Last summer, we packed up the house we had lived in for seven years, said goodbye to all our friends and loaded up into our Subaru Outback. We had 3 car seats across the back, 1 rooftop carrier filled with camping stuff we would never end up using, a 5 year old, a 2 1/2 year old, a 10 month old, and a crazy idea that we were going to take seven weeks to drive from Ohio to our final destination in Oregon.
The day before, we had returned from a whirlwind trip to Washington State, Victoria British Columbia, and Oregon, but we had cheated by flying there for a wedding and a family reunion. This time we wanted to get across the country on wheels.
Our Outback
Here’s how the car looked at the end of the trip, parked in the driveway of our newly-found rental house in Oregon. Our sleeping baby was still in his car seat:
Don’t be deceived by the crazy pictures. We were highly organized and efficient by this time!
(With one exception: socks for the kids. Those consistently eluded us through 14 states and 2 countries.)
As I mentioned, we never touched the rooftop carrier so all we needed to thrive was stashed in the trunk and under feet.
I may never get to blogging about all the amazing and awful parts of that trip, but here are ten unforgettable pieces of those 7,894 miles:
1. Monticello and learning to roll with the punches
Here is our happy, young family visiting Thomas Jefferson’s home. It was a great visit and we navigated the tour with all three children and no priceless antiques were harmed.
However, the keen observer may have noted that Daniel is wearing no clothes in the picture. He completely pooped all over himself while he was strapped to me in a front carrier during the tour. Thankfully, odor wasn’t a major concern (being breastfed has its advantages). I realized what had happened about 15 minutes before the tour ended, when we were deep in the heart of the home and there was no easy exit. All we could do was press on, dutifully following our guide as he walked us between rooms and down narrow passageways pointing out the finer points of the furnishings and the historical significance of the paintings on the wall. Afterwards, we made good use of a restroom on the grounds, and went ahead and hiked around and took family pictures anyway.
Instead of a disaster ruining the day, it just changed our course a bit. The day was great and the lessons learned were invaluable. This was early on in our trip and it definitely refined my diaper bag packing and laundry handling skills, which were called upon daily thereafter.
With young children, truly anything can happen. Memories are constantly being made and whether they are good or bad is usually a reflection of our reaction and attitude.
2. Wild horses and “going for it”
Here we are, happy family again, meeting for a 7:30 am jeep tour to see wild horses on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. There were no affordable hotels nearby and only one road that went to that end of the island. On summer weekends, the traffic could be crippling. This required a crack of dawn departure from the hotel and a hasty breakfast of homemade muesli underneath an awning in the pouring rain while I nursed Daniel in the car and the tour guide prepped the jeep with car seats.
It was insanity to even attempt pulling off such a morning, but our foolish optimism paid off big time.
We were utterly enchanted.
At one point, our tour guide stopped to pick a few wild berries for us along the way. He got such a big kick at how much joy our children exuded when presented with fresh berries that he stopped again and again to gather handfuls for us. This rounded off the rushed bowls of muesli nicely. 🙂
3. Swimming in fountains and following our children’s lead
Young children are excellent travel companions because they can spot potential for fun from a mile away. Swimming in a fountain in Charleston, South Carolina? Yes, please.
Our travel plans were intentionally loose enough so that we could seize chances to make memories whenever and wherever we found them.
… to be continued
Jenny S.
Can’t wait to read more. 🙂