I learn that we're near the Field of Dreams movie site in a tractor store. On our drive from Prairie Du Chien, Wisc., to Dubuque, Iowa, my son spots a row of John Deeres from the road and begs me to stop. We play around on the tractors and end up inside the shop for a potty break. That's where we see a few miniature toy tractors sitting on a shelf, and one of them is emblazoned with the words "Field of Dreams."
"Are we near the Field of Dreams?" I ask a salesclerk.
"Oh yeah, only about 20 minutes or so." He shows me a map and how to get to Dyersville, the closest town to the site of the 1989 Academy Award nominee for "Best Picture of the Year" starring Kevin Costner. "Once you're in town, you'll see the sign. Can't miss it," he says.
I'm torn on whether to drive an extra 40 miles to see a baseball field, but I feel a nagging urge to seek out the famous site, and I practically hear a voice telling me, "They built it, you must go."
We drive through lush cornfields--a seemingly endless sea of green. A storm passes over and the sky changes from bright blue to deep purple to dark gray--and then rain dumps, lightning flashes, and it suddenly clears up just as we pull up to the Field of Dreams parking lot.
As a San Francisco girl who is used to sitting in bleak fog all summer long, the volatile weather seems almost magical. I begin to understand how the author of the book, Shoeless Joe, on which the movie is based, might have been inspired by the landscape. The story goes that an Iowa farmer is standing in the middle of a cornfield when he hears a mysterious voice telling him to cut a baseball diamond out of his field so the ghost of Joe Jackson (aka Shoeless Joe), who was a member of the infamous 1919 Black Sox team, can come play some ball.
We get out of the car and join another dozen tourists who are also arriving. Later a bus pulls up. The site gets some 50,000 visitors a year.
I sit in the bleachers while my kids run circles around the perfectly manicured diamond. Other folks, their baseball mitts in hand, toss balls. It's almost surreal to see this field surrounded by cornfields--especially when another storm starts to sweep through. As the wind picks up and the sky grows dark, I get goose bumps. I hear a muffled voice and turn my head, half expecting to see Kevin Costner sitting next to me. Instead, it's my son who has run up the bleachers and excitedly says, "Mommy, let's go play baseball. Come on!"
We don't have any mitts, balls or bats, but no matter because imaginations can run wild in Iowa cornfields.
Low point of the day: Lost in Wisconsin! We end up 40 miles off track, which is particularly frustrating when you're on a budget of $150 a day (every little bit counts). Luckily, the scenery is gorgeous. We drive through lush green corn fields under a deep purple sky, and there are cows everywhere.
Quote of the day: "Mommy, I just saw a cow wearing earrings," says my 4-year-old son, who spots a milk cow with tags in his ears grazing in a pasture.
Sound bite of the day: We hop on the Cassville Car Ferry (pictured above), which has been transporting cars and people across the Mississippi from Cassville, Wisc., to Turkey River Landing in Iowa, since 1833. We chat with the pilot, Steve Vogt, who pointed out two bald eagles perched high in a tree when we were crossing the river.
The Rundown Low point of the day: Lost in Wisconsin! We end up 40 miles off track, which is particularly frustrating when you're on a budget of $150 a day (every little bit counts). Luckily, the scenery...
Day 6: Prairie Du Chien to Dubuque
High point of the day: Driving through Iowa farm country, my son spots a row of sparkling green and yellow John Deeres lining the side of the road. Some of the tractors are as tall as one-story homes. To my little boy, they look like gigantic toys, and when we stop at the tractor lot he has a ball climbing atop them and sitting in the driver's seats. How much do you think a full-size tractor costs? My daughter sat in one that goes for $87,000--luckily she didn't break it.
Most interesting person encountered: My son announces that he has to go to potty now at the tractor lot! I tell the kids to hop into the car so we can find a gas station but they ask if we can use the bathroom in the tractor store. As a city girl, I'm a little uneasy in farm country and worry about how the salespeople in the shop might react to us. But my kids persuade me to step inside and we surreptitiously slide behind two farmers and sneak into a bathroom. But when we're coming out, Darlene Schmitt catches us--and good thing she did because she tells us all about farm life and treats us to glasses of cold water and a heavy dose of Iowan hospitality. She and her husband have owned Schmitt Implement for 40 years. They also lived in San Francisco for six months while her husband was stationed in Fort Winfield Scott (now a part of the Presidio). "Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if we stayed in San Francisco because we did think about staying," Schmitt says. "But I'm glad we came back to Iowa. We have family here. We're real happy here. It's a friendly place." And I couldn't agree with her more.
Photo of the day: Playing farmer at Schmitt Implement tractor store in Tipton, Iowa.
Weather: Sunny then rainy then sunny then rainy...
A decrepit hand-painted sign, the paint peeling, marked the turnoff for the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the beloved author of the Little House series.
"Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthplace," I excitedly screamed. "Stop, turn around, we need to go!"
"We're going to Laura's born house!" my son chimed in.
The seven-mile winding road from Pepin, Wisc., to Lund passed by big red barns, a one-room schoolhouse, and cows grazing in wide-open pastures. We drove through groves of pines, poplars, and cotton woods, and past corn fields. And then there it was: the gray log cabin.
You might remember how Wilder's first book Little House in the Big Woods begins: "Once upon a time many years ago a little girl lived in the big woods of Wisconsin in a little gray house made of logs." Well, this was that house--at least an authentic re-creation of the original one in the same location where Laura lived with Pa and Ma, her sister Mary, her baby sister Carrie, and their trusty dog, Jack, before moving to Missouri, and then Kansas, back to Wisconsin, on to Minnesota, and then South Dakota.
My daughter and I, our hearts pounding, ran to the front door. There's something so exciting about visiting the birthplace of an author you love. Your connection with the author is deepened. You feel as if you're getting a glimpse into the personal life of the person behind the book.
I recently read Little House in the Big Woods to my daughter and we have listened to the Book on Tape probably three times. The book is based on Wilder's early childhood living on the edge of the Wisconsin woods in the 19th century. In it there are wonderful scenes depicting pioneer life. The family celebrates Christmas with homemade toys, cure bear meat, and visit town for the first time. And every night they are safe and warm in their little house, with the happy sound of Pa's fiddle sending Laura and her sisters off to sleep.
My memories of the books and the TV show are most closely linked to my childhood friend Carol, who was obsessed with Laura Ingalls Wilder. While I never had my own collection of the books at home, my friend Carol did and her sister, Diana, used to read us chapters. We would re-enact scenes, and in our minds her backyard was the wild Midwest where we were pioneers hunting for our own food, churning our own butter, and fending for ourselves.
But that was all pretend. Here I was at the actual place. We walked inside the log cabin. It was as if we were stepping inside one of Wilder's books.
"Mommy it's so small," my daughter said.
The long, cold winter the Wilder family endured in this little log cabin suddenly seemed all the more impressive.
Were you a Little House on the Prairie fan? Please share your childhood memories of the books and TV series.
Driving through farmland along the Mississippi River just south of Minneapolis, I noticed a lush green field filled with sculptures--huge, interesting masses of steel that us urban folk are used to seeing along our city sidewalks, certainly not in pastures.
"Pull over!" It turns out we had stumbled upon the Anderson Center, an artist community outside of Red Wing, on the site of Alexander Pierce Anderson's former laboratory and farm. Who was Anderson? Well, he invented puffed rice cereal, which made him a wealthy man, and he was a great supporter of the arts.
We strolled through the grounds--dozens of sculptures, a large patch of native prairie grass, a platform for gazing out over the garden, and a red-brick water tower built by Anderson. My kids were captivated by a great white shark created with recycled stuff, a surfboard, a skate board, pieces from a lawnmower.
We peeked inside some of the studios and that's when we met Art Kenyon, who is a painter and print maker. Kenyon worked for the Red Wing Shoe Company in town for 34 years and now he's retired, living the artist's life. He gave us a tour of his studio, the walls adorned with a wide variety of works, and showed us the different stages that a painting goes through before becoming a final product. I asked him about the Anderson Center and here's a sound bite from him:
For my 6-year-old daughter, Paris, this encounter with Kenyon has been the highlight of the trip up to this point. When we left his studio she said, "He was a real artist Mommy. A real artist!" And the day after she kept asking, "Can we go see another artist?"
Paris always says that when she grows up, she wants to be an "artist mom," and so far she has shown dedication to the trade as all she does in her free time is draw and draw and then draw some more. On this road trip, she sits in the backseat drawing nonstop (when she's not throwing raspberries at her brother). Of course, this all could change but for now that's what she wants to be and for her the opportunity to step inside an artist's studio was a real treat, something she had never done before.
The experience made me realize the impact travel can have on kids. Many of the memories from this vacation will fade but I have a feeling that Paris will remember Kenyon, who took the time to talk to her and who gave her a glimpse into the life of an artist.
Please share your memories from childhood travels. Are there any specific experiences that you will never forget?
High point of the day: A few days back my daughter asked me for the definition of the word quaint, and when we arrive in Red Wing, Minn., I feel as if I can provide her with a real-life example. This town is right out of a storybook with red-brick buildings, old-fashioned lampposts, and flowers spilling out of planter boxes. To top it off, we arrive in the midst of a plein air festival; the sidewalks are filled with artists at their easels, paining the charming scenery.
Sound bite of the day: We walk along the Red Wing waterfront lined with a beautiful park, where we meet former mayor Donna Dummers who is weeding a flower patch.
Quote of the day: "Where are their mommies?" my 6-year-old daughter asks about the group of girls who look to be of about the same age walking without an adult in downtown Red Wing. For a San Francisco kid this is an unusual sight.
Most interesting person encountered: We stumble upon the Anderson Center in Red Wing, an artist's retreat founded by Alexander Pierce Anderson, the inventor of puffed rice cereal. Here, we meet Art Kenyon, who is painting in a studio at the center. "This is a great place to be an artist with the river right here in our backyard," Kenyon says. "There's always inspiration." (More on the center in an upcoming post.)
Low point of the day: Our search for the best slice of pie along the Mississippi is stalled when we learn the Pie Company in Stockholm, Wisc., is closed. The Harbor View Cafe just down the road in Pepin is also closed, and it's supposed to have some of the best strawberry rhubarb pie in the state, according to Gourmet magazine columnists Jane and Michael Stern. Who knew it would be so difficult to track down pie? We're over budget for the day anyway, so maybe it's better that we never find a slice.
Photo of the day: How would you like to have a seat in one of these chairs? This pretty spot on the Mississippi River is in Wabasha, Minn.
Miles: 225
Total miles: 829
Hours in car: 6
Total hours in car: 17 hours, 30 minutes
Weather: Gorgeous, 80 degrees
Expenses
Breakfast and snacks for the road: $16 (We go shopping at The Wedge, a food co-op that's basically an indoor farmers' market)
A paper map used to be the way travelers found their way on road trips, and we have a whole stack of AAA maps in our car to help us make our way down the Mississippi River. But we also have a AAA Magellan RoadMate 1440 GPS and while I have always been a paper kind of gal, I'm definitely warming up to the more high-tech system. It especially comes in handy when I think we should turn right and my husband thinks we should turn left.
The first time we turned it on, my kids were quite impressed. "It talks Mommy!"
The kids decided to name it "Cutie," which might seem odd but you have to understand that these days my kids name everything from caterpillars to stuffed animals Cutie.
While there's not actually much that's cute about the Magellan unit, there's certainly a lot that's helpful. Since the Magellan talks, telling you when to exit and make a turn, you can keep your eyes on the road. Plus, it's stocked with information from AAA's TourBook, including diamond-rated restaurants, hotels, and roadside assistance for AAA members that shows your current location. Nearly all in-car GPS units come with a large database of "points of interest" but these rarely include more than an address and phone number. Magellan's AAA TourBook takes points of interest to the next level: Restaurant listings include a one-paragraph restaurant review, hours, meal price range, parking, and more.
To make our device even handier, we downloaded (it's free and works on most GPS units including Garmin and Tom Tom) the locations for every Best Western hotel in North America. Now the crown logo shows up everywhere a Best Western is located—and we can easily find where we're going to bed down each night.
Price: The listed price for the Magellan GPS is $199 and AAA members get 15 percent off. Amazon also sells the unit and sometimes at an even lower price.
Big cities? They're expensive for traveling families, right? Not necessarily. In fact, often urban centers are the best places to find free and inexpensive things to do with kids. We found this was particularly the case in Minneapolis, where we recently stopped for a two-night stay on our Mississippi road trip. Here are seven things to do in this Minnesota city on the cheap with kids.
1) Slurp up a bowl of noodles at Jasmine Deli. This Vietnamese hole-in-the-wall makes up for its lack of atmosphere with tasty barbecue chicken sandwiches and steaming bowls of pho, chicken noodle soup. A family of four can eat here for $20.
2) Pick up picnic fixings at The Wedge. This food co-op is basically an indoor farmers market with piles of produce, most of it organic. Also, the deli stuffs everything from tofu to nitrate-free salami into sandwiches. The best picnic spot around may be at Hidden Falls Regional Park in neighboring St. Paul.
3) Ride the Como-Harriet Streetcar. The last bastion of the streetcar system runs between Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriett. It costs only $2.
4) Explore the Guthrie Theater. This architecture marvel rising above the Mississippi River is the place to see a play, but it also offers sweeping views of the area and lots of nooks and crannies for kids to explore. It's free to walk around.
5) Drive a virtual tugboat at the Minnesota Science Museum. It's all about hands-on exhibits at this science museum. Kids particularly like the Human Body Gallery and the the dinosaur lab in the Hall of Paleontology. Admission: free to $17.
6) Step inside (or outside) an art museum. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is always free and houses an amazing collection ranging from a 2,000-year-old mummy to works by European masters such as Rembrandt and Monet. The largest urban sculpture garden in the country surrounds the Walker Art Center and there's no fee to browse its works.
7) Stroll around Lake Harriet. Circle this lake at sunset and then head up the hill to Sebastian Joe's for ice cream (two scoops, of course).
High point of the day: My husband is a river scientist and so this trip down the Mississippi has special meaning for him. While I'm on the hunt for historic buildings and pie shops, he's more interested in dams, locks, fish ladders and geological formations. Because of him we received a private tour of the new Outdoor Stream Lab at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory right on the Mississippi River. Researchers from all over the world conduct experiments on this re-creation of a stream that pulls water from the Mississippi. It's the only lab of this sort in the world, and even I, the non-scientist, find it interesting.
Sound bite of the day: Mary Presnail, 25, is one of the many student researchers at the Outdoor Stream Lab. Here she offers up a rather technical, though impressive, description of the research she's conducting at the lab.
Low point of the day: After our tour of the lab, we planned to walk along the Mississippi River and go for a swim at Lake Harriet Southeast Beach. But dark clouds suddenly swoop over the city and it starts raining. The kids are disappointed. So we opt for an indoor attraction, the Guthrie Theater, an architectural marvel rising above the Mississippi. New York Times writer Nicolai Ouroussoff called it a "a Modernist heaven on a former industrial strip along the riverfront.
Quote of the day: "This place is cool," says my 4-year-old son, as we're touring the Guthrie. "Maybe we could live here."
Photo of the day: The ninth floor of the Guthrie Theater.
Miles driven: 30
Total miles driven: 604
Minutes in car: 30 minutes
Total hours in car: 11 hours, 30 minutes
Weather: Hot and muggy in the morning; thunderstorms in the evening
When my kids started spitting at each other in the backseat, I knew it was time to pull over for a break. We were driving from Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota to Minneapolis and we had been in the car for two hours. But where could we stop? We were in the middle of nothingness just south of Motley (pop. 585) where the attractions were open pastures, farms, and industrial buildings. That's when I noticed the grassy field with dozens of sprinklers spewing across it.
"Pull over!" I told my husband.
I stripped the kids down and put them in their swimsuits and we ran wildly through the sprinklers on what turned out to be a airstrip next to the Trident Seafoods plant.
Stop every two hours--that's my No. 1 tip when road tripping with kids. Pull off at a rest stop for a game of tag, park in a small town to grab an ice cream cone, track down an elementary school with a jungle gym--this is the key to keeping children sane in the car. Out in the middle of nothingness? Run through the sprinklers, of course.
Does your family take time to stop on long road trips? What are your tricks and tips?
High point of the day: We visit the headwaters of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota. Wading through the waters, we walk across the river where it starts its 2,552 mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico. The kids put on their swim suits and jump around in the cool, fresh water. We see loons and a snapping turtle.
Quote of the day: “If you want to write about something provocative you should cover the controversy over where the real headwaters of the Mississippi is," says Maris Kurmis of Minneapolis, who we meet at the headwaters. "Some people think it's Lake Itasca but others insist it's Elk Lake. People round here can get really worked up over this."
Low point of the day: A mother duck and her ducklings are waddling across the freeway between Lake Itasca and Minneapolis. My husband changes lanes to avoid them but the semi-truck behind us runs right over them. The urban-wilderness interface is often unkind to the little creatures.
Photo of the day: The headwaters of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota. Sound bite of the day: Nels Tryggestad was dropping a fishing line into the Mississippi River in Little Falls, Minn., between Lake Itasca and Minneapolis.
Miles: 254 miles Total miles: 574 Hours in car: 7 Total hours in car: 11 Weather: Sunny, clear, 85 degrees
Expenses Hotel: $76 (Best Western Bemidji Inn) Breakfast: free at hotel Lunch: $13.69 (Lueken’s Village Foods/picnic of two sandwiches, fruit salad, cranberries) Itasca State Park entrance fee: $5 Pressed penny: 51 cents Soda: $2 Gas: $31.76 Dinner: $16.30 (Morey’s Fish/picnic of peeled shrimp, smoked salmon, cheese and crackers) Dessert: $4.26 (Culver’s Frozen Custard/one medium) Coffee: $1.70 Total:$146.96 Total for trip: $335.21
High point of the day: We stop at the Boondocks Cafe in Wadena on our way to northern Minnesota and the waitress gives my husband a free slice of cheesecake for Father's Day.
Low point of the day: It's pouring down rain outside. Our waitress at the Boondocks Cafe tells us there was a tornado warning last Thursday, the night of the town parade. The police department directed the spectators into the restaurant basement. I begin to worry about the weather. Quote of the day: "What's all that stuff on your sandwich?” my 4-year-old son Dante asks his father about the turkey sandwich that is drowned in gravy at the Boondocks.
Sound bite of the day: Boondocks Cafe waitress Laureen Huttenen shares the day's specials.
Photo of the day: An 18-foot-tall Paul Bunyan and his blue ox Babe in Bemidji, Minn. Miles: 200 miles Total miles: 320 Hours in car: 4 Weather: It's raining! It's pouring!
Expenses Hotel: $86.25 (Best Western Chelsea Inn, Monticello) Breakfast: free at hotel Lunch: $21.41 (Boondocks Café, Wadena, Minn.) Dinner: $25 (Dave's Pizza/I read on Chowhound.com that it's as good as what you get in Italy, and the thin crust pizza slathered in a fresh tomato sauce and heaped with tasty mozzarella is really that good. Who would have expected this in northern Minnesota?) Total for the day: $132.66 Total for the trip: $188.25
A good pie makes you weak in the knees. It's sweet fragrance, perfectly flakey crust, and soft, moist filling overwhelms you and you're transported to heaven every time you take a bite. You don't dare leave a single crumb on your plate, and if you're a family of four sharing a single slice, you're pushing away one anothers' forks, fighting for every bite.
On our Mississippi road trip, we hope to hunt down the best piece of pie along the river. We'll be driving through the Midwest and into the South, so we should be able to find plenty of pie. I'll be offering up a description of each slice and offering up a rating on a scale from 1 to 5.
Pie #1, Fisher's Club, Avon, Minn. Beebopareebop Rhubarb Pie You might have heard Garrison Keillor mention this pie, in his folksy drawl, on the Prairie Home Companion. Maybe you have heard him sing this little ditty:
But one little thing can revive a guy, And that is home-made rhubarb pie. Serve it up, nice and hot. Maybe things aren't as futile as you thought.
DUET: Mama's little baby loves rhubarb, rhubarb, Beebopareebop Rhubarb Pie. Mama's little baby loves rhubarb, rhubarb, Beebopareebop Rhubarb Pie.
We tried this pie at Fisher's Club (Keillor is one of many owners). The slice of rhubarb came with a heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream. The flavor was wonderful--sweet and cinnamony. The crust is advertised on the menu as rivaling the best and it was that good. But the filling was a bit pasty--possibly too much flour or corn starch. Rating: 3
Do you know of a great place to get pie along the Mississippi River? Please offer up your suggestions in the comments.
Fisher's Club is the sort of place where you'd expect to find Garrison Keillor sitting at the bar. Step into this rustic supper club in the central Minnesota town of Avon and you can picture the Prairie Home Companion host sipping a martini, savoring a fried walleye fillet and gossiping with locals. Turns out Keillor is a regular here and in 2005 he and a group of investors purchased the restaurant.
But Keillor isn't the only colorful character in the Fisher's Club's history. George "Showboat" Fisher is the original owner and he opened the place in 1932 after 10 years of playing major league baseball. Back then the place was hopping with a dance floor and slot machines. Supposedly Showboat, who got his name for being a flashy dresser, spent most summer nights sleeping by the front door with his shotgun to protect the day's gambling takes.
When we stepped into the restaurant on a warm June evening, we found that it's still a lively place. The tables on the patio overlooking Middle Spunk Lake were full, so we sat in the back dining room with knotty pine paneling. A large party next to us was celebrating an 80th birthday. We listened to some men talk about fishing for walleye. "I caught 80 walleye in one day last week," one guy boasted. "Eighty fish!"
Their conversation spurred us to order the fried walleye off the menu. It was the best thing I have ever eaten out of a plastic basket. The white fish was sweet, moist, flakey, and perfectly crispy. Apparently, the restaurant uses Showboat's original bread recipe--that has been kept a secret over the decades. If we weren't on the tight $150-a-day budget, I would have ordered a second fillet--especially since my daughter ate nearly half of mine and neglected her mac and cheese. How often does a kid prefer fish over Kraft macaroni and cheese?
*To read the complete Mississippi Road Trip series, click here. If you want up-to-the-minute updates, follow OnTheGoWithAmy on Twitter.
One of the reasons we're staying at Best Western Hotels on our Mississippi road trip is the company's summer promotion.
From now through August 16, members of Best Western Rewards® loyalty program who stay two separate times at any Best Western hotel in the U.S. and Canada will receive a voucher valid for a free night at many of its hotels globally, and even earn points when staying to qualify for their free stay.
HOW IT WORKS • A 16,000 point electronic voucher good for a free night at many Best Western properties will be awarded to every Rewards member who completes two separate qualifying stays at any of the 2,200 Best Western hotels in the U.S. and Canada. • A maximum of two vouchers can be earned during the promotion. Vouchers are combinable and can be used any night of the week, based upon availability. • Rewards members will earn 250 bonus points when they book at bestwestern.com. • To be eligible for the promotion, guests must register at bestwesternrewards.com, and reside in North America, South America or Asia.
With the promotion two of the nights on our 18-night road trip will be free! Can't beat that!
Low point of the day: Getting up at 4 a.m. to catch a 6:30 a.m. flight.
Quote of the day: "I know something," says 4-year-old Dante after watching the safety video on the plane. "If the plane crashes these really cool slides pop out and then we get to go down them. Going down the slide looked fun."
High point of the day: We don't have to go down the slides on our flight from San Francisco to Minneapolis/St. Paul. We check into the Best Western Chelsea Inn in Monticello and drive to the small town of Avon for dinner, where we eat at Fisher's Club (radio personality Garrison Keillor is an owner). We stumble upon the Avon Day's annual parade—Shriners in go-karts, John Deere tractors, a high school marching band, Montessori preschool kids dressed up as vegetables. It seems as if Keillor should be there, but we never spot him.
Photo of the day:Fisher's Club, where we have dinner, overlooks Middle Spunk Lake in Avon.Plane flight: 3 hours Miles driven: 120 Hours in car: 2 Weather: Warm and muggy, overcast
Expenses Lunch: free, picnic with sandwiches from home Dinner: $38.45 (Fisher's Club: two orders walleye; two mac and cheese) Dessert: $17.14 (Fisher's Club: one slice rhubarb pie and a strawberry shortcake) Total:$55.59
Random thoughts: We spent way too much on dinner, and we shouldn't have ordered two dessert! We'll have to watch our meal budget more closely on those days when we're also paying for gas and hotel.
We are off on our Mississippi Road Trip adventure. Again, we’re a family of four traveling some 3,000 miles from the headwaters in northern Minnesota to the mouth at the Gulf of Mexico.
Before heading out, we established some guidelines:
Travel on a budget. We have $2,700 to cover the cost of lodging, food, hotel, and entertainment for 18 days; this comes to $150 a day. We're not including the cost of driving a car or our plane flights or airport related expenses.
Avoid franchised restaurants. Eat where the locals eat. Go to farmer's markets. Picnic.
Act like a local. Read local papers, listen to local radio, talk to local people.
Travel off the beaten path. Stay off the Interstate whenever possible and follow the roads that hug the Mississippi River.
Appreciate our surroundings. Learn all that we can about the Mississippi River by stopping at museums, reading interpretive signs, talking with experts.
Keep the kids entertained—without the help of a DVD player. Sing songs, play games, look out the window, and bond as a family.
Stay at hotels offering value. We're bedding down in Best Westerns because the wi-fi is free and breakfast is almost always included. The swimming pools provide free entertainment.
Drive a fuel-efficient vehicle. We're driving a Mercury Mariner hybrid because it comfortably fits a family of four and gets great gas mileage, about 30 mpg.
Eat all the pie we possibly can. We hope to find the best slice available on the banks of Old Miss.
Preserve and share the experience. Write daily blog entries, snap photos, take video, and send tweets (find me on Twitter: onthegowithamy).
Why are there always a million things to do the day before a vacation?
Stop mail, withdraw cash from bank, empty trash cans, empty compost bin, empty recycling empty dishwasher, pay credit card, do four loads of laundry, return 20 overdue library books, get keys to three different families taking care of the cat, plant sunflowers that should have been put into the ground two weeks ago, download contacts onto new iPhone, mail deposit check for new preschool starting in fall, fill out forms for kids' summer camp—the list of things I had to do on the Friday before leaving on our trip was absurd. To top it off, my daughter had a dance camp recital that afternoon and we needed to drop by a friend's birthday party that night.
If I were more organized, I would have taken care of most of these obligations days ago. (At least I had started packing the bags a week ahead.) And if I were smart, I would have let some of these things go.
All day, I ran around in a tizzy. My dear husband stayed home from work to help me prepare and kept saying, "Slow down!" But I never listened. I was on a mission.
The kids and I made a run to Target. I whizzed down the aisles, randomly tossing stuff for the trip into the basket. I didn't even think to check the size on the swimsuit I bought for my daughter (two sizes too big!) and I stupidly purchased her a T-shirt for the trip that must be hand-washed. I was getting things done (in an unthinking manner).
Later that evening at the birthday party, a woman came up to me and said, “I saw you in Target. You were screaming at your kids.”
The next morning we somehow got ourselves together and met a cab in front of our house at 4:30 a.m. Our San Francisco block was dark and quiet.
The airport, on the other hand, was as busy as a beehive. People were buzzing about everywhere. The line to check in at the Northwest counter was at least a quarter-mile-long. Angry travelers stood in line checking their watches. A father screamed and shook his arms at a ticket agent, his son watching on in bewilderment. I was about to loose it myself but then an attendant directed us to a shorter line for people hoping to the make the 6:30 a.m. flight to Minneapolis.
We were just about to step into the security line, which was long, of course, and Dante announced that he had to go the bathroom, “Now!”
“Can’t you hold it?”
“Now, Mommy!” he said shaking his hips back and forth and holding his crotch. We rushed into the bathroom, his sister tagging along.
I tore off Dante’s pants and threw him onto the toilet. I was determined to get in and out fast—and back in that security line.
And that’s when Paris said, “Mom, why are we in the boys restroom?”
“What?”
“We’re in the boy’s restroom.”
“We’re not in the boy’s restroom.”
“Mom when we walked in there was a man peeing into one of those things.”
I couldn’t control my laughter. My daughter was horrified but I just kept laughing.
The kids opened the bathroom door where four men were standing peeing into the urinals. I grabbed the kids’ hands and we rushed by, but after that I decided to slow down a little and actually pay attention to what I'm doing.
Do you ever feel as if you have a million things to do the day before leaving on a trip?
My husband got up at 5 a.m. on Friday morning to stand in line for the new iPhone 3GS. Now that's true love.
We decided to buy a phone before heading out on our summer road trip. We're driving the length of the Mississippi River, from the headwaters to the mouth, on $150 a day. An iPhone might seem like an extravagant tool for a budget-themed trip but my 4-year-old cell phone died and I was eager to try out the many iPhone apps geared specifically to road trippers.
Here are a few that I look forward to trying out this summer. Right now I'm limiting myself to the free ones.
AAA Discounts—Released earlier this month, this app instantly identifies nearby businesses offering deals for AAA members.
Around Me—Using geolocation, this application lists all the critical services around you—banks, bars, gas stations, coffee shops, hospitals, movie theaters, restaurants and so on.
Where—This app does it all, directing you to everything from the nearest Starbucks to the cheapest gas to the hottest restaurants.
Public Radio Tuner—Don't want to miss This American Life with Ira Glass while on the road? This app helps you find Public Radio radio streams anywhere in the United States and allows you to listen directly from your phone.
Cheap Gas!—Pinpoints the cheapest gas prices in your surrounding area.
Road Trip Lite—Allows you to input your car profile and then track your car's mileage and fuel economy. Wi-Fi Finder—Locates free and paid hot spots anywhere and everywhere.
Urbanspoon—This app won't help when you're cruising through the countryside, but it will track down restaurants in bigger cities from San Francisco to New York.
Coin Toss—This will come in handy when you think the hotel is to the right and your partner thinks it's to the left.
Do you have a favorite iPhone app for road tripping? Please share in the comments.
We're heading out for a two-and-half-week road-trip. It'd be easy to bring everything—but the kitchen sink. Lots of toys and books for the kids to play with in the car. My daughter's gazillion sundresses, which would certainly be appropriate for the Midwest's hot summers. Unfortunately, we can't!
We're flying to our starting point, St. Paul/Minneapolis, and we must keep our baggage fees low--since we're doing this trip on a budget of $150 a day. We're flying Northwest Airlines and they charge $15 for the first bag and $25 for the second (scandalous!), so I'm hoping I can pack everything for our family of into four small carry-on bags and one big bag that we'll check. This keeps our costs down to $15. Ideally, these bags will come with us onto the plane.
Here's the packing list that each family member is following:
Two pairs shoes: one pair tennis shoes, one pair flip-flops or sandals
One pair pants: Wonder if we should even bother since it'll be baking hot?
Shorts (one pair for girls; two pairs for boys)
Three tops
One dress for girls (I might allow my daughter to bring a second one!)
One sweater or light coat
Five pairs underwear
Three pairs socks
One pair pajamas
We'll obviously be doing some laundry in the hotel sink along the way, but I'm packing dark-colored clothing that won't show the dirt.
As a parent I often hear people complain about babies on airplanes--the sleeping bundles who suddenly break into howling screams at landing, or the kids who kick the seat backs.
Yes, children make noise, but I'm tiring of people who immediately assume that all babies on planes are as noisy as yapping chihuahuas. When my daughter was only 4-months-old, I flew with her to Europe. For the entire 10-hour flight she snuggled up in my lap under a blanket, either sleeping or nursing. When the plane landed and I lifted up the blanket, a guy sitting near me commented, "Gosh, I didn't even know you had a baby." Many children under 2 are still nursing and it makes sense for them to be in their mothers' laps. Plus the nursing helps their ears adjust to the change in altitude.
Children under 2 typically aren't the problems on planes. It's when they turn 2 that they become a challenge. This is when the screaming fits can occur. Sometimes kids cry just to cry and that's unfortunate for others on the plane, but often a meltdown can be controlled or prevented all together by a parent. If you're bringing a child on a plane, you'll have a smoother experience if you pack toys, games, snacks, and chewing gum or hard candy to help pop your kids' ears. If your child has a cold, then it's wise to delay travel--because the ear pain can be unbearable for a kid. Or at least give your child a dose of Advil. It also helps to talk with your kids about proper behavior before boarding. And most importantly, you simply need to be relaxed and calm about flying. If you're stressed out, your kids pick up on this.
But parents aren't the only ones who need to take a few deep breaths before boarding the plane. Other passengers need to as well because kids feed off of stress. They don't know how to block out the bad vibes coming from the paranoid "baby hater" sitting in the row ahead--and this makes little ones nervous and behave badly.
If you get stuck sitting next to a kid, look the mom or dad in the eye and say, "Hello." Ask the child his name. Maybe do something nice like offer to help put the carry-on in the overhead bin, and then get on with your nap or your reading. You don't have to play Go Fish with the tyke or teach him how to wiggle his ears, but being friendly and civil will go a long way. The child will probably surprise you with good behavior.
I think most often parents flying with kids are so concerned about offending those around them that they go above and beyond to keep quiet. Once when my son and I were sitting in the middle and window seats, a man fell asleep in the aisle. My son had to go to the bathroom, and so I called on a flight attendant to lift my son over this sleeping man and then I lifted myself over him--just so we didn't have to wake him up.
Now I don't want to give off the false impression that plane flights with my kids have always been perfect. Generally, they go well but we have had our issues. My son once kicked a seat back. The guy sitting in front got angry--not bothering to ask nicely at first--and I worked with my son to solve the situation. But it was tough because my son was strapped in his car seat that had lifted him up close to this man's reclined seat. My son could barely move without nudging the seat, and so he ended up in my lap for most of the flight.
But is a little kid nudging the back of your seat a couple times the worst case scenario on an airplane? I have sat next to more obnoxious people on planes. The man who fell asleep and then started snoring so loudly that I couldn't even block out the noise by listening to the movie with headphones. There was the woman who made terrible smells. The endless number of people who have wanted to talk my ear off. And on my most recent flight from San Diego to San Francisco, the older guy who was playing video games with the sound on loud the entire flight. But do you know what? None of this really bothers me. When I fly, I'm not expecting meditate. I'm packed into a flying sardine can with a bunch of strangers--how can this be perfectly pleasant? I'm on the plane to get somewhere and typically I hope to start a crossword and read my kids some books.
Some people feel that children don't even belong on airplanes. But if I never took my kids on planes then they wouldn't have met their great-grandpa Russ. They never would have sat on his lap. They would have missed his funeral. If my kids never flew, they wouldn't have spent Thanksgiving with their aunt Judy. They wouldn't know their cousins. Families these days are spread out all over the country--the world--and sometimes you have to put a kid on a plane to see their grandparents.
And if you really can't stand sitting next to a child, then book ahead and arrange to sit in an exit row.
We're all aware that our cars are puffing out carbon dioxide every time we drive. The media has ingrained into our minds that car pollution contributes to global warming. But when we hop on a plane and zip across the country or over to Europe, we often forget that the airplane is also contributing to CO2 buildup. But maybe we should think twice.
"Planes are roughly comparable to cars in fuel consumption per passenger mile, at least with respect to carbon dioxide output," according to a recent story on IndependentTraveler.com. "It makes for an easy comparison; a 60-hour cross-country car trip burns up about the same amount of fuel per passenger, and has the same 'carbon footprint,' as a five-hour cross-country flight."
If this all seems a little too confusing, there's a new way to calculate the impact of your traveling on the environment: the Flight CO2 calculator offered by TripBase. You simply type in your departure city and your destination and then you'll know exactly how much C02 you're emitting. And then you wonder, What should I do with this information?
Beginning Monday, June 8, prospective travelers can score huge discounts and savings for a limited amount of time. Each day offers these special rates for hotels in a specific theme. Next week’s includes:
-Monday: Capital cities – For example, explore NYC for less than $110 a night or Washington D.C. for $90
- TTuesday: 4th of July hot spots – For example, hit up Huntington Beach for $70 or Lake Tahoe for $75
-Wednesday: Destinations with huge tourist attractions – For example, visit Niagara Falls for C$81 or Orlando, Florida for $70
-Thursday: Hotels near popular water parks and theme parks – For example, enjoy Busch Gardens Williamsburg for $99 or visit Hershey Park and stay for $85 a night
-Friday: Your pick from a selection of popular destinations including Dallas, Texas; San Diego, Calif.; and Honolulu, Hawaii – all at a special rate
You have to act fast! These promotions are only available for a few hours a day on bestwestern.com. If you’ve missed the sale, a clock on the site will indicate when the next deals will be available.
A Swedish mother and her child were among the passengers onboard the Air France flight that tragically crashed in the Atlantic Ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on Monday, the Expressen reports.
According to the Swedish newspaper, 34-year-old Christine Badre Schnabl and her 5-year-old son Philipe had been living in Rio de Janeiro for the last 10 years and were returning to Sweden for a vacation.
Interestingly, Schanbl's husband and her other child were joining them too but they were on a separate flight, specifically because the couple feared losing their entire family in a single air disaster.
When I was a child, I remember my mom telling me about some family friends who did the same thing. The mom would take one flight with two sons and the father hopped on another with the third son, so if a plane went down at least half of the family would survive.
I think this stuck in my mind because the family's intentional planning for a plane crash made the possibility of one happening seem likely--when in actuality the odds of a crash happening are extremely low. (On NPR today, I heard an expert say that more people get run over by trains than die in plane crashes.) I remember asking my mom why our family didn't split up when we flew. Her response: "If we go down, I'd rather we all go down together."
Does your family split up and take separate flights when you travel? Or would you prefer to all go down together? I realize this is a terribly morbid question and honestly I don't know what I'd prefer. Flying separately sounds like a lot of work to me and the possibility of a crash happening is so slim. But I'm certainly happy to hear that Schanbl's husband and other child are alive and well and I wish them the best in working through this difficult time.
Today, the National Park Service announced that it will offer three fee-free weekends this summer to encourage Americans seeking affordable vacations to visit these national treasures. More than 100 parks charge entrance fees ranging from $4 to $25.
I'm a girl on the go. I travel for fun. For work. With my kids. With my husband. With my girlfriends. For me, traveling is not about luxury. It's about getting out there and experiencing new things. Best Western signed me up because, like me, they want to get people talking about travel. So let's talk! Tell me your travel tales, teach me your tips, and, when the airline loses your luggage, feel free to throw a temper tantrum. Believe me, I understand.
Got a travel question? Looking for an affordable hotel in New York City? Planning a family trip to the Caribbean and want to know which island is best for kids?
Send your questions to onthegowithamy@gmail.com for advice. Questions may be edited for clarity and space.
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