If the thought of staying home with three children ALL day long send shivers up your spine, may I suggest loading up the kids in your van and heading on a wild car adventure? You never know what you'll encounter.
For today's expedition, I headed north. I wanted to hunt down Eisenhower's birthplace in Denison, Texas. But, the sign I distinctly remember seeing when we took our three-hour-tour to Durant, Oklahoma, was not there, so we ended up across the Red River back into good old Oklahoma. This time, however, I turned off to the west toward Denison Dam. The sign looked good, so I thought, why not? We explored Cartwright, OK. I had to laugh at the "Do Not Incorporate Cartwright" sign located in someone's lawn. Apparently, the little town of trailers likes being just the way they are. Actually, we also saw some horses and cattle--the first Texas longhorns I've seen. Anyway, after exploring the paradise known as Cartwright, we backtracked and actually went toward the sign that pointed to the Dam. The kids may not have been impressed, but I was. I'm always impressed when driving by a large body of water on a bridge as I'm thinking, you know, it's a long way down if we happened to drive off the road. Why thoughts like this enter my head, I don't know. Maybe living with small children isn't terrifying enough.
At the dam, we pulled off to the spillway. I let the children out to stretch their legs and so we could explore the waterfront. The wind was blowing fast and hard--something Rachel absolutely detests. I have to learn to keep a jacket WITH a hood in the car. Because the few days that are not too hot nor too cold here in Texas are usually very windy, and that's sends Rachel into fits. Anyway. We went down the steep embankment to the water. Rachel's screaming. Josh is no longer enthralled. But Shari and I were having a blast. Where else could we see HUGE fish skeletons, strips of fish skin, and other assorted decayed fish parts along the rocky shore? I let Shari gather some rocks (secretly hoping she wouldn't inadvertently pick up a piece of fish) before heading back to the car. We put the scaredy cats in the van and then Shari and I went back to the water for a minute to throw rocks. Then we headed out.
I looked on the map to see where we were, but couldn't find our road anywhere (really need a better map!), so I just followed some signs that said "Denison" and hoped for the best. We did find Denison and we did find Eisenhower's birth place. I kept thinking how my mom would NEVER attempt this adventure if you paid her a million dollars :) and I was inwardly satisfied with the "wild side" of me. (Okay, I'm cracking myself up.) Along the way to Eisenhower's we found a children's museum which we stopped at on the way back. While kind of paltry in its offerings, the museum still provided lots of entertainment for some travel-weary-but-still-having-a-good-attitude kids. We had a blast. Finally we headed for home.
On the way we stopped off at exit 69 so we could try some "fried pies" at Deno's. Word of advice. Keep driving.
We got home just minutes before Joseph did. So, I made it through the day with my sanity still intact! (Now only five more days to fill before Josh is back in school!)
