Road-Tripping Lessons

As if a journey half-way around the world wasn’t stressful enough, we decided that two weeks upon arriving home, we’d pack up the van and drive out West to the Rockies. We have a conference out here. It’s only about a week long, but we pay for our apartment for a month, so we figured we might as well make it worth it.

Notice: If you are creepy and scoping out for people who mention they are out of town, I’ll have you know our house is being lived in by people, and I’m pretty sure they are armed and dangerous. Also, as you’ll see from this post, we packed absolutely everything we own in the van, so there’s nothing left to rob. Okay? Thanks.)

Here are the things I’ve learned along the way:

1. When packing, I will fill up however much space I’m given. If I’m going to India for a year and can only bring 6 suitcases, that’s all I’ll bring. If I’m going to Colorado for a month, I will pack stuff into every crevice of the minivan.

2. The road from Ohio to Colorado is very long and boring. Beautiful yes, but no one needs that many hours of beautiful corn.

That being said, Iowa is my new favorite state. The rest stops in Iowa are amazing – they are clean, some have play areas, and they have free WiFi. It might seem odd to pick a favorite state based on rest areas, but driving for 24 hours with kids rearranges your priorities.


3. Embassy Suites? Are you reading this? I love you. We spent the night at the Embassy Suites in Omaha because my husband knows I love hotels – in America, which are not the same at all as hotels in, say, India (at least not the ones we stay in – they have very nice ones, but they cost a lot of rupees).

I love fluffy pillows and not cleaning up after myself. I love clean bathrooms. Say what you want about germs in hotels, but that bathroom was WAY cleaner than my bathroom at home. I love cable. I love eating pizza in bed because the sheets will be washed tomorrow anyway.

On top of all the regular hotel goodness, the Embassy Suites is PERFECT if you have kids.

When I was little, my parents used to take us to the Embassy Suites for mini-vacations. We would swim in the pool, and spend hours racing around the halls. One of those races ended very badly, but time has healed all wounds.

25 years later, the magic of the Embassy Suites still exists. The lobby has a stream stocked with goldfish and lots of hiding places for our games of tag and hide and go seek. The breakfast is the best breakfast I’ve had in a LONG time. And, of course the pool.

It was the perfect place to wear out our kids before we stuffed them back in the car for another two days of driving.

4. I love apartment living. If the market didn’t s u c k right now, I would seriously contemplate selling our house and living in an apartment. Who needs extra bedrooms and a basement when you don’t have to mow the grass, change the light bulbs, and you can just drain the hamburger fat in the sink (shhhhhhh). And who needs a houseful of toys when there is pool right outside your door?

So, yes, I’ve learned a lot: I hate packing. I love Iowa, the Embassy Suites, and apartments.