Hello!
We recently went on a week long road trip to Texas! It was totally God’s doing because there was this Catholic conference that He brought into my parent’s lives and of all places it was being held in Fort Worth, Texas. Which was about 15 minutes away from where my Grandma just moved in April! It was a great opportunity. I had a lot of fun traveling with my family and it was nice getting to see our Grandma. I’m going to go day by day and share what we did!
Sunday
We left our house at about 8:15am. We drove several hours and we saw our friend’s, Sue and Jenna’s house on the way!! We stopped at The Breakfast House in Cedar Rapids. I split with Ben a Pork Tenderloin sandwich and a Philly sandwich with beef, cheese, mushrooms, etc. Very yummy!
We got some blue slushies at a gas station- where this picture was taken! We then drove another several hours. In the car for the day I mainly listened to mom and dad/looked out the window and did some apps and games on my iPad. We arrived at the Q39 barbecue restaurant near Kansas City, MO. It was super good!! Ben and I split the five cheese Mac and Cheese topped with pulled pork, and a plate with brisket, burnt ends, apple slaw and baked beans. Then we drove about 15 minutes to the hotel for the night!
Monday
We had a pretty nice breakfast at the hotel- they had a station where a lady was cooking eggs and a sweet potato/sausage hash! That was unique for a hotel breakfast! I had that, among a few other things.
We drove about 2 hours to the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, MO. My parents had been there about 25 years ago. This was us kids’s first time. It was very neat! I didn’t know what to expect but I really enjoyed it! I didn’t know much about Precious Moments so I liked seeing in the gift shop all the figures in all their unique designs. I like the premise of them being all these everyday special moments. We saw some awesome things and it was very inspiring! I’m hoping to do a post on visiting the Precious Moments Chapel, which’ll have more details.
Next we drove to lunch in Joplin at Bricktown Brewery. There were a lot of good choices!! I ended up getting the Hatch Mac and Cheese Burger, which was Hatch green chiles, cavatoppi pasta, cheese sauce and queso all on a pretzel bun!! I knew once I read it- that’s what I was getting. Especially the pretzel bun… yes!! It was a bit messy and hard to eat but it was yummy!
Next up, Dad surprised us with kid size shakes at Steak’N’Shake! I got chocolate… I must say it feels like one of the best shakes I’ve had! It was very good!
We drove another couple hours and then at the hotel, Ben, Ro and eventually dad went swimming. We had a pizza night while watching TV (Slippery Stairs!?) and while Ben did his first Fantasy Football draft!
Tuesday
We had a pretty nice breakfast at the hotel, then started off. We stopped for lunch at Chick-Fil-A which was nice! I haven’t been to one in a long time. I got chicken nuggets with mac’n’cheese and Dr. Pepper.
Next we drove about an hour and a half until we got to Grandma’s place! There were horses in a field right by it which was really pretty. Apparently she has never seen horses there except for that day around the time we were arriving! We got a little tour and visited while my parents were there.
When they left, we set up our beds. We crammed two twins and a double air mattress in her second bedroom! It was tight but it worked!
We went and got the mail with her. Then we helped her make dinner- taco casserole. We had that along with watermelon.
That night we played Bunco and then had some dessert- ice cream and hot fudge! That hot fudge was super good… and it was over cookies & cream ice cream which made it even better! We jumped around to a bunch of things to watch, eventually we did an episode or two of celebrity Wheel of Fortune.
Wednesday
For breakfast I had some toaster waffles, we also had sausages and Ben and Ro had some little powdered donuts. Next we played quite a few games! We played the Catholic card game, Jenga, Sesame Street Uno and our Bob Ross game- a favorite of ours. There were quite a lot of silly drawings and laughs during the one. Also, when the Jenga tower was collapsing the first time we all freaked out… especially Grandma! It was very fun! We had hot dogs, baked beans, chips and fruit for lunch. Next we did a Rosary- our family does one each day and we did them with Grandma for the two full days we were there.
There’s a pool at our Grandma’s place, and that day there was a time restriction on when kids under 18 could swim. It came to the time when we could go, so we went swimming! Sadly the water was pretty cold that day. We had a good time and played some fun games while Grandma sat on the side. But at times I was not enjoying the coldness!
That night we had spaghetti, bread and more. It was very yummy! We watched some Heartland and more celebrity Wheel of Fortune. I had the same cookies & cream ice cream with hot fudge! So good!
Thursday
We had cinnamon rolls, leftover sausages, etc. for breakfast. Unfortunately we determined that Grandma’s oven runs very hot and the cinnamon rolls got a bit burnt. Grandma was not happy about that. But they could have been worse, I actually don’t mind them at that stage. We did our Rosary, and then played a few rounds of “Infinity Uno”, which got pretty competitive, but fun! I think we then got out some drawing and coloring stuff, I did some things in my Yellowstone Adult Coloring book while Grandma made lunch. We had brats, chips and fruit. Very good!
There was no restriction on the pool time for today. We hung out for a little bit after lunch because Grandma wanted to wait an hour before we went to the pool. Grandma’s neighbor stopped in at one point, as well. Eventually we headed down to the pool and spent around 2 and a 1/2 hours there! The air was a lot warmer and the sun was out… and the pool temperature was perfect! We had a lot of fun! The same neighbor came down and sat with Grandma for some time which was nice.
That night we ordered in pizza from Marco’s which was delicious and a nice treat! We played some Apples to Apples and Bunco. Ben was excited to watch the first football game of the season which was that night, especially with his Fantasy Football stuff. I had a strawberry fudge drumstick that night which was different but good! It also had a chocolate cone! We watched some TV, can’t remember if it was Celebrity Wheel of Fortune or Heartland and then Ben put the game on for a little bit longer.
Friday
For breakfast we had cinnamon rolls once again. Grandma was determined to not get them burnt this time. It was successful! They turned out great! We mainly got packed up and cleaned up the air mattresses, then helped show Grandma some things on her TV. Our parents came a little earlier than expected, we visited for a while and then a bit before 12:00pm we set out driving!
Of course we didn’t get any pictures of us and Grandma! 🙁
We were only staying overnight once on the way back, unlike the two nights on the way down so it was going to be a big couple of driving days. We stopped after a bit of driving at Villa Grande Mexican Restaurant. I ate way too many chips and had a brisket filled quesadilla!
Later we stopped at McDonald’s so that my parents could get coffee and our dad let us choose from some treat options as well. I got a vanilla ice cream cone! Something about it tasted sooo good! The flowers above were taken at McDonald’s, they had fresh flowers on the tables!
We drove for quite a while until we got to Joplin, MO., where we were stopping for the night. We went out to eat at Olive Garden which was a treat! That’s one of my favorites. My mom and I split a salad and the chicken Alfredo, and of course we had breadsticks as well. The waiter was very nice and he got into football talk with us! He was a Vikings fan so he didn’t like Ben and Dad’s Chicago gear but we all agreed to hate the Packers. In the hotel that night we watched random stuff and did silly soap opera while Ben and Dad watched the football game.
Saturday
This was our big driving day! We had breakfast at the hotel and then set out. We drove until we reached Super Smokers’s BBQ and Cajun restaurant. It was so good! I think I heard that the building was an old Steak’n’Shake! It was hard to choose, but I got pulled pork which came with garlic Texas toast, a pickle and two sides… I got the cajun green beans and white cheddar Mac and cheese! It was very delicious, and I can’t believe how much meat they gave! They were generous!
Back in the car, we were nearby St. Louis and Dad said that whoever saw the Arch first wins. So us kids got very competitive, probably me the most. I did see it first. It was really neat to look at! Since we had just been in St. Louis recently, it was fun to drive close to where we were and see the amazing Arch again.
We finally got to Peru, Illinois, which was the town my Dad grew up in! We had fun as he drove around to different places around town including his old house, which my Grandpa built and I have some memories of. We went by his old school and church, his Grandma’s house, the park they’d do stuff in, etc. It was fun! We then went to Peru Pizza House. That is a favorite restaurant of my parents! I’ve been there a few times and I remembered it. The pizza was sooo delicious!! We went by a few other spots including my Dad’s other Grandma’s house, and then we took a visit to his old classic ice cream shop! I got chocolate ice cream with brownies. Dad got something nostalgic for him… it was a topping called the “crunch”. As a kid he called it “twinkle coat”! It was sprinkles and some sort of sugar coated nuts. He was very excited to have that!
We set off driving again and got home around 10:15pm or so. It was a full but good day!
What’s something you liked about it (and why)? I loved traveling with my family! I love traveling in general and especially doing a road trip like this is so much fun. I love driving hours and then making a stop for lunch or something like that- when you’re not even really sure where or what state you’re in. I loved all the fun that goes along with road trips especially the food and treats and seeing new places. There’s something exciting about being somewhere that you’ve never been or that is unfamiliar. We made a lot of great memories!
What’s something you disliked about it (and why)? I wish I would have been more present with Grandma and not as judgmental or resentful. I don’t know, I was into an iPad game at the time and a lot of times I wanted to do that. I didn’t always want to help her with things when I knew I should, and maybe didn’t insist as much as I could have when she said no. Ben, Ro and I were often talking amongst ourselves and making our own jokes and stuff, even during meals, and maybe not including her as much as we should have. Sometimes I wanted to watch TV versus play games or other things.
What was your biggest takeaway or lesson? I don’t know if this is the biggest takeaway, but maybe being reminded of how much I love to travel. I may put too much of an emphasis on it though- and the food and experiences especially.
Also seeing Grandma- and I don’t know how much of what we did is accurate to this- but it felt like we got a taste of what her days are like. She has a nice apartment but I don’t know if I can imagine barely having anything going on most days! Maybe that’s not good. But just seeing what her life is like in this stage of her not having a ton of her life ahead of her, I think that’s interesting to see.
What is something you’re curious to learn more about as a result of this experience? I enjoyed visiting the Precious Moments Chapel and I think I’d like to look into more of Samuel Butcher’s artwork, including the Precious Moments and the art in the chapel.
I also always love going to restaurants and I think that would be a fun business, so I’d like to learn more about that!
It was a great trip! Thank you for reading!
Lucy