Jun 09 2008
Road Trip Tallies
Hi, Brilligites!
I’m Wendy from Let the dog in!. I write about my life on Bainbridge Island, WA with my child (Kid), husband (the Hubs) and dog (Becca). I find that if I don’t smile about it, I may just curl up in a ball in the dark corner of the overstuffed closet in the spare room. Just kidding. Sorta.
Recently, we had a family/work trip to Newport, Oregon (6+ hours each way) in a 20 year old Volvo (trusty stead).
Lucky for you, our road trip final tallies are in:
6: dead raccoons on the way down there (that’s 1/hr; WUWT?? I thought raccoons were supposed to be smart. And no, I didn’t flatten these like that mouse; we just witnessed them!)
1: threats of spanking in car
45: minutes left of battery on my ipod at start of drive
2: pools at the hotel
5: water-toy-apparatus purchased at local Fred Meyer (have I mentioned I LOVE Freddies?)
0: long beach walks (almost 5-year-olds stop, dig, sprint, but not WALK, at least not without triggering the whining reflex)
4: kites in car
20: minutes of kite flying
0: rain-free days
0: days the Hubs didn’t work (it was a work trip, I suppose…but I can still complain!)
6: beer bottles in tiny fridge
1.5: dollars for hotel water bottles in said fridge (cheeappppp! if only there were a mini-bar!)
But, what most struck me (literally) on this trip was this tidbit I learned about Kid, as illustrated by my chart:
Yes, we shared a bed (bed drawings to follow in another post) just at the time Kid’s arm strength and elbow pointiness neared their peak intersection.
And I have the bruises to prove it.
Happy Summer Road Trips to all!
[…] out my road trip tallies! If you don’t, you’ll regret never knowing how our recent road trip […]
Haha! That’s so funny. I’m laughing empathetically, because I’ve shared a bed with my 5-year old daughter before, and I have the bruises to show for it! What is it with their elbows? So funny. Great post!
We don’t have a car and now I’m very glad.
I like your road trip tallies. Fun way to recap a travelogue.
Ours would be more like:
12: Gas station restroom stops
2: People who threw up
55: Fights over WHOSE i-pod we listen to, and WHICH songs give everyone a headache
“1: threats of spanking in car”
C’mon! Seriously?? 12 hours in a car, and you only threaten to spank ONCE!? You, my dear, are either SuperMom, have short-term memory loss, or are a pathological liar.
I’d like to know the tallies on:
*The number of times you threatened to “Turn this car around and go home!” (That was always my dad’s favorite threat)
*The number of McDonalds Kid spotted on the trip, and the number that you actually consented to stop at.
*Related to that . . . The number of crappy Happy Meal toys you collected. (We usually end up with about 4/day of any road trip.)
*The number of times you heard “I’m bored” while spending piles of cash to provide Kid with a great Family Vacation experience.
This just gives me shivers, since I’m in the process of planning our 3000+ MILE, 2 WEEK road trip this summer. Just me, 4 kids, and the long loooooooong road. WHAT was I smoking when this sounded like a good idea??
We embark on our roadtrip next weekend, so I probably should have skipped your little scorecard. It was too entertaining to not read.
I think you are a bland wife in life. I never thought to note down those travel stuffs with such detailed numbers.
charette, I’m so glad I didn’t have that barfing category to deal with!
brooke, the spanking threat may have been one each way, but I blame ourselves for a) having the dog sitting next to her for most of the time (who could resist torturing?) and b) packing no car activity for her whatsoever (I am truly Brilliant). I cannot believe your trip! you are woman hear you roar!
This is brilliant. Love it!
That’s way too funny! Great post!
fortunately there were 6 beer bottles in the fridge!
Yay! We spent our honeymoon in Newport! The Oregon coast is the coolest!
Wow, with a graph and everything. Very official.
This is just good science. Thank you for sharing your findings.
We just got back from a family trip as well. We were lucky to have our first day rain free. The rest of it…not so much.
[…] you may know (read, people, read!), we had a little road trip down to Newport, Oregon last […]
OMG wayyyyyy too funny. Thanks for the giggles…it was a great guest post!!!