I’ve posted sporadically about our amazing trip, but I must post fully about the adventures of Flat Fountain! For those who are scratching their heads, trying to figure out who the Flat Stanley-esque character is that appeared in numerous road trip photos on my Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook streams, let me tell you about Flat Fountain! Alaina and I have a really great principal, Mr. Fountain! I originally hoped that he would be coming to ISTE this year, but he couldn’t because he was busy awaiting the arrival of his first child this summer! A big congrats to the Fountains, who welcomed their beautiful baby into the world this week!!

We realized that Real Fountain was going to have a VERY busy summer, but wouldn’t be doing any traveling. So this is where Alaina and I came up with the idea of Flat Fountain! He would get to travel to all of the awesome fun places along our epic road trip…

Our adventure began on June 22 as we drove from Baton Rouge to San Antonio. Here’s Flat Fountain at the Texas state line.

We had a wonderful time in San Antonio at ISTE learning, exploring, and visiting with friends! Flat Fountain met many of our friends, including Matthew Winner.

He was excited to visit the Alamo, but was disappointed to find that there’s no basement. Flat Fountain also enjoyed the Riverwalk.

 

Other ISTE friends included Moby and presenter Lori Elliott.

 

After leaving San Antonio, we drove into New Mexico. Flat Fountain really enjoyed Carlsbad Caverns because he met a new flat friend there!

 

We visited Roswell, NM and the International UFO Museum and Research Center, but Flat Fountain wasn’t too sure about those aliens…

We rode along Route 66 where we could, which Flat Fountain really enjoyed. One of the fun places he visited along the way was the Wigwam Village Motel!

 

In Albuquerque, NM we had a great visit at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History.

 

Flat Fountain was very excited to enter Arizona because it’s such a beautiful state!

 

The most exciting thing that Flat Fountain did in Arizona was rafting on the Colorado River! It was a HOT day (105 degrees), so Alaina and I went for a dip in the water (which was a CHILLY 47 degrees), but Flat Fountain obviously couldn’t get wet!

 

On the way to Las Vegas, the winding road took us in and out of Arizona. We did get to make a fun stop at the Little Hollywood Movie Museum in Kanab, Utah. Flat Fountain got to play the part of a movie star in an old western!

 

The Hoover Dam was another must see sight on the Colorado River.

Flat Fountain was happy to spend a few days in the same spot…in Las Vegas! It was also nice to see a familiar face as my mom met us there! Vegas was the hottest town on our stop…LITERALLY, with a top temperature of 126 degrees!

 

After leaving Vegas, we took a scenic drive through Utah…such a beautiful state! Flat Fountain visited a number of National Parks along the way, including Zion National Park and the AMAZING Arches!

   

Flat Fountain was snoozing as we drove into Colorado in the dark, and he recovered from the long day in Utah as Alaina and I visited with a friend in Denver (thanks for having us, Carleigh). Ahead of us was another long day of driving through Kansas. We did enjoy our visit to the Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum in Abilene, KS.

 

We stayed the night in Topeka, KS and visited Monroe Elementary School, home of the Brown vs. Board of Education Historic Site.

 

Flat Fountain was very happy to say, “We’re not in Kansas anymore,” as we make another stop in Kansas City, MO. We made two more library stops: Kansas City Public Library and Truman’s Presidential Library & Museum. The Truman Library was one of the best museums we visited during the entire road trip! Flat Fountain particularly enjoyed the recreation of Truman’s Oval Office.

 

Our next stop was St. Louis, which proved to be a pretty tricky city! We ended up in Illinois twice after unintentionally taking the bridge over the Mississippi River. Flat Fountain finally had his chance to visit the Gateway Arch before we headed out of town.

 

Next, we headed to Memphis, TN, the final stop on our amazing road trip. Flat Fountain visited Graceland, home of Elvis!

 

And before heading home to Baton Rouge, Flat Fountain needed to do one last thing…send a post card from Graceland to baby Fountain!

What an incredible adventure for Flat Fountain…and Alaina and I had a blast too! I know that the memories we made on this trip will be shared ALL the time, for years to come!