One Beautiful Trip: 5 Days 6 Cities

And if a 5 hour layover in Atlanta counts, 7 cities. The stoplight in Broken Bow, Oklahoma would make 8.

Charleston
Atlanta
Dallas
Jessieville
Hot Springs
a brief drive through Oklahoma
Paris
Dallas
Austin
Dallas
DC
Atlanta
Charleston

I didn't set out to cover 4500 miles in less than one week, it just worked out that way.

Rain delayed my afternoon arrival, til late night. No worries.
I'd rather sit in the Atlanta airport than fly through storms. And did I mention?
Dave and Joelle served me spaghetti and meatballs when I arrived at their place.

It started as a weekend trip to see Joelle's new house. A roundtrip ticket from Charleston to Dallas. Our only agenda – just hang out on her patio and drink our morning coffee.

As a proud member of The Hat Ladies of Charleston,
one's hat and gloves must always match, even in an Arkansas crystal mine.

The plans changed somewhat while I was visiting Arkansas a few weeks before. I was there on a crystal mining trip and constantly thought of how much Joelle would enjoy it, too. So, we added a little day trip to our weekend. Just a 5 hour drive.

One of the numerous Hot Springs abandoned buildings. Is that an alien communication device?

On the road by 6:00 a..m., we spent the day digging and decided to spend the night in nearby Hot Springs. (fun details in the previous post)

Oh no, we missed Nikola's birthday.

The things you see in storefronts

Next morning, we began meandering back to Texas.

A place to tie up your horse and pray

Must be lots of cowboys in De Queen, Arkansas.

The road from Hot Springs to Paris took us through Oklahoma, home of perfect clouds.

After looking at the map, we saw we would be within spittin' distance of Paris, Texas, on the road home. My father told stories of stopping in Paris while traveling on an Army train at the start of his service in World War II. From there he was shipped to Europe. Joelle googled and discovered they have their own mini Eiffel Tower.

First stop in Paris, the town square, which boasted 3 banks in the early 20th century. Did my father have a chance to get off the train and see this town square? Did he stand where I am now?

I love you Texas, but not everything is bigger there.

As we pulled up to the Eiffel tower, just outside of town, we saw this beautiful Veterans Memorial right next to it. Soldiers from every U.S. military campaign are honored here and we visited the World War II monument and reminisced about Joelle's grandfather and my father. We paused at the Vietnam monument to honor Darryl.

Beautifully designed and moving tribute.

After a good night's sleep in Dallas, we were back in the car the next morning, adding one more side trip, heading South toward Austin. We enjoyed walking the streets of Austin, even though the thermometer was wavering around 100.

The quirky details of a town delight me.

On Monday morning, we actually took the time to have our coffee on Joelle's patio, which adjoins this beautiful park.

Joelle's backyard

Plans had changed once again, I rerouted my flight, and by that night, I'd landed in Washington, DC to speak at a marketing conference. Lucky me had a balcony.

Getting a feel for the room.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time speaking with the attendees of the non-profit conference. Everyone was polite … and reticent. Other places I speak, folks ask questions and offer up anecdotes during the presentation.

I was struck with the difference in personalities among people from different parts of the country. In Arkansas, every single person we encountered struck up a conversation. Even in the elevators. With only a moment to share, people would ask where you were from and how long you were in town.

I bounced onto the elevator of the Fairmont on M street in Washington, greeted the only other person on the elevator, and she turned her head and shrunk into the corner.

This seemed a very fitting symbol for our politicians, and possibly people in elevators.

Two hours before my flight leaves? You won't find me in the hotel bar. The concierge stowed my bags, and I took off on a brief walking tour up Pennsylvania Avenue.