Texas Pictures, Finally

A couple weeks ago we headed down to Texas for a mini vacation. The kids and I had never been down and Tim had visited a long time ago. Funny, also, this was our first vacation in whiche we were not on a business trip or visiting family. We headed south on I-25, cut across New Mexico at Raton and went southeast from there.

We saw plenty of wind farms and oil pumps along the way. (What are they called? I know there's a better word for "pumps" out there. Are they derricks?)
ETA: Dabney just said that she thinks they are "oil scoopers."

We ate our token tacos.

And we saw some great buildings. This was in Ft. Worth. We also really enjoyed seeing the historic stock yards as soon as my camera battery died. :(

We loved the weather. Some of us were in shorts, but most Texans were wearing jackets.

McDonald's had free wi-fi, but our hotel room, though it included a kitchen, did not.

There was a Cheesecake Factory right across the street from our hotel and one night, Tim and I treated ourselves to a nice dinner. The kids were excited about their chicken nuggets.

This is Dallas, while we were making our way back home.

On the return trip, we looped around Texas (through Denton) and up through Oklahoma and then went west across Kansas, then finally home.

I just had to include this picture. This is the stoplight closest to our home. I think sometimes we take for granted what we have every day, so when we were on our way to run some errands last week I was struck again by the beauty of our mountains. I LOVE where we live.