Our Family Road Trip - Part 3

We only spent three nights in Florida and then it was time to head home.  We made much better progress getting out of Florida than we had coming in and decided to press on to Mobile before stopping.  This time, we stopped at the Alabama welcome center and made sure to crank up the "Sweet Home Alabama" as we pulled away.

We psyched ourselves up for finishing the drive the next day instead of splitting into two days.  We knew it would be a slog, but we would sleep in our own beds at the end of it.  I called the hotel in Lake Charles where we had made reservations and they were happy to cancel our room, but we "would still have to pay since it is less than 24 hours in advance of the stay. "  That was a new one for us.  All the other hotels had let us cancel as long as we called before 3pm the day of our stay.  We decided to go ahead and use it since we would be paying for it.  

That was a really good decision.  I got online (hooray for travel with a smartphone!) and found a promising park in Lake Charles where we could spend the afternoon.  It was epic!  Just look at that playscape!  

And a splash pad to make everything bearable.  We all changed in the restroom, went and got soaking wet, then explored the playground.  After we dried out, we went back and ran in the fountains before going to play again.  It was really good to have a fun experience on the road instead of just at our destination.  

The next morning, we finished our trek home.  We had to stop at the Texas welcome center and get the best photo yet.  Those last few hours were soooo long, even if we were on home turf.  

Overall, the trip went so much better than I expected.  It wasn't until we were coming back into Texas that the girls finally said, "I'm bored."  By that point, we were willing to let them zone out to movies for the remainder of the trip.  It went so well that J and I even started planning our next road trip.  This time, I get to pick the destination and it won't be a beach.  And if I can help it at all, it won't be in August.  

The end!