RT - Day 11 (My Day in OKC)

Howdy cowboys and cowgirls!

It was pretty raining for the first part of the day so I kind of had a morning set back. I woke up, showered, dressed, meditated, undressed, and went back to bed for a nap. Hahaha! So my breakfast turned into lunch.

I drove around the city today humming "Home on the Range" once I saw my first buffalo sculpture in the downtown Oklahoma City area. They were all over and painted beautifully.

Okay...let's get right to it...this city completely lacks in any kind of continuity. If fact, the only thing it has in common are the cracked and uneven roads! It was so interesting. I'd be driving down one road and see all different buildings, one after the other that looked like they had their own thing going on. I'm gunna upload a bunch to show you in a sec. Also, there are 13 different districts!! No wonder OKC felt so awkward.

Here they are:
Adventure District
Arts District
Asian District
Automobile Alley
Boathouse District
Bricktown
Deep Deuce
Midtown
Plaseo Art District
Plaza District
Stockyard City
Uptown 23rd
Western Avenue

And here are some of the different buildings. I would LOVE to have gone on an architecture tour to hear about some of these and where their uniqueness came from. Keep scrolling... :-) The first three were literally right next to each other on the street. I took a pic as I drove down this one block.

Pretty

 

Ugly

Warehouse

Madona's Bra?

 

Spikey

 

I also went to the Oklahoma City Memorial Museum. The museum was well organized in how we flowed through that terrible day in OKC on April 19, 1995. They had video testimonials of survivors, rescuers and the general public who rushed to the scene to help. The last floor of the museum was all about bringing hope and life back to OKC and remembering how Americans came together in tragic times. It was pretty great. The grounds were clean and projected a calming feeling. Another beautiful memorial. Proud to be an American. :-)

Oh! And I passed a Kelley Club and drove down Kelley Street. Apparently they really love me here! And I love their gas prices!! Hahahahaha! Me and the gas!!! Today it was $2.25 people...$2.25! I just can't get over it. Unless you haven't figured it out yet...I'll be reporting on gas, landscape and city character during my trip. Oh, and the food I eat. LOL. Yesterday I ate at this place called Brauns that's supposed to have amazing ice-cream and burgers. Nope to both. Yuck. The ice-cream was so grainy I actually threw it away! Ok, I ate half and then threw the rest away.

Have a great night! I'm off to Little Rock, Arkansas tomorrow. Here's my face!
XO
Kel

RT - Day 10 (Kansas to Oklahoma)

O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A....Oklahomaaaaaa...O-K!

Who sang that in their head as they were reading it???? :-) It brings back memories of watching old musicals with my sister and grandma. I swear, we must have watched four or five during each weekend we were there. Come to think of it, it's probably part of why I was drawn to show-pop choir and musical theatre.

Driving through the middle of Kansas actually ended up being a lot more beautiful than it began. I didn't get many pics of the vibrant greens and yellows so this is as good as it gets...

Oklahoma brought fewer trees and more wind. It was pretty uneventful actually. I was wrapped up in my book on tape. This time he fashioned a Danish accent and one of a sixteen year old girl. :-) I think it'd be harder than it seems to be a book on tape reader.

Anyway...I got to my new Airbnb and it was like I stepped into Hipville! Everything here is so cool and fashionable! Me and my stretchy yoga pants feel underdressed. Hahaha! The host is totally hip and has piercings and blue hair that look like he stepped out of a magazine. There is another woman (a travelling nurse) staying in the second room and she has been here for two months already and is staying through December. The life of a travelling nurse must be crazy. We got along instantly...and the most important thing I think she wanted me to know about herself is how much she loooooves shopping at Ross. LOL! Apparently she and my host both love Ross and that's like their thing. I think it's sweet.

I'm listening to the rain outside my bedroom window and enjoying my night in. After two days of driving my butt has gone from round and plump to flat and numb. It's definitely time for some horizontal tonight and some vertical tomorrow.

Besos, everyone!
Kel

RT - Day 9 (Colorado to Kansas)

Goodbye Colorado!

So Colorado, in general, has this one side that is just beautiful, and then you turn around and it's a flat grid with minimal character. Turn back...beauty...turn around...flat. The second I left the outskirts of Denver I was looking at this...all the way to Kansas.

 

Then a quick goodbye from Colorado as they reminded us, "Hey! Don't forget we do have trees near the Rockies! Don't forget our beauty!"

 

The sign said "Leaving Colorful Colorado"
Those were the only full sized trees around. :-)

Now the drive through Kansas. There were two parts to my drive worth noting:

 

1. I finally started my murder mystery book on tape and got hooked. It's getting better as the story goes on. It is funny though when the author starts to talk like a black man when he's clearly a white guy. It's like he half commits to the jive lingo just enough to get the spirit of the character across, but not enough to offend listeners. LOL. At least that's my take. Then when he talks in a female character's tone it's softer and a little prissy. Again...funny to hear how he interprets the character's voice.

2. I got a text from a guy I sparked with a couple weeks ago, but had to delete his number because I was afraid I'd come on too strong. OMG...you guys know me...I always come on a little strong. Haha! I don't walk into a room and sit in the corner by myself (well, only if something is wrong...and you all know right away anyway so I might as well just get over it). I love you guys.

 

Okay...

1. I already said all I wanted about that.

2. So this guy. Life is so funny and crazy. The night before I met him I was talking to the Universe as I was falling asleep and saying something like, "Universe, I'm not desperate, I just want to know that there is someone out there for me. I want to have my faith in my ability to connect with someone restored. I need my heart to feel excitement for the possibility of romance. Please help." Next day, I saw this cute guy at the pool and purposefully didn't go talk to him because I was making space for the Universe to move and not for me to bulldoze! Anyway, he ended up striking up a conversation and it turns out, that was one of the best conversations with a man I'd had in a while. Probably years. It didn't even matter that he was super handsome (AMAZING smile) and actually asked me questions about myself. We had travel and bites of life in common and when he asked for my number and left I knew I got my answer. My faith in my heart's ability to spark with someone was restored. I ended that great day with the hope I would meet him again, but the grateful feeling for having had my heart stir again. People pass through our lives at just the right time. He passed through mine and I am happy he did. Long story long...I had deleted his number so as not to be too desperate. I thought, hey, if this man is interested then he'll reach out. If not, then that's okay. He gave me a gift without even knowing it. When he texted today...well...I don't need to go into any of that. The point is, life is funny and lovely, and confusing and wonderful, and I think it's crazy how someone we hardly know and just meet can have such impacts in our lives. They don't all have to be big impacts to be noteworthy. So...thank you handsome man from the pool for being you. :-)

 

I checked into my adorable Airbnb where the host put my name on the welcome sign! So cute!

 

 

And then...Kansas had a moment...and it was lovely.

 

 

Good night my sweet friends and family. I love you all! Thank you for impacting my life in all the best ways. I'm so lucky! Truly.

 

XO,

Kel

RT - Day 8 (Rocky Mountain National Park)

Let's talk about this first....

HELLO!?!?!?!?!? Are you kidding me?!?!?!? My 90 year old travelling companion, Joy, may have been getting a little tired of me saying, "Oh my god! $2.73! I can't believe it!" Eventually she just stopped responding to my continued and renewed shock and enthusiastic cries every time we passed a gas station. Hahaha! :-)

Now, let's talk about this majesty...



Rocky Mountain National Park

HELLO!?!?!?!?!? Are you kidding me?!?!?!? I took that with my camera phone!!!!!

Dear family - This photo, framed, is what I'd like for Christmas. Maybe something for the bathroom or to be hung at the front door so I can see it every day when I leave my house to remind me of the incredible beauty of the world. ~ Thank you, Kelly

Joy and I spent the day in the Rocky Mountain National Park. At the entrance to the park we were greeted by a Park Ranger who desperately needed a hug! A really big Kelly hug! He actually rolled his eyes at us a few times when we said we just wanted a $25 day pass and not an $80 senior lifetime pass. I guess the thought of looking at a senior without a senior pass just got his goat. Either way, we got in and enjoyed the scenery.

Right off the bat we pulled off (okay...I kinda just stopped in the middle of the road and let cars go around me) because there was this beautiful elk just munching away on grass like six feet from us! 20 feet up the road was another one who had like eight points and was scratching his antlers on the thin, but sturdy reeds at the base of a tree. He was in elk heaven! It reminded me of how I feel when I use on of those extendable back scratchers shaped like a little hand for the hard to reach places. Sooo good. :-) I wanted to take a pic, but Joy said we'd see a lot more and let's not just be stopped in the middle of the road anymore. Well...we didn't see another elk. Hahaha! We laughed about that later.

We made it to a place called Sprague Lake, parked, meditated next to the creek while sharing a little blanket I brought, then I walked around the lake. It was just under a mile and the walkway was perfectly groomed for leisurely walkers. A third of the lake was still frozen. I threw a rock and it just bounced along the ice.

We got home, had dinner and then played cards for about an hour. I won every hand of Gin except for her one win. When she laid down the cards her hand looked perfect and then this random eight slid out between the four twos!!! Hahaha! We were cracking up. Okay, it doesn't sound that funny, but it was funny to us.

I never went back into the hot tub at the house, but I will remember it and the entire stay with my sweet and spirited friend Joy.

Thank you Joy, Susie, John for letting me stay in your home for these four days. It felt like home to me.

XO,
Kelly

PS - Dinner was a very delicious homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich. The cheese was Velveeta...something else I've never had. Apparently, there isn't actually cheese in Velveeta. Susie said she talked to a guy who worked for the company and there is no cheese, hardly any milk and is pretty much an edible polymer that melts really well. Dude!!! We use polymers for the water treatment process at the water treatment plants. So that's like slapping some cheese flavor on some goop and calling it food! Hahaha! Gross...and unfortunately yummy in grilled cheese sandwiches.

RT - Day 7 (Visiting Old Childhood Friends)

Hey there!

Today was pretty great and really tiring. I met up with some old family friends I haven't seen in 25 years and there was A LOT of chatting and catching up. I've been on this trip and not talked that extensively with anyone for a while. Usually just me and my car and the music. Five hours later I wondered why I felt drained...LOL!

I'm so happy for these wonderful women and how their lives turned out. They are all successful, happily married with one kiddo each and living near family. The visit was perfect.

Tomorrow with either be a day in Denver or to the Rocky Mountains Park. Either way, I get beautiful views while driving around town. Even in traffic...you just look to the left or right and there are the Rockies!

XO,
Kel

RT - Day 6 (My Day in Boulder)

Good evening!

As promised...a picture of the hot tub and the Rockies. What a way to start the day!

Joy and I cruised around downtown Boulder today. We were out and about for seven hours, which is a full and busy day for a 90 year old! It was fun. Talking with Joy is so easy. We ate lunch at a hipster café called Tangerine. I had an overpriced breakfast sandwich. Hey...not all my meals can be OMG worthy!

Then we went to downtown Boulder in their outdoor shopping center with store after store of artsy and crafty things. Neither of us are big shoppers so we went to the few places that looked interesting and then booked it out of the crowds. My perfect shopping buddy...someone who doesn't really like to shop. :-)

I saw and ad for "A Star Is Born" and asked Joy if she liked movies. Apparently Joy hasn't been to a movie theatre in years and LOVES going to the show. So we went and I LOVED the movie! The music was so fantastic. I'm definitely buying the soundtrack to that puppy. If you haven't seen it yet and you enjoy music and dramas and love stories I suggest you go. Oh yea...we had an hour to kill beforehand so we knocked back a beer in the courtyard bar for a bit. Another cute bartender. LOL! I swear...I've had more alcohol on this trip then I've had in ages! I'm drinking like a beer or two a day! That's a lot for me. I get even more verbally inappropriate and frisky when I've had a little too much.

Suzie made tacos back at home and then we chilled out and watched the classic, "Hocus Pocus". Love that movie!

Boulder was cute and I enjoyed the downtown area. I heard Boulder was more beautiful than Denver and I've built up Denver to be amazingly gorgeous in my mind. All the pictures of the surrounding mountains fill my head. I think I need to get more of a feel for Denver and the surrounding areas to see if this might be a place of future opportunity for me. So far it's more of a grid-city than I was expecting. We'll see how the rest of the time plays out.

I'm loving staying in a place that feels homey. I'm off to bed in my cool Colorado room where I leave the window open all night to have the breeze. You all know how I feel about circulating air! Gotta have it!

Sleep tight!!
Kel

RT - Day 5 (Grand Junction, CO to Denver, CO)

Okay listen...before I talk about my day, let me just go back to last night to Grand Junction and the beer that was warm in my belly. I drank that beer at a pizza and bar place in town that also served cookies and spider gummies in their cocktails. That's no the point though. The point is...I need a boyfriend. I need a man! Bad! The bartender was a STUD...a ginger STUD at that. He was like 40, single, owned a few bars in Cali and just moved (3 weeks ago) to sleepy, but beautiful GJ. If I were not rolling through town this is the type of man I would give my number to. Not like he asked (even though he was saying all that flirty man stuff), but I would have anyway. He was delicious. However, I was driving back to my Airbnb...to my cold bed...alone...lol...and was like, "WTF Kelly! You can't judge the proper flirt scale with people you tip?! That's like paying for sex and actually believing that the person is into you! Hahaha! So anyway...I thought too much about someone I thought I sparked with for a hour and that just confirms...I need a man! When I come back, I'm expecting every single on of you readers to set me up on a blind date with an eligible bachelor. You wanna keep me in the state...send some Johns my way. ;) Just tell them I have all the right "bigs" (boobs, butt, humor, heart). Hahahahahaha!

Back to today.

What a difference a day makes? No...what a different a tree makes! It's like I stepped into an Ansel Adams photograph! Every few minutes I'd literally say out loud….to no one at all..."Hello! Are you seeing this? Who is seeing this? Oh my God!" I wish I had a better camera.

In all fairness to my iPhone though...these were taken from the passenger seat window...while I was driving... Parents - do not read this... My trick is, I see a view coming up, say my out loud words to no one, roll up the driver's window, roll down the passenger's window, move to the "slow" lane, lock my phone sideways in a death grip between my hand and fingers (which are really, freakishly strong for some reason), then make sure there aren't cars around, lean WAAAAYYY over to my right and take five pictures really fast so as not to get the car window in the frame. Hello?!?!?!?! If I had a real camera and was like, standing on the ground, I could be a professional! :-)

Speaking of driving - and I can't believe I'm about to put this in writing - everyone drives so fast here!! LOL!!! I KNOW! I CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST SAID THAT!!!! I'm usually the one who passes people going 70-75, but these crazies are going 85 and 90 just on their way to work! When the speed limit dropped to 65 in a few areas I felt relief in my shoulders. Then there was this totally adorable sign that kept popping up...

DON'T FORGET TO BUCKLE UP!
LOVE, MOM & DAD

No shit though, these Colorado peeps are speed demons!

Let's fast forward to something sweeter...Mother Nature. Wow...I mean it. My drive was so breathtaking today. All around me the mountains were colors of red and browns with yellow and green trees lining the river and these little nugget-like towns. To put it poetically, it was like Mother Nature decided upon this gorgeous landscape and the mountains all got together and decided they would share the space with us. They would open up just enough room to allow these little, sleepy towns to spring up along the Colorado River for peaceful living and views that remain unchallenged. It was my privilege to experience this part of our country's landscape.

I took those while driving too. ;) Eek!

Today wrapped up perfectly. I was able to have a quick hug and hello with an old family friend (who I'll see again on Sunday), and then up to the outskirts of Boulder to meet and stay with another family friend, Joy. I'll be here for the next 3-4 nights. I love Joy. She is 90 and still a spitfire! Plus, we both like cards and we both like puzzles (lol) so we're going to get a long just perfectly. And there's a hot tub that overlooks the freakin' Rocky Mountains!!! I'll take that picture tomorrow. Standing outside...not driving. And of the mountains...not me in the hot tub. ;)

Love you all!
Kel