{Road Trip} Day Twelve - Going Nutty and Covering A Lot of Ground

We woke up this morning in New Mexico, and decided to make a stop at local Alomogordo pistachio farm, PistachioLand. Long story, but Hubby visited here years and years ago when he was in town with the army and really wanted to back!

I felt a little bit like we were living in the National Lampoon's Vacation movie when I asked the kids to pose for a picture with the gigantic pistachio...

but really, who am I kidding? Our whole trip is like a National Lampoon's Vacation movie...

Hubby spent enough money buying pistachios that they gave him a free totebag and a free coffee mug, and we all enjoyed some (not free) ice cream!

From there, we continued east and finally hit Texas where we made a stop in Midland to check out a few of President George H.W. Bush's and President George W. Bush's homes...

{405 East Maple Avenue, Midland, TX}

{2703 Sentinel Drive, Midland, TX}

{1405 West Golf Course Road, Midland, TX}

but only this one is a museum...

{1412 West Ohio Avenue, Midland, TX}

At least I didn't make B jump out and take pictures with all the houses above...

We made a stop in Fort Worth for dinner at Velvet Taco...

and, it was yummy!

Driving through the night to one last stop tomorrow morning. Stay tuned!

More {Road Trip} 2024 Fun

Day One - Meet Me in St. Louis, Later on Tonight?

Day Two - CITY Fun in St. Louis!

Day Three - A Prime Time in Kansas City

Day Four - Denver to Salt Lake City, and Beyond

Day Five - Operation #CapitolStepsChallenge Completion

Day Six - San Francisco, What a Treat!

Day Seven - A Beautiful Drive

Day Eight - A Univerally Good Time

Day Nine - Heading South and Then East

Day Ten - A Day at the Burning Bush...Errr, I Mean the Joshua Tree(s)

Day Eleven - Four Corners, Four States, and a Four Gazillion Hour Drive

Day Thirteen - A Little Bit of Elvis and HOME!

{CA, HI & MEXICO} Day Sixteen - Los Angeles

This morning, we disembarked pretty quickly, met our driver and headed over to grab our rental car...

and, I felt right at home in my FIRST ever rental car - a shortened version of my own car back home!

We stopped for lunch at none other than, In-N-Out Burger...

and not just ANY In-N-Out, but the original one (or the original location at least)!

The food was good, fast, and everyone approved...

After lunch, we headed out to Yorba Linda to visit the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum...

 

 

The grounds include both his birthplace home...

and grave...

as well as a retired Army One, a presidential helicopter used by Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford...

As we were leaving, we walked through the beautiful gardens where a wedding was actually set to take place later in the afternoon...

We grabbed dinner at the local build your own pizza chain, Blaze Pizza...

and headed back to the hotel for a good night's sleep...

A full day is on tap for tomorrow!

More {CA, HI & MEXICO} 2019 Fun

Day One - Los Angeles

Days Two-Five - AT SEA

Day Six - In and Around Honolulu, O'ahu, HI Day 1 

Day Seven - In and Around Honolulu, O'ahu, HI Day 2

Day Eight - The Road to Hana, Maui, HI

Day Nine - In and Around Hilo, Hawai'i, HI

Days Ten-Fourteen - AT SEA

Day Fifteen - Ensenada, Mexico

Day Seventeen - Los Angeles

{Road Trip} Day Eight - Devils Tower & Rapid City

This morning, we headed out to explore Devils Tower National Monument...

We took the Tower Trail and explored around the base of the monument...

We observed the climbers on the monument, counting about 8 total that we could see from the bottom...

M & B enjoyed climbing on all of the boulders that were piled up along the trail...

We enjoyed beautiful views of the Wyoming countryside...

along with several different views of the tower above...

and just enjoyed some time out of the car and moving around!

The kids earned their Junior Ranger badges...

and had fun with the prairie dogs on the way out!

 

Afterwards, we continued on into South Dakota...

and to one of our favorite little towns, Rapid City, also known as "The City of Presidents", due to the placement of life-size bronze sculptures of the presidents on major street corners around downtown.

We were last here back in 2014, but wanted to swing back by for a couple of reasons...

President Obama's statue was just unveiled last weekend...

and we wanted to grab dinner at Firehouse Brewing Company, a cute little restaurant/brewery where we ate last time we were in town!

Of course, everyone wanted to snap pictures with alllll of the presidents again!

Reagan & me

Washington & Hubby

B & Polk


L & McKinley

M & Lincoln

We left Rapid City happy & full, and ready to take on the night with the goal to be in Des Moines, Iowa for lunch tomorrow!

More {Road Trip} 2019 Fun

Day One - Horses, Hats, and a Heck of a Good Time at Churchill Downs

Day Two - Exploring the CITY in St. Louis, Missouri

Day Three - Covering A Lot of Ground...Like A Whole Lot!

Day Four - Yellowstone National Park Day 1

Day Five - Yellowstone National Park Day 2 + Helena, MT

Day Six - Grand Teton National Park Day 1

Day Seven - Grand Teton National Park Day 2, Yellowstone National Park Day 3 + The Beartooth Highway 

Day Nine - Heading HOME!