“There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but only one view.” – Harry Millner
Day 1
- Starting Odometer: 47,308.2 mi
- Ending Odometer: 47,595.5 mi
- Total Miles: 287.3 mi
- Fuel Purchased: 11.91 gallons
- Historical Markers: 1
- Art Rocks Created: 1
- Art Purchased: 0
And we’re off… The Griswald err Carville Family Vacation has begun. This trip we are driving through the hill country to Artesia, NM where we will spend a few nights to enjoy a full day at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. From Artesia we will head south to Lajitas, TX to enjoy a few days in and around Big Bend State and National Parks before heading east to get back to Houston. I think everyone is looking forward to the trip, but I’m not sure the kids quite understand how much windshield time we will rack up through this trip.
With only one false start we departed Houston not horribly late. Our plans today took us from Houston to Kerrville, TX as an easy 260 mile drive. The planned route was us up I-10 through San Antonio and straight to Kerrville. Being adventurous we decided to take a more scenic route through the Hill Country. We departed the planned route in Columbus heading up Highway 71 toward Austin. We stopped to refuel in Bastrop with the obligatory Buccees stop. We proceeded through Austin heading West on Highway 290 through the Hill Country going through Johnson City and Fredricksberg before reaching our destination for the night, Kerrville. The only bit of traffic we encountered was a pretty nasty accident on 71 near the Toll 130 on ramp. An older explorer must have rolled a few times. I hope everyone was ok. There was plenty of beautiful landscape along the hill country route. It has been a long time since I’ve been on that stretch of highway, and I forget how beautiful the hill country is. We started listening to The School for Goood and Evil by Soman Chainani thanks to the overdrive app and the Houston Public Library. So far so good on the audiobook.
Fortunately there was a room available early in Kerrville, and we were able to stretch our legs and rest for a few minutes. The woman at the front desk informed us there was an Art Festival going on downtown near the river. We went down to the river where we stopped at a historical marker and snapped a few family shots before heading over the the art festival.
The festival was nice and the kids were both able to do some craft work before immenent inclimate weather shut down the festival, and we retreated back to the hotel before it hit.
Thomas created an art rock named Rock Tooth.
Isabelle and I made it to an antique mall and checked out the curios. I was very tempted to get a Dewars figure for my parents, but I ended up passing on the figure.
We were able to rest for a bit at the hotel and let some weather pass before heading out to dinner. In looking for a place to eat dinner we learned some interesting things about restaurants in Kerrville. Mainly we learned that many are closed on Sunday night. We ended up going to Mamacita’s on Main St. Mamacita’s was one large place. There is a nearly life size mural of the Alamo on the back wall inside the place.
We had a great meal while one heck of a storm cell blew through. Water was streaming off the roof, patio lights were swaying in the breeze, and lightning was flashing like paparazzi at the red carpet. Before we left the restaurant it lost power. It was interesting to finish our meal under the romantic glow of emergency lighting and watching tables full of people reading menus by phone lights.
Fortunately power was restored as we were pulling out of the parking lot. We headed back to the hotel and I think every one will fall asleep easily tonight.
Tomorrow we have one of our longer travel days. It is an estimated 6 hours from Kerrville, TX to Artesia, NM where we will be spending the next two nights. We are hoping to hit the road early and perhaps make it to Fort Stockton for lunch.