Tag: travel

Train Trip

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Road tripLeave a comment

After being with my daughter and her family for almost a week, I decided that Friday would be a good day to say good-bye. They needed space to establish a schedule and start finding their new normal with a newborn and a toddler. Because I didn’t want Donny to have to make the drive again, I had decided to take the train back home. If you know me, you know how much I love trains.

My plan was to sleep and read on the almost 9 hour trip. Because the train was sold out everyone had to sit with someone. I lucked out and sat by a 70 year old Air Force veteran named Mike. He was heading to St. Louis to see his granddaughter for her 16th birthday. We had such good conversations because we had lived and/or visited the same places.

If you have never taken a train here are some observations that I have made. The seats are big and there is so much leg room. They also lay back like a recliner. It’s a whole different dynamic than flying. People are so friendly and you end up making so many friends and having a good time. People will offer you snacks, shots (the alcohol type) and just good conversation. You will meet people from all over.

After I had lunch from the food car I decided to go sit in the observation car for a little while.

I love that you face the windows and the ceiling is clear so you can see so much more than you can from you seat. There are also tables where people were playing cards and other games.

I love going through the small towns because it’s like you see the opposite side of what you would see in a car. It’s like looking at someone’s backyard when all you are used to seeing is the front. You get fresh air breaks at certain stations where you can get out and walk around.

Our Dallas break.

All in all I highly recommend taking a train trip at least once in your life. I hope to do many more in the future.

I’m sure going to miss these humans though

Concert Trip

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Road tripLeave a comment

A few months ago Jackson had asked for tickets to see Tyler the Creator for his birthday gift. I can remember seeing Billy Idol for about 9 bucks back in the day so purchasing tickets that cost more than my car payment came with a sticker shock. Tyler is his favorite artist and he’ll only turn 18 once (even if it isn’t until the end of April) so I bit the bullet and got tickets for him and Hannah.

Monday morning we headed to Dallas. When I tell you the wind was blowing us all over the road, along with the 18 wheelers, it was just so bad. If you ever need a good, basic motel to stay in, the La Quinta on 75 is the one. It was super clean and looked like it had been remodeled recently. It had 2 beds in the main area and then a separate bedroom. Not to mention it was only 4 miles from the American Airlines Center.

Donny rolled the desk chair outside to watch the cars go by.

They let us check in early. We didn’t want to sit around the room for hours so we decided to take the kids to the Galleria. I think if we could have just dropped them off at the concert venue Jackson would have preferred that. He was so ready. I am not a mall person. I don’t like shopping or crowds, but I had forgotten how pretty this particular mall is.

If we would have had time I would have loved to have gone ice skating.

Hannah did find a cute dress and some jewelry so it wasn’t a complete bust. Her birthday is actually the end of this month. We went back to the motel and let the kids rest for about 45 minutes and then headed out. The reason you could not pay me a million dollars to live in Dallas again is because it took us almost 45 minutes to get to where the concert was. The traffic was SO bad. Living in Longview you tend to forget just how bad traffic can be. We finally made it and were able to drop the kids off a little after 6. Jackson texted me a picture from their seats.

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He said the seats were awesome. There was only one snafu, Hannah needed to go to the restroom and couldn’t remember what area the seats were in. She asked one of the concert workers to help her and they wanted her to call Jackson but she didn’t have her phone. The tickets were on his phone. She remembers a “J” being in part of the ticket. They finally found the right area and she saw Jackson and he showed them the tickets because apparently that area was roped off and you had to show your ticket to get back in. But all ended well.

While the kids were at the concert we had discovered this cool little pub called the Old Monk. Since it was St. Patrick’s day it was slammed. We were meeting Nikki and Brandon there and we were afraid we wouldn’t be able to find a table, but we managed to find one outside of the patio which worked out perfectly because it wasn’t as loud as being on the patio or inside.

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What made it even better is than it was only 1 block from where we were staying so we just walked so we didn’t have to mess with parking. It was so good to see Nikki and meet Brandon. We had so much fun.

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Jackson texted me about 11:15 to let us know that the concert was almost over so we headed over to get them. They had so much fun, were able to get the concert tshirts that they had both wanted, so it was money well spent. They will always remember going to this concert with each other when they are older.

We slept in a little and were back on the road by 10:45 the next morning. If I thought the wind was bad coming up, it was nothing compared to going back home. We had cars swerving everywhere. When we stopped at Buc-ees to get gas the birds were having a hard time flying. I was never so happy to get back to Longview than I was when we pulled into our driveway. Now if they could just turn off the wind tunnel it would make it even better because holy cow it has not stopped blowing since we got home.

Retro

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn SummerLeave a comment

Our last night in Corpus we had heard of this cool bar/restaurant that was family friendly. You could purchase a wristband and have unlimited game play for the whole night. We didn’t really know what to expect, but we decided to give it a go anyway.

We found out that on Tuesdays it’s taco Tuesday and they rent out their kitchen to a taco truck. We had our choice of Birria or Carne Asada tacos. We all chose Birria except for Hannah. They were the best tacos I have ever had. The plate came with 3 tacos, sauce and a bean stew. I couldn’t even finish mine.

Donny and I decided to eat up on the rooftop deck. The kids thought it was too windy so they ate downstairs. We loved it.

My favorite part, of course, were the pinball machines.

I caught Gavin playing the Iron Maiden one.

Hannah likes Guitar Hero.

There were so many different arcade games. Many that I remembered from going to the Quarter Deck which was our choice of game rooms in high school. The floor was see through down to the restaurant and bar.

If you just wanted to hang out and watch sports they also got ya covered.

I wish I would have gotten some pictures of Jackson, but he hates having his picture taken. He really liked this place too. We played air hockey and I think I’ve gotten him to like pinball. Well maybe.

Downtown Corpus has come so far. It used to be a place that you didn’t really want to go to at night. Now there are so many fun restaurants it’s hard to believe it’s my hometown.

I managed to snap a picture of this cool mural as we were driving back to our airbnb.

You really should visit Corpus Christi if you get a chance. It’s such a fun place and there really is a lot to do here.

Beach Days

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn SummerLeave a comment

Since Bethany and Cassidy were leaving on Monday she wanted to go to the beach. Hannah, Gavin and Jackson wanted to tour the Lexington so while we headed to the beach, Donny dropped the kids off at the Lex and met Bethany and me at the beach.

Cassidy loved the water. Luckily there were no red or purple flags flying, only a yellow flag which means swim with caution. We found out why. There were SO many jellyfish floating around in the water. I grew up in Corpus and have never seen that many in one place before. We caught one in a bucket so we could watch it swim around.

We still had so much fun running around in the little tide pools. Cassidy loved the “big beach”.

After a takeout dinner from King’s Seafood Bethany and Cassidy had to head back home because she had to work the next day. If you are ever in Corpus I highly recommend King’s. It’s not fancy and the prices are really good plus their fried shrimp is to die for.

While Bethany was in the kitchen she happened to look in the cup with the hermit crab shell and sure enough she saw a crab peek out of the shell. We couldn’t keep the poor thing so we took it back down to the bay and let it have its freedom.

The next morning, while everyone was still asleep, I decided to take a walk down to Oleander Point where we had taken the crab back. There is a little staircase that leads to a rocky beach. I wanted to do one more hunt for sea glass.

I had never been down to that cove. I had the beach to myself. It was so peaceful.

I heard someone coming and it was a lady racing down the stairs yelling “I made it. I made it. I made it”. She ran by me straight into the water and started dancing around telling me again that she had made it. Of course I had to ask her where did you make it from and she proceeded to tell me that she lived in Missouri and that it was her 59th birthday. She decided that she was just going to take a road trip, wanted to see the beach and she had just driven in. She was so happy and asked me if this was the beach. I told her it was the bay. She wanted to see the beach with the waves and the sand so I gave her directions and she thanked me and danced off to go put her toes in the sand. I hope she had a wonderful sandy day.

I stayed a little while longer then went to wake up the kids so they could have their beach day.

This post is heavy in pictures, but I just love the bay so much. I got a couple of our secret cove from the top.

Jackson decided that he didn’t want to go to the beach with us. (he REALLY does not like sand and we had something planned for that evening that I knew he’d love.) Rousing up two teenagers to get ready to go takes a lot of patience, but we finally got out the door and back to the beach. Gavin had never been. His family has land on the border of Arkansas and Missouri so that’s where they spend their vacations. He was not disappointed. For some weird reason the jellyfish were gone except for a random couple we saw floating around.

I found a big shell to add to Gavin’s collection.

I know some people rag on Corpus’ beaches, but I absolutely love them. Is the water crystal clear? No, but it is where I grew up and I love the smell of the salt air and the way you skin feels after you get out of the water. The smell of sunscreen and the way the sand sucks at your feet when the waves come in. It feels like home.

My blown glass fish where I keep all of the sea glass I have found over the years was fed once more.

Corpus Christi Day 1

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn SummerLeave a comment

It’s a 7 hour drive to Corpus Christi from where we live. That is a long drive with 5 people in an Elantra, but we made it on time for our airbnb check in at 3. There is nothing like that first smell of salt air. Bethany and Cassidy met us there from San Antonio. After we brought all of our bags in and got everyone’s rooms situated we decided to order food from one of our favorite seafood restaurants, but it was closed because it was Sunday. We just grabbed some Whataburger so we could quickly eat and walk down to our secret cove to hunt for sea glass, shells and hermit crabs.

It’s not actually a “secret” cove, but every time we go down there no one is there. We used to live one street over from where our airbnb is so we were excited to go back to our cove.

I couldn’t believe how many hermit crabs we found. Their shells were so pretty. We brought some of them up on the beach so that Cassidy could see them crawl around. Of course we put them back where we found them, but we did find one shell that didn’t have a crab in it so we brought that one back to the airbnb with us.

Cassidy loved climbing on the rocks.

It’s always so peaceful and the view is wonderful.

This has always been one of my favorite places.

Donny stayed back to rest, but I actually got Jackson to come with us. He is not a fan of sand.

My crazy daughter.

She was waiting for the hermit crab in front of her to come out of its shell.

It was a very good first night there.

A HipCamping We Will Go

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Weekend GetawayLeave a comment

I had never heard of the app HipCamp before. Hannah wanted to go camping for her birthday and although we have Caddo State Park very close to us, it’s booked months in advance. I googled “camping near Longview Texas” and low and behold HipCamp popped up.

We found a campsite in Hawkins, TX. It’s about a 25 minute drive. The only problem was that the campsite was down a long dirt road that is very rutted and gets very muddy when it rains. They really want you to have a 4 wheel drive. I contacted the host and told him what car we would be in, but that it does have front wheel drive. They gave the okay, so Saturday after Donny got off work we headed out.

They were not kidding when they said rutted dirt road. It got a little hairy, but we made it. After taking the tour where the owner showed us where the composting toilet and the dock, kayaks and canoe was, it was already dark and we still needed to set up our tents. This campsite was right by a lake and extremely isolated, which we loved. But, when I say it was dark, it was pitch black. Luckily, I remembered to pack my headlamp. We also had about 5 different light sources, but the headlamp was definitely the winner.

Just a quick selfie

I had ordered a bundle of wood so we wouldn’t have to bring any with us. It was a little damp so we decided to have cake while Gavin and Donny were getting the fire started.

The campsite came with a fire ring and a picnic table.

We had fun hanging out around the campfire and later playing a game of Apples to Apples. I think I finally crawled into the tent around midnight. There is nothing better than sleeping outside. Our tent is mainly netting that we can cover if we need too. I loved being able to look up and see the sky and the trees. The only problem was that I tend to have to use the restroom at night and there was no way I was going to walk down a long, curvy very dark path to the toilet. So I just had to use the bucket that was given the us to scoop lake water so we could douse the fire. Hey, ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right?

It was a little chilly when we woke up, but it turned out to be such a nice day. Overcast, not windy and no rain. It has rained on every single camping trip Donny and I have taken. We would even check the weather forecast, but it still rained. We really lucked out this time.

There were some cool lily pads on our part of the lake.

We walked down the trail to the floating dock because Gavin wanted to go kayaking.

There was a super cool dome house that you could also rent. It had a deck with a grill. I snapped a quick picture because people were staying in it.

Donny started the fire again and we just relaxed, enjoying the water and all the sounds of nature.

I finally made it to the toilet. Can you imagine walking this trail in the dark? I swear there were animal burrows all around it.

Although our trip was very short we had a lot of fun. I cannot wait to use Hipcamp again. It was so easy and this campsite was gorgeous. And we made a little friend.