Our Trip - Part 1, Day 1

We set sail for our trip to Texas/Oklahoma this past Thursday at the o-so-lovely hour of 4:30 a.m. My Mom came over to start her time with the kiddos, and after kissing all of their sweet, sleeping heads (and choking back a tear, I admit), we left the house with my Dad driving us to the airport.

We quickly rushed through security, and found our gate to await what I had thought was a 6:00 a.m. departure. Looking again at our boarding passes, I found out that it was 6:45 a.m. I DON’T know how I had been wrong about our departure time for all of these weeks, but at least we were early instead of late for our flight. 

The flight to Texas was smooth and wonderful. Our plane wasn’t even half full, and I got to sit by the window (my favorite!). I watched as Phoenix became nothing more than a sprawl of houses, swimming pools, and desert sand below me as we lifted off and away.
For much of the flight, we flew above fluffy white clouds that stretched in every direction like a sea of cotton balls.

Two hours later, we touched down in a world of lakes, trees, and GREEN grass as we entered the Dallas/Forth Worth airport. We easily departed the plan and boarded a shuttle bus that would take us to the rental car facility. Our first clue that we really WEREN’T in Phoenix anymore happened when the shuttle bus doors opened and our bus driver greeted us with a loud “HEY! How are ya’ll doing today? ”

Arriving at the rental car facility, we confirmed our reservation and picked out our “compact economy” car from a line of cars available. We decided on a spiffy Chevy Cobalt with a spoiler on the back…..I know, I know….we are SUCH rebels!
Within minutes, we were loaded and on the road to Norman, Oklahoma.

The three hour drive from Dallas to Norman was in-a-word……FABULOUS!!

The day was sunny and the world was green, green, green!!! Once we were out of the city of Dallas, we sped down the interstate past acres of trees, ponds, rivers, cows, and horses.

My dear hubby and I talked and laughed the entire way like two best friends (that are also parents) who understand the gift of being able to have an uninterrupted conversation.

We arrived in Norman around 3:30 p.m. My brother-in-law’s family still lives in Norman (even though my sister and brother-in-law do not) and they graciously offered to let us stay the night in their home. We checked in with them first and said “Hello!” to all NINE…yup…NINE of their kiddos….more about that later, and then headed out to keep our 4:00 p.m. appointment with the realtor.

Some of you know that a little over a year ago, my dear hubby and I came up to Norman, Oklahoma with the intention of seeing if it was a place were we wanted to move and live. My sis and her hubby were living there, and during our visit with them, we also spent time with a realtor looking at houses.

This was the same realtor from over a year and a half ago, only this time we just stayed in his office and visited with him about current real estate markets (in Norman and in Phoenix) and talked about Norman in general. The realtor is a great guy – very supportive and easy to talk to. After visiting with him for about an hour, we left in search of some food for our tummies.

The last time we were in Norman, we ate at this GREAT Mexican food restaurant that my sister and her hubby took us to. We couldn’t remember the name, but we could remember their phone number, so we called them and asked how to get there. Turns out we were right around the corner from it (not that anything is really too far away in Norman).

It’s called Tarahumara’s ( know…say that five times fast, huh??). They have an excellently large menu, are ALWAYS, always busy, and make their food fast, fresh, and with large portions. They give you fresh tortillas and a special cheese sauce along with the chips and salsa that are oh-so-good!

We asked a nice lady outside to take our picture. Unfortunately, it turned out a little blurry, but here it is.

 

After dinner, we took the time to just drive around Norman, mostly on the outskirts of town. The weather was around a calm 80 degrees, and as the sun went down, we drove and absorbed all of the wonderful countryside that we could. At one point, we pulled over and took these pictures.

 

 

 

We headed back to the Presley family house for a relaxing night of watching the Olympics, visiting with the kiddos, and falling into bed exhausted.
Tomorrow I’ll post more about the amazing Presley family and tell you all about the second day of our trip! Stay tuned!