‘Day Trips from Dallas’ Idea is Born
The week before school started I panicked about losing our freedom to travel whenever we wanted. Several of my Non-Rev readers have asked about day trips or quick weekend trips from Dallas. So, I thought it would be fun to try out “Day trips from Dallas” with my kids. Without much prep I knew we would be flying by the seat of your pants, but isn’t that the point?
I researched 7 different places that are pretty close to us. Only one location looked like a home run with open flights, so we decided to head to Little Rock, Arkansas.
Flying by the Seat of your Pants to Little Rock
When we woke up on Monday morning, the flight was looking really full. We needed 5 seats and there were only 3 available. I decided to risk it and head to the airport anyway.
We got only 4 seats, but luckily, my daughter is young enough to be a lap baby, so we could still get on! Or maybe that was unlucky because she is a big handful! But anyway, we were glad to be on the flight and headed for a fun day in a new state. And it was only an hour in the air.
My girls sat several rows in front of me, but together. They were content with an
My baby started gagging right as we got in the air. As a mom who’s flown 300 flights with kids, I knew exactly what those belly-wretches were! With lightning-like reflexes only a mother would know, I one-handedly grabbed an airsick bag, ripped it open and was able to capture 90% of the milk-vomit. The smell was overwhelming and now I felt so bad for my neighbor, despite being saved from the noise of my daughter, she now had to endure the smell.
I was super impressed that I caught most of the vomit and cleaned the rest up super quick. I was feeling like a rock-star mom, thinking I can handle whatever is thrown my way (like-literally ‘thrown’).
What to do in Little Rock (Change of Plans)
We landed in Little Rock and headed to the rental car center. As last-minute planning would have it, I accidentally rented the car from the wrong location! However, Enterprise was able to help me out anyway. The rental company accidentally kept my license, but I didn’t realize this until later, which adds to the drama.
I entered the address to the museum we wanted to attend in the GPS. Maps told me that the museum was closed on Mondays! Since this was our only plan for the day, I was scrambling to figure out what to do.
I decided in a split second to just keep driving an hour out to Hot Springs. No Audiobook, no Car entertainment, rain pelting down and no plan… but we went for it anyway.
Hot Springs National Park
When we arrived at Hot Springs it was lightly sprinkling. We found a stunning hot spring cascade and I immediately pulled over and parked. We only had 1 quarter which was enough for 30 minutes. Luckily we found another quarter and I had my son run back and put it in the meter.
After feeling the thermal pools and gawking at the waterfall. We started hiking up the hill to see what more we could explore.
Hiking versus Driving
It started raining more, but even still it was hot and the humidity was suffocating. Still, I wanted to hike. I carried my big toddler and forced my complaining kids to keep going until we got to the mountain tower.
And then I discovered a road and a parking lot right next to the tower.
Since it was cloudy I didn’t really want to pay for us all to get a view, but my son was begging. With his 4th grade “Every Kid in a Park” pass he could go up for free. I sent him up alone and the girls and I looked through the gift shop. My baby bit a chunk out of a souvenier forcing us to buy it.
On the way down I was worn out, hangry and complaining, but my son was happy he had some great views, Hallie loved finding rocks. Mariah was thrilled she got the souvenier Whitney bit. They all kept my spirits up by telling me it was the best hike ever.
Parking Woes
Until we got back to our car and found a parking ticket on the windshield. Time expired 10 mins before we got down. I was mad. And hungry.
luckily, I packed a picnic lunch from home, so we quickly went to a new parking spot and devoured food in the car.
After eating, we all felt much better. We parked again, using one more quarter and nickel we found. We started walking down bathhouse row. Halfway through our museum tour, our time was up on our parking spot. We had to walk all the way back to the car, load the stroller and buckle everyone up and THEN is when I found the “free parking”… right accross the street!
We walked back to Bathhouse row and continued the museum and a bit of sightseeing.
Science Museum & Bad News Galore
Our final stop was to the Mid-America Science Museum. Whitney fell asleep on the short drive and transferred to the stroller for a nice nap as the big kids explored the museum. I was feeling like I was winning now with a fun activity, sleeping baby and just a few hours until our flight home.
This is when I discovered my license was missing. I started stressing about how I would get on a plane with 4 kids without any ID!
I tried calling the rental company (they never answered the phone)
My husband called with the news that there was a flight canceled and only 4 seats coming home. I was still hopeful. Until he called again saying my flight was canceled.
We had no overnight clothes or toiletries. Plus, the next day’s flights would surely fill up with others who were paying customers on the canceled flight! While my kids continued to explore the museum, I frantically made phone calls trying to change my rental reservation to drive back to Dallas.
I called the rental car company 8 times. Twice I got through to a human, but both times they couldn’t find my reservation OR the car key I was holding in my hand. When I asked how much the one-way fee would be they told me I had to go back to Little Rock (an hour the wrong direction). When I explained I couldn’t go back they told me to, “Have a nice day!” and hung up.
Road Trip Home to Dallas
Exasperated and exhausted, I decided to drive home anyway, hoping the one-way fee would not be outrageous. Surely, my canceled flights and
As I got to the car for our
We quickly grabbed some hot ‘n ready pizza on our way out from the museum and headed on our way.
My son was an amazing helper and navigator. He passed out all the food, helped me find my turns and entertained the baby. We had no audio books or car entertainment, so I was worried what they would do for 5 hours! We made a stop 2.5 hours in and everyone got to pick a candy.
The kids were amazing on the ride home. My baby didn’t fall asleep until 10:30 because she is the life of the party. The girls watched a movie on the iPad. We typically don’t allow screens in the car, but this was a lifesaver for this single momma. I made several phone calls to family and friends since I had so much time on my hands.
At one point the rain was so heavy and hard, I slowed to 30 mph. I was worried it would take 12 hours to get home at that rate, but it let up and we kept zooming onward.
It didn’t feel as long as I thought it would and by 11:30 pm, we were back home.
A FULL day trip!
Headed to Hawaii
We crashed hard and slept through our early flight to Maui, but opted instead for a later flight to the Big Island.
My efforts were paid off, in that the car didn’t charge me any extra fee! It was only $30 for the day rental!
Plus, we received Premium Economy Seats (have screens and meals and extra legroom) for our flight to Hawaii. I felt like we were in NonRev heaven; Only to be slapped in the face the next day {Read that Adventure here}. But
Overall Day Trip Impression
So with all the bad and the good, would you do this trip?
I asked each of my kids and they all agreed it was a fabulous day trip and worth the effort! I would have to agree with them. Despite the stress and the long travels, I really loved our time exploring Hot Springs and the Museum.
I love to be out adventuring with my kids and this was one for the books. Creating memories doesn’t mean everything has to go perfectly. In fact, when things go awry is usually when you have the most memories!
More details about what to do in Hot Springs here.
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