Chocolate and Dinosaurs

We went on our little road trip.  And it was the type of road trip I have always dreamed about.  The kind where I see something I want to stop at and we actually stop at it.  I've been on many road trips before, but never with someone I like so much as my husband.  (We have only been married for two years). 

Day one of the road trip was extreme ADHD awesomeness for me.  We got up really early...well really early for me...standard time for my husband.  We wanted to get all the way out of town before morning rush hour.

Notice in the picture it's so dark you can't even see us in the car.

We started out and I looked on my phone for where the hotel was so we had a general idea of how long this would take.  I looked it up and went hmmmm.  The hotel wasn't exactly where I thought it would be when I booked it.  After all the time and care I put into booking the hotel you would have thought I knew exactly where it was...apparently not.

It was okay because now we had two different ways we could go to our destination.  Feeling adventurous we both decided that we would take the route that neither of us had ever gone before.  And as a bonus the map stated this route was faster.  So off we went.


First off, the map lied...maybe the route was shorter, but it took us through every small town.  But this was a good thing, much more adventures could happen in small towns than on the highway.


So we were driving for a while and I notice a town name that I had been to before.  In my head we weren't anywhere near that town...but here it was.  And this town had real live dinosaur footprints that we could go look at.  My husband loves dinosaurs so we decide this would be a great thing to go do.  Then we looked at the clock and saw that it was 7am.  Hmmm...would the dinosaur footprints be open this early? 

We decided to check it out and lucky us, it was a state park and it was open.  Off we went to look at footprints.  And we got to see the footprints...in their original state (not moved to a museum) and we could walk right up to them.  It was surreal being able to go and put our feet by them (we didn't put our feet in the footprints because they were all filled with water, but we could have).  It was amazing that they weren't all cordoned off and kept away from actual visitors.

After we spent about an hour looking at footprints we resumed driving.  Our route took us through a small town where we had to make a turn.  Small towns love doing that.  Make you turn to keep on your route.  But we were stopped at a light and off to my right I saw a sign that said chocolate store.  Chocolate is one of my most favorite things in the whole wide world.  So I asked if we could stop there.  Chocolate is also one of my husband's most favorite things in the world.  So he happily obliged.  He even performed the u-turn that is usually reserved for me in order to take me to the chocolate.

We only had to wait 15 minutes for the store to open.  We went inside and were in chocolate heaven.  I knew I wanted to buy stuff, but what stuff?  There was so much to choose from and I couldn't afford to buy the entire store.

We browsed for a while and made our choices.  As we were checking out the cashier told us the place they make the chocolate was nearby and they had free samples.  I looked at my husband and said...um yeah...we will definitely be checking that place out.


We went to the factory and it was a cute little place where they handmade this wonderful stuff.  We talked to the chocolate maker for a bit and had lots of free samples.  Chocolate is a wonderful way to start a morning.

**And no, that is not a ball of poop in my hands...it is absolutely wonderfully yummy chocolate.

We continue driving and pass a cave.  We both want to go check out the cave, but we are hungry, very hungry.  And we are close to our hotel.  So we decide to check in, eat and then go back and see the cave.  As we are eating we look up to see how close our hotel is to where we actually wanted to be for sightseeing.  I figured about 20 minutes.  Turns out it was an hour away.  So much for all my hotel research.  But on the bright side the hotel was on a lake and it was beautiful.  And close to a cave.  It worked out perfectly.

Adventures in Driving

I had to take my little kitten to the vet again today.  I say again because I took her two weeks ago, but she was one ounce too light for her surgery.  One ounce...I should of had her wear her collar.  But she has managed to permanently lose two different collars so I refuse to buy her another one.  I think she secretly throws them away because she hates the bell ringing all the time on it.

So I was on my way to the vet.  I turned down the street and the vet was not there.  I was confused.  It was there two weeks ago.  Now there was some companies headquarters...not something that would have been built in the last two weeks.

I went further down the road thinking that maybe it was down farther than I remembered.  Still no vets office.  So I did what I seem to have to do almost every time I drive...I did the U-turn.  Seriously, I make u-turns all the time.  And unfortunately I'm not talking just when I'm going somewhere new.  I could be driving the same route I drive everyday and suddenly I realize I have gone past my turn...so I do the u-turn.  I once bought a car based on it turning radius...but now I own a van.  My van does a great u-turn.

So anyhow...I did the u-turn and looked once again where the vet was last week.  Still some companies headquarter...darn...I was hoping the vet had reappeared in the last two minutes.  I was starting to think my cat had something to do with this.

So I do the quick look on my phone to see where the vets office had gone to.  I found a place about an hour away.  Not what I was looking for.

So I'm driving along after performing another u-turn and suddenly it dawns on me.  I'm on the wrong road.  I turned one light too soon.  I went down to the next road and the vet was magically where it belonged.

This is why I drive as little as possible.


***No my cat did not ride in the back seat of my van.  She rode in her carrier.  I just cannot draw her in her carrier very well :-)