Where we're heading next:
Home Sweet Home
Quote of the Day
Peanut, "Wow, mom, now we can say we've been to all 50 states! What are we gonna do next?"
We're in our last hotel, a few miles from home and I'm finally responding to a common question from readers. I hope this helps you out with your own road trips.
Here are my thoughts about traveling with kids this age on long road trips:
1. Pangs of home-sickness seem to start at about 3 weeks. If you're traveling longer than this, make sure the destinations are ones the kids value. For us, we had Yellowstone and Craters of the Moon to look forward to.
2. Let the mornings happen naturally -- wake up on their own, load the car and check out, have a leisurely breakfast. We set out most naturally around 9:30am but sometimes it was 10:30am.
3. Try to arrive back at the hotel in time to go for a swim, or run around in a park, have a bath and get to bed within an hour or so of their normal bedtime.
4. Let the kids participate in decision making. In Chicago I asked, "Do you want the double decker bus or would you rather go to the fountain again?" They chose the fountain for a short time, followed by the bus! When we were nearing home, I actually asked the kids, "Do you want one more night in a hotel with a pool, or would you rather drive longer to get home and see your friends and the kitties?" They chose the hotel much to my surprise.
5. Keep media out of the program altogether. We allowed cartoons on some mornings when one kid was sleeping longer than the others, but that was it. T.V. and computer games are much harder to take away once they've been allowed. Kids have incredible imaginations and are capable of entertaining themselves (and us!) when that's their only option.
6. Each kid is likely to be in a different stage and it's okay if things don't even out perfectly. Little Man would have been happy to simply go on a gift shop tour of the U.S.A. He got something at EVERY stop and he played with it until the next stop. This worked beautifully. Peanut was happy to read her books in the car and only chose a couple of souvenirs. Doodle controlled the music almost exclusively.
7. We made a cd for each kid before leaving and brought books on cd that complimented the trip: Mark Twain's, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Laura Ingalls Wilder's, On the Banks of Plum Creek. We listened to these repeatedly and the kids' music non-stop. It's important to note that their interest in music is quite diverse. Their cds weren't exclusively childish music -- The Killers, Death Cab for Cutie, Billy Joel, Stray Cats, Patsy Cline, They Might be Giants and The Cure were on their playlists, too.
8. Try to feed your kids real food. Skip the Children's Menu if possible when it only contains mac'n'cheese and dino nuggets. Order a steak or shrimp or pasta and split it among your kids. Let one kid get french fries, but share them. Get a salad and let them pick out the parts they like. It'll cost about the same and they'll feel better afterwards.
There will certainly be frustrations and arguments, but I really believe it usually stems from the adult's mood in the car. When I was easy-going, the going was easy. When I was calm the rest of the car usually mimicked me. The minute I started to freak out about something, the vibe of the car shifted negatively. If I could pull myself together, all went well, even in stressful situations.
I hope this helps any of you thinking of a long road trip with wee ones and I hope you'll join us again in a month when we head to New England!
Back in Washington of all places, the golden, swaying wheat fields finally came into view. This was literally our first wheat crop of the trip even though I'd prepared the kids for miles and miles and days and days of wheat. Instead we found only corn fields, until now. It was b e a u t i f u l! We pulled over to play in it, cut it, chew it. We talked about different ways to grind wheat -- using a mano like Josefina did (see New Mexico) and a wheat grinder like Pa did (see Walnut Grove, MN). Back in the car, they separated the seeds with their fingers and made wheat maracas.
I rounded a corner after taking yet another picture, when I saw the oh so familiar swirling red and blue lights. All the music stopped as a cop pulled me over. I was only going 66mph, but naturally the speed limit had just dropped to 55mph. When I only got a warning, Peanut said, "Wow, mom, I didn't know cops were nice in Washington, too!" What am I teaching these kids?????
Despite being an 8-hour drive, the kids were overjoyed for the sun to go down so they could do another flashlight show (see North Dakota). They created a stage with their Glacier National Park walking sticks, and another stick Little Man picked up somewhere to make an arrow when we got home. This contraption became quite ornate, with blankets, birds, etc. and they proceeded to entertain themselves while I desperately tried to find a hotel.
Grandma is having some deserved peace and quiet back home right now as we head out on the road again. My niece has arrived from Texas to ride with me. She’s been counting down the days to this trip as much as we’ve been awaiting her arrival. Let’s just say she’s had a crash course in noise. Not only did we breed loquacious kids, they all feel the need to speak at once! Questions just roll through their mouths continuously and, what can I say? I indulge them. I consider it a gift knowing what’s going on in their little developing minds. And when they follow-up by summarizing everything I say, at least it’s clear what they understood. For new arrivals like Niece, however, it can get pretty exhausting…
This morning we ran to the store for a bottle of shoe polish and we’ve written all over the car windows: “All 50 States Road Trip!!!” And our blog address is splayed across the back window -- we're in the road trip spirit to say the least. It's really easy to meet people this way and find out about everyone else's road trips, too.
Washington is one of those rare places that Earth Science majors study – lush Western Washington (a temperate rain forest to boot!) with dry, desert Eastern Washington just over the mountains. It’s quite a cultural divide as well -- those of us in Western Washington never appreciate those over in Eastern Washington. That could explain the political divide as well. Lets just say it’s a lot easier to appreciate the fuschias and orcas by Puget Sound, while taking for granted the Rainier cherries, apples and onions from other parts of the state. Life is never fair for the farmers, huh?
Crossing the state at this time of year is really beautiful. It’s hilly which makes the desert look more beautiful and unlike the Southwest, every now and then you get to cross a pretty bridge over the Columbia River – the very same river we crossed into Oregon (state #1) a couple of months ago! And there are shiny blue lakes in the middle of this desert as well that looked very, very appealing as we moved into the dry 90s.
Looking up from a winding road, we noticed a dozen or so wild horses cresting a hill overlooking a canyon. The kids freaked and I said, “Should we go?” Hoorah, we pulled over and overzealously made the hike to the top. Extremely steep incline, slippery hot dirt and one unprepared mama. Doodle was in flips, the rest of us in a version of shoes not at all resembling hiking boots and we had 5 bottles of water…back in the car. It somehow looked more manageable from the parking lot!
Still, I was really proud of the way they plugged on as unstable and hot as they were. Never mind that Little Man actually thought the horses were real for quite some time -- a compliment to the artist no doubt. Well, the downhill hike was much worse. (I should have listened to the descending foreign guy when we were just starting out.) Of course, while we all braced ourselves for death, Doodle managed to find herself a hip...complaining the entire way anyway!
The first time Tomcat and I were up in this area I had an incredible sense of deja'vu. We had been to Canada and were just driving down the coast, checking out the enormous homes of pretentious Semiahmoo and then the transitioning cottages of Birch Bay Village. When we turned a corner and drove past the Birch Bay Water Slides, my insides flip-flopped and it finally donned on me.
When I was 12, 13 and 14-ish, I used to spend the summer with my grandparents up in Snohomish, WA and we'd tool around in their 5th wheel. All my experiences of these times are jumbled into one great memory of freedom and beauty in the Pacific Northwest. It was NOTHING like Texas and I relished my time here. We'd go up to Canada to buy 222s and I couldn't believe that people would put out flowers for sale with a tin cup and operate on the honor system. I wanted to stop every time we passed one just to see how much money the family had made. Grams and I would lie in bed at night reading to each other from the same book. Neither of us can remember the best one -- it was the longest book I'd ever read to date, going through 4 or 5 generations of a particular family. We were hooked and still talk about how good it was!
There were two highlights of these summers, however. Square dancing and water slides. I square danced a little, but mostly, I ran free, making friends with other kids in the RV parks, coveting all the hand-made windsocks (made from beer cans and other inappropriate materials for me at the time). Or, I'd get dropped off at the water slides by myself and spend the entire day. I met so many interesting kids. Well, as Tomcat and I drove past, it occurred to me that this was the place. I called Grams immediately to tell her where I was. She validated my thrill, cleared up some details and I vowed to bring my kids here as soon as they were old enough.
Voila! They're old enough.
We woke up to cloudy weather, grrrr! Wind, arrrgh. Who cares? We went to the water slides anyway. The bright side was that it wasn't crowded. But we quickly learned that each kid required a personal assistant. None of them would go alone. Hallelujah, Grandma. First of all, she was considered a "senior observer" and only cost $4. Second of all, she sat with one kid the entire time as we rotated. That way each kid got 2 slides followed by a break. This also meant that neither Tomcat or CurlyTop ever got to sit down!
Nausea hit hard after cycling through a few times and I was seriously thinking about Dramamine. Am I really that old? Then, I realized I could just eliminate the Corkscrew and Twister from the rotation, and do the lightning fast Snake and Hairpin. Staring at the horizon on my way up the stairs, I started to recover and never actually threw up.
I heard Peanut and Little Man talking to each other, "I'm never ever ever going down that black one over there." I followed their gaze to a separate section with 2 slides. A shock wave went through me and I went weak at the knees. My body remembered its first and only enema.
I remember the summer the 60' Hydrodrop Speed Slide was built. You have to climb to the moon, step in, lie down flat on your back with your legs and arms crossed and your head tucked to your chest. In about 4 seconds flat you are thrown off a waterfall, or so it seems, free falling until finally finally you hit the bottom at full speed, while gallons upon gallons of rushing water surge up your ass. That is, if you're the adolescent me, and you didn't keep your legs crossed "all the way down until you come to a complete stop." I've been through natural childbirth 3 times and some other really nasty pain, and never have I had that kind of feeling. Surely some of you know what I'm talking about.
Now then, staring at the Hydrodrop, I just had to do it again as a grown-up. We gave the kids one last turn to slide, and then brought them over to the fence to watch their parents go down the black slide. It's been a long, long time since I've actually been scared to do something and I was seriously scared. I concentrated on my breath, and reminded myself that I wanted the kids to see me do something that frightened me, and come out all right. Please, God, let me come out all right. To be clear, I was all right. But somehow I flipped over onto my belly at the bottom and my swimsuit came (almost) completely off. I managed to get up, but I was one heart-palpitating, cellulite-wobbling woman and I could barely walk. Tomcat took me in his arms and I saw some teenagers point at me and mouth a romantic "ahhh", while I pulled myself together. My butt hurt like hell -- this time from squeezing my legs so tightly together.
We’re just barely in the United States, up in the very Northwest corner of Washington. There’s a little town called Birch Bay and it boasts a beach with a ridiculously low tide (you can walk out a mile during the day), a fun mixed community and a water slide that we’ll hopefully enjoy tomorrow if the weather cooperates. About 20 minutes away lies Blaine, WA and this was State #10’s hot destination.
Do you love small-town Fourth of July parades as much as me? I sat up front on the street (when will I ever remember to bring camping chairs?) and quickly got labeled “a great parade mom”. In other words, I was happy to take charge of about 8 kids that weren’t mine while the other parents stood far behind us drinking beer! This one little toddler boy must have asked me to unwrap about 20 pieces of candy, one after another. I finally said, “Which one is your mommy?” He pointed a chubby finger and I made a mental note. See, I’m feeling for her tonight, because she’s probably cleaned up a lot of puke by now.
The kids are so hilarious at a parade. For example, a big rig went by with a driver wearing a bright blue wig. Little Man bent his elbow and did the motion for the guy to honk his horn. Well the guy looked Little Man dead in the eye and pretended to honk by pulling his arm down and making a deep honking sound with his voice. It took Little Man a minute to realize the guy was faking, but when he did, he couldn’t hold back his glee at the joke.
I sing to the kids a lot, but I don’t know all the words to our country’s favorites. So, we’ve suffered through hours of listening to patriotic songs on the highly recommended children’s cd “God Bless the U.S.A.” and it really paid off. At the parade, people couldn’t believe our kids knew the words to every patriotic song that went by. They sang their hearts out. Then suddenly they each turned around and gave me this “you done me wrong” look. Sure enough, I hadn’t taught them the words to Neil Diamond’s “Coming to America.”
We were at this parade last year and I realized that the kids had never seen so much candy come their way, even at Halloween. We had some discussions about greed last year and it was nice to see another example of Peanut’s 8 year old maturity: she’d scramble for buckets of candy and then turn around and pass it out to all the little people (keeping butterscotch for herself!) who weren’t quick enough. Also, last year a parade helper walked by and told Little Man to stay behind the white line. This year, he took on the role of Police Officer himself and woe to all those kids who dared to step over the boundary!
Doodle was content to just sit in my lap, eating piece after piece of candy that got tossed her way. She was finally motivated to get up when a Dog Grooming Float came by with puppies dressed up like dolls, pink ribbons in their hair and whatever else. Then the announcement came from another little girl standing in front, “A princess is coming! A princess is coming!” and when Ms. Whatcom County came by waving the wave from atop a convertible, Doodle never sat down again. She was in her element.
Grandma thought she was having a great time until a Funnel Cake tent came loose and one of the supports literally tried to split her in two. Several of us in line witnessed the beam come loose and we scrambled to avoid it. Poor Grandma was just people watching when BAM! it landed smack in the middle of the back of her head. She was really shaken up with the rotten surprise and it obviously hurt like hell. I held up fingers for her to count and she tried mightily not to wet her pants. My heartfelt prayer was that we weren’t in for another trip to E.R. because the nearest one is in Bellingham. She’s a tough bird and only ended up with a headache.
We’ve rented a house at the southern end of Birch Bay State Park and it’d be perfect except that we can’t seem to find matches anywhere to light our sparklers! They’ll have to wait until tomorrow night. So far we’re lucky and the kids are sleeping through the fireworks outside. Pretty soon they’ll clue in and we won’t be able to get away with putting them to bed at 8pm on July 4th.
