bed is not comfortable. But last night it was super comfortable. I don't think I moved until my alarm went off this morning. I noped at getting up and called Travis's van company to say we got in late (we did) and I was going to let him sleep today. He can go to Sunshine Village tomorrow. I went back to sleep and I eventually got up I started sorting the luggage. I got 3 loads of laundry separated out, took the loot photo, and took sales photos. I got to work on putting things away, finding room for the new things and so on. I did manage to finish all of the laundry, I got a lot of stuff put away, and I am so tired. I feel like I have done almost nothing today, even though I have been doing things nearly all day. 

    I do have at least 2 more posts I want to do about our trip to Kentucky. Hopefully soon. 

Kentucky- Mary Todd Lincoln House

   Our actual last day in Kentucky was today. We had a bunch of time before we had to go to the airport, and after we had to check out of the hotel, so we went and found some things to do. We went to the Lexington Visitor’s center and Travis saw Blue Lex.

    And I smelled a bunch of bourbon. It was nice. I also had a fantastic conversation with the lady in the shop and she gave me a bunch of ideas of things to do in Lexington. Next year.

    We already had plans to visit the Mary Todd Lincoln house, and we headed there for 2:00. I love old fancy houses. They are like full sized doll houses! The house had a bunch of cards so you could learn things on a self guided tour. 

     I always enjoy staged rooms that have fake food. I have no idea why.

     The cards made it simple to take note of important details of each room.

     One thing that we don’t often think about when we look at old mansions is slavery. It is usually not showcased, though it was displayed prominently all over the Mary Todd Lincoln house. 

    I just kind of want this bookshelf.

     This was part of a pair of framed prints depicting President Lincoln’s assacination.

     After Lincoln was shot in Ford’s theater he was brought across the street to Petersen house, where he eventually died. I have been to both Ford’s theater and the Petersen house. 

    I really liked this fan.

      We are finally just about on the way home. We’re on the last plane and it’s only a little delayed. Soon I can sleep
 

On the Last (Full) Day in Kentucky

     On the last full day in Kentucky, Travis and I slept late. Well, Travis slept late. I got a phone call from his van company checking in to see if they needed to pick him up. I told them (while still mostly asleep) that I canceled the van until Wednesday. She said that's what she had down, but she wanted to double check. I wanted to sleep, but that apparently wasn't meant to be. Though I did get a pretty good amount of sleep. Travis slept until after 11:00. 

     We went to Cracker Barrel for... breakfast (lunch) at noon. And, of course, we found things in the store that we wanted. We did a few more errands, including going to the post office to ship a doll, and then we came back to the hotel. I needed to work some more on packing. I was not completely confident that I could fit everything. Even after successfully bringing an empty suitcase with us. I made some decent packing progress and then we headed out. 

     One of the things on the list of things to do near Lexington, Kentucky, was to ride the rails, with the Rail Explorers. It sounded cool, and we had a reservation. 

     So the idea is you have a motor assisted pedal car that rides along the rails. 

     If I could add a video to this blog (I know it's possible, I have just never managed it) you would be able to hear it, as well as see it. It was really fun!

     There were some really excellent views...

Lots of abandoned railroad cars along the tracks...

Not having to steer made the opportunity for a selfie...

    And there was a tremendous view at the turnaround point. I was a little concerned about this when I read about it, because I am extremely afraid of heights, but this was not scary, just super cool!

     It was also another nice, safe spot for a selfie. Trip selfies are important after all. 

     One of the guides asked if we wanted a photo before we headed back, and of course we did!

     The different areas we rode through were interesting and the whole trip was a lot of fun. I definitely recommend taking the trip (it took us less than 2 hours, but they say it's about 2 hours) and worth it. I may also tour some other places. The ones in Rhode Island and New York are close enough we can try those. 

      Travis decided he wanted a hat, and he has not asked for a whole lot on this trip. But he has been incredibly patient while I showed horses, taught classes, chatted endlessly with friends, and walked all over the Clarion. 

     I got my weekly progress report from Fitbit and it seemed worth sharing. I almost never get that many steps in a week. But vacations are, for us, about seeing new things. I wonder what it would be like to take a trip where we sit on a beach or something. Probably it would seem weird. 

    We decided to go and see a movie, so we found a fairly close theater and went and saw Jurassic World. My phone was at 13% when we left (I had turned it off during the movie to try to save the battery) and I was afraid we wouldn't make it back to the hotel. I needed the GPS after all. So we drove around the plaza where the theater was, hoping something was open at 10:30, and would have a cable. We found a Kroger (still open!) and got a cable. That was the most adventurous part of the day. I am glad of that. On the way back to the car I said to Travis that we really end up buying a lot of weird stuff when we travel. By that I mean we often end up buying things we already own. 

     It's after midnight, again, and we need to check out of the hotel at 11:00. I should get to bed. We are going to have to leave a bunch of food, and bottled water, because we can't take it with us. I hope someone eats the snacks and uses the water. And I hope that I can manage to fit the rest of the stuff in our luggage. Fingers crossed. 

Breyerfest Sale

     I have some things left from Breyerfest that I am looking to sell. Currently, I am offering free shipping on these items. I may entertain some offers on the horses. Thanks!

$700

$650

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$220

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$240

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$260

$240

$230

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$220