Friday, June 10, 2011

Epic Road Trip: Motels

We are planning an epic road trip this summer.  11 states (Wa., Or., Id., Ut., Wy., Co., Ks., Mo., Ne., SD., & Mt.) in 14+ days.  There will be 7 of us, me and Papa, our 4 girls and our niece Solanah.  So far we have our route mapped and hotels booked.  Because of our large group (and wanting the baby to have her own room) we will mainly be staying in large chain suites, but here are a couple of gems we squeezed in.

The Safari Inn (it's pink!)

I do worry how our 21 month old daughter will do.  Of course my major concern is sleep.  Will she sleep in a new place almost nightly?  We are driving long days, although not exceeding 12 hours, because I want to limit hotel stays for that reason.  We will be in one hotel 4 nights and another 3.  My hope is in these places she can settle in and feel rested.  We will take her (portable) crib, blankets and noise maker (we call it "the ocean") Even with such conveniences we have discovered she sleeps poorly away from home, which can make a mama want nothing more than to be home.  Cross your fingers!  



9 comments:

  1. All babies are different, but my youngest sister was about that age when we went on a similar road trip, and she did alright :)

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  2. oooh have fun, that's what I love about the US, being able to travel sooo far! Of course in the UK we can only do the UK until we cross the sea, but once we get onto Mainland Europe it can be fun!

    Good luck and have fun!

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  3. a brave trip with such a youngster, but you have help from your other family members. I'd love to do a vintage buying trip in a few US states one day, all the good stuff seems to come from Ohio, I don't know why!

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  4. It is different with every child for sure, but I was trained on road trips from probably the first summer I was born. We went camping for 2-3 weeks every year and drove all over Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest - reason that I can say I've been to your town :) It is also why I'm able to sit on buses, planes and trains for AGES and be content just looking out a window. I spent so much of my childhood doing just that.
    I also learned a lot of stuff on those trips including all of the States - my mom quizzed me out of the back of the KOA Camping book. Good opportunity for some learning on the road!
    Have an awesome time!

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  5. I LOVED my recent mini US road trip - and we only did 1 state in 7 days! You just see so much more doing a RT, and every day is different. Good luck with the little one!

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  6. Hoe exciting! Last Summer my hubby and I braved traveling with our 1 yr old, 2yr old and 7 yr old. Obviously the oldest was no trouble getting to sleep, the 2 yr old was tough to quiet down (he actually fell of the the bed sleeping with dad) but baby....boy howdy, he was a tough one!

    The first night he slept in the complementary crib with the family. It was a little to small and he kept on bumping his head on the metal bars (that's after an hour of wimpering because the 2 yr old wouldn't let him sleep).

    The following night I put him in his play pen that I brought just in case and had him sleep in the sitting room that was separate from the bedroom. It still took him 30 min to fall asleep, but it was so much better.

    BTW, the toughest part was the little guys not napping in the stroller during the day. Seriously...what normal toddlers can resist the urge to nap when it's nap time, laying in a comfy stroller with the gentle beach breeze on your face and birds chirping? Oh that's right...MY toddlers. LOL

    Have fun doll!

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  7. Oh, and random advice: make your kids keep "road journals." My Mom gave us all blank notebooks to write/draw about our travels whenever we would go on trips. We just found some of them in storage, and they're soo fun to look back on. I even remember doing certain pages

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  8. Wow such fun! When my girl was a toddler we used to go on road trips all the time! She was a difficult child, and unpredictable when it came to going to sleep. Some trips were great, others were not. Good luck, and no matter what just try to stay calm and enjoy the time. She will pick up on it and fall asleep eventually!

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