Road Trip and Cherry Limeades

We go on a business/family trip to Fruitland once a month.  Every other month, we add Marsing and Payette to the itinerary. It gives us a chance to get out of our hometown and see something new. It is a loooong drive. Our rear ends get tired of sitting, and our legs get cramped, but every time the trip comes up, we are all ready to go. We usually pack a lunch, grab some of the books we are reading for school, I pack my camera and tripod (cause you never know what you might see!) and Taterman brings his green piggy bank of mostly pennies so he can "buy us all something" and head out of town. We change the way we go sometimes but mainly we make a big loop out into the country, visiting Marsing first, and then use the freeway to return home. This time our trip took longer than usual because the driver was a little stressed and forgot his own plans, headed down the freeway and then said, "Oh, I was going to go to Marsing first!" We took a detour, kinda backtracked, and resumed our trip to Marsing.

Marsing is a little tiny town down by the snake river, they have a cool little picnic/fishin' spot right under the bridge as you go into town. Sometimes we stop there or we go a little ways further into town and visit the park to keep the kids happy. My husband drops us off while he goes and does his business (don't be getting any weird ideas! He inspects subdivisions) and then picks us up when he's done. Then its on the road again!

Did you know that we grow hops in Idaho?  The farms we pass along the way are the coolest thing I've ever seen! We had the pleasure of watching some workers harvest the hops on our last trip.  I took some pictures so I will try and post them next time.

Anyway, We pass by Homedale, then through Wilder the boring, dinky town. On the way to Parma is this awesome race horse farm! It is amazing! Huge mansion of a house, beautiful manicured paddocks and pastures. I want to live there so bad. It is the dream of my childhood. We pass this place and I crane my neck around so I can take in the whole breadth of this dream scape. Then on through Parma which is kind of a nice town. Somewhere between Parma and Fruitland there is this house right off the road with a sign that says "Guns for Sale". The house is kinda tucked back in the trees a little and though it's not a trailer, looks like it belongs in a old messed up trailer park.  I always wonder about that place and who in their right mind would venture in there to buy a gun. Hmmm. 

By the time we reach Fruitland we have to stop for a potty break.  There is a gas station/A&W right as you get into Fruitland that we always stop at. Most of the time it's a quick-jump-out-and-go-potty stop. On our last trip, I noticed a poster in the window for a knew Limeade drink at A&W for a buck so I dug around in my purse and begged Emberlee and Taterman for money. Remember, Taterman brought his piggy bank (Yea!) and it was a good thing, too, because I needed to borrow 30 cents from him to cover the tax. And then the complaints start, "I was saving that money to buy something special for all of us!" He says.
"Well, we don't have to buy you a drink." I say while I'm dumping his money out in my palm, trying to see if he has anything other then pennies in his little green piggy bank.  Yeah, I'm a mean mom.
"Oh, all right, but you have to pay me back... a dollar." He says.

"I think he's going to grow up to be a banker" My husband says, with a chuckle.
"Or a loan shark!" I say with a laugh.

Anyway, We have to choose between lime, cherry, or strawberry flavored limeades. Weird. Aren't Limeades made from...Limes? We all choose cherry, except for Emberlee, who likes to be different.

It is customary for my kids to do the "Taste for a taste?" thing. Emberlee tries Fred's drink and say's "This tastes like cough syrup!" She was right they tasted a lot like cough syrup.  Carbonated cough syrup!  Ewww! But when your poor, you can't be picky and besides it wasn't too bad and it kinda grew on you!

As we are leaving the drive through, Taterman is exclaiming his appreciation for his drink and says, "I am starting to be glad I helped buy these drinks! It's the best cough syrup I've ever tasted!"

He looks like he's crying but I think the sun was getting in his eyes. Either that, or he was laughing so hard it brought tears to his eyes....

"Stop it!"

Ok, what is THAT! Never mind, I don't even want to know.

"Ewww... ok, that's enough."

"Mom, stop taking pictures and help me please!"

Visiting Payette is a story for another day.

Until next time,

Gruvinmom

;)