Tag: Friends

2 min read

Charm and Carousel Horses in Meridian, Mississippi

Jenn

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2 min read

When I think of the south I think of plantations, sweet tea, and alligators. I also think of southern charm. And Missy. Missy is a sweet charming southern girl who…

When I think of the south I think of plantations, sweet tea, and alligators.

I also think of southern charm. And Missy.

Missy is a sweet charming southern girl who I met through blogging. When Missy heard we were in the south she gave us some suggestions of what to see. It was Missy who recommended Tannehill Historical State Park. She also recommended we stop in Tuscaloosa Alabama for Dreamland BBQ and to see the devastation left by the tornado.

I was delighted when I found out her town, Meridian, Mississippi, was on our route to New Orleans and we would get to meet in person. Our budget stretched tight, we stayed at beautiful Lake Okatibbee for $7 a night using our Passport America membership. We spent the first part of our day following our typical morning routine, school. Then in afternoon, the boys and I ventured out to downtown Meridian to meet Missy and explore the town. Missy treated us to drinks and dessert at Jen’s Place. Afterwards, we walked around the downtown getting a quick peek into the Meridian Railroad Museum and enjoying the many carousel horses scattered around the city as part of public art project. The proceeds from the Around the Town Carousel project benefit Hope Village for Children. Why carousel horses? Meridian is home to the last remaining Dentzel Carousel House, a national landmark, located in Highland Park.

The next morning, we decided to visit Highland Park before hitting the road. Unfortunately, the carousel is closed on weekdays during the winter but Missy called the park just to be sure. Much to our delight, the carousel was being shown to someone who was planning an event there and the planner said we could come on down for a peek. The peek turned into a private tour and ride! Talk about southern hospitality! The carousel is beautiful and as we spun around I couldn’t help but think of the generations who had ridden before me. It is definitely worth a stop for those traveling through Meridian.

Thanks Missy for your hospitality and recommendations. Thankful you could be a part of our adventure!

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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2 min read

Family on the Road On the Road

Days 86-89: Old MacDonald had a farm

Jenn

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2 min read

And on that farm he had a miniature mule. Rainy days. Fresh eggs. Curious goats. Stoic horses. Few things make me as happy as the smell and velvety touch of…

And on that farm he had a miniature mule.

Rainy days. Fresh eggs. Curious goats. Stoic horses.

Few things make me as happy as the smell and velvety touch of a horse’s muzzle. As I was struggling with depression, 5 days on a farm was just what my soul needed to be able to soar again

My uncle works at a small farm at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains in Maryville, Tennessee. We played with the goats, gathered colorful eggs, stroked the horses’ woolly winter coats, hiked in the quiet wood, and cuddled, book in hand, as the rain poured outside.

Every morning, Thing 2 rushed for his boots the minute he heard the rumble of my uncle’s truck coming to feed the horses. Thing 1 got into “shoving matches” with Julie the goat. Nico and Nigel met new friends and enemies when Julie decided to give them a friendly headbutt. I think Brent was the only one to escape Julie. I have never met a more ornery goat. (Not that I’ve met a lot of goats.) She headbutted me into the wall within 2 minutes of our introduction.

I felt free. I felt alive. I felt at home.

Yet, the clouds move and I’m caught in their shadow dance. Being at the farm reminds me at how at heart I’m a country girl who ended up in a beach town. A girl who feels more comfortable in a saddle than on the sand. I’m all too aware that as long as we live in Ventura we will not be able to have goats, chickens, and horses.

Thing 2 keeps asking with excitement in his eyes, “Mama, can we live on a farm?” My little animal boy. How I want to gather him in my arms and say, “Yes we’ll have goats, chickens, and Arabian horses!” When God chiseled horses I’m certain his first was an Arabian.

Not now.

Now the road is our home but only time will tell where it will take us.

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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3 min read

Museums On the Road

Days 82-85: Franklin and Nashville Tennessee

Jenn

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3 min read

We woke up this morning knowing we were headed to Nashville. We didn’t know that we would be spending the night with old friends. We didn’t know that we would…

We woke up this morning knowing we were headed to Nashville. We didn’t know that we would be spending the night with old friends. We didn’t know that we would be having dinner with new friends. We didn’t know that Franklin Tennesee was much more than a little suburb of Nashville. We didn’t know that we would get to go on a date. We didn’t know Smoked Tea with Plum ice cream could be so good.

Old Friends – Mike and Jen moved to Franklin from Ventura 10 years ago. We parked our RV in their driveway on a quiet cul-de-sac next to a lake. We felt right at home. They showed around Franklin and took us to Leiper’s Fork. They made us dinner and we stayed up late sharing stories and laughter.

New Friends – We had just got settled when we got an invitation for dinner from friends of one of Brent’s clients. Brent had told his client that we were going to be in Franklin and much to our surprise and delight they called us. Dinner that with strangers ended as dinner with friends.

Date Night – Mike watched the boys one night so Brent and I could spend some time alone. Being the adventurers we are we went to Trader Joe’s. Romantic, huh? Afterwards, we drove around Nashville and spotted a little pizza and kebab place called PizzeReal. As we waited for our food we decided to check the Yelp reviews. Not a good idea. The restaurant had poor reviews. We hoped for the best and weren’t disappointed with the Tusan Garden, pizza topped with kale, mushrooms, garlic, mozzarella, and labne. Sooo good. It just happens that an ice cream place, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, we wanted to try was around the corner. We got a Black and Tan sundae made with Salted Carmel and Smoked Tea and Plum. Splendid, indeed. Do not miss Jeni’s if you are in Nashville.

Franklin – Franklin takes pride in her history. The downtown is lovely, clean, and quaint. The visitor center provides a plethora of maps and brochures. One is a historic downtown Franklin self guided walking tour map. There are six tours routes to choose from: the Great American Main Street, Art & Antique, Haunts a & Headstones, History Homs of Hincheyville, Battle of Franklin, and Margin to Main. Unfortunately due to rainy weather and time constraints, we didn’t complete any of the walks but we did see many places on the walks. One of which was the The Carter House grounds. The Carter House, a National Landmark, served at a command post during the Battle of Franklin and was the home of the Carter family who sought safety with their slaves in the basement during the battle. One of their sons, Todd Carter, had joined the confederacy. He was mortally wounded during battle and was brought to boyhood home to die.

Adventure Science Center – Our last day in Franklin was a rainy one a perfect day to visit the Adventure Science Center. It’s part of the ACST Passport Program which means free admission and I like free. The boys played giant instruments, zapped germs with lazers, and experienced what it would be like to walk in 1/6 gravity. Fun times for all.

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

If you enjoyed this post you can follow one of three ways! 1. Subscribe to the RSS Feed 2. “like” Newschool Nomads on Facebook, or 3. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. Simple dimple!

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2 min read

Family on the Road Museums On the Road Pets & Animals

Days 58-78: Hoosier at Heart

Jenn

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2 min read

Traveling with our work and home in tow like a turtle time has allowed us an unusual amount of time to visit with family and friends. Our adventure started in…

Traveling with our work and home in tow like a turtle time has allowed us an unusual amount of time to visit with family and friends. Our adventure started in Santa Maria when we spent 10 days with Brent’s family. Afterwards, with short visits with friends and family in between, we traveled to Austin to spent 10 days at my best friend’s house. Now in the dead of winter, we just spent three weeks in Indiana.

Our visit in Indiana felt like we did so much and yet so little at the same time. We’ve been there many times so the pressure to “see things” wasn’t there and our first priority was family.

My parents still live in the same house I grew up in. The house sits on a hill that borders a wood, “the bottom ground”, that, as a child ,was everything from wild jungles to dangerous battlefields. It’s a strange and happy sensation watching our boys drive my mom’s golf cart through the paths just as, if I was lucky, I did with my brother in his golf cart.

Among the days hanging out “at home” we also…

Visited the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Always fun. Always magical. It’s a “must see” if you have kids and are in the Indianapolis area.

Visited the Indianapolis Zoo. I haven’t been in years and was excited to go on an oddly warm January day. I was especially excited to see the gibbons. Funny funky monkeys!

Visited Brookwood Farms. This is the stable where I spent ~~showerless~~ endless days grooming, feeding, water, cleaning, and riding horses. I used to happily sleep outside of my horses stall on a folding lawn chair. Brookwood is run by Rosie, a woman who has spend her life loving animals and kids. Every visit to Indiana includes a visit with Rosie at Brookwood.

“Visited” ~~Slackers~~ Toys R’Us and Walmart after midnight on December 24th in search of Harry Potter legos. Do not do this. Ever.

Ate at Roscoe’s Tacos. Possibly the least Mexican Mexican food ever. In a good way.

Ate at PapaRoux. Po-boys and cajun food in Indianapolis. Don’t judge. It’s good…really GOOD good! Don’t believe me? There was a line out the door in January.

Oh and I spent New Years squealing over pictures of hairless cats hoping Brent might change his mind about another pet. Yeah, I’m loads of fun. Loads.

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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2 min read

On the Road outdoors Pets & Animals

Day 54: “Visiting with” Longhorns

Jenn

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We made it out of Texas. Almost. First we had to find some Texas Longhorn cattle. You see the other day Thing 2 and I decided we wanted to see…

We made it out of Texas.

Almost.

First we had to find some Texas Longhorn cattle.

You see the other day Thing 2 and I decided we wanted to see some Texas Longhorn cattle close up. So I went online to look for nearby ranches. We started calling around asking if the ranches allowed visitors. One phone call (from Brent) went like this.

“Hi. My family and I are from California and we are looking some longhorn cattle. Do you have any that we could come and visit with?”

Pause.

“You don’t do anything like that? Oh okay. Well thanks.”

Mistake #1 – “from California”, i.e., weirdos

Mistake #2 – “visit with“, i.e., WEIRDOS

Who visits with cows? Weird Californians who live in a RV that’s who. He might as well asked if we could have tea time with the Longhorns. ” Oh but it’s organic green tea full of antioxidants.”

However, as it turned out, there was a quaint Longhorn ranch right next to our campground. It was a bed and breakfast, Front 30 Ranch Guest House, run by the friendliest retired couple. They even smiled politely when I asked if they minded if I did a workout with the Longhorns because working out with longhorns is much more acceptable than visiting with longhorns. Very gracious folks indeed. They walked us out to the pasture while the boys made friends with their dog, Abbey. We didn’t get to pet the Longhorns (Abbey made them nervous) but we got closer than we had ever been and had a nice “visit”. We also enjoyed visiting with the owners who shared how they had built and cultivated the ranch themselves.

Front 30 Ranch is lovely, almost as lovely as the couple who runs it. Large rolling meadows stretch into the surrounding cedar forests. The guest house with its inviting porch overlooks the serene pastures of the Texas Longhorns. It almost makes me wish we didn’t have our RV. This would be the perfect place to come and relax at Lake Texoma. Our boys would have happily stayed all day and so would have we had we not had to get on the road to Oklahoma.

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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2 min read

On the Road

Day 41 – “Tejas”

Jenn

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The Texas motto is “friendship” This morning I lay in bed listening to the rain my heart as heavy as the clouds. Goodbyes are hard. After getting dressed, I busied…

The Texas motto is “friendship”

This morning I lay in bed listening to the rain my heart as heavy as the clouds.

Goodbyes are hard.

After getting dressed, I busied myself with cleaning…prolonging our departure. The vacuum momentarily sucking the sadness from my heart. I wiped the last of the toothpaste off the counter and swallowed.

My favorite part of this week has been seeing my friend walk through her life as a wife and mother. It seemed only yesterday we were sleeping on air mattresses and eating off of moving boxes in our empty LA apartment. Yet, here we are with husbands, children, and houses. We stayed up late sitting on the couch sharing disappointments, frustrations, laughs, ideas and dreams. Being around her makes dreams seem like they are in my pocket ready to be pulled out like a rabbit from a hat.

We intended to say 5 nights at their house in Austin but those 5 turned into 10. Ten nights. Ten wonderful nights that will remain locked away as a reminder that, in a world where friendship is often as deep as clicking “like”, kindred spirits do exist.

That afternoon, we all drove out to Buda and walked the old streets with our families. Ju-boo and I wore our new vintage dresses in coordinating colors. We ate at an old soda fountain. We poked around in yet another thrift store. We took pictures. We laughed.

Then in the street under a damp thick sky we said good bye.

As it turned out, I had forgotten my phone at their house. (Thankfully, I married the world’s most patient man.) and I got the chance to say goodbye again. As I walked out of her house for the second time I desperately wished I hadn’t forgotten my phone. Seeing “our” empty room put little holes in my heart. Little holes that were patched by those last hugs goodbye.

Texas, we lived your motto.

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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1 min read

On the Road

Days 36 – 40: Austin

Jenn

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Austin feels like home. Brent works the days away. The boys are leaving dishes in the sink. Meow Cow is owning the bed. The dogs are leaving paw marks on…

Austin feels like home.

Brent works the days away. The boys are leaving dishes in the sink. Meow Cow is owning the bed. The dogs are leaving paw marks on the the back door. I’m yelling at my kids in the front yard.

We are comfortable. Too comfortable, perhaps.

This week has been filled with late night conversations with my best friend on the couch. A playdate with new friends at Zilker park. A breakfast with an old friend. Thrifting at Thriftland. Dinners at home. Dinners out. (The Salt Lick, G’raj Mahal, and Chuy’s) A trip to the Texas State History Museum. (A must see if you are in Austin and love history.) And much too much Bluebell Ice Cream.

It’s been good. No it’s been a wonderful mix of work and play. Old and new. Ordinary and extraordinary.

But…

As hard as it is the road calls us.

I’m not looking forward to saying goodbye. My lip trembles just thinking about it.

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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On the Road

Day 35: FOTR Meet Up

Jenn

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Nothing makes rushing off late to church more fun than finding your car battery dead. After church, we drove to a small town right outside of Austin for a FOTR…

Nothing makes rushing off late to church more fun than finding your car battery dead.

After church, we drove to a small town right outside of Austin for a FOTR meet up. What is FOTR?

Families On The Road!

Yes, there is actually a group for crazies like us! We had a really nice time meeting new people and the boys enjoyed meeting other kids who are traveling full time.

I learned that I don’t drive a “big truck”.

She drove this bad boy to maternity appointments in Santa Fe.

And I thought I had skillz.

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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On the Road

Day 34: Austin Vintage Style Fest

Jenn

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When I was googling “vintage clothing austin” I never dreamed I would come across something as spectacular as a Vintage Style Fest. I also never imagined it would be the…

When I was googling “vintage clothing austin” I never dreamed I would come across something as spectacular as a Vintage Style Fest.

I also never imagined it would be the weekend I was actually in Austin. In Austin with my best friend. My best friend who will happily drive all over town and patiently wait while I contemplate buying a pair of vintage cowboy boots as if I’m considering having another child.

This weekend was the first ever Austin Vintage Style Fest. There were so many great shops (I had no idea Austin has so much vintage.) participating! I came home with two dresses from Flashback Vintage. The shop was adorable, organized, well stocked, creatively displayed, and the owner was not only friendly but I could tell had a genuine passion for vintage. If you are in Austin and love vintage it’s a must visit. I also bought two dresses came from RG Vintage who was at the festival from San Antonio.

I loved exploring the different neighborhoods of Austin, laughing with my best friend, meeting shop owners, browsing racks of clothing, and looking at funky knickknacks. So much better than going to a mall.

The only thing that stinks is that I didn’t get those vintage cowboy boots and I’m pretty certain they aren’t going to be at the next strip center off the interstate.

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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On the Road

Day 33 : A Not So Black Friday

Jenn

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Breakfast tacos with my best friend and our families. Cowboy hats? Getting candy exploring the funky shops on South Congress Avenue in Austin? Celebrating the coolest 9 year old’s birthday…