Tag: tweens

Day 5: Patterns Emerge, Can You Guess Them?

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I feel like this blog writes itself: Wake up in a beautiful place with vacation face. Adventure, on foot or by car until at least one person is hangry. Dissolve all associations with your family in your mind. Find sustenance, or a pick-me-up, or in Lia’s case a root beer float. Make fun of each other and yourself. Have another bonus afternoon adventure. Fall asleep in love with your family and vacation.

We woke up today to another snow shower in Frisco that had even the locals talking, and headed off towards summer weather at our next destination in Durango. Along the way we changed landscapes many times, from the winter beauty still clinging to Copper Mountain, through the mining town of Leadville, past cattle ranches backed by rocky red knolls and distant snow-capped mountains. Bob was clearly enjoying the scenery on this leg of the trip, if not the driving. Was he enjoying the narration from his nerd-kin? One must not speculate. Annie: “That looks just like the Pass of Caradhdras, where Saruman’s fell voice diverted the Fellowship into the Mines of Moria.” Ben: “That looks like a perfect place for a shootout in Red Dead Redemption.” Let’s just say we all needed a reset after 5 hours in the car.

Luckily, breweries provide that… usually. Carver’s Brewery seemed to bring out the worst in us, unfortunately, as we battled for bites of the single order of skillet-cooked cookie topped with salted-caramel ice cream. Yes, my family ganged up on my embarassing cackle-laugh during this show-down (Lia: “Use your inside laugh, mom”), but at least we were able to plot our afternoon plans, and proceed to browse downtown Durango on our way to a nearby hike. At Horse Gulch trails, we were all back in our Colorado mindset.

Lia: “I’m a fan.”
Ben: “I’d live in Colorado.”
Mountain Terrain + Desert Landscape = ???

While the Summit County mountains were new to us for their height and snowy peaks, the kids loved the different scenery on this short hike because it was so different from Asheville. Low sage bushes, rocky ledges, even a few small cacti lined the climbing paths– a good segue stop between the tall-pined mountains we started with and the brown and red desert we head to next. It’s like… a Mesert, right???? (*insert cackle laugh*). My family said, “NO. No. Don’t include that.” But when I commit to cringey blogging I am all the way in.

Tomorrow is a big day though, and I will be on my best behavior. Ben turns 12.

Day 2: Seriously, Kansas?

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This was the most exciting thing we did in Kansas. All 10+ hours of it! I mean, I felt pretty amorous towards the rolling expanses of green land at first, impressed with how–after Kansas City and Topeka– there could be so much America without anything but flat, far fields. The kids and I were playful then, at the beginning of this day, teasing a Clock-Watching Bob about our plans to divert him to Corn Palace, Eisenhower’s Birth Home, and the world’s largest ball of twine (thanks Lee!) Perhaps another day, kids, with Aunt Jenny, and Grandpa’s picture on the dashboard….today, we spent ALL DAY in Kansas, and all we got was this photo:

Well, I did snap a couple more. To capture the day, of course.

I am proud of us. No one really lost their temper for more than a moment. The kids took turns sleeping in the “middle section”. Bob interspersed his Yardbirds, John Mellencamp, and John Prine eclectica with some actual 80’s Alt/Pop. I think he was trying to cheer me up for working on vacation, but I kept looking up to see Flat Kansas, and felt like I had the better deal.

Then, something happened:

We watched the hazy outline of mountains form in the distance, something we are used to when returning home to Asheville from anywhere, only as the cloudy tops came into view, the far-away ones were covered in snow and the near ones among us were were craggy plateaus. Denver came–“look, kids, Infrastructure!”– but we passed on through to a night stop in Golden, where upon disembarking for a refresh, Bob became a new man. Like a man falling into the arms of a long lost love. I mean really, I was like, Guys, are you aware that we might be driving back east without him? Maybe he was just happy that Back-up Driver was now On Duty. Either way, thanks Bob, you deserve a sigh and a smile! And Kansas, no hate, I promise!

Day 1: Adolescents with Air Pods

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A good way to start this adventure, after spoiling teens with technological surprises, was to mix up Day 1 with driving and exploration. In Nashville for lunch and St. Louis for dinner, we launched this road trip with curiosity and a good appetite. Even though I was told emphatically by the children , “No, mom, no. Travel blogging is so cringey“, I persist in documenting our successes (and bumps in the road) because of the motivation I got when hearing a follow up, “I liked this day.”

Nashville delivered its promise of a gritty get-down music scene, where even the local Mellow Mushroom offered the ambiance of a kid-friendly honky tonk. Lia was intrigued, but thought the vibe of Broadway was sketchy–and this was at first shift, daytime hours– so we praised her instincts and found a price-per-pound candy store to stock up for more driving.

They are still kids when they want to check out every candy store.

Then on to St. Louis and the Gateway to the West! Another 4.5 hour drive was marked by episodes of The Office (Lia), Indiana Jones movies (Ben), cringey blogging (Annie) and Phish channel on Sirius radio (Bob). We did fit in a good round of Superfight, a game of intentional arguing over what absurd characters would win in a show down. (Preemptive argument tactics, this. Make it silly. Brilliant.)

And then we reached the Arch. A lovely green park surrounds its base and the murky Mississippi encroaches onto the streets nearby. There were no lines for the weird little capsules that take you up to the 630 foot top, and just enough minor thrills for the acrophobics of the family. There was also an expansive view through a series of tiny (why so tiny?) windows.

Dinner in the Delmar Loop near Washington University was, according to Ben, “worth the 9 hour drive”. That says a lot coming from the guy who was suggesting that we turn around after a successful candy store shopping spree a mere 5 hours in. I guess the key to traveling with this tween is finding a steady stream of junk food. He was the only one who ate my sliced cucumbers in the car though, so there’s that. Me, I ate Toasted Ravioli because, St. Louis!

Bob was patient as I fulfilled my duty of Clock-Ignoring, but only to a point. Man is on a mission to get to the Rockies, and wants to be well-rested for the drive. Yay, Day 1.