There comes a time in summer when you just have to hit the road – and travel. There is a part of me that can only go so long without traveling, playing the part of a wondering soul. Putting my toes in the sand and seeking out new things.
With the girls getting older, we are stretching a little further and little longer.
Our Eruorail days of wondering our way over to Budapest with no schedules or reservations are long gone. And even though we did make our first European trip to Norway with kids last spring, this summer’s traveling is road trip style – 726 miles to white sandy beaches on Florida’s Gulfcoast.
We haven’t made it down this far south since our middle girl was a baby – because it’s SO long to drive with young kids. For an old post on road trip travel tips, click here.
But this summer, we did it! And there were a few things we did differently on this L-O-N-G road trip. And a few new realizations I made along the road.
This time we made the trip in a new van and the newness made it a bit more fun, including extra room we didn’t have before.
Second, the girls sat three across in the back seat for a record time ever in their lives. (Lollypops always help!)
We are going to be gone for a couple weeks and we traveled with a lot of comforts from home (like my Vitamix and coffee frothier, good kitchen knives, rainy day games, books, and our on sheets to make the place feel more like home). Therefore we needed more packing space in the back.
The new van has TONS more space in the backseat which meant no one had to sit in the far back where it’s harder to pass snacks and talk to the parents in the front seats. And no one complained about being in the back getting carsick, which has never happened in reality, unless you count the dog (yuck!).
Having them sit three across for 726 miles was a real gamble, and it could have been a disaster resulting in grumpiness and ultimately rearanging the car to pull up a third row seat. However, much to my surprise it worked beautifully, with very minimal complaining. They even shared pillows and napped on each other for a brief time!
Third, I let them watch as many movies in the car as they wanted. And eventually – they got tired of watching movies and asked for books, games and coloring supplies.
Fourth, I knew there would be a lot of stops and we just decided to take our time. We stopped for a night at my parent’s house three hours into the trip. The next day, three hours later we stopped to see a friend of mine from college. Then we stopped to see the town where my husband grew up (a South Georgia boy) and went to the grocery store to stock up on health(ier) car snacks/lunch. All of which were dolled out with free will to help keep everyone happy – sitting three across.
Then I got serious about getting to our destination before dark. Until we were one hour way and someone had to pee AGAIN so we stopped at McDonald’s. It was dinnertime. For the first time (possibly the second, in my faint memory) the girls ordered Happy Meals. But my two hamburger eating girls wanted nothing to do with a “fast food” hamburger. Maybe my food education and healthy cooking is actually working, because they realized fast food was not so yummy, or happy.
Fifth, I really didn’t sweat the trip, the time, the distance, or how to pass the time in the car. I just knew eventually we would get there. And that was a very good thing.
Thankfully we arrived all in-tack, with paddle boards and bikes. My aunt and cousin were riding around in a golf cart serving as the welcome crew. They took this photo. It took the girls five minutes before they made their first splash in the pool!