Experiment Eight: A Less Stressful Way To Road Trip With Little Ones

Last summer we were faced with a big question: How the heck do we get from Wisconsin to Arizona with a 3 year old and two 2 year olds? My sister was getting married at a beautiful resort in Scottsdale, AZ in late June. We could fly or we could drive.

We had never flown with our girls before and the thought of checking carseats and the rest of our luggage was daunting. Driving would take longer, but we would already have our carseats in tow and space for the rest of our luggage. So decision made: We're Driving!

Oh Crap! Now with that decision made: How do we drive a mini van full of toddlers 26 hours (one way) without going crazy? Everyone we talked to had different responses....

• That sounds horrible!

• Do most of your driving through the night so the kids sleep.

• Just fly.

• Are you crazy?

I spent countless hours searching for answers on different blogs. I was looking for answers on how to keep our kids entertained in the car. Most answers I found included projects for me to set up ahead of time. While these ideas were super creative pinterest inspiring ideas, my only response was - HELL NO! I don't have the time or energy to do all this. And in the end I think the mini van is going to be covered in crayons, small magnetic/sticky pieces that ultimately don't end up sticking to the windows, and a scattering of other small toys they lose interest in after 5 minutes.

I talked to other people getting their personal stories of how they made road trips work - finding out their secrets to making it to their destinations. One mom told me that they would leave home in the evening and drive as late into the night as possible before crashing in a hotel. Objective - get as many miles in as possible when the kids are sleeping.

This sounded like a great idea. The winter before our road trip we ended up making a short notice road trip from Wisconsin to North Dakota for my grandpa's funeral. We decided that we would try this method of - drive as late into the night as you can! Our experience: DIDN'T WORK! Our kids fell asleep in the mini van - awesome! By the time we got to our hotel my husband and I were exhausted (about 11pm) and ready to crash. Only problem - our girls don't transfer from carseat to bed well. So they woke up and were wired until two in the morning. It was horrible. This method did not work for our family!

Now what?

We decided getting to our hotels at a reasonable hour to do our normal bedtime routine - bath, stories, prayer, bed would be best for us. With that game plan we would want to get to our nightly hotels between 7pm and 8pm. Decision made - check!

Next question to tackle: How do we keep the girls entertained in the car? We decided to go simple. We got the girls tablets from Barnes and Noble for their birthdays. They had time to master their tablets without our help before the road trip. Two weeks before we hit the road I took the tablets to the "Tablet Doctor" to get fixed before the road trip (aka: stored them in a cabinet). This made all their games and books on their tablets new and exciting again for the car. Other than that they had their blanket, a stuffed animal and a physical book. Done and done - check!

With those two questions answered, the next two questions on our list....

Meals and Naps?

We wanted to stick to a fairly tight budget and stick to things that were easy when it came to our meals. For breakfast, we decided to stay at hotels that offered a free continental breakfast. For lunch, we decided to have picnic lunches. We bought groceries for the car - bread and peanut butter, bananas and apples, gogurts and string cheese, fruit snacks and cheddar bunnies. We had bottles of water and were set. For dinner, we always planned on stopping at a restaurant - generally a panera bread or equivalent - easy, fast, healthier than fast food, and cheaper than a regular sit down restaurant. Done, done, and done - check!

Would the girls nap in the car? We hoped so, but with all that sitting would they ever get tired? Or would they get tired later, making our bedtime routine more difficult? Our hope was that they would crash after lunch (like a normal nap). We decided it would be a good idea to get some run around time outside the car at lunch time. We preplanned all our stops, using google maps to follow our route. For lunchtime we found a playground to stop at - have our picnic lunch in the shade and then let the girls play! It was great. Our girls loved having a playground to play at in every new state! Check!

Here's what our days looked like in general:

• In the car by 9am
• Drive approximately 2.5 hours 
• Potty break, Picnic at a playground, and Play (our stop was about 1.5 hours total)
• Drive approximately 3 hours
• Potty break, Early Dinner at a Panera Bread or Equivalent (our stop was about 1 hour total)
• Drive approximately 2.5 hours
• Hello Hotel (7:30pm)

Of course there were some days that were different. Sometimes their are no good stops after 2.5/3 hours and you need to drive a bit farther to get to a Panera. Sometimes our girls were finally asleep about 30 minutes before our planned dinner stop, so we kept driving and reevaluating at each exit if it was time to stop. Sometimes you really want to spend time at what would be a quick lunch destination so we preplanned to stop the day early and spend the night so we could have more time to explore. Sometimes we preplanned to stop our day early so we could have a relaxing dinner in the hotel with pizza and disney channel. Sometimes we would last minute change our route to sight see something cool. 

We preplanned as much as we could. We had a timeline with our planned stops for each day we were on the road. Google maps, trip advisor, and visiting city parks webpages (always good if you can get a picture of the playground) to make our stopping decisions. Before we hit the road we knew each day exactly what park we were going to visit, what restaurant we would eat dinner at, and what hotel we were staying at.

While our destination was our goal, we decided to make the most of our journey. We made our trip the whole package, loving every minute of our special time together - even though there were temper tantrums and sick kids part of the time.

Here is what our road trip looked like:

• Day One: 9am Leave Home, Lunch at a park in IA, Dinner in IA, Hotel in MO
• Day Two: 9am Leave Hotel, Lunch at a free zoo in Emporia KS, Dinner in KS, Hotel in Liberal KS
• Day Three: 9 am Leave Hotel, Drive through corner of OK, Lunch at a park in TX, Dinner & Hotel in Albuquerque NM
• Day Four: Off to the Albuquerque BioPark (awesome, awesome, awesome)!!!! 3pm Drive, Dinner in NM, Hotel in Heber AZ
• Day Five: 9am Leave Hotel, Picnic lunch at laundromat in Scottsdale AZ and to Resort
• Day Six and Day Seven at Resort
• Day Eight: 9am Leave Hotel, last minute detour through Sedona on our way to Flagstaff (coolest drive ever!!!), Lunch at park in AZ, Dinner and Hotel in Moab UT
• Day Nine: Visited Arches National Park (super cool) in Moab UT, Hotel in Moab UT again
• Day Ten: 9am Leave Hotel,  Lunch at park in CO, Dinner and Hotel in Denver
• Day Eleven: 9am Leave Hotel, Lunch at park in CO,  Dinner in IA, Hotel near Omaha IA
• Day Twelve: Off to the Omaha Zoo (It was so big and we were tired at this point in the trip - skip big/fun stops late on the way home), We were going to stay in Cedar Rapids that night, but the girls were all feeling sick and we all wanted our own beds so we drove late and got home around 11pm.

Awesome Tips For Easier Cheaper Road Tripping:

• HOTELS: Stay away from big cities - they are more expense. Its easier in and out and cheaper to stay in the suburbs.
• PARKS: If stopping at parks for little ones to play - stay away from big cities. They are so much more hectic to get to and park at. Stopping in small towns is faster and easier.
• SNACKS: No snacking in the car. Keeps the car clean and the kids eat well during the meals.
• STATES: We want to visit all 50 states with our girls. So we took one route on our way to Arizona and an different route on our way home to hit different states. If doing this, take the long way to your destination and the short way home when your are tired and looking forward to seeing your bed again!
• FUN STOPS: There are so many cool things to see when traveling, most of them are not toddler friendly. Stick to easy toddler friendly stops (parks and zoos). They will love it. And if they love it, you will enjoy it. Then take note of the things you thought were cool when researching your trip or while on the road for things to revisit some day.
• ICE CREAM: If the route you are taking one day is longer with no good stop 2.5 to 3 hours after lunch, stop for ice cream, and keep driving to get to your dinner destination. Ice cream always makes traveling more fun!
• DESTINATION: With road tripping in this style, make your destination a shorter stop (3 days max) This is mostly because your travel time is going to be limited. Depending on how far and how long you plan to be gone, you will spend a lot of time getting to your destination and back home.
• BUDGET: If traveling on a budget, road tripping is a great way to go. Driving is way cheaper than flying. Plan picnic lunches and inexpensive dinners. Stay at chain hotels (think Holiday Inn, Comfort Inn, Best Western) with continental breakfast. Plan for free or inexpensive activities: Playgrounds are free, Some small zoos are free, Albuquerque's Botanical Garden is free and awesome!
• CLOTHES AND SHOES: Pack lightly and only what you need to get through half the trip. My husband and I would re-wear our shorts, but have a clean t-shirt, and underwear for each day. Our girls had a clean summer dress for each day (luckily their clothes are tiny) and our 3 year old had lots of undies packed. We wore tennis shoes or sandals while we traveled. We re-wore the same pajamas each night. Half way through the trip we did laundry and were set to get home.
• POTTY ACCIDENTS: Pack beach towels to cover carseats incase of a potty accident. Then when you get to your hotel you can pull out the carseat, throw the cover in a washing machine at the hotel and be all set to hit the road in the morning. (side note: pick hotels with a washing machine and dryer onsite).
• ENTERTAINMENT IN THE CAR: If bringing tablets, still limit the time. When kids get bored they fall asleep, so if nap time is important, take a break from the tablet after lunch so they sleep and get a break from the screen time. We also just got some fun kids music for our next road trip that our girls are super excited for. So we are planning on having tablet time, music time, and quiet time (hopefully nap time). 
• TV IN THE HOTEL: We don't have cable at home so Disney is a big treat for the girls at the hotel. Another reason to cut the cable at home if you haven't already done so!
• RELAX: Don't try to fit too much into your trip. Do some fun things, but take your time so you come home rejuvenated instead of feeling like you need a vacation.