Stage 3: Santa Fe to Palo Duro Canyon

By the time we left Santa Fe, I was ready to get to our final destination

 (maybe a few tears over pizza lunch).  The kids were still in pretty good spirits and did well on day three of driving.  For those reading who might be taking on a road trip with toddlers, we totally recommend starting the day after lunch and letting the kids nap in the car.  It was a good way for to get in a 6-7 hour day without too much fussing. 

Our plan all along had been to make our next stop in Palo Duro Canyon State Park about an hour south of Amarillo, TX.  It is called the Grand Canyon of Texas, and it really was beautiful.  We had reserved a campsite ahead of time and arrived in the early evening with a picnic dinner and all of our gear.  Brooks and Richard had done some practice camping in the backyard, and we had determined that we could even fit Kate's pack n play inside the tent with us (and an air mattress!)  Everything was a GO!

 

Setting up camp - it was a warm evening but we even had a fan hooked up to the car!

Kate loved playing in the tent

I hope you are still reading because here's the kicker!  Don't think for a minute that our trip had no roadbumps.  When it came time for the kids to go to bed (late - about 9:30pm) we read books and seettled in. Brooks was so excited.  Kate was not.  Kate started screaming as soon as we zipped up the tent and didn't stop for nearly two hours as loud as we have ever heard.  Sweet Brooks tried singing to her, reading to her and assuring her that it was "time to go to sleep."  With other campsites nearby, we worried that someone was going to get upset.  We all tried getting in the tent and going to bed.  We tried Kate out of the pack n play.  We tried food/milk/rocking/music/etc. 

At 11:30pm we had to abandon our camping night.  I drove the kids around the dark state park until they both fell asleep in their carseats (kate still screaming for about 30 more minutes) while Richard broke camp in the dark.  I drove back to pick him up. We threw everything into the cartop carrier and hit the road.  Feeling pretty discouraged, we landed an hour later at a Super 8 in Amarillo where we all crashed for the night. 

Not the best part of the trip, but probably the most memorable and certainly a story worth remembering for Kate's future rehearsal dinner!