Nap Time Outings

I love nap time.  I think most moms will agree with me that it is a perfect example of a win-win situation.  It can play out a number of different ways:  I nap with her (one of my favorite things to do on a weekend afternoon); I get things done around the house (prep work, cooking, folding laundry, yardwork, the to-do list never ends); or I get some true "me" time to do whatever I choose.  As an aside (you may have noticed I have never met a tangent I didn't like!) - household chores, grocery shopping, hiding for 5 minutes in the bathroom, bedroom, closet or garage do not count as me time.  Though from time to time they are all necessary to maintain Momma's sanity! 

My challenge with nap time comes up when we have plans to go somewhere that conflicts in some way with nap time.  It used to be easier, if the outing involved a car ride of at least 30 - 45 minutes, then my daughter would fall asleep in the car and get at least a power nap that would hold her until bedtime.  Unfortunately, a couple weeks ago she started to stay awake for the entire car ride.  Once we get where we are going, it's usually way too interesting for her to go to sleep.  We are there for a few hours and then head home.  At this point I am usually trying to keep her awake because it's after 5 pm and sleep now will delay dinner and push bedtime back until at least midnight.  Without fail, she falls deeply asleep. 

She is definitely not ready to give up her daily nap - nor am I!  But I feel like I am missing something here.  If we plan around nap time, we end up never leaving the house.  Fall is a really busy time for us, we have plans of some kind almost every weekend.  Birthday parties, shopping outings, play dates, the list goes on and on.  Most of these involve being outside, and she and I both love being outside and that will be a lot harder during the winter months.  This also makes me reluctant to hang out at home just for nap time. 

Am I the only one who is trying to figure this out?  I will also throw out there that we have always been an on the go family, we took our daughter out to a restaurant at 4 days old.  It usually works for us.  It'll work for us again, once I figure out how to make it work with this phase.  I'd really love to hear from you how you deal with this nap quandary - any ideas?