After telling the kids back in September (you can read the post here) about our plans for a family vacation to the southwest United States, all of us were very eager to plan and scheme and dream about all the things we were going to experience on this trip. Of course, I'm writing about the trip after the fact, and I can confidently say that it did not disappoint! It was a lot of driving and a lot of sight-seeing, but we had a wonderful time!
We were gone for a total of 12 days and roughly 3000 miles, and here is a basic itinerary of the trip. There were a few things we switched around and a thing or two we added, but this is the basic skeleton of the vacation.
As you can see on the itinerary, the first day was a travel day for us. We left our house on Tuesday, November 2 and headed toward Santa Fe. Our total driving time for the day was a little over 10 hours, so we made sure to get an early start. We were pulling out of our driveway at 5:45am.
Excited!
As we were driving through Tulsa toward Oklahoma City, the song "It's a Beautiful Day" by Michael Buble came on the radio. The sun was rising, and I just remember feeling such excitement for our trip and that it truly was a beautiful day!
We made our way through OKC with no problems and headed west on I-40 across the state toward the Texas panhandle. The twins made the comment, "What is wrong with the dirt?" when they saw that red dirt Oklahoma is famous for. In our part of the state, the dirt isn't red, so they were quite surprised at the red dirt that is south and west of us.
As we rolled into Texas, we made a stop at the Texas visitor's center on I-40.
First time in Texas as a family
The visitor's center was very unique . . . it had live reptiles that the worker let the kids hold!
Brianna holding a salamander
The visitor's center also had this neat windmill . . . because of course!
Our goal was to be in Amarillo by lunchtime, and we rolled into town just after noon. Of course, our first stop was at an Amarillo visitor's center to get some advice on a neat place to eat lunch. The kids were surprised at all the signs telling us to be aware and on the look out for rattlesnakes. Eeeep!
Welcome to Texas!
The lady working at the visitor's center recommended a restaurant called The Big Texan. The giant cow in front of the restaurant convinced us that it was exactly where we needed to eat for a genuine Texas experience, haha!
This restaurant has a challenge that if you eat a 72 ounce steak AND all the fixings within one hour then you get the meal for free. As we were being seated, a man was up on a stage competing in the challenge. He finished everything with time to spare! The kids were amazed! Of course, I was amazed that he was a short, skinny guy who looked like he had never eaten a large meal in his life.
The entire place was decorated in taxidermied animals, and the kids' meals were served in cowboy hats. It was fun, for sure!
After an exciting lunch, we were all ready to get back on the road. It was about 2:00pm when we crossed the state line into New Mexico (we also crossed into Mountain Time which "gave" us an hour).
As we made our way west across New Mexico toward Santa Fe, we were amazed at the incredible scenery. We were able to see the sun setting behind the mountains as we drove.
Lovely New Mexico
This crew did great for being in the car so long on our first day.
After a big lunch and hours of traveling in the car, we decided we didn't want to get back out for dinner once we had checked into our hotel. Instead, we all ate food out of the food bin that we carry with us when we travel. After eating, some of us went to the gym in the hotel to get a little exercise, while others stayed in the room to watch TV. We were grateful for a safe and successful first day and were looking forward to the adventures the next day would bring.
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