Texas road trip with kids

[alb123]

This is a great forum! I've enjoyed reading all the posts, especially the field trip reports! Thanks so much for the great info! My husband and I and our boys (ages 7 and 2 1/2) are taking a 5 day spring break (mar 11-15) road trip. I'm a bit apprehensive, but you all have inspired me to go for it.

We're planning to leave Dallas going west, and my goal is to make small stops that will be interesting and fun for the boys. They travel well, but they're obviously young and we need to keep them interested. I'd like to make a stop every couple of hours for the first two days, spend the third day at a final destination and then take a different route back to Dallas for the final two days, making stops similar to the first two days. I've identified some stops that sound fun and I'm leaning toward going southwest toward Big Bend, rather than northwest toward Amarillo.

My problems are:
1. How far should I realistically plan to get each day?
2. Along those same lines, I'm not sure what our final destination should be and if 2 days is enough time to get out of Texas (maybe New Mexico?).
3. Are Carlsbad Caverns appropriate for our little boys?
4. Are there enough interesting stops in Big Bend to keep the little ones entertained? (Scenery only goes so far when you're young.)
5. Am I crazy to think this is going to be fun?????

Any and all tips are appreciated!

--alb

[lhuff]

I can answer a few of your questions.

I don't have kids so I can't help with some of those questions. But, I do know that you can make it to Carlsbad Caverns from Shreveport in about 14 hours, so probably 11 from Dallas (take I-20 to Pecos and go north). That was 14 hours of hard driving with minimal stops so I'd add several hours to that number for you.

I think Carlsbad would be terrific for them. When I went I saw many young children and they seemed to be having a great time. You aren't forced into taking a guided tour. You can get a printed and/or taped guidebook which is great since you can go at your own pace.

Have fun!

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA forum!

I think you've got a very good plan laid out that should make this fun for both you and your kids. Your plan to have frequent stops is a great one, and I think you should be able to do a Carlsbad/Big Bend loop on your time table.

I'd say about 6 hours of traveling is the most you'll typically want to do with kids, however, if you are making frequent stops you might be able to stretch that a little bit. I'd probably try to make it close to New Mexico the first day, letting anticipation take some of the edge off the travel. Then you'd just have a short drive and have all of your second day at the caverns. Your third day could be spent going to Big Bend and start heading back home on the afternoon of day 4.

This trip would push things a little bit, so a 6th day certainly wouldn't hurt, but I think you can find a way to make this trip work and have a great time.

[alb123]

Very helpful info! Thanks so much - we're off on our first family road trip! :)