For years now I have been a stroller stable kind of girl. I humbly accepted the fact that there was no one stroller that could truly do it all. Which is how my garage evolved into a stroller stable of sorts. There were the carseat friendly "systems", the mall cruisers and off road giants, the sleekly compact and impossibly lightweight city strollers for urban travel, the posh bassinet models for neighborhood strolls with an infant… Friends commented on my “problem” and I blithely explained to all that it was simply impossible for one stroller to do it ALL. How could a connosiour such as myself be expected to choose, to skimp, to limit myself to a single stroller that could hardly do all of what my many models could collectively do.
Well prove me wrong.
I’d like to introduce you the the Micralite Toro. The stroller that really can do it all. If it made margaritas, I might even marry it.
The beaches in LA county are a little safer of late, thanks to these customized Ford Escape Hybrids. These vehicles have been outfitted for the lifeguards with highly organized interiors and specialized equipment. Lifeguards report that the Escape's V-6 like accelleration is particularly suited for use on the sand. The vehicles are both environmentally friendly and practical, travelling up to 500 miles on a single tank of gas. They have proven extremely reliable - good to know when lives are literally at stake! Bonus points for the internal organization that enables the lifeguards to keep all their supplies exactly where they need them, so they can be retrieved in a flash.
Day two of our trip was one of the most exciting. We left the rolling hills of Sonoma and entered Redwood country. The sky was a sparkling blue and our children thrilled at the sheer size of the mammoth trees. If you have never driven along the Avenue of the Giants, parallel to US 101, it is a magnificent stretch of road that is not to be missed. The two lane highway wanders in and out of the shadows of the ancient forest, twining around stands of old growth trees. Stops along the way allow you to get out and stretch your legs and explore (always an excellent idea when travelling with kids).
Once out of the car you will notice the silence of the forest. It's an eerie shadowfilled place, but peaceful. One almost expects to see magical creatures here - a unicorn in a small clearing or a fairy flitting amongst the ferns and trillium flowers. We spent a little time making up stories, aided by the creative story beginnings in the Dreamstarter Book by Jennifer Karin Sidford. This ingenious book ignites you kids (and your own) hidden creativity by giving you a jumping off place for story telling. There is also a card game version and will soon be a web version as well.
Our cameras were ready. For the most part I shot pictures using the auto settings on my Sony Alpha Camera. I was grateful for the ability to take rapid succession shots of my kids as they nimbly climbed and scrambled over tree trunks that were 8 feet tall. Later in the day I was grateful for the information I gleaned from watching Me Ra Koh's digital camera instruction videos, prior to the trip. It gave me the courage to expiriment and get a few great shots including one of my own little wood nymphs scampering through the forest.
We chose to turn off the video games and DVD players for this entire portion of the trip, and revelled in nature. Never ones to miss out on a kitschy photo op however, we were sure to pull off the road and wait in line to drive through a "drive through tree". I insisted that the Honda Odyssey minivan would not fit. My husband insisted that it would. I won but the right side rearview mirror of the van lost... It was at this point in the trip that we declared Shamu (our pet name for our black Oddysey), "broken in". Note to fellow travellers: Your Honda Odyssey will not fit though!
Our car was a little worse for wear but our spirits were not. We stopped for a late lunch at a roadside diner that provided even more entertainment and another "interesting bathroom" photo for our kids' vacation memory books. Sophisticated travellers that they are...
The latter part of the day we sped past countless bikers and backpackers all caught up in the majesty of CA highway 101. We were a little jealous of their slow pace as there is so much to see along this route. Down toward the coastline we passed through Eureka where we made one last stop at the Bayshore Mall just off the 101. While we would not usually seek to stop at a mall on a road trip, this one was a perfect pitstop as it contained both an indoor playplace and a Borders bookstore. While the children let off a little more steam, I stocked up on travel reading - Wall E books for my four yr old, American Girl 5 minute Mysteries for my school aged daughters, and Twilight by Stephanie Meyer for myself and my husband.
It was still light when we left Eureka and we decided to push on to Crescent City where we hoped to find a motel to spend the night. Unfortunately when we got there, this was not to happen. The town was booked solid, it was coming up on ten pm, and there was at least 15 miles of nothing before we entered the next town. Our kids were exhausted and so were we. We faced our first travel dillemma. Where would we be able to stop for the night?!
Our family loves technology. Cell Phones, gaming systems, nav units, dvd players, walkie talkies, ipods,cameras and video cameras, laptops and gps units. These are a few of our favorite things...
Yes, of course we looked forward to spending some quality time together, to getting back to nature, to laying on a beach and counting how many seagulls flew by. But with over a thousand miles to travel in each direction we also looked forward to getting in touch with our inner geeks. Young and old alike, we had enough bluetooth, wifi, battery operated techno gear to get Gilligan, the professor and the entire cast of Lost off their respective islands. Sort of.
Up Front:
Packing all that gear meant packing a lot of batteries and car/wall chargers. Fortunately we were able to leave several bulky chargers at home by packing the iGo everywhere retractable charger . This is a device that needs to be in every car. One retractable cord set works (with the use of multiple tips) to charge any of several dozen devices. And it works both in the car and in the wall! It whittled a stack of more than ten separate chargers down to a single cord set and small bag of device tips. And it worked perfectly. The retractable cord is a dream come true. No more tangle of chargers cluttering up the glove compartment. I'm officially in love with iGo and it's staying in my car. As my new Honda only has one charge port, this device also serves a peacekeeping mission - ending the ongoing car-charger turf war between myself and my husband.
For our picture and video taking we brought along our beloved Sony Alpha and Sony Handycam HD Video Camera. Just so you know, any great shots are all them. Not my expertise. They only make me look good. One mac ibook and one PC promised to keep us connected with a little help from the widespread Boingo network. The beauty of Boingo is that it lets you get online at over 103,000 hotspots all over the world, for one monthly fee. No more signing up for a daypass here and an hour of connectivity there. It's especially great in urban areas.
But when wifi was unavailable (the majority of the trip on the remote No.Cal and Oregon coast) we had our iPhone to keep us connected. Good thing too. On more than one occasion we found ourselves tapping into Yahoo's powerful mobile search engine. We used Yahoo mobile to locate food, lodging, hotel and restaurant reviews and more. If you have not had occasion to explore this feature of Yahoo, take a look around before you next hit the road. It helped us find great lodging at the end of our first day, by providing reviews that our Nav units could not.
No stopping for directions:
It may sound ridiculous, but we actually hit the road with three navigation systems. Four if you count the GPS in our iphone. As copilot I tested them all, pitting them against each other to see what would happen and whether the sound of three female voices telling my husband to get left, and slow down, might be even more annoying than that of one wife. Separate reviews are in the works for the Nav-U by Sony, the Navigon 2100 Max and Honda's onboard Navigation units but to sum up the finer points:
The Sony Nav-u had the best lists of places to stop and turn by turn instructions to get you there. The unit was easy to program and read and saved us on more than one late night "we need a motel and we need it NOW" moment. The bluetooth cell feature makes it especially attractive for drivers in states that require hands free calling.
The Navigon unit was a pleasure to look at. The three dimensional display made sense and when it was on, there was no looking at the built in screen. Every turn in the road displayed beautifully and complicated highway interchanges, lane changes etc were stressless. Plus this unit was the fastest at the all important "display the closest Starbucks" challenge and was able to speak street names.
The Honda's built in Navigation was the easiest to operate. Probably because it did not have cords that hogged the only power supply, suction cups etc and had a bigger screen. It also never lost GPS contact, and updated the fastest.
When all else failed, we found that the GPS on our iphone, combined with data from Yahoo Mobile guided us to the more obscure places we needed to be and provided detailed reviews of those places - but not without a cell connection! It was also the easiest to use for traffic updates when in an urban environment.
Plugged in, in the back seat:
Up until recently our kids have not been big fans of handheld electronics. But for this trip they wanted their own cameras. V-tech to the rescue. Each of our kids got to take their own pictures of the trip, with Vtechs sturdy and easy to use kidizoom camera. The cameras are fun and offer all sorts of amusing templates. Consider the following pictures that my daughter took of her siblings:
These cameras don't have the very best picture quality, but they do capture both still and video images and are so much fun to use that we found ourselves begging for the kids to hand them over and give us a chance to take pictures of each other with devil horns and angel halos.
When they got sick of taking pictures with the cameras, the kids spent many miles playing the included games that the kidizoom camera has built in.
The latter part of our first day of travel took us across the Golden Gate bridge, and into Sausalito where we had lunch. While in Sausalito we drove by the offices of Cartelligent, the awesome online brokers that negotiated a stress free deal for us on our new car lease and waved hello. Then it was on to Sonoma before dark.
Night fell as we pulled into Santa Rosa. A sleepy little town with a lot of heart, we were thrilled to find a cosy room at a historic hotel with amazing customer service. Sheer luck led us to the Hotel La Rose. Good luck! This gem is located across from a historic train depot and within walking distance of Santa Rosa's downtown. The staff was friendly and courteous - bringing our children an unsolicited snack of fresh baked cookies, fruit and water soon after we checked in. Charming homey decor and fluffy down quilts on the beds made us feel right at home in our spacious room. Our kids marvelled at the vintage wc style toilet in our room, proving that even when travelling domestically, encountering a novel toilet is always a thrill.
A somewhat lavish continental breakfast , complete with fresh baked goods, was included in the price of the room. This inclusion makes the hotel one of the most affordable choices in the area. The staff at Hotel La Rose took good care of us weary travelling parents as well, sending up vouchers for two glasses of excellent local wine from the hotel bar. It was such a sweet pit stop that we wished we could stay longer. As we rolled out of Santa Rosa we glanced back longingly at a summer festival, complete with model trains,local artists and a puppet show. We'd have to return to Santa Rosa.
On day two we'd be cruising down the Avenue of the Giants. Many more miles and the massive silent redwoods awaited us.
We weren't actually planning to take a road trip this summer. We'd booked a house in coastal Oregon for a week of rest and relaxation, planning to fly our family of six to Portland and rent a car. But the cost of airfare and the lure of the road, as well as the chance to break in our new Honda Odyssey Minivan, led to a change of plans. Here is our adventure, including the places we went, the gear that saved us and the planning tips that helped us avoid common travel pitfalls!
Our journey began at 4am. "Captain Daddy" got a new Road Trip Hat (as is our family tradition). The car was well packed the day before. Packing for a family of six is no small endeavor. Fortunately we had some sound advice (pack for four to five days and do laundry!) and some specialized gear and equipment that made our jobs easier and our loads lighter:
Mountain Smith’s ModularHauler 3 System Deluxe took on our three oldest kids' gear and came out the winner. In the past we would have packed each child’s clothing in a separate bag, and stuffed the randomly shaped containers into the back of the car. Silly us. We had no idea such a clever modular system existed. Using the system we assigned each child a differently colored cube. They hold much more than you’d think. We packed multiple outfits, sweaters and swim gear for five days, plus three pairs of shoes for each child. Once packed the cubes line up in the larger container. This container is rubber bottomed (fear not rain or rugged campsite terrain) and did double duty at our destination as an impromptu laundry hamper. I don’t know why it makes me so happy to see all our stuff packed into such a neat, compact little cube, it just does.
Mountainsmith also makes a fabulous Cooler (with a fold out drink holder) that fits into the same container, interchanging with one of the bags. We used this in the main compartment of the car to keep our drinks and snacks cool. It fit perfectly between the front seats of our Oddysey minivan. Check out the Mountainsmith site for more modular systems perfect for organizing any travelers.
Kelty’s Binto Bar took on all of our baby supplies, toys, and beach gear. Picking up where the Mountainsmith left off, the Binto bar offers slightly more compact/soft sided modular storage. The Kelty system dazzles outdoorsy types with the added bonus of the ability to set up as a “base camp”. Unfold the top flap and the wings and you have a food safe surface perfect for an impromptu picnic, campsite or day at the beach. It also works great (with a changing pad and blanket) as an impromtu, emergency mobile changing station. Don't ask how I know...
Inside the car we packed a weeks worth of games, puzzles, books and activities into Linda Hecht's “One Hecht of an Organizer”. This amazing and multipocketed blue bin had a space for everything from hand sanitizer and mini flashlights to crayons and more. Pockets galore! The long carrying straps made it easy to belt into place in the center seat (no shifting) and amazingly the kids kept everything in the case all week long, even when we stopped at the beach house. I’ll be using this bin for organizing my carpooling self when school starts. It comes with a handy file sorter (permission slips, grocery lists, work papers...) and suggestions on how to make it the perfect in car organizer for moms. More much needed suggestions for making your life less hectic and more organized can be found on the HechtofanOrganizer website.
Also inside the car we saved space by packing Zoobie pets from Little D. Baby. These great pets served quad duty as a comfort item, travel blankie, travel pillow, and loveable stuffed pal. All in one perfect package as opposed to the ten stuffies, special woobie and bed pillow that we might otherwise load ourselves down with. Little D. graciously provided us with a parent version as well - the Travelers Blanket. This small packable blanket and pillow stuffed easily into the minivan's side door pocket and provided instant cozy comfort to the “shotgun” rider.
Finally Little D helped to lighten our load with their Coverplay Portable Crib Covers. Normally I would pack a portable crib as I am squeamish about borrowing germs along with a hotel crib. But these ingenious covers are the perfect solution for the ick factor of borrowed portacribs on the road. When you use one of these easy to pack washable slipcovers you can always be sure that your baby is surrounded by clean bedding. And you can leave the bulky crib at home.
Hitting the road at 4 am turned out to be a great idea. Our kids snoozed peacefully and we had some nice quiet adult time as we cruised through a traffic-less downtown LA. When does that ever happen? We watched the sun rise over the San Joaquin valley as we came down from the mountain passes. By breakfast time we made it to the Harris Ranch, one of our favorite places to stop when driving up the long stretch of 1-5 that makes up the central valley. Fortunately we also packed our kid's Pepto Bismol, as the rich and huge meal did not agree with everyone in the party! Little did we know how handy our Pepto was to become, later in the trip. By early afternoon we were in San Francisco and it was time to start testing some of the tech gear we brought along…
Once out of the car you will notice the silence of the forest. It's an eerie shadowfilled place, but peaceful. One almost expects to see magical creatures here - a unicorn in a small clearing or a fairy flitting amongst the ferns and trillium flowers. We spent a little time making up stories, aided by the creative story beginnings in the 
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