Then I started researching it, and as it turns out, a lot of people have negative things to say about road trips with little kids. But I read many blogs with tips & tricks and suggestions, and got some more tips from my mommy friend, and thought it would be doable. Josh was not convinced that it was a good idea, and opted to stay home, but thankfully my up-for-anything mom agreed to come with us. (They are her cousins, after all.) I used roadtrippers.com to find interesting places to see along the way, and off we went for the July 4th weekend!
We packed up the car on Wednesday night and Mom slept over so we could get an early start. We were on the road just before 5am Thursday morning. The girls didn't go back to sleep, but I was well-armed with things for them to do. I brought:
- a lap desk
- a binder of laminated activity sheets
- colouring books and crayons
- story cubes
- laminated travel BINGO cards
- a quiet book I made
- a MagnaDoodle-type board and an Etch-a-Sketch (these were both new to us toys)
- a baby doll with new feeding accessories
- DVD player and DVDs
- books on CD and kids' CDs
- a cookie sheet and magnets
- books
- pipe cleaners and a book on how to shape them into things
- lots of snacks!
We didn't even end up using all of the things I brought, but the kids kept themselves entertained the whole time. We stopped just on the other side of the border at Belle Isle in Detroit. We went to the Children's Zoo there and stopped to see the fountain. The "zoo" was small and there was not a lot to see (which I was aware of beforehand) but it was free and just the right size for the amount of time we had to stop. We had planned to do the whole 13 hours of driving in one day on the way there, so we didn't have too much time for stops. We left there just before noon, and headed through Ohio to Indiana. We had planned to stop in Indianapolis for a late lunch, but it ended up being more of an early dinner. And the place I had chosen to eat at was only for 21+, so we ended up having to eat somewhere else. After dinner Rachel fell asleep for a couple hours through Illinois and it was after dark when we rolled into St Louis. We were hoping to catch some fireworks over the Mississippi, but we didn't quite make it on time, so we just went straight to our hotel. It was about 10:00 when we arrived.
Friday we had planned a paddlewheel riverboat cruise on the Mississippi for the 4th, but once we got down to the waterfront, we discovered that the boats were not running due to the river flooding. That was disappointing, but we looked around at the waterfront and the Arch for a little bit. We got some fries from a riverside chip stand and then headed back to the car. On the way, we passed a helicopter landing pad used for tours, and the girls were very excited. We discussed how expensive we thought it would be, but when we got closer we saw it was only $35 for a short flight, so we decided to do that instead of the boat cruise. The girls were very excited and loved it.
After that we headed over to our cousins' house to spend the afternoon with them. They had lots of fun things set out for the girls to play with, and they all got along really well. They treated us to St. Louis style pizza for lunch and a BBQ for dinner. We had a great time with them watching the kids play, etc. They also bought home fireworks to set off which seemed to be a much more common thing to do in the States than it is here. The girls were all getting tired and we headed back to the hotel around 10:00 and got to see all kinds of fireworks displays on our way back.
Saturday the girls still woke up at 7:00, so we had a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel and then met up with our cousins at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. We first went to the children's area, but it was very crowded and it was hard to keep track of each other with four kids going in every direction. We decided to go for lunch instead and then to the fountain. The girls really enjoyed running around through the fountains and got thoroughly soaked. We walked around for a bit more after that and got to feed the koi. They were very tame and would come right up and open their mouths at the surface of the water. We saw a few more things, but people were getting tired again, so we all headed back to their house for a tea party. Laura fell asleep on the car ride over and refused to wake up, but Rachel played with the bigger girls while tea was being set up. Eventually Laura woke up and joined us for tea, and we had a nice time. We even got to see an old doll my grandma had made for our cousin that she still had. We went back to the hotel around 5:00 or 5:30 and laid low for the night. We had contemplated going to the fireworks put on by St. Louis, but everyone was pretty burnt out by then.
Sunday morning we stopped at Target for a few things on our way out of town and let the girls each pick out a new toy to keep them occupied in the car. We took the longer, but beautifully scenic drive on the Great River Road along the over-filled Mississippi. Then we headed back toward Springfield to Cozy Dog, a Route 66 icon, for lunch. Unfortunately it was not open on Sundays, although the restaurant was unlocked (?) and we were able to go in and look around. We found somewhere else to get some food and then continued on our way. We stopped in Atlanta to visit Bunyon with a Hotdog and in Pontiac to visit the Route 66 Museum, although we were running a little behind schedule and the girls had both fallen asleep, so we decided against going in. Mom really liked all the murals and would like to go back some time to see the museum. We were headed to Chicago and were hoping to hit up Navy Pier before it closed. When we arrived in Chicago our GPS lost reception due to all the overpasses and tall buildings, and we ended up at the wrong Embassy Suites (there were two within five blocks of each other), so we decided to just go straight to Navy Pier instead of trying to find the correct hotel. We had fun looking around at the pier, and rode the gigantic ferris wheel and the carousel. It was getting kind of late at that point and the girls were hungry, so we found a little place to eat called Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. that was themed after the Forrest Gump movie. It was really cute and served seafood. Laura tried a bowl of clam chowder for the first time and enjoyed it. By the time we finished dinner it was dark out and we had to find our way to the other Embassy Suites. We ended up having to ask for directions since our GPS could not get any reception, but we did eventually find it. The wi-fi was not included at this hotel, so we pretty much went straight to bed. In the morning we enjoyed another nice (free!) breakfast buffet and hit the road once more.
Sunday morning we stopped at Target for a few things on our way out of town and let the girls each pick out a new toy to keep them occupied in the car. We took the longer, but beautifully scenic drive on the Great River Road along the over-filled Mississippi. Then we headed back toward Springfield to Cozy Dog, a Route 66 icon, for lunch. Unfortunately it was not open on Sundays, although the restaurant was unlocked (?) and we were able to go in and look around. We found somewhere else to get some food and then continued on our way. We stopped in Atlanta to visit Bunyon with a Hotdog and in Pontiac to visit the Route 66 Museum, although we were running a little behind schedule and the girls had both fallen asleep, so we decided against going in. Mom really liked all the murals and would like to go back some time to see the museum. We were headed to Chicago and were hoping to hit up Navy Pier before it closed. When we arrived in Chicago our GPS lost reception due to all the overpasses and tall buildings, and we ended up at the wrong Embassy Suites (there were two within five blocks of each other), so we decided to just go straight to Navy Pier instead of trying to find the correct hotel. We had fun looking around at the pier, and rode the gigantic ferris wheel and the carousel. It was getting kind of late at that point and the girls were hungry, so we found a little place to eat called Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. that was themed after the Forrest Gump movie. It was really cute and served seafood. Laura tried a bowl of clam chowder for the first time and enjoyed it. By the time we finished dinner it was dark out and we had to find our way to the other Embassy Suites. We ended up having to ask for directions since our GPS could not get any reception, but we did eventually find it. The wi-fi was not included at this hotel, so we pretty much went straight to bed. In the morning we enjoyed another nice (free!) breakfast buffet and hit the road once more.
Monday we had planned to drive the Dunes Highway across the bottom of Lake Michigan, but the beginning of it was closed, presumably due to fallen trees/ tornado damage. :( We still ended up at Silver Beach in St. Joseph, which was a lot bigger/ cooler than I had thought. We spent longer there than I had anticipated because there was more to do/ see than I knew. We all enjoyed ourselves there and wished we had more time to spend there. We had ice cream there to tide us over for a late lunch/ early dinner in Grand Rapids. After that it was a long haul drive all the way home. We crossed back into Canada around 9:00 and headed up the shore of Lake Huron hoping to catch the sunset over the lake. We didn't quite get to see it though because the road doesn't run along the lakeshore there. It was still nice to watch it setting over the trees, though. The girls eventually fell asleep around 10:00 as we drove through southern Ontario in the dark. We made it home about quarter to one and had to unpack the car so my mom could go home. It was a late and tiring night (especially since the girls woke up when we brought them in and wouldn't go back to sleep until after 3:00am!)
Overall the trip went really well, and much better than I had braced myself for. We even discussed doing another road trip next summer!
Overall the trip went really well, and much better than I had braced myself for. We even discussed doing another road trip next summer!
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