We left for our annual family vacation -- our annual roadtrip vacation on the very last day of May.
May 31, 2019
This year's roadtrip picture.
We don't set off as a family to the beach or Gatlinburg for vacation like most people do in our hometown. No, we pile into a rental car that is packed to the brim with our "necessities" and head out on an almost two week roadtrip across the United States.
June 2018
Last year's roadtrip picture.
Sometimes we head east. For the last two years we have headed west. We've traveled to Niagara Falls, Boston, New York City, Washington D.C., Mt Rushmore, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Colorado . . . I could go on.
July, 2017, at the Grand Canyon.
This was our second time to visit the Grand Canyon.
Last year we drove all the way to California. It was so much fun. This year Zach and Alex wanted to go back to California because there were so many things we didn't get to see or do, but Dave had set his mind on going back to Yellowstone.
Last year at Alcatraz, San Francisco, California.
June 2018.
So here I am sitting in Little Rock, Arkansas, where we spent the first night of our roadtrip adventure, writing this post. I literally did not know where we were going this year until the morning we left. Dave had not told us where we were going but kept it to himself. It's hard to pack for a vacation when you don't know where you're going. So at the last minute, we are all grabbing our coats and fleece pullovers in case it's still chilly at Yellowstone.
July 2017.
The last time we visited Yellowstone, it was warm enough to wear shorts and T-shirts.
I was adamant that if we were going to Yellowstone, I didn't want to drive through Kansas and Nebraska. Nothing wrong with those two states, but there's not a lot to see but farmland, and I wanted to go a different way this time. So we are going through Colorado.
July 2017.
My boys at one of Yellowstone's hot springs.
Colorado is probably one of my favorite states to visit. It is so beautiful and has so many wonderful sites to see. It is also where Shane and I wanted to go this year. #win!
Mount Evans Summit, Colorado.
June 2013 and June 2018
Today we leave Little Rock and continue west on I-40 toward Amarillo, Texas, where we will turn and head north toward Colorado. The GPS gave us a faster route through Kansas, but Dave said it would not be too much longer to go this alternate route. My husband is the best and always tries to make me happy. There are underlying reasons I have for wanting to go through Oklahoma and Texas, but you'll have to wait to see what those reasons are.
My sweet daddy left us to be with Jesus on November 5, 2019. I had talked to him that morning on the phone not knowing it would be the last conversation I would have with him.
He was so kind and gentle -- a perfect PawPaw for my boys.
Even though it has been almost 7 months since he left us, I am struggling with this loss. I am doing all the things I am supposed to do for my family, for my job, for myself, but I am struggling... keeping the struggle on the inside as much as I can. For several months after he died, I would burst into tears seemingly out of nowhere, and it would upset my boys to see me sobbing suddenly.
I am better at controlling my emotions now but they are still rolling inside me.
My momma is not a sentimental person. She doesn't like clutter or mess. Seeing my daddy's clothes and shoes in his closet taking up space in the guest bedroom (which is where he kept his things) drove her crazy. First, seeing his clothes was a constant reminder that he was gone and that was so hard for her. Second, leaving his clothes in the closet meant that closet couldn't be used for anything else, and she wanted to have the space for her grandchildren when they came to spend the night. Third, she doesn't like clutter. He can't use his clothes anymore so they needed to be gone.
My sister and I wanted some of daddy's clothes to make keepsake items for ourselves and for the grandchildren. She and I were to get together and go through the clothes and divide them up between us, but we couldn't seem to coordinate our times to actually meet at the same time. So Michelle went through and got what she wanted and left me the remaining half to do with as I wanted . . . which is what I told her to do. It didn't matter to me which clothing items I got of daddy's.
So one afternoon, momma called me to please come pick up daddy's clothes that they had separated for me.
And there they were . . . my sweet daddy's clothes in garbage bags waiting on me to carry them off in my car.
Seeing his clothes in garbage bags really bothered me. I don't know why.
I left them in my car for a couple of weeks and then the boys helped me bring them inside. We took them out of the bags and carefully put them in a storage container.
Dave wanted me to go through them right away and decide which ones I was going to use and which ones I would donate, but I'm not quite ready for that yet. So they wait carefully packed away until I can handle my daddy's clothes and make the keepsake items for me and my boys....
I knew this would be hard. Losing a parent is something everyone dreads and there is no way to prepare yourself for the void it leaves in your life. The worst part is I keep forgetting he's gone. For just a brief second . . . I forget . . . and then in another second, I remember . . . and the sadness and loss is there again.
So that's all I have to say on this for now. Except it would be nice if you could say a prayer . . .
We woke up ready to have some fun at Silver Dollar City
(SDC). We were blessed by our church to
receive complimentary tickets to Silver Dollar City.Our church participates in Operation
Christmas Child and received some complimentary tickets because of that
participation.
There is free parking at the SDC. The free parking is a good ways from the
Silver Dollar City entrance, but there is a shuttle from the free parking that will take you right up to the entrance. Because we saved on the ticket fees, we
decided to pay $15 to park closer and walk to the entrance. That sounds like a good idea until you have
to walk to the entrance.
It’s not too
far to walk but it is up hill..And it was hot . . .seriously hot.It was not a pretty sight – me huffing and
puffing and sweating profusely – but I made it.Those children of mine were skipping practically up the hill.I may have hated them a little bit.
Shane had to make a face.
Once inside the park, the boys became focused on finding the
rides.The very first ride they did was
the American Plunge which was basically them sitting in a log and plunging down
a steep hill into water.
Silver Dollar
City describes it as a “float trip with a soaking 5 story splash down at 35
mph.” Ha! Dave rode the ride with the
boys and they all got soaked.
This was Shane’s
favorite ride.
Soaking wet, but happy.
Getting wet at the beginning of our day was probably not the
smartest idea.LoL.
Soaking wet, and not happy.
Because they were already wet, we decided to
ride all the water rides first.We were
headed to the rafting ride called ”Lost River of the Ozarks” when we came upon
the “Fire in the Hole” ride.Dave and
the boys decided to ride it first. Here's a video of the ride that Dave took when they were on it.
Because it’s basically an indoor roller
coaster and I don’t do roller coasters, I sat by the ride’s exit and waited on
them.When the boys came out, Dave said
he wasn’t doing any more rides where you get wet.Apparently, there is a part of that ride
where water is squirted on you.LoL.
Before we got to the water rapids ride, we came across the RiverBlast
which is described as “Silver Dollar City’s exciting, all-out water war down a
river channel – the boats are armed with soakers, as are the spectators on
shore!”
I agreed to ride it with the
boys not realizing that the people around the wall of the ride could shoot
water at us!I got completely soaked on
this ride.And getting squirted
repeatedly by strangers in the face with water is not as much fun as you would
think.Ha!
My hair was a mess after getting squirted repeatedly with water.
We moved on finally to the “Lost River of the Ozarks”or the whitewater rapids ride.I loved it.I was already completely soaked so it didn’t matter how much more water
splashed on me.We actually got back in
line and rode it twice! Here's a video of part of our ride.
At this point we decided to stop and eat lunch.We chose the Riverside Ribhouse.I didn’t like it.We got the hickory smoked half chicken and a
full slab of baby back ribs with the sides, and split it between us all.I didn’t like the hickory smoke flavor in the
chicken and the ribs were tough to eat.It was probably my least favorite food we ate on our entire
vacation.The boys and Dave may have
liked it.I don’t know.I thought it was yuck.:D
After lunch we rode an assortment of rides. The boys talked me into riding the “Fire in
the Hole” indoor roller coaster.
Me and the boys waiting to ride Fire in the Hole.
They
actually tricked me by telling me it wasn’t much of a roller coaster. Once I was strapped in and the ride was
moving, Zach looked at me and said, “Momma, we lied about the roller
coaster.” It is dark on the ride. You can't see a lot of what's happening on the ride. At first, it’s not much to it, but then there
are 3 big roller coaster dips in the dark which makes them more frightening
because you can’t see what’s going on.The boys loved it. They rode it again, this time without me! While at Branson, we rode the Train which is a steam engine train but it has open air cars so it didn’t feel like a train.
Alex was mad because he didn't want to ride the train. lol
Having fun!
It was still fun to ride through the park and
they had a cute little skit midway with train robbers.
Dave and the boys rode the Elephant March which is geared
more to little children, but it’s a traditional ride for my family.
The boys loved that ride at Dollywood when
they were smaller, and we had to ride it over and over again. When I saw it at SDC, I knew the boys had to
ride it just once. They got off the
ride laughing about it being a kiddie ride.
We rode the Fire Spotter which was the hot air balloon
ride. It looked harmless. I almost got sick. No lie.
Going round and round was a little more nauseating than I expected. Watch the video and listen to Dave. lol
Zach and Shane weren’t interested in riding the big roller
coasters, and Alex wasn’t going to ride it by himself, so they settled for
riding the smaller version called the Grand Exposition Coaster. They rode it several times.
I was very resistant to most of the rides because I don’t
like going up too high on rides. I did
ride the Racing Regatta with the boys.
It was fun . . . extremely fast, but fun.
The Mighty Galleon looked harmless, but actually proved to
be pretty scary for me.The boys loved
it.I was ready to get off when it
finally stopped.
I love Shane's expression in this picture.
The Royal Tea Party was basically the spinning tea cup ride,
and Zach, Shane, and I enjoyed it. Zach
and Shane kept it spinning so fast and furious that I had to keep my eyes
closed for the entire ride, but they loved spinning it fast while I was
screaming. Lol
The Electro Spin was the only ride that wasn’t really liked
by all. Alex, Shane and I were going to
ride it together, but at the last minute, I backed out.
After the ride started, I could tell by Shane’s
face that he did not like the ride at all.
It was a horrible situation to watch his face and not be able to stop
the ride.
Afterwards, he told me the
back of the seat comes up and secures them to the ride, and his seat was
pressing so hard on his back, he couldn’t breathe! My poor baby.
Alex rode it again by himself while Shane, Zach, and I rode the spinning
teacup ride. So beware the Electro Spin
ride.
We stayed until Silver Dollar City closed, but before we
left, Shane, Zach and Alex rode the American Plunge ride one more time.It was Shane’s favorite ride, and after his
bad experience on the Electro Spin, we all wanted him to get to ride his
favorite ride one more time.Who cares
if they get soaking wet again?!?
I tried to get one last picture with Shane smiling, and he makes a weird smile. Little boys!
We rode many of the rides several times, and there are some rides I didn't write about on here. The post was getting too long! There's lots of shows and entertainment there as well, but my boys weren't interested in that! We googled the best places to eat in Branson that have a gluten-free
menu and found a place called Pasghetti’s Italian Restaurant.Zach has been having some stomach issues so
we are trying to cut gluten out of his diet and see if that helps any.His favorite meal is spaghetti or lasagna,
and cutting out gluten has limited his intake of these favorite foods.
Yes, that's a fork coming out of my head - not! lol
Pasghetti’s is a very cool place.The inside walls look like a city street with
businesses and billboards.They have a working
ferris wheel upstairs too.
It looks like the meatball is in the back of the pickup truck! lol
The outside of
Pasghetti’s is unique. There is a giant
meatball with a fork stuck in it on the front sidewalk of the restaurant. You can literally walk through the
meatball.
Zach was able to get a big bowl of gluten free spaghetti
with his favorite marinara.
Look Momma! I ate it all!
He didn’t
care one bit that he couldn’t eat the breadsticks the server brought us because
his pasta dish was so good.
After eating lots and lots of delicious food at
Pasghetti’s, we headed back to our hotel to rest up for day 3 of our road trip
vacation.
We headed out on our annual family road trip on the very last day of June.
I started early trying to get all the clothes washed and
packed for the trip. Dave had to work
nights the week we were leaving, and his plan was to leave Friday morning when he
got off from working Thursday night shift around 6:30 in the morning.
I envisioned staying up all night packing, but sleep won out.
We still managed to get everything loaded and ready to leave by 9:30 Friday morning. WIN!
Waiting on Dave to join us! We are ready to go!
We almost always stop at Waffle House to eat breakfast/lunch
on the first day of our trip and this year’s road trip was no exception.
West Point Waffle House
I never really feel like we have made any head way on our
road trips until we leave the state of Mississippi. About 2:13 p.m., we crossed the Tennessee
state line, and the Ferrell Family Road Trip had officially begun. :-D
It was raining heavily when we pulled over to take a picture of the
Tennessee road sign. We usually get out and take a picture in front of the sign, but not in the rain!
Crossing the Tennessee river bridge into Arkansas only
heightened our excitement about our first destination – Branson, Missouri.
Dave and I had switched out driving.
Quick take a selfie with me!
We didn’t realize that the road the GPS had
sent us on had a 45 MPH speed limit!Nevertheless,
we saw some beautiful country traveling through Arkansas and the Ozark
Mountains.
Starting to see some mountains!
So cool seeing where they cut through the mountains for the roads!
A huge lake!
We arrived in Missouri around 8 o’clock Friday night.After checking into our hotel, we headed out
to eat at the Steak & Shake for supper before hitting the sack. We stayed at the Green Gable Inn in Branson, and it was a really nice motel for a reasonable price.
Silver Dollar City was on the agenda for
Saturday and it opens at9
o’clock.I’m the kind of person that
likes to get there when the place opens and stay until it closes – which makes
for a long day.Dave is not so much into
spending all day anywhere except maybe in bed or on the couch!We were so excited about going to Silver
Dollar City.We had watched several
videos on youtube about the rides, and the boys were ready to get there.
Oh the fun and excitement that Branson and Silver Dollar
City has in store for . . .
