This is an autobiographical post. The names of people and places may be changed.
We decided to write autobiographical posts about the colorful life we have lived. There will be tales of sleeping in a campervan on the beach, of defending a bird’s nest from a snake, and of running away from wolves while sick with bronchitis. There will be tales of diagnosis with PTSD and ADHD and how it changed our lives, of meeting biological family, and of job loss. It’s a tale of overcoming challenges, of finding out who we are, of love, hope, cats, and of a marriage that’s gotten stronger through it all.
Autobiography Post 22
Traveling has been a joint passion of ours. Everything from international adventures to local discoveries stirs our wanderlust and sense of exploration. We’ve always been big believers that you don’t have to be rich to travel. Though we have saved and spent money on some big trips (like our Caribbean cruise honeymoon), we also believe that traveling can be free or cheap depending on how you go about it. The great desire, after all, is to move and experience new things. That can either be halfway across the world, or a hidden discovery only 10 minutes away.
OKC – Broke and With a Coupon
Our first trip together was to Oklahoma City. We were young and broke. We were only able to afford a hotel with a Groupon online. We planned for only free activities. We saved up all our change and turned it into dollars at one of those machines to afford a nice dinner at a restaurant we’d heard about.
And you know what? We had a great time! We got a tour of a historic (and haunted mansion). We visited a military museum. We walked the downtown area around the botanical gardens. And we ate at a Cajun restaurant. We also kissed under the Skydance bridge at night. We’re romantic like that.
Route 66 Road Trip – Lost in the Country
We planned a day trip down part of Route 66. We set off from the statues in downtown Tulsa and out into rural Oklahoma. We visited a museum and a few other points of interest on our trip. At one point, Route 66 just jumped roads. I’m being literal. We were on it, and suddenly we weren’t. Our GPS told us to go over a few blocks to get back on Route 66. We ended up lost in a very rural town until we got back on track.
Dallas – A Loud Family Affair
Dorian’s parents enjoy NASCAR. They invited us to watch a race down in Dallas, TX. We’d never been to one. Though we didn’t watch NASCAR, it seemed like a fun opportunity to do something different. We took a long road trip south and ate at a German restaurant somewhere on route. When we got to the race itself, it was really loud and very smelly. But it was pretty cool, honestly. It was something different. We stayed at a hotel that night, getting back in at about 1am due to the crazy traffic.
Wichita – Friend Times
We have two friends that, at the time, lived up in Wichita, KS. We went to visit them for the weekend. They had a really cool apartment in a bustling part of downtown. We toured a museum, shopped at a local bookstore, and went to a comedy club. Just before that trip I fractured my foot and had to hobble around in a boot. It was in the middle of summer and blazing hot. We alleviated the heat with some ice cream made using nitrogen. It was great to see our friends and visit a new city!
Eureka Springs – Adventures in the Ozarks
We spent a weekend in Eureka Springs after a recommendation by a co-worker. It’s very touristy there, but it was a fun trip all the same. We visited a house made out of all rocks, a tiger rescue sanctuary, a statue of Jesus that sneaks up on you in the hills (I got startled!), and a very pretty church in the woods.
One of my favorite parts was a cave we got to explore where they get onyx. But a stand-out memory was riding a train up into the Ozarks. We paid extra to eat lunch on the train. The train went up to one of the highest peaks and stopped. We watched out the window while an entire cart of passengers got off. And then the train . . . went back to the city. I’m still not sure what became of those people or why they suddenly were abandoned in the mountains.
The Tallgrass Prairie Preserve – There is No Food
Pawhuska is still a very small town, but before Ree Drummond built her mercantile it was practically a ghost town. We went for one reason. To see the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. We got a little ma and pa hotel where we called a number to find our key. Pretty much every restaurant had closed down, so we had to drive to neighboring Bartlesville for food (45 minutes away). The preserve was really beautiful, though, and we got to see many bison up close!
Misc Travels
We’ve done multiple small trips in our early years together. Too much to talk about here. We did a Color Run, went to conventions, saw dinosaurs, went on picnics, visited the Christmas Train in Christmas Village (which is no longer open, sadly), and pretty much devoured any new experience we could together.
