Traveling with small kids and big dog (Roadtrip - part 1)

So, we made it. Surprising I know, but we survived 4 days on the road and 2800kms of driving and safely arrived in sunny Florida. 

I did post something about 2300kms in one of my previous posts, but you can't trust anyone anymore. Our Trip Tik was off by almost 500kms, which threw us off quite a bit since we had planned our route and booked our hotel rooms in advance, and we sat in the car for 11 1/2 hrs one day because it was way further to our planned destination than we had anticipated. Not fun, I can tell you that much. Getting somewhere sooner than planned - very exciting. Getting somewhere hours later than planned - not so much, especially when you have two small kids in the car with you. And when we finally arrived at our hotel that night, we were told we had made reservations at a hotel of the same chain across town, so we had to get back into the car again, which did NOT go over well with our kids. 

 I have to admit it has been a rather exhausting trip but also kind of fun and easier and less stressful than we thought it would be. Yes, we were all over sitting in the car after day one, especially Rocky, but the children were really good. We stopped whenever Mia was getting too fussy, grabbed a bite, took the dog for a little stroll and let Noah run wild for a little while, and they were good to go for a few more hours. I am super glad I took the time to prepare a few activities for Noah and that we did invest into a portable DVD-player for him, because it really made the drive a LOT easier for all of us. Definitely recommend investing a little bit of time and money into keeping your toddler occupied if you want to keep your sanity and want to keep your child happy.

 

Rocky was also being better than expected. He was anxious and stressed out but he seemed to get more comfortable the longer we drove, and he was real good at the hotels. He didn’t like being left alone in the room though, and we could hear him howl a mile away when we came back from breakfast one morning, but as long as we were with him he was fine. 

We did drive long distances the first couple of days (750kms the first day and 900kms on the second) and we were debating whether or not we could make it to Pine Island in 3 days but decided against it after waking up on the third morning. We were tired and still had about 1100kms to go, so we figured it would be best to take it slow and give everybody a break. We even took the time and started our third morning with a tour to Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Falls are located at the end of the main passage of Ruby Falls Cave, in a large vertical shaft. The stream, 1120 feet underground, is fed both by rainwater and natural springs. It collects in a pool in the cave floor and then continues through the mountain until finally joining the Tennessee River at the base of Lookout Mountain. Everyone really enjoyed it and it was nice to do a little sight-seeing along the way. 

The kids loved sleeping in the big hotel beds and Noah seemed to be pretty excited about waking up in different places and about making waffles each morning. Overall it was a good experience and didn't deter us from our dream of traveling a lot with our children, even though it was tiring.

Then again, if we were to travel full time or for longer periods of time we wouldn't have to push that much and wouldn't have to drive a certain amount of kilometers a day. We'd be able to take it a lot slower and stop more frequently and for several days at a time. So if our children are this good sitting in a car for almost 12 hours a day, they won't give us any trouble driving a few hours a day here and there; However, the thought of sending Adrian and Rocky on their way by themselves and flying back home with the kids has crossed my mind ;-)

Totally random: 

As per popular demand here is a picture of Rocky's groomed, puffy behind. Hope this will satisfy my sister-in-law who is really into puffy canine behinds and has asked for a visual. Merry Christmas to you!!!