My winter 2016 trip to the desert was riddled with closures, and I really should have expected and prepared more for them. Instead, every time I got to a road or a park and was turned back, disappointment flooded through me and all I could think was "now what?" I arrived at the final destination for my winter trip, the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park, at the exact same time they closed the gates to the park. Seriously?! To be fair, there was a serious winter storm headed straight for the park (story of my life) and it was unlikely that I would have seen anything, but still. I think my biggest problem with this particular park's closure is that I've been there once before, years ago with my family on our first long summer vacation where we drove around the Southwest for two weeks and camped in a pop-up camper, and that time when we visited the park we got caught out on one of the trails in a severe thunderstorm that sent my mom, sister and brother running for the shelter of the truck and left my dad and I stranded under a metal-roofed picnic table cover. We didn't get to see much on that trip, and I was hoping for a little bit more experince this time around. Oh well, third time's the charm, right?
Leave me a comment below and let me know if you've had to deal with disappointment like this. Is it only me who gets sad when I can't visit the places I want to see?
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