Couch Family

Since John and Nicole moved to Arizona and Dave & Denise live in Pennsylvania, our life seems to go from Road Trip to Road Trip with a little work life in between.  And you won’t hear many complaints from this house.

Growing up, we traveled  to the east coast to see my Aunt and Uncle in Conneticut ;I’ve been to Washington DC and as far south as St. Augustine.  When Janet moved to Florida we had our first vacation as a ‘family’ with Christopher being very small and all three boys in the back seat.  They were great travelers and we always  had a great time.   John entertained;Dave put up with it and Chris slept on queue- 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. That was the extent of our journies.

So the Road Trips to new territories have begun anew.  And they have been spectacular!  Seeing the earth from 36000 feet is an awesome sight.   Chuck and I struggle over the window seat.  I think we both prefer it but it graciously gives me the seat a lot of the times. And I graciously take it. Dave has taught us a better and sometimes quicker way to his home in Murraysville and I’ve been pretty successful and doing a new land record when necessary.

The last road trip we took didn’t include a trip to Arizona  or Pennsylvania but instead featured 2 events on two consecutive week-ends and  a great side trip in between.    Starting the trip with our niece Erins’ graduation on Satuday in Norman, Oklahoma, John, Tina, Betty, Chuck and I made our way west.   Past the worlds largest McDonalds and straight on to Norman.

The Graduation ceremony was in a  large gymnasium with baloons waiting to be dropped in a net over head.  There were a lot of graduates in this class and each one had their photo taken at two times before receiving their diploma.  All I could think of was $$’s in the photographers pocket. The baloons finally dropped and the group was ‘officially’ graduated followed by a party held by the parents for Erin and the girls she ran with. The next day our real road trip began. 

We stopped at the Welcome station after getting into Texas and took photos of the granite carving of the state of Texas, collected pamphlets and headed to Waco.  The following day we drove to San Antonio.    

Our first great surprise of the trip was the Hotel Tina had booked for our visit.  We were on the 4th floor of the building and one of 6 bedrooms that faced a gorgeous deck with tables, palms and pool with blue sky over head.

 The second great surprise was that we were right across the street from one of the bridges that has steps leading to the River Walk. Located 10 to 15 feet below street level, if you didn’t know the River Walk existed and know where to look, it might be difficult to find~But a lot of the bridges do have steps leading down to a walk way along the edge of both sides of the river.  It’s beautiful.  Years of growth on trees and shrubs provide the shade and cool spots from the humid temperatures.  The walk widens in places for use by the cafe′s lining the river.  You can almost eat your way from one end of the riverwalk to the other! Boats billed as river taxi’s provide a break for tired feet .  

We spent our noons and evening trying out different places to eat..     We took the river tour   of the area and realized how much history there was to this adventure we were taking.  We heard how they moved a building and how the Alamo figured into the construction.–  Because it is a historical and revered place, the city charter calls for no building to cast a shadow on or over it. – It’s ’earned’ its place in the sun for all to see an remember the sacrifices those men made – not to win the battle- but to keep Santa Ana busy long enough so that the Texas Rangers and the military had time to mount an offensive against his army and have a chance of winning.  Of the couple hundred fighters at the Alamo, only a a few were from Texas.  Most were from other parts of the country.  some had come out west to buy land at 12 cents an acre. 

From the past to the futuristic …we took a ride up into the  space needle created for the Worlds Fair .  750 feet up and a lot of wind on a very muggy hot day makes a clostrophobic ride in an elevator worth while.

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