Road Trip Part II

If you are just finding this, read part one of our road trip misadventure here. In a nutshell, on a recent trip to Door County, our family hit one crazy detour after another. We finally found ourselves in the middle of the night staring open mouthed at a tree blocking our path, just feet from our destination.

My husband and I both tend to stay fairly calm in unusual situations. Despite our initial numbed disbelief at the sight of the tree (after 7 hours of driving), my husband jumps into action. He tries to see if he can move the tree out of the way just enough to get our car through. It was a birch tree, so while big, it doesn't have a massive trunk. When he can't drag it in one piece, he starts breaking off limbs. This might work!

Branch after branch comes off as he works by the light of our headlights. I watch him do the heavy lifting in the warm car (I am not dumb) and pray that our daughter stays asleep. I am mentally calculating how to bundle her up (without waking her) and schlep her over the tree into the unknown darkness. Meanwhile, he keeps at it. At one point, I get out to help, with no luck. The trunk will not budge.

Off he goes with a dinky flashlight to find the entrance to the driveway while I stay in the car. Sure enough, the entrance is within sight. He waves and then he's down the driveway to see how far it goes. And to see if it is safe for us to go that way on foot.

This all sounds like a great plan, until he is gone for what seems a long time. I start to worry. Who knows what is down that path? What if he stumbles on another tree? Or worse, a downed power line?  I try not to think of even worse things, the kind of things that creep in at 3:00 am on a dark country road. With no phone. Did I mention it's pitch black? I'm giving him five more minutes and then I'm going to...what? What can I do, with my daughter in the back seat? He's laying in a ditch from a downed power line and I am going to bring Emily along to help? Or leave her in the car?? He better get back here quick before I lose it. Calm under pressure, that's me.

Just in time I see a light shining from the direction of the cabin. Here he comes in his parent's car! I feel like the calvary has just shown up. Relief. What a good idea! I can put Emily in their car and we can get ours in the morning. Then I see him get out of the car -- with a handsaw! He's going to show the tree who's boss.

10 minutes later, I drive our car past the tree into the sanctuary of the cabin. At last. His parents are there to help us into the house, where we discover -- there's no electricity! No heat, water, or phone service. (It was out for two days due to a huge windstorm that hit Door County.) Still, there's a warm bed and sleep. Ahhh.

The name of the cabin? "The Refuge."

Road Trip

We just returned from a wonderful trip to Door County, Wisconsin.We spent lots of time relaxing, wandering around in nature, and enjoying time with family.

While we knew the trip would be memorable, we never expected the trip there to be quite so eventful.

Since this was the first long car trip for our 8-month-old, we decided to leave at bedtime and drive while she slept. We knew we would get in late, but it would be worth it for a peaceful trip for everyone. (Besides, Grandma and Papa would happily take the little rooster in the early morning and we could go back to bed.)

Sounded reasonable. It didn't even bother us overly much that we left 2 hours later than planned.

Until we hit five detours.

The first detour -- construction. Who closes an entire freeway? An exit, yes. But the whole road?  45 minutes later we're back on the freeway. Ok, no big deal, we're on vacation...What's one detour?

We continue on our way until -- the road in front of us is roadblocked. No warning, no explanation, no detour sign, no idea if there was a way around it. This is the main highway, people! After a few dumbfounded minutes of staring at the roadblock, we find an alternate road and we're on our away again. 

An hour later, just as we had almost forgotten the two previous detours, we innocently turn a corner and -- "What is that?...Slow down...is that--crime tape?" Yellow tape blocks our path. Hmmm... is the universe trying to tell us something?

We detour (again) until our way is blocked (again), this time by a fallen tree. We turn around and find our way blocked by another tree. We finally navigate out of the maze and go doggedly on, laughing at the craziness of the night. Eventually we turn with relief onto the final road, ready to fall gratefully into bed. The detours have cost us two hours, but we are now finally 300 feet from the driveway.

Our path is blocked by a fallen tree. Seriously!?!?

What, you thought the story was over? Well, so did we! In case you don't fully appreciate the scope of situation, let me describe the scene.

It's 3:00 am on a pitch-black unfamiliar (dead-end) country road. The GPS says it's 300 feet to our destination, but we can't actually see the driveway or the cabin. Who knows how far the cabin is set back from the road. It is freezing cold and windy. The whole area is without power and we are low on gas. We have an 8 month old in the back seat who we are sure is going to wake up at any moment. Our phone isn't getting a signal. We've just driven 7 hours and a TREE is BLOCKING our PATH.

My husband and I just stared. Are. You. Kidding. Me?!? What are we going to do??

You'll have to read tomorrow's post to find out!

Appleport Lane to County Road ZZ

We recently returned from a lovely vacation in Door County. During our last vacation, I started a tradition of vacation ABC's. You can read more about that here. It was a fun way to spend the time on a long car trip. When Emily gets older it will be a fun way to encourage letter knowledge and narrative skills. Best of all, it will be a way to remember our trip.

Here are the ABC's of our trip.

A is for Appleport Lane (where our cabin was)
B is for "Bobblehead girl" -- Emily bouncing while eating dinner
C is for Cabin -- "The Refuge"
D is for Detours (five!)
E is for Emily learning to crawl
F is for Fishboils, Farmer's Market (Seaquist) and fall foliage
G is for Goats at Al Johnsons
H is for Hugs, lots from Emily
I is for Imagination--The miniature gnome home at the library

Gnome home at the Sister Bay/Liberty Grove Library

J is for Junkyard Trail (long story)
K is for Kindle by candlelight
L is for Liberty Grove Library, Loon sighting
M is for Mission Grill--Mom and Dad's Night Out
N is for Nature walks
O is for On the swing at the water's edge with Grandma and Papa
P is for the Piggly Wiggly (love that name!) and Pioneer Living -- no electricity, water or phones for 2 days
Q is for sQueals of delight all week long and even more when we got home
R is for the Rickety Pier
S is for Sand Beach Park
T is for the Trolls at Al Johnsons
U is for Under Grandma's chair for a dulcimer concert (best seat in the house!)
V is for Vacation in Sister Bay, Door County
W is for the Wind Storm of the Century & Wild turkeys on crossing the road
X is for eXtra special time with Grandma and Papa
Y is for Yummy cherry pie
Z is for County Road ZZ

On the porch with Grandma

Do you like my ring, Papa?

Vacation Pics

I took some pictures on vacation with my new camera. I finally learned how to get them from the camera to the computer and onto the blog. Welcome to the digital age. It's easy to take way too many pictures! Here are a few.

In the children's room...

...at the local library.

Read me a story, Papa!

I like the bird songs, Grandma.

Vacation ABC's

There is a long tradition of playing games with children on long trips. It's a fun way to keep them occupied and help pass the time. As a child we played "My father owns a grocery store, and in it he sells___" Or we looked for the alphabet on signs and license plates.

Emily is too little for any kind of meaningful game; her rings and a toy keep her content. She was more interested in the train window than anything outside of it. But I needed something to keep from getting stir crazy. So, we played a game that I plan to make a tradition~Vacation ABC's.

As she sat on my lap I went through the alphabet recalling things from our vacation. She enjoyed the sound of my voice as I reminisced about the trip. Who knows how many words she understood, but all babies are sponges when it comes to language and new experiences.

When she gets older she will be able to contribute to the game, first with naming a word that goes with the alphabet. Later she'll add her memories and talk about them in more depth. This will be a meaningful way to capture memories of the trip. She will also develop her letter knowledge and narrative skills, both key skills in early literacy.

Here is the result of our first vacation ABC's.

A-Asparagus, growing wild on the hobby farm
B-Basil, tasting it for the first time
C-Chugga, chugga, choo-choo
D- Dog, meeting Minnie the dachshund
E-Emily's first vacation
F-Flora, Miss Flora McFlimsey (by Mariana), one of Grandma's favorite books as a girl
G-Giraffe toy
H-Hummingbirds, watching grandma make sugar water
I-Ice cream at Central Dairy Creamery
J-"Jiggety-jiggety, jumping jacks..."
K-Kicking and splashing in the bath
L-Lion's Club Park
M-Missouri on vacation
N-Napping with Grandpa
O-Outside, in the garden watching Grandma, taking walks, exploring the wild flowers
P-Piano, playing with Grandma
Q-Queens, being treated like them!
R-Reading with Grandma
S-Sunday School
T-Traveling by train for the first time
U-Union Station to meet Daddy
V- Vanilla ice cream, Yum!
W-Wooden objects, watching Papa make them in his shop
X-X-tra special trip to visit the grandparents
Z-Zinnias on the table

Train Ride

I haven't blogged in a while because Emily and I have been on vacation. We had a grand adventure together--traveling by train to visit her grandparents.
It was quite the trip--three trains there and two back, but we managed fine. She is still portable and not yet crawling, so she was mostly content to explore the world from my arms.
Still, it's a long time to be in one place, even walking the cars to and fro. So, we did a lot of lap games.
Here are a few that we did together.

"This little train went up the track."
(Tickle her from toes to hip)
"It went choooo-choooo." (tickle her tummy)
"And then it went right back."
(Tickle from hip to toes.)

Bouncing her~"Chugga, chugga, chugga, chugga, chooo-chooo!"

Clapping out the rhythm~
"Jiggety, jiggety, jumping jacks
This little train sped down the tracks
It went to Missouri, then came back.
Jiggety, jiggety, jumping jacks."