I rarely turn down a road trip. One of my favorite books is On The Road by Jack Kerouac. There’s something about being on the open road that takes me back to when Janet and I drove all the way to Louisiana and back. I love driving and I love pit stops and I love the random restaurants along the way, filled with truckers, passersby, and the few patrons that call the roadside stop home interspersed in a sea of strangers. The open road has a way of making the world feel both big and small at the same time. And I love that too.
Both boys travel well. Van gets cranky only when he’s ready to eat and I think Hoop would be content staring out the window until the car ran out of gas. We took Sarah too and there’s one secret I must share that made her a trooper as well: Benadryl.
The drive from California to Arizona is about 6 hours (8 hours with kids) and somehow we made it door to door with good attitudes albeit having to juggle back to back to back conference calls for work, poop that required a change of clothes (yup, you all know how that goes), newly scabbed knees, growling stomachs, and shotty naps. Hash tag: It won’t always work out this well.
More from Arizona to come.
LOVE all the pictures! Benadryl really works for Sarah? We should use that for Vinny…
Oh yaaaaaaaa… Like a mother f’n charm.
awesome photos!
Ha, I laughed when I saw the dinosaur in the background of one of those shots. When I was a kid, there was a year when my family lived in Arizona (we’re from southern California originally) but the economy was rough and my dad couldn’t find a job as secure in Arizona as the one he had in California – so he stayed in California and drove out every weekend to us in Arizona until my mom finished up her degree and we all moved back.
He used to stop and take photos at the dinosaurs all the time – and we always stopped there on our way between states. What happy memories! =)
Totally… those dinosaurs are so iconic. Such a great place to stop for a break.
I grew up in Arizona and my family was from southern California, so we spent a lot of time driving back and forth. And just like a previous comment, I had to smile at seeing the dinosaur in your picture. We stopped at those a time or two.
And I am with you, I love road trips and the process that they are. We took our kids to Canada and back last summer. I don’t plan on letting kids stop me from driving!
Ohhh love the last photo, especially the colors. Beautiful words.
Thanks for sharing yet another journey!