Road Trip Take 2

Wooohoooooooo! In three days we're road tripping to Santa Fe! I can't believe how excited I am about this trip, but even more surprisingly, how excited the kids are! This is a new kind of trip for us. We have a destination, but really no solid plans once we get there. Along the way we're stopping at Palo Duro canyon near Amarillo, Texas. I also hope to go to a nature preserve ~30 miles from the canyon, but the Mapquest directions are so vague I'm not sure we'll ever get there. (Drive NW for 5.7 miles. Turn left and drive 0.4 miles. NO street names or route numbers!) We don't have GPS and I was thinking of buying a system before we leave. Then I was asking my boss and a coworker how they like theirs and at the same time they were raving about it, they were complaining about how many times it did them wrong. Then my boss made my decision final by telling the story of some woman who blindly followed her GPS into the desert and died because the instructions were wrong. Um... Nevermind. As for Santa Fe, we have little actually planned. My other boss suggested the Georgia O'Keeffe museum. I checked their website and think Kaylin will love it and Logan will hate it. I'm hoping it's in an area Gene and Logan can do something else fun because after reading up on O'Keeffe I really want to go! I also now want to go to Taos, but I'm not sure our trip will be long enough. The kids want to stop at City Museum in St. Louis. I'm trying to convince them we'll take an overnight St. Louis trip soon and go then. Gene wants to go to Merramec Caverns or another cave. I just want to see lots of cool birds. And reptiles and mammals. I got the kids some sturdy butterfly nets I hope they can use to catch small lizards (but just to look at closer for a few seconds- not to keep or harm in any way.) I have extra binoculars. We're taking along balls and kites and roller skates. Gene is hooking up the Wii in the van so Logan will be set. Kaylin usually draws for hours on end. Both kids love the drive. Both very much want to see deserts and mountains and canyons. Score! I'm usually such a trip planner, I can't believe I have such a vague itinerary. I also can't believe I have NO ZOOS in the plan I do have. We may possibly stop at Tulsa or Oklahoma City Zoo, but only if there's nothing more interesting to do. The kids have both separately asked me what zoos we're going to? Both are SHOCKED when I say probably none. Gene wants to do some of the silly Route 66 attractions on the way home and I'm all for that. My last few trips have been all about zoos and aquariums. I did 4 in 4 days in July, 2 in 2 days and then 3 in 3 days in August, and then Meghan and I just did 5 in 5 days. That doesn't even count all the single zoos I've visited over the past 12 months. Ha! This trip is just about wild animals instead of zoo animals. It's all about the animals :) If my trip goes perfectly, I'll see a roadrunner, a burrowing owl and a painted bunting (might be too early for the bunting.) Oh, and a raven, but I'm fairly confident of that one because the birding area I'm visiting near Santa Fe has ravens instead of crows. Shouldn't be hard to find!