Category Archives: family life; vacation plans

>Best and Worst Awards

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>Compiled with help from the “Review Academy,” a.k.a. Husband and Amigo

Best rest stops: New York (with one exception, see below) and Maine. Lots of choices for eating, food court style. Clean tables and rest rooms.
Worst rest stops: Ohio. Grungy buildings, high prices, few choices. I didn’t even buy postcards.

Best bumper sticker: “What would Scooby Do?”
Best personalized license plate: BA HA BA (hint: think of a location in Maine)
Most confusing roadside sign: “Balloon parking next right.” Huh?
Most random roadside sign: Programmable flashing sign on Massachusetts Turnpike: “Test 1,2,3. Blah. Test 1,2,3. Blah.”

Worst surprise: flat tire outside of Yarmouth.
Best moment within worst surprise: Strangers stopped to help; service staff gave us a ride to McD’s while they worked on tire.

Highest gas prices: Canada. It took me a while to figure out the price per gallon, since Canadian stations measure in liters (Yes, it’s we in the U.S. who are backwards and insist on using the old-fashioned system). But all in all, filling the minivan tank in Canada definitely induced sticker shock.
Lowest gas prices: Back home in Wisconsin! $3.86 when we arrived home. The low cost of living is one great reason to live here.

Best hotel wi-fi: Portland, Maine, at the Eastland Park Hotel. Easy password, reliable service.
Worst hotel wi-fi: La Quinta. First night, we spent twenty minutes on the phone with the tech line. They rebooted the entire system, then we had to wait another half hour to get service. Next night? No wi-fi at all. Tech folks blamed the problem on my brand new laptop computer.

Best breakfast: toss-up between tea biscuits at Tim Horton’s and the breakfast on board the Cat ferry. Both had good coffee. Dunkin’ Donuts and their munchkins made a pretty good opening to the day, too. No, I didn’t eat (and drink) all of those on the same day!

Worst tollway: New Hampshire — the only state that couldn’t get our I-Pass online. Our tolls cleared later, but it was a bit nervewracking going through the booth and see it not function.
Worst highway conditions: Michigan I-69. The highway in Ontario was so much smoother; I-69 was like a collection of poorly-made patches.
Prettiest stretch of highway: It’s a toss-up between New York State and Massachusetts. My inner science geek kept saying, “Look at those rock layers!” The drive along the coast from Lockeport to Lunenberg was very picturesque, too. The farms reminded me of home, but with more hills.

Best meal: Grilled salmon in Portland, Maine. Or was it the seafood chowder at the Stone Soup Cafe in Ipswich, Mass.? Then there was that fish cake in Shelburne, Nova Scotia…and their chowder was delicious, too.

Worst meal: Ohio rest stop. See above. Overpriced, poor quality, and I’ll stop there. We skipped Ohio on the trip home in favor of going through Ontario.

Best seafood? Come on, we were on the Atlantic coast. Every bit of fish we had was delicious.

Best customer service: Pontiac dealer in Yarmouth. Those people were wonderful. I wish we lived there so we could give them more business.
Worst customer service: Rest stop restaurant in New York where the teenage staff were so busy on the phone talking about their lottery tickets that they made customers wait and then realized they were out of wings and had to make more before they could serve the aforementioned customers.

Best coffee: Sorry, that’s another whole post.

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>coffee du jour — a vacation diary in caffeine doses

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>Day One:
Hit the road, Jack. Made a big serving of instant cappuccino for my travel mug and installed it in the cup-holder. Double-checked that the coffee filters were packed in the foodstuffs box. Drove and rode many, many miles over four states.

Day Two:
On the road again! Small cup of hotel-made coffee at breakfast, not bad. Filled travel mug with Maxwell House brewed in the in-room coffeemaker. Again, not bad. Satisfying.
Refilled at the first gas stop. Weather too hot to enjoy hot coffee. Photographed Amigo in front of two football stadiums, one baseball field, and one arena. Three states today.

Day Three:
On the road again, just can’t wait to get…okay, enough already. Filled travel mug (again) from in-room machine after a small cup of basic brew from the hotel breakfast.
Took morning break at Dunkin’ Donuts, picked up mid-morning snack of Munchkins and iced hazelnut coffee. Mmm, now this is good. Staff were friendly, too, welcoming these obvious out-of towners to their little corner store.

Day Four:
One cup in-room brew before leaving for ferry.
On ferry: They serve Starbucks! W00T! Had some with breakfast and another small cup later on with popcorn. Don’t laugh — I can’t be the only person who likes popcorn and coffee together, can I? No, don’t answer that. I managed not to spill either while watching a whale breech not far from the ship. Wow!

Day five:
Made a pot of my own in cottage kitchen. The sound and smell of brewing coffee; ah, how relaxing. Note to self: a souvenir coffee mug would be appropriate. Must keep eyes (and wallet) open for the perfect item.

Day six:
Played tourist. Tim Hortons’ house blend for breakfast: hit the spot. Later on in Shelburne, picked up a cuppa from a cute little cafe called BeanDocks. Chose the blend “Jamaican Me Crazy” because Amigo was at his stubborn-teen worst. I felt much better after only half a cup. The barrista/ gift shop owner was really nice, too. Maybe the fact that I also bought a couple of souvenirs helped. But mmm, the power of a good cup of coffee. Can’t underestimate it.

Day seven:
Made a pot of my own again in cottage kitchen. Foggy outside, everything’s damp; there’s something comforting about the home-away-from-home feeling of brewing coffee warming up the place. Still haven’t found just the right souvenir mug.

Day eight:
Bought a cup of a fair trade blend at the Lunenberg Farmers’ Market; liked it enough to buy a small bag of the beans. This is a souvenir that will keep on giving long after I get home. And speaking of souvenirs: Husband ducked into a gift shop on Bluenose Lane and found a white mug decorated with a lobster. It’s a keeper!

Day nine:
Cup plus refills over breakfast at the local diner, flavored with wonderful local tales from the man at the booth beside ours. We learned when the lobster season runs, how large a swordfish can be, how the town’s population is shrinking, and why three-story houses on the coast often have staircases in their attics. No, it’s not because of flooding. What a delightful encounter!

Day ten:
Cuppa in the cottage kitchen: the last. Starbucks on the ferry. Foggy day — if there are whales around no one would know it. Hot coffee helps cut through the damp feeling.

Day eleven:
Dunkin’ Donuts, down the street from the hotel in downtown Portland. Got Amigo a coolatta, and a box of munchkins for the family. On the road again, just can’t wait to get on the road again….

Day twelve:
Hit the road, Jack…no coffee in hotel room? What kind of establishment is this? Oh, yeah, they have some in the lobby. No wonder their rates are so low.

Day thirteen:
Show me the way to go home! Home to my own coffeemaker, my own grinder (can’t wait to make the Lunenberg coffee), my own mugs. Aaah.

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>Pennywise on the road

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>This isn’t the old “$5 a Day” kind of trip. We’re getting a few deals by booking ahead and traveling in the off-season, and that helps quite a bit.
But we had no idea that gas prices would skyrocket the way they have. Gas is always more expensive in summer’s traveling season and near holidays, but wow. To be pennywise and hopefully not pound foolish, we looked for a few ways to cut the cost of traveling and make up for the $$$ we’ll pour into the gas tank on my minivan.
Snacks: we’re bringing a cooler and a small batch of road snacks. That way we’ll pay regular grocery prices (and even save a few cents with coupons) instead of gas/convenience store mark-ups. I will make coffee in the hotel rooms to fill my travel mug whenever possible instead of (gulp) going to Starbucks.
Tolls: Husband looked into getting an I-Pass. The I-Pass works in several of the states we’ll cross, and we can set one up as we enter Illinois. The I-Pass will get us a discounted toll rate and let us drive in the faster lanes so we don’t have to stop at each toll. (Amigo calls it an “I-Pass Gas.” Grrrr…teen boys!)
Packing: We do need one more suitcase. Luckily for me, my Kohls card had a major % off last weekend, so I used it on this expense. Now the laptop case — I didn’t see a decent one. I hope to find one at a discount store before we go.
When we reach the cottage, we’ll buy food for the week. However, I am packing a box of basics so we don’t get socked at the tiny market in Vacationland. We lived in a Wisconsin Vacationland town early in our life together; we have a good idea how these things work. Buy the specialties and perishables on-site; bring the cereal, coffee, and salt and pepper along.
We already have our passports, our bike rack, and more. I think we’ll be ready. I sure hope so!

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>Have coffee, Braille directions, and exit strategy: will travel.

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>I’ve heard it said that the Secretary of War should be an autism parent. We plan for every eventuality. We not only have a plan B, but a plan C, plan D, and more. We think through possible roadblocks and speedbumps, make exhaustive lists, prepare everyone thoroughly for the road, and we always, always, have an exit strategy.

Amigo, a teen with Asperger’s, is actually a very good traveler. He loves road trips. In fact, we print the route plan for ourselves and in Braille for Amigo. He is a great navigator, despite his lack of usable vision. When I drive, I put him in charge of the cell phone and the radio. It keeps my mind (and eyes) on the road, and lets him explore any region’s local color through its radio dial.

In order to stay the course with fewer hiccups, we plan more details than most parents. The route file for our upcoming trip includes these statements and more.

“After this stop, Mom will need to sit in the front to help watch highway signs in the big city for Dad.”
“This stretch will be a long haul.”
“We should get gas before we get on the tollway.”
“And now we stay on highway 80 until we reach Ohio. Easy, huh?”
“If we’re feeling spunky when we reach Cleveland, the Indians are playing at 7:00.”
“Are we there yet?”

Amigo has been an active participant in planning this trip. In fact, he’s already suggested getting up early the first day and hitting the road by 7:00 AM. Granola bars and cappuccino for breakfast anyone? I’ve already chosen my travel coffee mug. After all, besides an exit strategy, what’s more important to a road trip than coffee?

This post is part of Scribbit’s Write-Away contest for June. Her theme is “Going Places.” I can’t wait to read all the submissions; they’re always varied and fascinating.
Update: Readers from Scribbit might enjoy this vacation post. It was written too late for the contest, but it definitely fits the theme of “Going Places.”

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>Stock up on drawers

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>Some days I think the world revolves around underwear.

When we started planning an actual vacation, I made a deal with my husband. “You take care of the big things, like reservations, and I’ll take care of the little things. I’ll make sure everyone has enough underwear.” Yes, that’s a little thing, but it’s a little thing that matters.

Summer is approaching, and I’m making good on my part of the deal. I stocked up on underwear for the menfolk: Amigo’s Fruit of the Loom and Husband’s Hanes. La Petite has plenty; I stock her up every August before she goes away to school. So what’s left? Socks and underwear for yours truly.

Taking care of ourselves isn’t as easy as it sounds some days. I’ve been making packing lists, looking into gas cards that pay back in discounts or cash back, picking up and packing up the daughter and bringing her home from college, and working on progress reports for my students. Where is the time to buy anything for me? I think I need to force-fit it in.

The garden is in and fenced. It survived a late frost, and should start growing like a weed (oops, poor choice of words!) any minute now. I completed a large part of my progress reports today. The only subject left to grade is Social Studies.

For now, maybe I’ll “force” myself to take a few minutes for me. Coffee, Sunday paper, pet the bunnies, sounds good.

But I’ll keep the minivan keys nearby so I can head out to buy underwear as soon as the discount stores open for business today. Drawers in everyone’s drawers, that’s the key.

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>Drain the swamp. Drain the swamp.

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>I am looking forward to our family vacation.

That said, I still need to teach four more weeks, grade a few more (lots more) papers, complete a big batch of NCLB-related paperwork, complete a full set of progress reports, and clean/straighten/ close up the classroom.

And… help Amigo with his homework. Keep track of his finals schedule, figure out his transportation for that week, and get him there and home on time.

Move La Petite home from school. This might not be as bad as it’s been in the past, since she’s not living in a dorm any more. She has a year lease on the apartment, and most of the furniture and other large items will stay there. We’ll just have to move her mattress, her stereo, her clothing, her shoes, her rabbits… well, maybe it will be a big trip after all.

And then, when the school year is actually over and I’ve locked the classroom door and left it behind, I need to get the family ready to travel.

One of Husband’s many sayings is this: “When you’re up to your neck in alligators, it’s hard to remember that your goal was to drain the swamp.”

I think I need to rephrase the first sentence of this post. I will look forward to vacation the day we leave and everything else is done. Then, and only then, will I be able to breathe freely and easily. I’ll be ready to leave my own “swamp” behind.

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>simple pleasures when away from home

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>A student once gave me a card on the last day of school that said, “There are three great things about being a teacher: June, July, and August.” And this was a good kid, a young man who has kept in touch and is now in law school! In a school like mine, however, we deal with a lot of emotionally charged issues because of the wide variety of families and the transient nature of the neighborhood. Yesterday was a staff development day that involved planning for next year, and I came out of it exhausted rather than refreshed. I will feel better when I see my class today, but I’ll still be happy when I send home their report cards and move them along to the next grade level.

When we take our family vacation (an actual vacation! With a road trip! The first in four years!), I’m looking forward to some simple pleasures. Being finished with schoolwork will feel great, especially after the rush to finish the year-end paperwork. Not having to wash dishes or sheets will be nice, of course, but there are other little tidbits that make me happy.

Reading a newspaper in every city we visit
Attempting the crossword puzzles in each newspaper
Reading a few books for pleasure without having to “make time” for them
Taking pictures in various states along the way to use in my social studies lessons
Picking up a few new coffee mugs for my collection
Listening to Husband and Amigo bond in the front seat while I read or nap in the back
Exchanging emails with new friends, running into others

Posting the travails of our travels — eventually. I might not have pictures until we get home.

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>We finally got hitched.

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>It’s not what you think, though. Husband and I have been married for going on 24 years, and aiming for at least that many more. We installed a trailer hitch on the minivan. There were a few hitches on the way to getting the minivan hitched, though.
The day did not start smoothly. I had broken my glasses the night before, so I carefully tiptoed downstairs and put in my contacts as soon as I woke up.
Amigo, still nervous about touchy tummy condition, nibbled his breakfast: one frozen waffle, toasted, for the boy who used to down four in a sitting. He got on the bus, and I came back in the house to spend a few minutes with a heating pad to settle my sore back and my own anxiety about whether or not Amigo would make it through the day.
Husband needed the minivan because he was taking care of the installation, so I dutifully picked up keys to the Saturn, walked out of the house, opened the garage door, and stepped into — the van. Oops. Sleepwalking through the morning routine again.
Redirected and in the correct vehicle, I got two blocks away before I heard something chirping at me. It wasn’t the first robin of spring. It was Husband’s cell phone, left in the car to charge overnight. Since I wasn’t far from home, I came back, dumped the phone and its charger on top of his wallet, then left for work a second time.
My arrival in the parking lot coincided with another teacher’s arrival, and that was lucky for me. I had forgotten my ID card, which is my entry into the building and has my room key attached. She let me in, and I got lucky again; my room was unlocked.
Later that day, I heard from Husband by email. He had forgotten more than his cell phone; his toolbox was still in the Saturn’s trunk. He parked the minivan beside his car, moved the toolbox from the Saturn to the van, and then had to explain himself to one of my colleagues so she wouldn’t call the police and report this strange guy taking tools out of the trunk of a car in the school parking lot. He got lucky — she had met him at the staff holiday party.
Well, despite all the trials and tribulations of the day, we all survived. Minimum of tummy trouble, not too much headache, only a little hassle on the way out. It could have been worse.

Here’s the new bike rack on the new hitch, with Husband checking on all the details.

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>to list, or not to list

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>

I should not, absolutely not, use the term “list” when we get on the ferry for the five hour trip to our ultimate destination.

I kept seeing recommendations and deals on GPS units on WantNot.net, Mir’s fantastic blog for bargain shoppers. I pulled one up onscreen the other day and asked Husband what he thought. Since we’ll be traveling through several states (at least eight) and then out of the country for a week, I wondered if it might be a good idea to have a little electronic help finding our way.
He said no. Absolutely not. In his view, it’s hard enough to ask a person for directions, much less take directions from a box with a voice. So…I’ll pack a U.S. map and look for an updated state highway map (free, if possible) as we enter each state and try out their rest stops.
He’ll also print out a Mapquest for each day’s plan before we leave home. The plus side of this is that we’ll also print out a Braille copy of the route, and Amigo can do his part to help navigate. White cane and all, our teen will be an active participant in the road trip. He’s a great believer in the slogan that getting there is half the fun!
But then again, the Mapquest I printed for today’s music festival landed me and my minivan in the elementary school’s turnaround for parents instead of in the high school’s parking lot four full blocks away…. just goes to show you, there’s always something.

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>We also need…a list for this

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>I admit it. My name is Daisy, and I’m a list-maker. Our summer vacation, the first in four years, is still in the planning stages, but I have list potential growing on the same back burner.

Things we should look for now so we don’t pay full price later
  • A bike rack for the minivan. Amigo’s bike will take up a great deal of the minivan’s interior. In fact, I’ll probably put the cooler in the bike basket and my suitcase under its back wheels. Our bikes (mine and Husband’s) will go on a rack on the back bumper. This ought to be a good season for buying a rack like this, so I’ll start reading the sporting goods stores’ ads in the Sunday papers. Something will turn up. A visit to the bike shop may help, too.
  • Husband needs a bike helmet; they’re required by law in Canada.
  • Amigo thinks I need a swimsuit. Hah! Not a chance. If I wade at the beach, I’ll wear my capris. I should, however, make sure Amigo’s suit still fits him.
  • Travel size generic meds. Let’s see — goodies to ward off headaches, stomach-aches, and motion sickness can fill up the little pocket of my purse.
  • Sunscreen. Sunglasses.
  • Reading material! Right? Shouldn’t I get a few books for the long drive and the ferry ride, too? Okay, I give in, that can wait.

And… I have a new post up at MidCentury Modern Moms today. “My” day is every other Thursday. Enjoy!

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