PREAMBLE

Like so many others, we had hoped to travel more but found it difficult with small children.  In 2010 we were not sure our kids, 7 and 5 at the time, were old enough for a serious road trip but we rolled the dice and took 18 days to visit New England and Eastern Canada.  They were amazing and it inspired us to plan and save for our cross country trip, aka “The Big Trip”, in 2013 (http://wehnervacation2013.blogspot.com/).  It was truly amazing and created memories we recall often.

Well our list of places we’d like to see and share with our children has grown significantly.  It has transitioned from a mental list of a few to a written wish list of many to a challenge, one we have accepted.  We have 20 trips, some quite modest and some quite grand, we would like to take in the next 10 years.  Beyond the money and time from work, minor issues ~, we are finding coordinating them with the kids school schedules, each different, to be a challenge.

I decided to chronicle some of these adventures partially for our relatives and close friends who are interested but largely so our kids might someday remember the details of them.  Many years removed, sadly I only remember small moments from my family vacations.

This Spring Break we are going on “The Texan”, a drive through central and southern Texas.  Why?  Why not?  It fit the criteria, warm climate and doable in a week.

To start our journey, we drove Thursday night from Raleigh to Charlotte for dinner at Cracker Barrel, last minute shopping at Target, and a hotel stay near the airport in preparation for our morning non-stop flight to Houston.