Westward Ho!

Here we go! Brian got a new job close to home starting in August, which is a huge blessing! This has so many awesome implications for us, as you can imagine. One of the bus lines that stops outside our building goes to his new job in about 10 minutes! So not only can he get home quickly at any time, but we can also be there quickly. Gone will be the 40 minute commute! 

With this news has come some other exciting news. Since his job is all figured out, we get to travel out West this summer to see my family! I’ve been obsessing over planning our trip as we drive with two three year-olds from Virginia to Idaho and back. And with only one driver. This may or may not be a great idea. 

As I have it timed out now, it should take about nine days, which seems reasonable. However, the longest time we’ve ever traveled with the boys has been about a 230 mile trip to Brian’s parent’s lakehouse. The past few times it’s gone well. A few times before that it did not go well and involved a lot of screaming and various types of bodily fluids flowing freely in the car. They were much younger then, and I’m sure will do better now. 

I have us driving 500 odd miles two of those days, with some much shorter days in between. Will this work? No idea. The best part has been finding cool things to do with kids in between. For instance, I found a fan museum (ceiling and floor!), and a restaurant where trains on tracks up by the ceiling bring you your food on some sort of hydraulic contraption. Kind of creepy and robotic, but the boys will love it. We also plan to visit the factory that makes Louisville Slugger baseball bats and the Harley-Davidson factory to watch them make motorcycle parts. We’re going to Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone, probably the Badlands on the way home, and we recently found out that the Nationals are playing the Rockies while we’re in Denver(!), so I think you know where we’ll be one night we’re there. 

Pointing out the bat factory location

I’m going to be writing as we go, updating you all on the insanity of toddler-travel, and also doing reviews for places to stay and places to take the kids all over the country. I’m collecting ideas for things the boys can do as we travel that will make driving time more tolerable. For now we’re talking up the trip to the boys and marking our route with pushpins on our big map. 

I hope my parents know that once we get to Idaho they can take over all child-raising responsibilities while Brian and I collapse in a heap after such a trip. Then two and a half weeks later we’ll do it again. I can’t tell if this is a stupid idea or not, but we will soon find out! 

Any suggestions on places to stay, things to do, or how to keep them calm and happy while driving will be much appreciated. 

Westward Ho! Let the summer migration begin.