2008 Road Trip (Day 9) - Return to SJC from DFW

28th Dec, 2008

We got up early and left hotel by 8 am. We drove for about an hour and a half to the Dallas Airport. Dallas Airport was designed differently. There were a few entry points for departures and you have to know your airline departure gate well in advance. We wasted some time to find out our departure gate (Well, the AA employees misguided twice before we found our correct departure gate). I dropped everyone there and went to return the Rental Vehicle. It took a few minutes to find the way to the Rental location. The Rental location is located a few miles away from the airport.

We boarded the flight on time and reached SJC at around 2.30 pm. We came home by 3 o'clock.

Wow! It was a very memorable trip. Despite the heavy winter weather, we managed to see a number of places. My little one was co-operative throughout the trip. She had her meal on time and took her nap on time. My wife did a wonderful job of preparing our healthy & tasty meals. Mother nature co-operated with us too. Thought it was a bit cold, it never rained when we were sight seeing.

This is the FIRST of its kind trip, for us, on many aspects:

- We got Honda Accord as the rental vehicle
- We did sight seeing continuously for 9 days in a row
- We visited 8 states in 9 days
- I drove 2.2K miles, as a single driver
- We took lesser than 100 photos per day
- Museums & State Capitol Buildings dominated our sight seeing places
- We stayed in 9 different places for 9 different nights

You can find my trip planner here - 2008 Road Trip Planner

2008 Road Trip (Day 8) - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

27th Dec, 2008

We started our trip at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. We spent nearly 2 hours there. They entry fee was $15 and it was a bit over priced. They have done a wonderful job of creating a lasting impression about the atrocities of terrorism and the trauma that the people of Oklahoma have undergone.

We had our lunch and then visited the Oklahoma Capitol Building and the War Memorial. We went to the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History that was located right adjacent to the Capitol Building. We spent nearly 2 hours there. They museum reflected the history of Oklahoma and they also had a good collection of Indian artifacts. There is a cafe inside the museum. This is our last official sight seeing spot in the Road Trip.

We left the museum and drove to Ardmore, Oklahoma for our night stay. There was a Garden of Lights in Ardmore. We checked-in to the hotel, freshened up and came out to see the Garden of Lights. I was surprised to learn that there was no entry fee. This is the best I've ever seen and it was almost a mile and half long. On the way back, we had our dinner in Burger King.

2008 Road Trip (Day 7) - Little Rock, Arkansas

26th Dec, 2008

We started our sight seeing with Central High School. It is located in a residential locality. They have a visitor center close to the school. The school was very majestic and has a historical importance. It looks like the school is being used even today. We spent an hour in that area and then went to see the State Capitol Building. After spending sometime there, we went to the Old State House Museum. It has a good collection of items used by famous people from Arkansas. Of course, Bill & Hillary Clinton dominated. The entry was free.

We then went to the Riverfront Park. Little Rock is not a 'little' city. The name was quite deceiving though. The Riverfront area was quite busy. You can walk down the Big Dam Bridge and take a Trolley tour of the city. My wife & daughter spent about an hour in the Children's Discovery Museum. My daughter liked it very much. The Riverfront park has a lot of play areas for kids. You can spend nearly 1/2 a day in that area.

We drove to Oklahoma City and stopped at Fort Smith, AR on the way. We visited the Fort Smith National Historic Site that served as a Jail & Execution Chamber for the Indians, during 'those' days. We spent an hour there and headed to Oklahoma City.