This will come as a surprise to nobody, but I am thinking about our summer trip. I have the route west to east mapped out, with hotel reservations and a rough itinerary. Want to hear about it? If you said no, you may be excused now.
For those of you who stayed, I shall reward you by telling you about my latest obsession. Almond coconut milk! Even the sweetened version has half the calories of milk, all the vitamins and nutrients, all the creaminess and approximately a third more deliciousness. Go get a glass of it, and then we'll talk about my trip.
OK, here is the plan: (I can't get the links to be a different color than the other text, so just know they're there.)
Day One, leave home at 2:20 AM, like we do for the beach, and drive to Omaha. (13 hours) The kids were NOT excited when I described it like this: "It will be like when we go to the beach, only when we get there, instead of the beach, we'll be in Nebraska!" It's a long drive, but it gets us through the most boring part in one fell swoop.
Day Two: Leave at 7 am, drive to Chicago (7 hours) Stop along the way for lunch. We'll stay in an awesome hostel near the zoo, which has a BBQ grill outside. We'll hit the free zoo to stretch our legs, and then Freestone will be in charge of grilling us some hot dogs for dinner.
Day Three: Walk to the Art Institute of Chicago, which is free for kids. Later, cool off at the Lake Michigan "beach," which is near our hostel. Have dinner at Pequod's Pizza. You can't leave Chicago without having pizza.
Day Four: Drive to Bloomington, Indiana, (4 hours) to show the kids where I went to college. The summer semester will have just ended, it will be dead in town, so we'll carry on to Lexington, Kentucky, where we'll see a horse farm and a Shaker village. (3 hours) This part of the trip is still a little hazy for me, because I've never been to Lexington or the little town where our hotel is, and I haven't researched it at all.
Day Five: Drive to Gatlinburg, TN (3.5 hours) and Great Smoky Mountains National Park and camp! Yes, I am hauling a tent all the way across the country. Yes, I am hauling sleeping bags all the way across the country. Why? Because I can. And because the kids are ultra-excited about camping. And because camping only costs $14.00 a night, which will offset some of our hotel stays. And..s'mores. Or, maybe I won't camp. I know I don't like camping, but right now, it sounds fun. We'll be right next to our car and right by a general store, so I won't need too much equipment. On the other hand, it will be hot. An air conditioned hotel sounds nice! :)
Day Six and Seven: Continue our drive through the park to Asheville, NC, and on to Kingsport, TN (1.5 hours) to stay with my cousins! We are all so excited to see them and see where they live. And we'll have our tent, so we can camp in their backyard if they get sick of us! :)
Day Eight: Drive to Shenandoah National Park (4.5 hours) where we'll stay in a hotel and swim and relax. We'll be in an absolutely gorgeous part of the country, but the kids will be so freakin' tired of beautiful vistas by then, they'll probably want to stay inside and play with the hotel ice machine.
Day Nine: Short drive (2.5 hours) to Bethesda, invade my other cousins' house, and finally, pick up Golda and Ruby at the airport, coming in from Lisbon!! We are all going to be so excited to see them!
That will conclude the first leg of the journey. After that, Scott will join us with Tziporah and we'll do all of our planned activities for the D.C. area.
So, enough about me, what do YOU think about me? Specifically, my trip. Help me decide how to pack, what to see, how to pace ourselves, etc. I'm going to try to do most of the driving in the early morning or evening, leaving us time to have fun during the day. Most days, we can have all the driving out of the way by noon.
As far as packing, I am a classic under-packer, which is not always a good thing. My plan is to have a big bag packed for each night to take into the hotel, with all of our clothes for the next day in it. Each night, I'll put the clothes we wore in a laundry bin. When we get to D.C., I'll wash all those clothes, and that's what we'll wear in D.C. I'll also have a pj/toiletry bag to take into the hotel each night. That's my plan, but for all I know, there is a much better plan out there that I haven't thought of. Please share!
While you're all giving me copious, helpful, enthusiastic advice, I'll be planning the return trip. Ruby will be along for the ride, so we thought we'd stop at some college campuses. Any thoughts? :)
OK, here is the plan: (I can't get the links to be a different color than the other text, so just know they're there.)
Day One, leave home at 2:20 AM, like we do for the beach, and drive to Omaha. (13 hours) The kids were NOT excited when I described it like this: "It will be like when we go to the beach, only when we get there, instead of the beach, we'll be in Nebraska!" It's a long drive, but it gets us through the most boring part in one fell swoop.
Day Two: Leave at 7 am, drive to Chicago (7 hours) Stop along the way for lunch. We'll stay in an awesome hostel near the zoo, which has a BBQ grill outside. We'll hit the free zoo to stretch our legs, and then Freestone will be in charge of grilling us some hot dogs for dinner.
Day Three: Walk to the Art Institute of Chicago, which is free for kids. Later, cool off at the Lake Michigan "beach," which is near our hostel. Have dinner at Pequod's Pizza. You can't leave Chicago without having pizza.
Day Four: Drive to Bloomington, Indiana, (4 hours) to show the kids where I went to college. The summer semester will have just ended, it will be dead in town, so we'll carry on to Lexington, Kentucky, where we'll see a horse farm and a Shaker village. (3 hours) This part of the trip is still a little hazy for me, because I've never been to Lexington or the little town where our hotel is, and I haven't researched it at all.
Day Five: Drive to Gatlinburg, TN (3.5 hours) and Great Smoky Mountains National Park and camp! Yes, I am hauling a tent all the way across the country. Yes, I am hauling sleeping bags all the way across the country. Why? Because I can. And because the kids are ultra-excited about camping. And because camping only costs $14.00 a night, which will offset some of our hotel stays. And..s'mores. Or, maybe I won't camp. I know I don't like camping, but right now, it sounds fun. We'll be right next to our car and right by a general store, so I won't need too much equipment. On the other hand, it will be hot. An air conditioned hotel sounds nice! :)
Day Six and Seven: Continue our drive through the park to Asheville, NC, and on to Kingsport, TN (1.5 hours) to stay with my cousins! We are all so excited to see them and see where they live. And we'll have our tent, so we can camp in their backyard if they get sick of us! :)
Day Eight: Drive to Shenandoah National Park (4.5 hours) where we'll stay in a hotel and swim and relax. We'll be in an absolutely gorgeous part of the country, but the kids will be so freakin' tired of beautiful vistas by then, they'll probably want to stay inside and play with the hotel ice machine.
Day Nine: Short drive (2.5 hours) to Bethesda, invade my other cousins' house, and finally, pick up Golda and Ruby at the airport, coming in from Lisbon!! We are all going to be so excited to see them!
That will conclude the first leg of the journey. After that, Scott will join us with Tziporah and we'll do all of our planned activities for the D.C. area.
So, enough about me, what do YOU think about me? Specifically, my trip. Help me decide how to pack, what to see, how to pace ourselves, etc. I'm going to try to do most of the driving in the early morning or evening, leaving us time to have fun during the day. Most days, we can have all the driving out of the way by noon.
As far as packing, I am a classic under-packer, which is not always a good thing. My plan is to have a big bag packed for each night to take into the hotel, with all of our clothes for the next day in it. Each night, I'll put the clothes we wore in a laundry bin. When we get to D.C., I'll wash all those clothes, and that's what we'll wear in D.C. I'll also have a pj/toiletry bag to take into the hotel each night. That's my plan, but for all I know, there is a much better plan out there that I haven't thought of. Please share!
While you're all giving me copious, helpful, enthusiastic advice, I'll be planning the return trip. Ruby will be along for the ride, so we thought we'd stop at some college campuses. Any thoughts? :)
13 comments:
Oh my! I can't decide if I'm excited for you or scared. :) Either way, this is going to be one for the books. I can't wait for the trip break down report. I hope the computer is making your packing list. I like your idea of a bag for each section of the trip and the bag for the hotel. Camping is fun, but is also requires more stuff. You never know about the weather, gear, etc. I wonder if you can find a cheap motel 6 or something. The extra few bucks may be worth the room in the car. But... how can you pass up s'mores. I mean, really! Is there anything better. :) Let the PPlan countdown begin! :)
Just reading about it was fun! What a grand adventure. I'd say map out all the red boxes before you leave and then turn off the movies when you are passing through a national park or by things you want your kids to see.
Sounds like you will have a ball!
What days are you going to David and Marilyns? Maybe we will come at the same time and visit!
You have to promise to instagram the whole way so I can feel like I am on the trip because there is no way I could ever replicate that trip. I'd have to kill myself at about hour 10. But you will have a fantastic time and that is what makes me jealous! You are the master planner!
My road-trip pro cousin had a different sack of surprises for each day in the car. They contained simple, dollar store things, but the novelty of opening a new sack each day was magic.
I'm with Jennie that camping requires more "contingency packing." But piling on the layers, you should be fine. Will you be doing meals at camp (besides s'mores, of course)? Consider that if it rains, and you have to pack a wet tent back into the car, it may not be so pleasant the next use. :(
Hey--glad to see our names on the itinerary! You are welcome to use our tent, sleeping bags, and any camping stuff. You can do laundry here. It will be fun to be part of this adventure! See you soon.
We give our kids a $10 roll of quarters for the road trip. Arguing, fighting, complaining costs a quarter every time. Whatever they have left at the end they get to spend at a gift shop. It works wonders!
Look up weird things to see along the way. Biggest ball of twine, the Jolly Green Giant, there is a book listing them and they might just be on the way. It would be a fun and silly part of the way. It sounds like so much fun.
We are planning on taking the kids to Chicago next year in kind of the same plan you are (leave in the middle of the night). You'll have to let me know if you find cool things to see along the way or suggestions of what to do once we get there. For right now we just have baseball games planned :) good luck on this road trip , sounds like a lot of fun.
The only part I can't wrap my head around is leaving at 2:20 a.m. - I would fall instantly asleep at the wheel. But I love the camping idea - I'd do that to save money anytime! And I love the "one bag for every hotel" idea - that's quite clever!
It sounds awesome!
Circe, I have a suggestion for Ashville, NC. Google the Biltmore House. It's beyond amazing. A miniature Versailles if you will. It is most definitely worth the time to tour it.
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