Texas!

After the National Route 66 Museum in Oklahoma, we headed  west to Texas.

We stopped in Groom, Texas for a few things.   First we stopped at the Big Cross.  Seen it?  We have been here once before, back in 2008 when we did our Route 66 road trip.

I am not sure if it is the largest cross around....but it is big!



In case you were wondering, I did NOT take this picture.  It is really awesome in real life.  Around the cross are sculptures protraying Jesus and his final moments.

One of the sculptures that caught my eye and my mind this time was this one....

There was a little plaque that explained what this was.  In my defense of this off centered/words cut off picture....it was really windy and bright on this day!

Michael, the Archangel - defending us in battle and protecting us from the snares of the devil.  How awesome is that? 

We have been to the Cross before....but, somehow this one never stood out to me.....until this trip.

We made a stop at their fountain for family pictures....

and, of course, an obligatory stop at their gift shop.....

Animal print cross anyone?  Someone has added this to her wish list for her room.

After this we stopped at the Bug Ranch, a little "art" exhibit just outside of Groom.  This is where they have buried Volkswagen Bugs for people to spray paint.....like the more well known Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo.

From here we went to Amarillo to eat at The Big Texan.....Home of the Free 72 ounce steak!  (If you can eat the steak, baked potato, salad, shrimp cocktail and a roll with butter in under 60 minutes!) 

We just ate regular sized food and paid for it.  I know.  Boring.


I surprised the kids and Rainman by setting up a free limo ride to and from our hotel to the restaurant.  Although, Rainman insisted on tipping our driver (a lot) - so it wasn't really free and, in my opinion, we should have just driven and parked ourselves! 

But, we were on vacation and the kids were excited....so I shut the Dave Ramsey voice in my head up and tried to relax and enjoy it!  Like, super, duper excited!  So, I became a reluctant big spender!

Apparently, I was so excited that they were excited, that I totally forgot to take pictures.  But, it was a big, old, white limosine that had big steer horns on the front.....like this one....

The food was good.

The company was even better!