Category Archives: Memories

Diana and Heather’s Awesome Adventure

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(Writer’s Note: When better to write a post than when you’ve reached the “crash and burn” feeling after a long, eventful and absolutely amazing weekend… here we go.)
Earlier today, Heather and I returned home from attending BlogHer ’13 in Chicago. Returned, is the choice word because I think I speak for both of us when I say, it feels like we hit the Twilight Zone earlier. Let’s have a recap of the day.
BlogHer is amazing but let’s all face the facts… when it’s time to go, the swag takes up a lot of room. Our morning thoughts pretty much consisted of “I’m amazed this all fit in our bags!” and “This better be under 50 lbs.”
We dragged our bags out of the hotel (so thankful for wheels – best invention EVER) and grabbed a cab. Cab driver delivers girls, four suitcases, two large duffel bags and a purse to the train.
Yes, we did the cab to train route.
Yes, we had ALL.THAT.LUGGAGE.
Here, we came across realization…
#1: We appreciate Southern gentlemen and they don’t exist in Chicago.
It only took the 6th out of 7th high school young man to hold the train door for us while we and the small pharmacy in our bags (among other things) moved onto the train. (Props to you young man… you’ll be winning over the ladies later on.) Had we been in the South, this would’ve been done by the first (or second) man we ran into.
See you later Chicago! We will miss you.
Heather and Diana meet Midway Airport. (below)
This was just the line to have our ID’s and tickets checked.
It went by quicker than expected.
I can’t say the same about the security line…
We left the hotel three hours before our flight – and made it to flight while boarding.
We were the last two on the plane.

Our flight had a layover in Wichita, Kansas.
“Cool, we’ve never been to Kansas!”
Wrong….
We’re not going back to the Wichita Airport. (by choice)

We both fell asleep on route to our layover destination.
This is when I believe, we fell into the Twilight Zone.
Low and behold, I seriously thought I was going to see Michael J Fox or MC Hammer inspired outfits just start walking thru the airport.
Nervous? Very.
We saw the sign and this was said…
“Wichita is the ‘Air Capital of the World’ because no one wants to be ON THE GROUND.”
The Wichita airport is tiny.
There’s not a lot to eat.
We had to leave security to eat at Burger King.
Yes, we literally had to leave the secure area.
When we went back thru security, no line.
The carpet was from 1979 (if not earlier… probably earlier).
(Writer’s Note: We were told they are building a new airport and it should be opened next year. We’re cheering for a Auntie Annie’s Pretzels.)
 Our layover was 2.5 hours. Obviously too long when mixed with exhaustion.
Finally, we board our second flight headed to the big D.
One hour flight and we land.
I check into Four Square and I’m not even kidding… this happens.
like DALLAS! WE ARE HOME!
(Well, close to it.)
Realization #3: There’s no place like home (even if it happens to be Love field).
Think we were happy?
Big hats, big belt buckles, big hair, tight jeans, boots and too much makeup means we’re back in Texas y’all! (And the airport décor also proves we’re back in 2013!)
Almost home…
We had to leave the airport.
We parked in airport parking which meant we needed to take a bus to get to the car.
Realization #4: Remember that issue with lacking Southern gentlemen in Chicago? Well, we have just the opposite problem in the South… Southern women. (Writer’s Note: Not all Southern women but be honest… you know which one’s I’m taking about.)
To the Southern men… Northern women is where it’s at!
The only thing that stood between us and getting on the bus was this Southern lady.
She tried to cut in front of us to get on the bus not once, but TWICE. The only reason it took TWO times was because the bus was full the first go around.
The bus actually went to her car first and I wish I was kidding when I say this happened…
The bus stops next to her car and opens the bus door.
She stands and as she is walking off the bus points her finger with the upmost arrogance towards the bags and says “The purple bag and the pink bag” and off she goes.
As they say in the South, “Bless her heart.”
We made it to our car. So did all our luggage.

Even the Minion came out of the bag and was happy to be home and in the car.

We’ve never been so happy to see you Dallas!

Stay tuned for the rest of the recap from the last few days. It was an amazing experience and we can’t wait to share it with y’all!

G’night and we’re glad to be home in Texas!

How I Got To Texas: Nicole / Coastie Wife

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It’s pretty amazing the people that we meet in life and how we get to the place we’re at. I’m pretty intrigued with hearing people’s stories and thought about how we all got to where we’re at. I’ve decided to start a series called “How I Got To Texas” which will introduce you to some of my fellow blogging friends and learn a bit about their background and how they got to the great state of Texas.

Today, meet Nicole from Coastie Wife, where she blogs about her military family, crafting with her kids and photography (among many other topics). Be sure to check out her blog!

How this Wyoming Girl Got to Texas
Somehow, somewhere, some part of me–deep down inside–knew that I would end up in Texas someday. Now, I should clarify. This deep-down-inside-feeling wasn’t a part of me until I met the boy who would become my hubby. Although he had grown up in Wyoming, like me, he was born in Texas and had been in and out of it ever since. Just like my fierce native love of Wyoming, he had a deep native love of his own home state that I felt would draw us there someday.

For awhile it looked as if my deep feeling might have been wrong as we hopped up and down the Eastern Seaboard making home “wherever the Coast Guard sent us” to the tune of Washington DC, the Crystal Coast of North Carolina, and Boston.

After a deployment to Cuba and a few other bumps along the way it became apparent that our adventure as a Coast Guard family was coming to a close and that our adventure as a back to college family was about to begin. And where better, hubby thought, to pursue this dream than the state of his birth? Texas is notorious for affordable living, good colleges, helping veterans, and southern hospitality, so it sounded like it would be perfect for our little family of four while he went to the University of Texas branch at Tyler for his bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering.

This is the short version of how this Wyoming turned East Coast turned College wife Girl found herself plopped down into the heart of East Texas just a few short months ago. At first I felt a bit bewildered, I must admit. Jerking from the high fashion New England culture into the heartlands of tractors driving down the road, cows next door, and chicks in the department stores was a bit of a shock.

Over time, however, I’ve begun to love our new home state. From the gorgeous flowers in the spring to the temperate weather that allows my kids to play outside year round, the “just right” size of our new home town that provides lots of fun without all the crazy, and let’s not forget all the delicious barbeque–Texas has so much to offer that I’m just beginning to scratch the surface of. I’m putting roots down, little by little, and find myself become quite comfortable in the state of friendly people and huge variety. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to settle for good in this state I always felt I was destined for, and in the mean time I’m enjoying this adventure!

How I Got To Texas: Emily / Insanity Rules

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It’s pretty amazing the people that we meet in life and how we get to the place we’re at. I’m pretty intrigued with hearing people’s stories and thought about how we all got to where we’re at. I’ve decided to start a series called “How I Got To Texas” which will introduce you to some of my fellow blogging friends and learn a bit about their background and how they got to the great state of Texas.
Today, meet Emily from Insanity Rules where she blogs about her family, crafting and food. Be sure to check out her blog! 
Morning y’all! I’m so excited to be guest posting here at Down Home Traveler. So I guess I better let y’all in on a little secret of mine… I’m not a native Texan. I know gasp, crys of outrage, and the lot… 🙂 I hope y’all will still put up with me because I’ve come to enjoy living in the great big state of Texas. So, where do my roots lie well in a place completely opposite of Texas. You see I’m a Pacific Northwest girl. To be more exact a little town called Sequim, Washington. Now this is important it’s pronounced Squim not Seequim. It’s spelled weird a people are always wanting to say seequim but that’s not how it’s done. Trust me when I went to college I’m pretty sure I had to pronounce it a hundered times. Yikes! Where I grew up it’ rains, it’s green, the trees touch the sky, and it’s gorgeous. I love it! So, talk about a shock when I fell in love with a Texas boy and he thought it would be great to move to wide open spaces, dust, yellow, and no Moutains!!!! Really you have got to be kidding me. I thought he was completely crazy and I may have even thought I might be crazy marrying this guy.
You see I’m a sweater loving, hoodie wearing, jeans and a t shirt kind of girl and all of those things aren’t really happening in Texas. It’s hot, humid, muggy, and well even when it’s over cast it can be 90 + degrees outside. Yeah for a girl who loves mud puddles, dancing in the rain, and cold weather this was a complete one eighty. So, to say moving me to Texas was a shock might be putting it mildly. There were so many strange things about moving to Dallas TX. SO, this is just a little bit of our adventure.
I met the hubs at college and well that’s a completely different story and rather funny. Let’s just say he says I was rude to him and rejected him the first time we met. I say he’s delusional and I had homework to do. Anyway we married and moved to Texas. For a girl who has spent a lot of her life trying to tame her curls:
This proved a bit of a challenge. I wear my hair up a lot in the summer because it’s so heavy and with the hot weather it just curls all over the place. I also wasn’t use to how light it is here all the time. You see the trees in Washington block out the light after a certain time of day. I’m convinced people don’t know what pitch black is here in Texas but you sure can see the stars! I’ve learned to love cowboy boots, thunder storms, even the hot weather some times, and of course long evenings looking at the stars and watching my kids run around. We have been here for 8 years or so maybe 9 now and we have four boys. None of which I would change. I never grew up where we had really close neighbors. We didn’t live in a neighborhood where the kids can run around outside with their friends all day. My kids are thrilled.
You could say Texas has changed my life. All my boys were born here, we bought our first home, car, and got our dogs here. I started my blog here and it’s become something I really enjoy doing. I’ve met many fabulous ladies who hail from the great state of Texas and others. I may miss the rain but I love the sunshine and this is my home. You should come visit sometime there are great places to eat, museums, splash parks, and so much more. I discover new things all the time that we love to do. So I know Texas is always going to have a little piece of my heart. Have a wonderful day y’all!