Day 10 - Elk City, OK - Conway, AR

Our last day of vacation and it was a driving day, of course.  That's the only problem with Colorado, it's a good 2 day journey there and back.  We had a great 2 room suite at the La Quinta in Elk City and after breakfast, we applied the last stickers to our Stow-a-Way and loaded up.  About an hour and a half later we arrived in Oklahoma City.  We didn't have a lot of time to sightsee, but we did stop at the Capitol Building.  Franklin loved walking around the Arkansas State Capitol building earlier this year so I thought he'd enjoy the Oklahoma one too.  It's been years since I've been there myself, but I did spend some time there as a kid.  I attended two state History Day competitions in the Capitol and I remember going into conference rooms to be interviewed about my historical papers, plus sitting at in the chairs on the floor of the House for the awards ceremony.  Also, in 1989, I paged for the Speaker of the House, Jim Barker from Muskogee (shortly before he was ousted from the position).  I served for a week and learned how to get around the Capitol pretty well.  When we arrived today, we discovered that the west exterior side of the building is under construction, but we soon found a door in.  After a run through security, we had the building to ourselves essentially.  We ended up in the House gallery and the memories came flooding back.  I had forgotten that the carpeting was green and that the ceiling had stained glass panels.  However, I pointed out the exact seat I sat in as a page (near the dais so the Speaker could summon me quickly).  I also pointed to the spot I sat for the History Day awards ceremonies.  We scampered down the back stairs and ended up outside the Speaker's office (same location as it was in 1988) and I explained how there's actually 3 offices inside:  reception, conference room, and private office.

Running short on time, we went back into the rotunda and I marveled at the inside of the dome.  The dome was added to the building in 2002, so I'm still not accustomed to it being there.  The last time I visited, there was a flat stained glass ceiling over the rotunda so what's there now is visually better, but still not the same.  We loaded back into the car and soon did a drive by of the OKC Bombing Memorial as Jason wanted to see it.  My sister later told me there is a good museum there now too, but we were out of time.  We pressed east and ate lunch in Shawnee.  Afterwards, the Cubs were playing so we piped in the game over the radio and were soon crossing the state line into Arkansas.

This vacation has come to an end, but it was fantastic!  The ten days away did a world of good for me and I hope the kiddos made some lifelong memories.  It'll be good to review photos over the next week or so and relive the adventure, but for now, it's back to the office and normal daily life, which sound appealing!

Day 9 - Colorado Springs, CO - Elk City, OK

We awoke to a hot air balloon ascending outside our hotel window, which was quite nice to see.  After a hotel breakfast, we faced a long driving day as we had to drive across parts of 4 states.  Heading down I-25, we paralleled the southern part of the Rockies, but they soon got smaller in size and then became mesas and buttes as we entered southern Colorado.  We took a break in Trinidad as our Roadside America app pointed us to the "Canary in the Coal Mine Monument" in downtown.  It honors the "thankless" canaries that helped ensure miners were alerted to the presence of carbon monoxide.  Jason drove us around the town a bit and we soon found ourselves going up a very steep county road full of boulders, potholes, and no guardrails.  We were all shaken, not stirred.  At the top is Simpson's Rest, an overlook of the town which includes the final resting place of pioneer George S. Simpson.  The grave marker has unfortunately been very desecrated so there are no words or inscriptions left, but the sandstone bluff offers great views of Trinidad, Fisher's Peak (the mesa to the south), and the Trinidad electric sign which is still lit nightly.

Once we scampered back down the road, we made our way south to Raton, New Mexico.  We grabbed lunch at Pappa's Sweet Shop, which used to be the candy/sweet store in town, but has since morphed into a great local restaurant.  Near the historic downtown, we spotted the Raton Public Service Company's power plant and had to stop to look in the windows.  Just like Conway, Raton's electric is municipally owned and provided by the PSC.  Even though the plant stopped producing power in 2006 (the coal supply dried up), it was a neat building to see.  We made one more unplanned stop near Raton:  Sugarite Canyon State Park.  While at lunch, we learned that the local coal mine and town in Sugarite Canyon still had ruins you could see.  We stopped at the visitor center, but learned that all the ruins are on a hike in the area and we just didn't have time to do this.  Another time, perhaps.

Our next stop was a short drive away:  Capulin Volcano National Monument.  It is a well-preserved, relatively young (58,000 to 62,000 years old), dormant symmetrical cinder cone volcano that rises steeply from the surrounding grassland plains to an elevation of 8,182 feet above sea level. The irregular rim of the crater is about a mile in circumference and the crater about 400 feet deep.  We drove up the volcano to the parking area and then hiked up (and I mean up) to the summit where we could see out across the prairie to Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado.  The crater is full of green plants, but under their leaves are ancient volcanic rock.  It was a neat stop and one I'm glad we made, but the heat and biting gnats were distractions.  I'd love to go back for one of their star viewings as this area is apparently known for having one of the darkest skies in the country (excellent for star viewing).

We still had many miles to cover so off we went.  Texas and the Central Time Zone were soon whizzing by our windows and the mesas gave way to the flat agricultural fields that I've often seen from the air:  the circular patches of green in otherwise desert-looking land.  We stopped for dinner in Dumas, TX (yes, there is a disagreement between this Dumas and the Arkansas Dumas over the origination of a specific song which mentions the town name) and then continued toward western Oklahoma.  We finally arrived at our hotel in Elk City at about 10:00 pm which is far later than we had originally hoped, but we had an excellent day yet again!  One more push and we'll be in our own beds soon.

Day 1 - Conway, AR - Salina, KS

Our 2018 Summer Vacation began as we pulled out of Conway a little before 8:00 am.  After a quick breakfast run through the McDonald's drive thru, we headed west on I-40, a path I'm familiar with as it's how I go home to visit my Oklahoma family.  After passing the nuclear power plant in Russellville, we zipped through Johnson County, home of my antebellum Arkansas ancestors.  A short time later and we crossed our first state line of the trip:  Oklahoma.  After another hour, we arrived in my hometown of Muskogee, passing Country Club Road (where my boyhood home is) and making our way to the west side of town where my dad now lives.  As we arrived, so did my sister and her kids -- the mini-reunion was ready to start!  No matter how long I'm away, it's always good to be home, even if it's just briefly so we could use the restroom and stretch our legs.

  
We continued up the Muskogee Turnpike to Broken Arrow where we pulled off for lunch at Whataburger.  It's a chain, but not one we can visit at home.  We were soon back on the road and made our way past downtown Tulsa and onto the Cimarron Turnpike.  Stillwater whizzed by on the left and we soon turned north onto I-35.  Wind turbines rolled in the strong breeze as we made our way into Kansas and we soon reached Wichita.

At this point I began to watch the weather as some storms had started firing up near our final destination:  Salina.  Salina has a really nice city waterpark and we had planned to visit after checking into our hotel.  Once we got our bags to the room, however, we discovered the park had indeed closed for weather.  Plan B kicked into gear and we were soon driving to the north side of town so Jason and Franklin could see the Tesla Superchargers at the Holiday Inn Express.  The smile on Franklin's face was priceless as the Tesla columns came into view.  After some photos, the skies opened up and we were hit with a deluge of water, just as two Teslas arrived to get plugged in for a recharge.  Those poor folks jumped out in the rain, plugged in their cars, then sought shelter from the storm.

Martinelli's Little Italy was our next destination.  It's a local Italian restaurant located in the historic downtown area.  We enjoyed a great dinner of pasta, meatballs, salad, and cannoli (to-go) and soon found ourselves walking and driving around the area.  The city is clearly working to revitalize the downtown area as many buildings were under renovation, along with the road.  Right across the street from the restaurant is the Stiefel Theatre which opened in 1931 as the Fox-Watson Theater.  The original ticket booth was still out front under a canopy of yellow lightbulbs.  A peek into the glass front doors revealed an art deco lobby with an elaborate chandelier and ornate woodwork.  The theater is now used as a small concert venue having been extensively restored by the city in 2003.

Once we returned the hotel, we all took a quick dip in the pool and hot tub.  While everyone else started to wind down for the evening, I noticed the clouds were setting up to provide an excellent sunset.  I drove a short distance out west of town near the airport and wasn't disappointed.  Day 1 came to a close with some amazing colors to the west and lightning with a rainbow to the east.  Tomorrow we head into Denver!