On the Road to Amarillo

We started from our home early on Thursday morning.  Our plan was to drive 5 ½ hours to Amarillo, the halfway point between here and Colorado Springs.  Because we were traveling with a baby, we decided to limit driving to six hours or less per day.  

There are two things you should know as you embark on this trip with us.  We are traveling in a 10 year old minivan with 160,000 miles on it. Even if we are not willing to say it out loud, dear husband and I silently agree that if we make it back without needing a major repair we will be shocked.  Also, it seems that the baby boy may be getting an ear infection, so we will have to see how that develops.

We drove into Amarillo and made our way just out of town to Palo Duro Canyon.  Known as the Grand Canyon of Texas, we decided that this would be a good place to spend a relaxing afternoon stretching our legs from the drive.  I have to say, the canyons are impressive and there are plenty of places for antsy boys to get out and climb.

When you live with someone every day, you get the feeling that you know all there is to know about them.  New places have a way of pointing out new things about your family, though.  At Palo Duro Canyon, we learned that Evan is over the top terrified of holes in the Earth and people falling into them.  I honestly had no idea.  I guess we just haven’t encountered that many giant holes in the Earth, so he has had no reason to be fearful.  At first, he was so hysterical that I got a little tickled.  It caught me completely off guard, as he is usually so confident, and I started laughing.  After a minute, though I realized he was terribly scared so I pulled myself out of my parenting failure, and set about to calm him down.  He was never really comfortable with the canyon, but we made it through the park.  We spent some time climbing on the rocks and even climbed up into a small cave. 

Evan on top of the world

After our experience at the Canyon, we headed to dinner at the Big Texan.  The Big Texan is famous for its free 72 ounce steak, and for an ambiance that is as big as Texas.  By that I mean, take every stereotype you know about Texas and triple it.  This place is all Texas.  To make it extra special, it was also Aidan’s 5^th birthday.  He enjoyed a cupcake at the restaurant and we sang to celebrate his birthday.

Biggest Rocking Chair in Texas

Happy Birthday Aidan!

We crashed at a hotel along the highway with the hardest bed I have ever felt in my life.  As it turns out, I didn’t get much sleep in that bed, as baby boy’s maybe ear infection began raging with fever sometime in the middle of night.  As per our agreement, I was the parent on duty, as I could sleep in the car the next day as Gary drove.  Assuredly, I took full advantage of that fact the next day.