Southern Belles

Our drive from Kansas to Ft. Smith began with a lovely conversation at breakfast with a man from Oklahoma. Of course, the first thing that comes out of his mouth when he hears we're from Oregon is "Are you liberals?" I will say no more. The drive was short and sweet and we arrived in Arkansas in the hot and humid afternoon. Although it was 10 degrees cooler than the previous week, it still felt like the tropical forest exhibit at the Oregon Zoo. Yeah, the one with the crocodiles. We cooled off by lounging around the pool, then when Nancy, Taylor's aunt, came home we got dressed and went on a walk around the neighborhood to pass the time before Harry, Taylor's uncle came home from his car dealership. The area is beautiful, known as Ft. Smith's own "pill hill" because of all the doctors that live there. When we all met back at the house, Nancy treated us to some homemade summertime tea, a mix of orange juice, lemonade, black tea and fresh mint. *And vodka for a kick :) It is delicious! We left, drinking our pink lillies to have dinner at Rolando's, a delicious Ecuadorian restaurant. Who knew they had so many ethnic restaurants in Ft. Smith?! We went to bed with our tummies full and ready for a good night sleep.
The next day was jam packed with fun activities. We enjoyed a yummy breakfast made by Nancy before we set off to do all the fun stuff she had planned. We started at the Ft. Smith historical museum where we learned about Judge Parker aka the hangin judge, who hung over 80 people in his 21 year long carreer, the most of any judge in history. We also learned about the part Ft. Smith played in the Civil war, it's relationship with the Native Americans and the wild west. We then went to a sportsbar to have lunch and drink sweet tea by the gallon and had a tuna melt and shimp scampi alfredo. The day before, Taylor and I had spotted the ferris wheel and wanted to go on it, but we had over an hour to kill before it opened. So, we hopped into the air conditioned seats and went over to Baby Chic Boutique which has homemade baby clothes that are ADORABLE! Nancy picked up a Razorbacks gown for one of her granddaughters. We refreshed ourselves with a cold drink and a dash of history when we sat at a real soda fountain and drank a cherry vanilla ice cream soda. We then went back to the ferris wheel where we got cooked in the sun, but enjoyed a nice view of a real brothel, the only one left in the city. A trip to the dealership filled the rest of our afternoon, where we played putt putt "gof" in Harry's big office. The evening was finished with another summertime tea on the road and dinner at the country club, Hardscrabble where we ate delicious crab cakes, drank a lovely bottle of wine and bourbon pecan pie. Yum! It was a great finish to our time in Ft. Smith.
This morning Nancy made us breakfast again to start the day right before we hit the road and drove for over 11 hours plus a 1 hour time change. We are happy to have made it safe and sound in Bloomington and are excited to bop around the town tomorrow.

"That's weird...well we are in Kansas"

This morning did not go as planned. We decided after all to not revisit the spa, but instead we were excited to go to Remini, a breakfast cafe/ gelatto bar that we popped into the previous night. The employee assured us that they opened at 7am the next morning and tantalized us with the array of breakfast choices. We were sold. We had to go. We woke up extra early to make their soon enough that we could enjoy our morning before the long drive ahead, but to our dismay and disappointment, at 7:15, Remini was still closed. We wandered into the nearby hotel and asked the concierge. She informed us that the cafe has relaxed hours and never opens at the same time each day and that she thought it would be open in the next hour or two. :( ! Grr...so we wandered back to our own hoten and asked that concierge what he would recommend. He suggested the Little Diner and ASSURED us that it would be open. Can you guess where this is going? We arrived there and yes, it was closed, but after standing outside looking hungry and snacking on our complimentary granola bars, they opened up just for us (at "7ish). It wasn't the best breakfast ever, nor did we get our bang for our buck, but it did the trick and we left Vail with full stomachs and a longing to return again soon.

After a few minutes of being on the road and several comments from Taylor on the beautiful scenery, she began to scream. A lot! I couldn't explain it, but I reasoned in my head that she must be overjoyed with the breathtaking mountains. But then, she managed to shout, "big bug!" as she pointed to the radio. Then it all became clear. A mysterious bug, 3 inches long had, after flying in Taylor's face, landed on the power button of the stereo. After much flailing, she swatted at it and the bug, as well as the music was gone.

That excitement kept us fueled until our driving switcheroo and gas fill-up in Denver. Lea drove from there on to Goodland, KS where we ate lunch at the base of the largest Van Gogh replication in the US. On it's easel it's stands 80 feet tall. The large sunflower painting is quite striking and offered a nice view in the flat lands of Kansas. After one more stop of gas, we filled our afternoon with madlibs and the Noisettes, one of our latest favorite bands, accompanied us all the way to Park City, a suburb of Wichita, where we ate dinner at Applebees and checked into our grasshopper guarded hotel (one tried to attack Lea!-What's the deal with our bugs? Maybe they're getting revenge after their buddies got splattered on our windshield...)

It has been a long day and we look forward to some sleep, a good breakfast (yay!) and our arrival to Fort Smith, AR.

Oh so this is a storm

We began the day with a quick breakfast under the gazebo, discussing careers with Justin. Little did we know that this would be the last moments of sunshine all day. We hit the road on time that morning (unusual) but all was in vain as we were stuck in traffic because of construction somewhere along I-70 E. While the traffic may have slowed us down, the scenery kept our spirits up. Red rock, large mountains on a bed of desert and spectacular plateaus. Since there were no stops for miles, we had to eat our picnic lunch at a gas station on the trunk of the car :) Noticing the change in humidity and the clouds ahead, we anticipated a storm looming on the road ahead. We couldn't have guessed that that storm would have lasted the rest of the way to Vail, for the next 3 hours. The roads were windy, the rain was heavy, causing semi-trucks to give the cars unwanted showers when their spinning wheels hit the puddles. SPLASH! We arrived in Vail, the drizzle on our heels, but we managed to get settled in to our lovely and cozy condo. To our wonderful surprise, our fairy god-parents left us a gift card for the spa at the nearby hotel, The Arabelle. But it was closing in 1 hour! We stripped down into our swim suits and ran over to the spa. After taking our card, the woman working there opened the doors to a spa fit for Mt. Olympus. A large hot tub with sparkly tiles was surrounded by a sheer gold curtain and lounge chairs. The spa was complete with steam room and sauna and little sliced cucumbers that we used on our eyes and as a little snack. Unfortunately, the hour ended too fast and we had to leave and go find something to eat for dinner. Refusing to spend $13 on spaghetti at a local restaurant, we decided to make our own delicious dinner. We picked up some groceries from the general store and cooked it all up back at the condo. With the fireplace ablaze, we feasted on our comfort food: penne pasta, grilled onions, tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. Yummm. We ended this long day with a cup of Chai tea as we planned for the next day. Despite the rain on our parade into Vail, because of the spa visit #2, the beautiful scenery and the yummy dinner we cooked ourselves, we were feeling as if we were on cloud 9.

S-S-S-Snowbird

We took advantage of this not being a driving day and had a very relaxing morning with coffee and conversation. We said goodbye to Julie and Marsh and enjoyed our breakfast under the gazebo-a perfect way to start our relaxing day. The air was cool as we discussed our plans for the day. After a good shower, we packed a picnic lunch of cheese, veggies, hummus, crackers and pasta salad and headed off to Snowbird, a 45 minute drive from the house. Snowbird is one of the many ski resorts in the area, but not Justin's favorite. That would be Alta, which rivals the snow in the Alps and which we hope to visit this winter. After filling our bellies in the sunshine and conversing about the polygamist sighting we decided to go on a short hike up the mountain and end the afternoon at the Cliff Spa. Little did we know, we would literally be hiking UP the mountain. We sure felt the altitude, but the jaw-dropping view made it worth it and had us considering buying a multi-million dollar ski-in condo. Maybe if we all win the lottery several times ;) From there we took the cat track to the spa and spent the next 3 hours pampering ourselves. We started with a dip in the pool, followed by the hot tub and a soak in the sun. All this took place on the roof of the resort, which is surrounded by the magnificent peaks. After drying off, we headed for the eucalyptus steam room where Justin dozed off, Kathryn imagined herself in a rainforest and we lost track of time as we talked and mingled with the other guests. We then hit the showers and took advantage of the complementary spa products, ending in the sauna and the solarium where we drank tea and took in one last view of the mountains. All this pampering had us famished so we headed off to Smith's to pick up ingredients for Lea's famous enchiladas. I believe Justin said when he bit into these culinary treasures, "Good God Lea, these are amazing". With these we downed some Coronas and defended our most admired actors.

Tomorrow we embark to Vail, CO where we plan to get aquainted with the much cooler weather-65 degress, by drinking the largest cup of hot chocolate KNOWN TO MORTALS. However, it has been said that the hot cocos in the mormon's universes are best damn hot cocos in the thing bigger than the universe.

Balaclava!!

Yesterday, after a somewhat disurbing night of sleep for Lea (bad driving dreams), but an otherwise restful night of sleep (for Taylor, the cuddler), we got a fresh start with Tae Kwon Do warm ups and a continental breakfast at our motel. Before heading out, we visited the Shoshone falls, which weren't as impressive as are said to be in the spring, however, the view of the canyon was breathtaking. We filled up on gas (all by ourselves!) and Lea drove for 3 1/2 straight hours-250 miles. Very exciting. What did we do with all of this time? We made a music video, of course! To a popular song on the radio? HA! No way! These two country-fearing city slickers have fallen in love with an International Harvester. Who knew country was this much fun?! This kept us laughing all the way to West Jordan, UT, the home of our gracious hosts, Kathryn and Justin. We were also pleased to see that Justin's parents, Julie and Marshall, were visiting as well. Together we dined on pizza and watched Ocean's 13 (what a classic!) until Kathryn returned from belly dancing class. That evening was spent with Mai Tai's and a game of Kube (pronounced with a Sweedish accent), which involves hurling small sticks at other small sticks. It's funner than it sounds. The Balaclavas (our new favorite word as well as team name) were defeated by the Welches *sigh*. The night ended with a game of Crack the Case, a game reminding us of Thanksgivings past. After a late evening of catching up and Skyping with a particular boyfriend, we were off to bed.

Idaho Potatoes

Sign of a good burger

View from our picnic spot in LaGrande

We hit the road today to the land of potatoes. Staying the night in a nice Super 8, our bellies full of veggie burgers and pie, we are happy with the way our first day went. We started the day right with a peach lassi and a prayer before heading down down down down down I84 East, which we were on all day. We stopped for lunch at the high school in LaGrande where we found picnic benches and a beautiful view of the hills with which to eat our PB&Js. Between jamming out to the Noisettes and listening to stories of vampire lust (odd...) we had plenty of time to talk about pretty much whatever came to mind. We had one mini-scare just after lunch, regarding our gas...in the car that is ;) We knew the tank was low and the town in which we had high hopes for was empty and we were left driving with the gas light on for a few miles. We were blessed (?) to come across an overpriced Texaco aiming to be of help to people just like us. Right off the freeway with no alternative for 30 miles, it's a perfect spot for a captive audience. But we made it through with no other bumps and little construction. Twin Falls, our final destination for the day, is a modern town that is home to 30,000 people and the Niagra Falls of the west. We checked our AAA book for restaurant suggestions and decided that Idaho Joe's was the place to go. With veggie burgers and a large selection of homemade pies, it was the perfect way to end our first day.

Tomorrow the plan is to attempt a peek at the beautiful falls and head to West Jordan to visit our sister/cousin Kathryn and her husband, Justin. It's a short driving day (yay!)We will spend the weekend at their house and have no doubt of having a fun time before we head back out to Vail, CO.

We'll keep the updates a comin'! But now it's time for these two travelers to get some rest.

Goodnight!

PS Lea loves you, mom and Rick :)

PPS Taylor loves pickles :0)