I (Scott) recently had the privilege of taking the boys on their first real "field trip" away from school and home, taking them out of school on Friday Nov. 18 and traveling to Amarillo,TX for the weekend. The idea came to me one night as I lay awake thinking about our options for the weekend as Lisa was taking Mikayla to Lancaster, PA for her cousins wedding. After checking flight availability, it was apparent that travel to Amarillo would not be a problem and since it has been my long-standing desire to explore the canyon in Northwest Texas, I booked our flight.

The boys were as excited as I was; after doing a little research, I found a children's museum in town called the Don Harrington Discovery Center, and after grabbing our bags, getting our rental car and a quick lunch, that's where we headed. Arriving at about 1:00 p.m., we spent the afternoon doing all kinds of fun stuff, including various planetarium presentations every hour on the hour, admission included. It was a blast.

Feeling tired, we went and got some carry-out pizza and found our hotel; after a quick swim and a dunk in the hot tub, we ate heartily and slept hard. The real fun would begin in the morning.

Saturday proved to be ideal weather-wise. It was chilly but forecast to be in the mid-70's by noon. Hopping in the car after a quick breakfast, we made our way to Palo Duro Canyon State Park, about a 22-mile drive south of Amarillo. Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the nation next to the Grand Canyon, and while not quite as breathtaking, it sure packed a huge punch scenery wise. The boys, Chilli (yes he made the trip as well under the seat of the airplane) and I spent the entire day hiking, exploring and generally wearing ourselves out. Of special interest was a cave that we spent about three hours hiking in, around, and over! There was a mountain bike race going on as well and that added a lot of entertainment throughout the day.

We went back to the hotel exhausted and after showers and a quick swim, found a great local BBQ joint to refill our tanks.

The next morning we got up and briefly checked out Cadillac Ranch, an iconic tourist stop along the interstate (old route 66) that features ten classic Cadillacs buried vertically in the soil. The cars are barely recognizable anymore as they have accumulated decades of spray paint and other assorted artifacts but the sight is still a worthwhile visit. Next time we'll bring our own paint and leave our mark, although I don't think it will last long.

All in all, it was a great weekend together and I am happy that we were able to create another happy memory ourselves. We discovered a lot!!