What I Learned Over Spring Break Part IV - 03/20/10

I learned that . . .

. . . for the 3rd morning in a row, my kids did not eat a good breakfast.

. . . Hubby took the kids to get donuts while I showered and packed.

. . . my kids could probably live on sugar if I let them.

. . . they were ready to get in the car and drive home so they could play with their friends.

. . . they were less than thrilled when we said we wanted to walk across the bridge to shop.

. . . they were very excited when we took the GPS with and found an earth-cache!

. . . the hot spring earth cache is cool!

. . . you need to answer some questions and post a picture of yourself by the cache before you can consider it found.

. . . skunks do not survive when they climb into a hot spring.

. . . one reason Hubby loaded the 2nd cache into the GPS was because it was at the airport.

. . . Dude refuses to believe that the GPS isn’t exactly on target.

. . . Dude will stand exactly where the GPS told him to be and pout when he can’t find the cache.

. . . Dude will refuse to consider the clues for the geocache when trying to find it.

. . . Hubby and I will continue to look for the cache while we consider the clues.

. . . Dude will be ecstatic when we find the cache.

. . . Dude will be bummed when there aren’t any cool things in the cache.

. . . Princess is more than happy to trade her really neato Hot Springs Resort and Spa hotel card for a rubber purple bracelet.

. . . a hotel card fits perfectly into an Altoids tin.

. . . all pilots will think that a plowed runway with mountains in the background is cool.

. . . my Hubby will wade through shin deep snow to try to get a picture of said runway and mountains.

. . . my kids will moan and groan when you tell them we’re eating dinner at a Mexican restaurant before we leave town.

. . . my kids will love the food and eat a ton of it.

. . . the drive back on Saturday is more car-filled than the drive to there on Wednesday.

. . . when semi-trucks have an accident on the highway outside of Alamosa, the cops will flag you to take a detour.

. . . the detour is not marked.

. . . the detour is not paved.

. . . the detour is a sand road in the dessert.

. . . you just drive around on the sand roads and hope you get back to the highway.

. . . you may run into a semi truck that looks like it got stuck in the sand 10 years ago and have to turn around and find a different sand road to take.

. . . following the dust from the vehicles in front of you is helpful.

. . . someone had big plans for this area of land.

. . . someone went through the trouble to plot lots and even name roads with road signs for the new neighborhood.

. . . the neighborhood would have had a great view of the Great Sand Dunes National Monument.

. . . the neighborhood never happened.

. . . the road signs are all rusted and bent.

. . . it was kind of sad to see someones dreams and hard work not completed.

. . . driving over Wolf Creek Pass in the snow gets your car wet.

. . . driving on a sand road with a wet car makes your car dirty.

. . . snowboards on a hitch rack also get dirty.

. . . there are still small towns out there that are actually small towns.

. . . gas stations do exist that sell only cans of pop.

. . . the drive over La Veta pass is pretty.

. . . you need to pay attention and be ready to completely stop on the highway behind a huge line of cars.

. . . you need to be flexible enough to realize there’s nothing you can do about it.

. . . you need to be fun enough to push your kids into the snow when you turn the car off and get out.

. . . 11 year old boys think they’re the smartest people on the planet.

. . . 11 year old boys think that 37 year old women don’t know what rumble strips on the side of the road are for.

. . . 11 year old boys need to know when to stop talking.

. . . kids think walking down the middle of a 2-lane highway is really cool.

. . . it is possible for there to be 2 different single-semi accidents on the same highway in the same day, causing detours and backups.

. . . Texans need to take courses in gas station etiquette.

. . . two vehicles with Texas plates will pull into a busy gas station and stop at the first pump, making you throw your hands in the air and mouth “Um, really?”

. . . owners of two vehicles with Texas plates will innocently mouth to you “Oh. Do you want me to pull forward to the next pump?”

. . . those kinds of things annoy me.

. . . my Hubby is much better at not getting annoyed by those things.

. . . gas station bathrooms are still gross.

. . . taking swimming suits used in natural hot springs out of plastic bags is yucko.

. . . even if you unscrew the hose from the faucet, the water in the hose will freeze.

. . . when there’s frozen water in a hose, you can’t use it.

. . . when you can’t use the hose, you have to use a bucket and sponge to clean off dirt-covered boards and bike/board racks.

. . . cleaning dirt-covered snowboards and bike/board racks in 30 degree weather makes your hands chilly.

. . . my family sleeps really well when get into our own beds after an awesomely fun mini-vacation.

Stay tuned to see what I learned in part V of Spring Break!