1st Annual Roadie Awards!

So here, in no particular order, are the 'Awards' I am giving out to people, places, and things that we encountered along our 2 1/2 week adventure. As Jacob and I have decided that we should do some kind of road trip every summer from now on, I have purposely called these the "1st Annual" awards in hopes that there will be many more to come. Drum Roll please!

(By the way, if you are waiting for all the pictures and stories from the trip, I am simultaneously working on a post that has all that good stuff. Thank you for your patience. It will be rewarded shortly :) Okay, here we go...

Best name for a City: Plain Dealings, LA

Best name for a County: Deaf Smith County (what? what? WHAT?)

Best name for a creek: Muddy Boggy Creek in Louisiana (If you were wondering, it was very muddy and very boggy)

Best Name for a small-town business: "Curl Up and Dye" (hair salon in TX)
(I already get my hair done at the Cuttin' Corral, so we didn't stop)

Second Best name for a small-town business: "Bo-Bo's Cypress Tables and Lamps" (FL) Why they have to be so ambiguous with the name is beyond me.


Best saying found on a church marquee: "Bread of Life or Toast" (somewhere, OK)
Man, I wish The Church had some marquees....


Nicest bathroom: Big-O Tires in Lehi, UT (We stopped there to get our tire patched and when we walked in the bathroom Cindy loudly proclaimed, "Holy Crap!" because it was so nice. She is a connoisseur of toilets, you know)

Best Rest Stop: Donnely, TX. It was the official Route 66 Welcome Center and it had a million bathrooms, interactive exhibits about Texas, air conditioning, and an employee! (No way!) AND it also had picnic tables and a playground. Which we did not utilize on account of it being Sunday. The kids were bummed.

Second Best Rest Stop: The Jesus is Lord Travel Center, Amarillo, TX. No, really, this is a real place, whose "main focus at Jesus Christ is Lord Travel Center is to present to the world that Jesus Christ is Lord not a swear word." Check it out here. Good times.

Best Food we had on vacation: Of all the fast food, restaurants, etc. we had, the best was easily the pot roast made by DeAnne at the hotel in Park City. It was HEAVENLY! I have told everyone about it. And I am expecting a giant batch of it for my Christmas present this year- just FYI, DeAnne. Or this Sunday for dinner, either way. No pressure.

Cheapest Gas: $2.15 in Ada, OK (Of course it skyrocketed to $2.49 when we came through on the way home- that was a bummer. The cheapest gas seen on the way home was $2.27 in Mobile, AL.)

Most Expensive Gas: $3.09 in Bryce Canyon. Pecan log roll was $6! Do they know what the prices are everywhere else in the world?!

Funniest Moment (As voted by Jacob): Watching Cindy go up the escalator at the Temple Square Visitor's Center. Apparently this was her first time on one?? Who knew? And if you have ever seen the movie Elf, when he goes on the escalator, well, it was kinda like that. She didn't know what to do and seriously thought she was going to die as her legs went in opposite directions. She was hanging on for dear life to the slippery, moving rail and her high heels were of no real use either. Classic.

Funniest Moment (As voted by Jessica): Had to be when we went fishing and Cindy and her cousin Michelle, also 5 years old, decided to fish by themselves. The next thing we know, Cindy is shrieking her head off because the fish hook is caught in her clothes from when Michelle went to cast it. AND what made it even better was that the grasshopper that was the bait was touching Cindy's shirt and she can't stand any type of creepy crawlie thing. Oh, the memories!!


Of course there are things I am forgetting, but stay tuned for the rest of the story. :)