When deciding what I wanted to travel in the van with us, I evidently thought that bringing every cleaning product we owned would be crucial, along with most of the blankets we own, this despite the fact that it's a warm time of year and we only had two nights to camp in our old house without our belongings. I did restrain myself from digging up most of my flowers, but only because I didn't believe they'd survive the trip. In the end the only plant that came with was six or so iris rhizomes I got from my grandparents' Kansas farm. The potted rain lily that came from my great-aunt and great-uncle in Texas-by way of my grandparents, again- also happily survived the move.
So Friday morning our van-full of cleaning items, blankets, plants, and humans set out toward Connecticut. We made good time, arriving at Lagomarcino's Confectionery right at lunchtime.
That place was so dang charming. Quaint little wooden booths, plus a counter by the soda fountain, plus a long case filled with handmade chocolates- it was wonderful. The food was pretty simple, with the shakes definitely stealing the show.
After lunch we stretched our legs, walking around quiet downtown Moline, IL, and then stretched our legs some more as Derek went into a branch of our bank and tried to put out fires that were threatening to ignite surrounding our two house closings. Because we closed on our Iowa house Thursday night and then planned on closing on our CT house the following Monday morning, everything had to line up and occur on a pretty tight timeline. There are lots of moving pieces when it comes to real estate and banks, however, and not everyone was playing nice, so Derek was monitoring it all and shifting and switching and overall being his uber-responsible self. For my part, I made the kids walk laps around the bank. This was apparently evidence of my innate cruelty; never mind that they had already been sitting and would continue to sit on their tuchuses for hours.
What is the plural for tuchus, anyway?
Derek's parents completed their application for sainthood by presenting to Adelaide the complete series of Mork and Mindy on DVD shortly before we left Iowa. This being her current favorite show, she ended up watching hours of it over the miles and states of this trip. She even got the boys hooked. Posthumous credit goes to Robin Williams for generating giggles from the backseat of our van when we expected to hear pitiful weeping.
Day two's stop was Marblehead Lighthouse on the shore of Lake Erie. The boys and I loved how incredibly windy it was there that day, but it freaked Adelaide out. Well, that and all the water. Not caring for wind and water together is problematic when you're on one of the Great Lakes. Still, she climbed the winding wrought iron stairs inside the lighthouse with no problem, while I was finding myself shorter and shorter of breath due to some height-induced panic. Yet again I forgot how much I don't care for heights until we were well off the ground.
It all seems like a good idea when my feet are planted on the firmament, but then we begin climbing and I remember just how little I trust my fellow man and the things he has built. Never mind that the lighthouse has stood without incident (well, without a lot of incidents) for close to 200 years; my weight will be the straw the breaks the camel's back- or the flesh that crumbles the limestone, I guess. Once at the top, my back was firmly glued to the outside wall of the structure while small children capered about the balcony. I did allow myself small shuffles from side to side, but did not get a picture of this because I was trying not to die.
We also enjoyed hopping around on the boulders that line the shore, because, well, boulder hopping is fun.
Our final day on the road we elected not to stop at any of the Pennsylvania rocks the kids were decidedly not excited about seeing- the timing just wasn't right- and instead stopped at High Point State Park in New Jersey. I believe I forgot to mention New Jersey as one of the states we were traversing. We were at the state park for all of 30 minutes; a few hikers emerged from the forest just as we were preparing to set out and told us that any grass higher than ankle-height would end in legs covered in ticks. This was problematic as we were all clueless Iowans wearing shorts. We followed a well-cleared trail for all of a quarter mile before it grew more overgrown and we decided that it was not a good day to become five walking, talking hosts for opportunistic families of ticks. So we turned around. Then I read two pamphlets aloud I'd picked up at the ranger station; I was determined we'd all get something out of this stop, and if wasn't going to be exercise, it would have to be more facts about black bears than we'll likely ever need.
Other fun facts about the trip:
Adelaide got uneasy when we entered Jersey and the roads turned close, hilly, and windy. We told her this boded ill for one year from now when she'll be learning how to drive on Connecticut roads.
We were given a number of thoughtful gifts for the road trip, but the kids' favorite was from one of my yoga ladies, who gave us a generously-sized bag of snack food: single-serving Cheez-Its, pretzels, cans of Pringles, and homemade monster cookies and Kringla. From now on this will be our standard gift to families embarking on cross-country moves.
A couple times Atticus said, "I keep almost asking when we're going to turn around and go home- but then I remember we're not."
Even with all the stops, the kids' favorite part may have been the hotel pools.
Atticus is still talking about "the mosquitoes with tails." They were some kind of bug we kept seeing on the shore of Lake Erie. I repeatedly told the kids they were not mosquitoes. They will not be convinced.
Adelaide's favorite was the chocolate malt at Lagomarcino's. And Mork and Mindy.
And yes, I can confirm that Caedmon's favorite part of the trip was "probably the hotel pools." Does this mean you should save your pennies, not take that trip, and instead head to the nearest hotel that will let you swim and get family ear infections for an afternoon fee? Not necessarily. But this definitely doesn't make me want to spend all our dollars on certain children's admittance to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
