Roadtrip….

I am leaving.  Actually, by the time you are reading this, I will be on my way to the airport with my mother.  We are going on a road trip together – just the two of us.

My bags are packed.  I’ve filled the pantry and refrigerator with groceries for my husband who will be taking over the cooking duties while I am gone.  I have my ‘to do’ list on the refrigerator as well, reminding my husband and kids to water the vegetable garden and roses.  So, I am ready to go.  

You know what?  I have never been on a trip with just my mom.  We have traveled together to quite a few places.  When I was six, we went to San Francisco with my grandmother, cousins and aunts.  At the age of 12, my mother, aunt and cousin boarded an Amtrak train in Los Angeles and traveled across the country to New York City and ventured through the eastern states. 

2003 Oxford, England in front of C.S. Lewis’ house  (I’m second from the right in the back).

In 2001, we visited Ireland and Great Britain with my dad, my husband and kids.  We went back to Great Britain in 2003 with our extended family of 39, including six-week old twins.  

My mother, me, Gracie, my husband and my sister-in-law in Alaska.

The extended family had so much fun in Great Britain together that we all went on a cruise of Alaska in 2004.  

October 2010 in Washington DC.

This last year, my mom and my entire family went on a road trip up along the east coast.  It was so much fun.

So, where are we going?  Well, the two of us have visited the Northwest, the Northeast, the South and we live in the Southwest.  But, we have never spent much time in the Midwest.

Technically, we have both been there before, but a one-day layover in Chicago and an Amtrak train through the Midwest states, just does not really let you experience the area.

So, we decided to really experience the Midwest.  Now, while we wish that we could visit all the states in the Midwest, we only have so much time.  So we have decided on the following route…

View Larger Map

We are both looking forward to our trip.  We like to travel and explore.  We are avoiding most big cities, except for airports for our flights in and out.  Our hotels are booked, but other then that, we have no agenda, but to experience the Midwest.

Hopefully, we will be able to avoid tornadoes, torrential rain and high winds that they have been experiencing lately 🙂

I do plan to blog as we are traveling, so if you like, you can follow along.  I cannot say that I will have any specific gardening content during that time, but I will probably take pictures of attractive gardens and plants that I will share.

Oh well, I have to start packing, which will be surprisingly easy since I don’t have to pack up my kids as well 😉

‘Talk’ to you all next time from the road…..

Greetings From the West Coast…

Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."