the mother of all road trips

The month of May was a busy one for us. We took the mother of all road trips and DROVE to Colorado for our newest nephew's baby blessing (the first nephew on my side! Yay Hanna and Stephen!) and to Utah for Dave's youngest brother Matthew's wedding (yay Matt and Steph!). We decided to drive because we would be going so many places that renting a car would be cost prohibitive, and because we're crazy, and because we wanted to stop at WinCo and add to our food storage.

Today you'll be getting a glimpse of our drive itself, plus some pointers at the end for a successful road trip with kids. 

We left our house Wednesday, May 7th, bright and early. Our plan was to get as far as we could the first day, then take stock of our situation at the end of the driving day and estimate whether or not we could get to Denver (our first long stop, where my sister Hanna and her family lives) the next day. Michigan, Indiana and Illinois passed by pretty quickly--especially Illinois, where I was confused and thought we were in Indiana for most of the state.

 Dave, our fearless leader, usually does most of the driving on our trips. I get drowsy and somewhat dizzy after driving too far, so typically I start the day driving and go as far as I can until I am super dizzy. Then Dave takes over and I have a nap. And then if he needs a nap late in the afternoon, I can take over for him again.

 The boys, the first day of the trip, being such GREAT travelers!

 We crossed the Mississippi river in Iowa. Hank, who loves to point out rivers any time we're in the car, LOVED seeing the huge river. We ended our first day Des Moines, Iowa, on the western end of the state. I was amazed at how quickly we had covered so much ground and we were pleased to discover that we should end up at Hanna and Stephen's house around dinner time the next night.

 Western Iowa and all of Nebraska are as flat as you'd imagine. It was amazingly windy on Thursday the 8th, so all the huge windmills were going full force as we drove by. Sooooo windy! At times it felt like our gas was being siphoned, we were fighting it so hard. When I gave Dave a break from driving, he said his arm hurt from pulling the steering wheel against the wind.

 We saw some really strange things crossing the mid-western states, both going and coming. These bridge things are a good example.

 Am I the only one to be a bit confused that Nebraska is the home of Arbor Day? All Dave and I could figure was that Nebraskans started Arbor Day because it is so empty and windy there that of course they would want to plant trees.

 More strange bridge art. Although we didn't stop, this was actually really cool--it was a rest area honoring Lewis and Clark, and the area going over the highway is a covered walkway. We stopped at a similar one when we went to New York and it was really cool to stand and watch the cars speeding below.

 Crossing the Platte River. I texted my mom at this point to tell her I felt like characters from one of my very favorite books/movies, traveling along the Platte. We crossed and re-crossed it several more times throughout the day.

 Jed keeping himself occupied in the backseat

 Hooray, Colorado! We switched from traveling straight west to south-west and it was a relief to have the wind pushing us for a change. We made such great time through Northeast Colorado!

 Hank keeping himself occupied in the backseat as well. Yes, those are cheetos. 

We arrived Thursday the 8th at my sister Hanna's house north of Denver. I had called her the night before to tell her we'd be there, and my dad sort-of guessed, but we managed to keep my mom in the dark about when we'd be arriving (we initially planned on Friday around lunchtime). We knocked on the door and Hanna answered, and Jed ran in, looking for his Nana, who was changing SJ's diaper. Nana was so surprised when we all walked into SJ's bedroom! It was so great to be there and be together for a really spectacular weekend. 

Monday the 12th we woke up to SNOW!

 We followed my parents out of Denver along I-70, looking at stuff like this for the first 3-ish hours of our trip.

 Getting ready to go inside the huge Eisenhower Tunnel. We went through 5 tunnels that day. The further west we got, the better our weather got.

 This section of I-70 is one of my favorites. The road is so winding and follows the river so closely that in one section, the west-bound lanes are on top of the east-bound lanes.

 After a somewhat leisurely lunch in Grand Junction, we crossed over into Utah. Although this section of Utah isn't as beautiful as other parts of the state, I have always felt fond of it.

 It is starkly beautiful along the San Rafel Swell.

After a really enjoyable 3 days in at my parents' house, attending Matt and Stephanie's wedding and reception, driving to Wyoming and spending 3 days at Dave's parents' house, it was time to get back on the road, Monday the 19th.

 Clearly, I am SO THRILLED to be heading out! We drove across Wyoming the first day.

 So many people say that Wyoming is empty, or ugly. Well, just keep on thinking that. Wyoming is gorgeous and has so many different environments and types of scenery. It's true that not many people live there, but that is because Wyoming is not for the faint of heart. Since marrying Dave, I have really grown to love Wyoming and all it has to offer, and I've come to agree with the natives--if you don't like Wyoming, that's okay, leave it to those of us who do!

 We drove past Martin's Cove but didn't get out. I was a little sad--I have been to this LDS Church historical site before, after I graduated from high school, and thought it was beautiful and moving. But the boys are a little young to appreciate it, and Jed was not feeling well and was actually sleeping as we drove past. So we elected to bypass it, with the understanding that we'll come another time.

 Just around the corner from Martin's Cove are Devil's Gate and Independence Rock. Again, we chose not to stop, mostly so we could make time across the state. We drove all day and ended up in western South Dakota.

 Welcome to the Black Hills! We spent the night in Custer, SD, and then enjoyed Mount Rushmore and the surrounding area the next morning. After making some lunch, we drove hard ALL DAY LONG.

 Around 4 in the afternoon, we crossed the upper Missouri river between Pierre and Mitchell, South Dakota. The river has been dammed several times in this area and is actually a lake where we crossed.

 Driving across, I was struck anew with such appreciation for the Lewis and Clark expedition. I have had the opportunity to study them several times and have such a love for these men. I exclaimed to Dave "They must have been so brave!" They had no idea what was in front of them, and they got up every day and walked on, doing backbreaking work, and they never gave up or seemed afraid. I know it seems foolish, but I truly do love this small band. The wonders they saw!

 Speaking of wonders, just as we were crossing the state line between South Dakota and Minnesota, we happened upon a strange grouping of "sculptures" on the plain above I-90. Definitely unique.

 Welcome to Minnesota!

 Minnesota and South Dakota had the most interesting rest areas-- each one had this cool-looking teepee thing. I'm not sure what it was for, since we didn't stop, but it looked really cool. I know I'm hurtling through this part of our journey, just like we hurtled through this part of the country. I really would have loved to stop and poke around each of the little towns we passed through. Although these states seem empty, we saw so many beautiful rolling hills and fields full of wheat, corn, soybeans and other stuff we could only guess at. I wanted to stop so many times and we just couldn't. I especially wanted to stop at De Smet, South Dakota, at the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites. Dave promised me that we'd do it some other time.

 We did stop for dinner in LuVerne, Minnesota. It was a darling town with the nicest park I have seen in a long time. This is only one of the playground structures--there were about 6 more, plus basketball, volleyball and tennis courts, multiple banks of swings, a couple of picnic pavilions, and really nice bathrooms. We stopped here for dinner and let the boys play and it was a much-needed break. Lots of trees were blooming in the park and it smelled delicious. After LuVerne, which is on the western side of Minnesota, we drove as long as we possibly could, until about 1:30 in the morning. We stopped in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on the eastern shore of the Mississippi river, and spent a short night.

The next day, we drove northeast through Wisconsin and the upper peninsula (also known as the UP) of Michigan.

 It was a relief to drive along Lake Michigan, go across the Mackinaw bridge, and follow OUR beloved Lake Huron's shore. We pulled into our driveway around 9:45pm Wednesday the 21st--two weeks and 4500 miles later. It was so good to be home! We staggered out of the car and up to bed.

So, you may be wondering, how did we survive this trip? Did we still like each other at the end? I think we survived just fine, although Hank starts to get fussy after about 20 minutes in the car now.  Here are some of the things that worked to keep the boys happy and all of us sane on our journey:

-take LOTS of food. We decided to only eat in a restaurant once per day, and that was typically fast food. We took lots of fresh veggies, dips, cut up fresh fruit, bread and sandwich fixings, treats, chips, crackers, etc to round out our diets. We kept a larger cooler and a big box of non-perishable food in the back, and a small cooler and small bag in the front. When we stopped, I would add more snacks to the bag, and we'd change around cold stuff, so that when we needed to snack, it was right there. I hardly every buy them when we're at home, but I bought about a million to-go snack cups from the $1 bin at WalMart, and a chip multi-pack. Those were huge hits with the boys of all ages. The empty containers made for nice storage, too.

-use Frisbees as plates. I keep a Frisbee tucked in each pocket behind the front seats, and whenever the boys need a snack, I just pull them out, flip 'em over, and the snack sits inside. The raised lip around the edge keeps things from rolling away or spilling.

-use a dollar store cleaning caddy for extra storage. I saw this on Pinterest and it is totally genius. We don't have cup holders in our back seat, and after several spilled water bottles or McDonalds cups, I finally got smart and invested in one of these. Jed can easily put his cup down in it when he's done, and when he's feeling magnanimous, he'll help Hank with his. This is also great for holding the current favorite book or toy. 

-Forgo restaurants as often as possible for actual dining. Order your food to-go and find a park or schoolyard to play in instead. We found that our boys tolerated all the time in the car so much better if they could run around like crazy each time we stopped. Waiting in a restaurant takes a lot of time, and if your kids are like ours, they don't actually eat well in one. Dave and I could stretch out and enjoy our food while the boys stretched their limbs, and then they were more willing to eat in the car once they'd actually worked up an appetite. If you can't find a park, try a pet store! We spent a very enjoyable hour in some Iowa town at the PetSmart, looking at the fish and reptiles. It was awesome--all the animals had just been fed and were incredibly active. I fell in love with a chameleon and the feeling was mutual. He all but told me he wanted to live on my shoulder and have adventures with me. Of course, you can't eat in a pet store (unless you like pellets) but sometimes eating a hamburger on your lap is worth it.

-A cheap cookie sheet from the dollar store with various magnets makes a really great toy--Jed and Hank both loved this.

-After a while, even cool food gets boring. Kids don't expend much energy in the car, so, unlike adults, they get tired of eating just to eat. I figure they're not going to let themselves starve--if they're not hungry, don't force them to eat. And don't give them food "just in case." They'll only fling their Frisbee off their lap and pretzel sticks will go flying. Just offer various drinks so they don't get dehydrated.

-Crayons will wipe off of car windows with wipes. Our boys had a great time drawing on the windows and we'd just wipe it off each stop for a blank canvas.

-Pack a "hotel bag" with everyone's pajamas, a change of clothes, toothbrushes and necessary toiletries. That way you only have to take your PackNPlay and a small bag into the room. It lessens the chance you'll lose something, keeps your car neat, and saves so much time packing up in the mornings when you need to get on the road quickly.  

And, last but not least...save movies for dire circumstances. Our car is old and doesn't have a DVD player and drop-down screens. The boys watch movies on our laptop, set on top of our small cooler, which we plug into our cigarette lighter with a power inverter. And we plug a cassette adapter into the computer's headphone jack so we can all enjoy the music. We don't pull out the computer until we've read stories, told endless knock-knock jokes, looked at cows, horses, goats, sheep, windmills, found red cars or blue cars, and played with all the toys several times. Usually this happens around 11:00. We took 6 movies with us. I kept one back until the very last day, by accident, and it turned out to be a really good move. They were so glad to see something totally new. It made the bitter end pass much faster!

We had SUCH a good, long vacation. It was so incredibly wonderful to see all of our family members and be able to take a break from Michigan, no matter how much we love it. Stay tuned for all of our fun while we were in various places!