Fall Getaway: An Adventure

We were riding around in our GMC Safari one day and my husband turns to me and says:

"Honey, I have this idea."

"Oh?"

"It's a good idea."

"I'm sure it is."

"Let's put our mattress in our van and take it camping! We won't even need a campsite. We could just park it anywhere and sleep!" 

"With the kids?"

"Just you and I."

"There are large windows in our van, people will see us."

"So, we will hang curtains!"

So that is what we did!

The week-end after Columbus Day in October we headed out on a wandering trip to visit some more State Parks and to do a little adventuring. No plan, no campsite, no showers, no toilet. Just us, a few supplies, our camp stove, and a sense of adventure. We traveled on Route 1 as far North-East as Calais and as far South as Rockland.

We saw blueberry fields as far as the eye could see, the ocean after a storm blew through in the night, two eagles fishing, and the last few bright colors of fall. We visited Fort O'Brien, Roque Bluffs, The Reversing Waterfalls in Pembroke, and Fort Halifax.

We slept on the side of the road in little turn outs, peed in the dark in the woods behind the van, ate a breakfast of eggs cooked on the windiest day of our trip, didn't shower for two days, and had a good time spending uninterrupted time together.

The Road Trip Review & Tips

Do you remember back in May how I was stressing about an upcoming road trip out to visit the NY cousins? Do you remember the list? I am happy to report that it didn't take us 12 hours! Stomper behaved admirable. I am so pleased with how he did.

I did make him a wipes toy with milk bottle caps and he greatly enjoyed flinging them around the car. He did not play with toys, cars, or books. He did like using the cookie sheet with stickers though and as a table to color on. I would do that again. I purchased a bunch of small planes and he had no interest in playing with them. My MIL purchased him a small strainer and some pipe cleaners and he played with it for about five minutes.

I also put a bunch of snacks in small snack bags in another wipes container and he really liked picking his own snack. He would take the container from me and say: "Hmm." while he pawed through the contents. Small boxes of raisins was his favorite and fruit chewy snacks.

The life saver was the DVD player. If we were going to make long trips a habit I would whole hardheartedly purchase one for ourselves. Many of the movies he only watched the first hour, but who cares? He didn't scream and that was the ultimate goal. I think that if I had been able to sit in the back (I get carsick) and play with him or read to him that he would have spent less time watching movies.

We wound up only stopping once there and back. Amazing! On the way there we stopped at the Ben and Jerry's Factory. It was well worth the stop. They have lots of space to stretch cramped legs and a small playground to frolic on. They also had a bunch of picnic tables under a tent so there was plenty of shade. On the way back we found a small playground in a small town to run around.

Here are my tips from our first trip.

1. Plan stops
2. Fill a wipes container with snacks (one per kid) some healthy, some not, and let them choose.
3. Borrow or buy a portable DVD player and rent or borrow all their favorite movies. (One trip a friend does is she puts her kids on a TV diet the week before a trip so they are starved for TV -- they travel from Maine to Florida every year by car)
4. Cookie Sheet with stickers. (The stickers rip off easily and can be rearranged)
5. Music. (We listened to the same 8 VBS songs over and over and over again, but it kept him happy!)
6. Electronic toys. (All those busy box games that sing and make foolish noises and annoy you aren't so bad when the they're in the back seat and you have the windows down and your own music going.)

There are tons of other things you can try, but that is what worked best for us.

Come back tomorrow to see all the fun we had in NY!

Road Trip Planning

We are planning a trip to NY to visit the cousins!

Stomper doesn't travel well, I am super nervous about the ten hour drive.

Around Christmas time we thought we'd be clever and travel to NH at bedtime. I remember my parents doing this with my siblings and I. We'd sleep in the car and arrive some place new where we would finish sleeping. 

We packed Stomper in the car before supper and ate at a fast food joint. At bedtime the screaming began. Eventually he passed out, but it was an awful forty-five minutes. Hoping it was a one time thing we tried traveling around bedtime again when we went to a baby shower, again he screamed until he passed out. A few months ago he traveled north with Mimi & Bumpa (about a three hour drive) at bedtime and didn't fall asleep. Not until he got home at ten in the night. 

I think my worrying has merit, so I have been working on a plan so that I won't worry.

Step One:
Plan the route to include scheduled stops. I have scoped out a few playgrounds around our routes and we will be stopping at Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory around lunch time. On the way home in addition to playgrounds we will be stopping in Ticonderoga, NY to look around and have a picnic.

Step Two:
New Toys

1. Wipes container with cloth wipes to pull out and put back and repeat.

 

2. More Wipes Container Fun: Memory Game and Milk Caps

3. A Slinky

4. Sewing fun

5.  a place to play

6. A new favorite movie and a borrowed car DVD player.

7. Other small toys or books that I find in my shopping trips.

How about you, do you have any advice?