Let me start by saying that we have planned this Arkansas trip for a year now, knowing that my little cousin was to be married June 11, 2011, in Fort Smith. This past fall my husband made the decision to go back to school,
yet again, which then started in January. About the same time he was applying, looking over class offerings and so on, he learned that he would have to take this 3-week SIX credit hour class that ran from June 6-24. Hmm, let's see... Our family vacation was conveniently scheduled to start June 8.
Yeah, that clearly did not happen. After finding out on June 6 that he would not be able to miss class on Thursday, June 9, we were forced to make the decision of who should really go, when we should leave, what sort of finances do we really have left after paying for the $1300 class (not to mention all the other classes).
I still planned to take June 8-13 off in preparation for and recovery from the little excursion. So, on Wednesday, I sent the girls to daycare in hopes of a quiet house and lots of motivation to get things done. Well, Wednesday afternoon daycare calls to tell us that E has a 102 fever. At this point, the life totally drained out of me, and I found myself losing the vacation spirit all together.
The last minute, year-long planned vacation - as I consider it - did end up happening after all (even if it was a quick trip). We decided it best to take E to the doctor the day we planned to leave just to make sure it was nothing serious that needed to be corrected. The PA we saw gave me the last bit of hope I needed which was, "If she were my child, I would take her and go as planned." Mad packing began so we could be on the road in two hours.
Shortly before 5:00 we had everyone snuggled in the van, and we were off (despite the tornado watch and ominous storms brewing on our route). Daddy was kind enough to purchase and install a dual screen DVD player which fit nicely on the backs of the headrests in front of the two older girls. They each had headphones so we thought it would be a relaxing, silent 8-hour drive.
Sadly, we had one really tired 3-year old who decided to scream and whine for the first 4+ hours. "My headphones won't stay on!" "I don't want to watch this movie!!" Worst. Decision. EVER. Pretty sure E was just plain tired of hearing A's unnecessary fit throwing, so she joined along in unison with her sister's painful sobs. Maybe it was our fault. Did we not prepare them enough for an 8-hour road trip?? Sheesh. I can't even tell you how many times we looked over at each other and secretly wished we had never made such a poor, irrational decision. Why would one ever choose to put themselves through such torture?!
At any rate, we arrived just after 1:00 a.m. Survived!!! The DVD players, which feature car adapters, ended up being a nice asset in the van and did keep a couple of girls busy for awhile. I'm sure we will get our money's worth in the years to come, and I'd recommend these as road trip lifesavers:
Friday morning we awoke to meet all our other family. We ended up having such a lovely time! The girls were ecstatic and loved being with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Back in March we scored $65/night hotel rooms! The weather was sunny and hot and humid.
There were lots of last-minute wedding preparations going on; however, we did sneak off to do some sightseeing on Friday. My siblings and cousins piled into two vans and took a drive by ourselves.
From the drive looking towards the Ozark National Forest - we drove up to the top!
A scenic overlook in Mt. Magazine State Park - the highest point in Arkansas
Took about 1.5 hours to drive here from Fort Smith - beautiful and windy!
Sassy pants, Little A, being cute and dangerous
A family photo at the overlook
Another cool picture - no that's not dust on your screen - it's a large bird soaring
Back at the hotel. Cousins! 6 months apart
Again, our sassy one loving the pool in the 90 degree heat
Two hours into our drive back home we couldn't resist taking a couple mile detour off the interstate to drive through Joplin. We had been following my brother and parents cars and ended up eating lunch in Joplin. From everything that you hear on the news about the tornado tragedy, one would almost expect there to be total destruction with the entire town closed. However, this city - population ~50,000 - is still functioning despite the tornado that made it's path down the center of town. We drove along seeing little damage for several blocks then, BAM, it's like you hit a wall of devastation. Amazing. I found it incredible the way metal was wrapped around poles. The May 22nd's F5 tornado caused 154 fatalities and months - if not years - of cleaning and rebuilding is inevitable. (Most of my blog readers know this, but I am documenting for my own journaling purposes.)
