Day 1, 2, and 3

Day 1- We were supposed to leave at 9 and we didn't leave town til noon because Mr. H's parents are consistently late. We stopped at about 2 to let the dogs out and we ate lunch at a park. We saw mallards, a family of nutria eating bread, a small water fall and some great graffiti.

We drove for about 8 hours to S.hamrock, TX where my MIL has family. We ate at M.cDonald's and stayed at a flea-bag motel (the only one in town that allows pets).

Day 2- We started our day out at the motel restaurant. All I have to say is: Only in Redneck Texas does one have to wipe cigarette ashes off a pancake syrup sticky vinyl plaid table cloth. Only in Redneck Texas does one order Dr. Pepper to drink with breakfast and only In Redneck Texas is there a hand-written sign on the buffet that reads: Buffet served with coffee and tea, "ALL OTHER DRANK ARE $2.04".

We had a small family reunion and a catered lunch at a B and B. It was nice. Then we went to a family members' ranch where we saw horny toads, and a giant cow patty (not to be confused with a beef patty :-)) sitting on a bird bath pedestal (ONLY in Texas, people!)

Day 3- We headed out of S.hamrock, (after taking pictures of the sunrising at 6:30 am) on our way to D.urango where we drove for another 11 hours. We have driven for approx. 1350 miles and have filled up the gas tank twice for a total of $350. We got in last night at about 8:30 mountain time- exhausted. We got here in time to see the sunsetting over the mountains. Our rental house is at the top of a hill and has picturesque mountain views all around the house. It is breathtaking. I will take pics tonight of the sunset as we are sitting in the hot tub drinking strawberry daiquiris (my MIL's fave!).
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Speaking of pictures, I took about 50 of them the first two days of all the wonderful stuff mentioned above. I entered the memory stick into the laptop and cropped and adjusted the lighting on all the pics. After each one, it would say "saving" but when I went to look at them yesterday, they weren't there. They're gone! All of them! I am so bummed. There were some really great ones of the family gathering, the sleeping pups, wildlife etc, and they're no where to be found. The ONLY picture that didn't seem to get erased is this one. Coincidence? I don't think so.