We decided to take a somewhat impromptu vacation these past few weeks. And the whole thing came together really well, considering that we planned it about 2.5 weeks before we left! We've now been all over the southwest...California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Yes that is right we DROVE to Texas. Crazy right? Well with our spur of the moment decision, airline prices were too high and thinking about spending two full days (1 there, 1 back) in an airport, on BART, and on the plane with a very active 17 month old it just didn't appeal to me. So for better or worse we decided to drive.
{ This is a very picture heavy post }
Snow on the Grapevine in the LA area
Austin Texas cityscape
Texas shapped waffles?!!! How cool is this? (or maybe I am just behind in my waffle shape knowledge)
Driving down Congress Street
Austin has fantastic food and wonderful house prices. Could be our new future home? Not sure. Unfortunately we didn't get too many pictures, just busy I guess and sorta forgot. Meet up with friends and had just a lovely time.
Along the way we also stopped at the Grand Canyon
And the rim had snow on it so that was awesome!
And because it was the "off" season, there were hardly any people and we got to drive and park in the section that is now shuttle bus only. Which was incredibly handy when having a baby along.
The Bubb was in good spirits the whole time and loved loved loved playing with the rocks. It was so exciting for him that it got him to powernap inbetween stops.
We often get asked, how do you travel with a baby? with staying in hotels, camping, etc. First The Bubb is a trooper. He did FANTASTIC in the car. Especially since it was typically 6-10 hours days of driving. We start very very early in the morning like 5-6 am and then drive as long as he will put up with it until breakfast. Then we feed him, get gas, etc. Then we drive until lunch, same thing and then the last stop is the hotel. We usually only have to stop once other than the 2 times for breakfast and lunch if he just has had too much drink and has peed way too much and needs his diaper changed. We use overnights for the car and have snacks, books, and small toys for him to play with the entire time. And are constantly changing them up for him.
For us anyway, the less stopping the more used to it he gets. As the more we stop the less he wants to get back in the car. We also give him milk every time we have to strap him back in because he is so thrilled that he gets additional milk that he could care less that we've put him back in the carseat. We also face him forward and on the side so he can look out the front and side windows.
For hotels, we usually stay in hotels that have "rooms". Sometimes it is just a half wall separating the front room from the bedroom and sometimes it is door or a hallway, as seen below.
A couple of times we all shared the same room, which meant we had to go to bed at 7:30 and use Evan's laptop with headphones until we went to sleep. And it definitely wasn't the most ideal situation but it worked.
We are very much hoping that he will continue to be a good traveler as I really want to go to Iceland.
Anyway, we stayed at this wonderful hotel by the Colorado River that had a pool and backyard area that Emmett loved. He ran around and splashed in the pool for about an hour. It was fantastic.
We also drove through Death Valley, which I definitely recommend seeing in the winter as opposed to summer.
Emmett loved his sun glasses (I think that they are absolutely adorable on him so there are a lot of pictures of them). He was also fascinated by the salt.
Emmett also got his seventh tooth along the way and we now have some chewed board books. Oh well! But now it is back home, to work, etc. Emmett has transitioned remarkably well back to California time, so that is fantastic! Hope everyone has had a good past couple of weeks! And is it weird to say that I've actually missed sewing. I am trying very hard to make time to get some projects done to share! We'll see how the week unfolds. But for now it is laundry, laundry, laundry.