Holly’s Happenings

Although I’ll post most of the information about my trip on Just Simply Holly, I decided that I’d do my post about my thoughts on our hotel lodgings over here, gotta share the love ya know? LOL

We left NW Ohio on Monday May 26, around 8:30 in the evening with the plan of driving through the night as well as the next day and stay the first night in Amarillo, Texas. Now anyone that knows me knows that I’m NOT a frequent traveler. As a matter of fact, my hotel stays last week were the first ones I’ve had in several years. That being said, here are my thoughts on the hotels that we stayed at. I will rate each hotel on a scale of 1 to 5 with a 5 being the best.

Our first night, Wednesday, was spent at the Travelodge in Amarillo, TX. The room was very clean and comfortable as well as having an excellent layout/set up. The toilet and shower were in a separate room, with a very nice and long vanity being outside of it. The vanity only held one sink, but it allowed ample room for the many toiletries and makeup items that women carry when they are traveling. The beds were so-so, one was firmer than the other, but with as tired as the three of us were, I think we’d have slept like babies if the mattresses would have been made from cement…..LOL. They offer free WiFi and it was very easy to connect to with a very decent speed! For breakfast they offered what they call their “Bear Bites Breakfast” which consisted of bagels, toast, mini muffins, cold cereal and fresh fruit as well as coffee and juices. The fresh fruit was an added plus, but it was a very nice continental breakfast! The hotel staff was VERY courteous and helpful and the entire facility was clean and very well taken care of. According to their website their nightly rate for a queen double room for 3 is $62.10 after taxes. On the 1 to 5 scale, I give the Amarillo, Texas Travelodge a rating of 4.
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I thought I’d share a few of the pictures from this trip with you while I had the chance. Some of them turned out really good, especially considering that many of them were taken through a car window while driving 70+ MPH down the road…LOL! I’m quite impressed with my camera after this trip!

These first two pictures were from the first leg of our trip and were taken on Tuesday. This is a photo of one of the many wind farms we passed during the trip. This one was in Oklahoma.

Here we are, crossing from Oklahoma into Texas

Here are a couple of pictures from Wednesday, when we drove from Amarillo, Texas to Roswell, New Mexico then on to Flagstaff, Arizona.

Some pictures from the trip between Flagstaff, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada

A couple of pics from the trip between Vegas And San Jose
I think this is probably the coolest picture I’ve ever taken…LOL

There are more pictures, but I have to edit them and I have a few things in mind that I want to do, so you’re just going to have to be patient and wait until I get home to my computer….LOL But I do hope that you’ve enjoyed the pictures that I’ve shared with you so far! Considering that I went through 5 sets of batteries for my camera, I’d say I took more than enough pictures…LOL!

The trip this week has been amazing! I’ve seen many things that I have never seen before and many things that I honestly thought I’d never get the chance to see. Our first leg of the trip started on Monday evening, we left NW Ohio aroung 8:30 PM and drove through the night covering Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and crossed into Missouri. Tuesday morning, as the sun was coming up, I was graced with the beauty of the Ozark Mountains, which is an amazing site that I think everyone should see!

We spent Tuesday travelling through the rest of Missouri, Oklahoma and into Texas, spending Tuesday night in Amarillo, Texas. When I woke up Wednesday morning I was greeted by a beautiful rolling fog/mist that appeared before the sun came up. The day Wednesday was spent driving from Amarillo, Texas to Roswell, New Mexico so that we could see if we could spot our own aliens. We had a good time in Roswell, then hit the road for our final destination that day which was Flagstaff, Arizona.

When we woke up Thursday morning our first goal was to drive to the Grand Canyon. It was a beautiful site and something that I’ll remember for the rest of my life! After seeing the canyon we hit the road again with our final destination for Thursday being Las Vegas. we arrived in Vegas before the sun went down, and let me tell you, it was HOT! Being a mid west girl, I’ve never really gotten used to really high temperatures. And from what I understand we were actually very lucky because the temp was much lower than normal, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t think it was warm…LOL! We had a nice night in Vegas and I even played a couple of the slot machines before calling it a night and getting some sleep.

When we hit the road on Friday our goal was our final destination for this trip, San Jose, CA. We knew that we had about 8 to 10 hours of driving ahead of us, and we wanted to get a good start on it. Travelling Friday was probably the hottest travel weather we had the entire trip. We drove through hours and hours of desert with the sun beating down on us, but we also seen some very beautiful sites as well! The Mojave Desert was beautiful as were the Sierra Nevada mountains and it was amazing driving over the Hoover Dam, and we made it to our final destination by 7:00 PM.

It’s amazing to think of driving nearly 3,000 miles, what’s even more amazing is to realize that we did that in less than 4 days, even with making several stops along the way! But the one thing that I discovered is that the combination of that many hours sitting in a car combined with multiple time changes and too much junk food an energy drinks can have an effect on your body that is comprable to a colon cleanse….LOL. It’s been a nice break not going through time chages, weather changes and junk food the past couple of days. As much as I’ve enjoyed this trip, there is a part of me that will be kind of glad to get back home to the things and the routine that I’ve become used to. Not that EVERYTHING is going to stay the same when I get home though, there are going to be a few changes, but nothing major!

OK, this post is for those of you that have either traveled recently, or who travel frequently. My trip out west is less than 2 weeks away. For the trip to San Jose we’re driving out, but for the trip home, my friend and I are flying. It’s been almost 28 years since the last time I was on a plane. The flying part really doesn’t bother me, but with all of the changes in what you can and can’t take on a plane since 9/11, I find many of the regulations confusing!

For instance, here’s one of my questions. When I go to put my carry on bag through the scanner thingy, do I need to take my memory card out of my camera? Will the scanners delete the pictures from my memory cards? I know, to many of you that probably sounds like a totally ridiculous question, but I honestly don’t know.

One of my other questions involves the bag that I’m using for my husbands laptop. It has several pouches and pockets in it. Will I be able to put non computer related items in them, or can the things in that bag only be related to the laptop? Since I’m not checking my bags, my plan is to find a small enough bag that will hold the clothes and personal items I’m taking. I’m then only allowed one other bag which leaves me choosing between a purse or a brief case/laptop case, and I’ve decided that I’m going to leave the purse behind on this trip, I have other options that will work better. So my hope is to be able to fit everything I need to take into my carry on bag and the laptop bag, as long as I can put non computer related items into the laptop bag for the flight home.

SOOOOOOO many questions, and I know that the next two weeks are going to totally fly, heck, the past week flew by in no time flat! So if you have the answers to any of my questions or suggestions, PLEASE let me know, I would very much appreciate any help or tips that I can get!