Road Trippin'

East Coast West Coast Mom is pleased to announce our very first Guest Blogger!
Welcome Jaleh Reeves of Raleigh, NC. We hope you enjoy the hilarious reenactment of her family's latest roadtrip. We sure did!
-Kelly & Melissa

It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark . . . and we’re wearing sunglasses.

OK, well it wasn’t that type of road trip, but loading up the family minivan and embarking on a 4-state, 2-week, 2,000+-mile vacation was kinda cool in a Blues Brothers retro sort of way.

I should start by introducing myself. My name is Jaleh and I’m a friend of Melissa’s – I used to live in Connecticut, but I’m now sunning myself in Raleigh, North Carolina. A southern transplant up North, I’m now back in the land of sweet tea and magnolias, but I miss my lovely Northern mommy friends. My first child, Carson, was born within a month of Melissa’s daughter, so we celebrated many wonderful milestones that first year together. Now we celebrate on Facebook. Hopefully she’ll keep me as a guest blogger, and maybe I’ll share some insights about being a Southern mama. And, of course, what Lily Pulitzer prints are hot down South.

Now back to that road trip. Two days after the last day of school, the kids and I and their Nana and Papa loaded up the Sienna and started our road trip. My husband, always a bit saner than the rest of us, stayed behind to earn a living while his family traipsed around the southeastern U.S. You see, we had kin to visit. (For you Northerners, that means family.)

Our first stop was Tennessee. After 10 hours, many potty stops, some icees, innumerable replays of the Muppets movie, a few threats of violence, and one stop at a Cracker Barrel (for you Northerners, sorry, can’t really explain this reference – try to picture rocking chairs, country cooking, and lots of candy), we finally arrived. Tired, rumpled, sore, but still optimistic about our trip.

We had an absolutely wonderful visit on the farm where my mother (Nana) grew up – kids fed horses carrots out of their hands; found lots of treasures among the old, rusted farm equipment (um, I wonder when their last tetanus booster was?); and ate homemade ice cream on my aunt’s front porch watching the lightning bugs.

The kids feeding horses on the farm.

Next stop, my old hometown – Richmond, Kentucky. You may get this lovely destination confused with Richmond, Virginia. No, my Richmond is not the location of William & Mary. Unless you mean Will & Mary Ann who run the old Phillips 66 station down the street. This is the Bluegrass – just half an hour down I-75 from Kentucky’s greatest exports – UK basketball and horse racing (oh, and bourbon). Nana and Papa still live in this metropolis and aren’t budging. Heck, they know everyone in town, and see them all weekly at Bob Evans, why on earth would they want to go and do something crazy like move to Raleigh? (I digress.)

Did we ever have a great time in good ol’ Richmond! Lucky for us, there was a carnival in the Meijer parking lot. Premier people watching, let me tell you! For those of you taking notes, leave your pit bull at home when going to a carnival. And don’t let your kids eat Cotton Candy double-fisted from the bag with said pit bull. I saw it. I wouldn’t recommend it. We did indulge in a funnel cake, however. It was, comparably, very civilized. We also rode the Ferris Wheel. I said lots of prayers that evening. For my children, and the language I used when they started rocking back and forth on that Ferris Wheel, and also for the mysterious grease that got in my sweet girl’s hair from that ride. I scrubbed those children within an inch of their lives that night.

On the Ferris Wheel. Notice my white-knuckled grip on the bar and my forced
smile. I think this photo caused my husband to come join us.

For anyone who is concerned about the culture factor of this trip, our experience in Kentucky also included high tea at a beautiful tearoom (Lord help me, real bone china in the hands of my children), and a trip to the Lexington Children’s Museum. OK, educational time over.

The kids enjoy tea at The Greentree Tearoom in Lexington, Kentucky.

Next stop, Dayton, Ohio to visit my maid of honor and old college roommate and her family. Now this is where I could have used that half a pack of cigarettes and the sunglasses. We have had our share of adventures. Most of them have not included four children six and under and an amusement park. But this one did. Off to Kings Island we went. I took my precious gifts from God on a full-on roller coaster. Not my brightest mommy moment. I should have known this was probably not a good idea when they brought out the measuring stick to make sure they were tall enough. My six-year old almost puked. Scarred for life, I’m afraid. My four-year-old, Lily Pulitzer-loving, monogrammed, bow-wearing, petite ballerina, looked up at me like she had just seen Santa, and said, “ Mommy. I LOVE it. Can we go again?” She’s talked of little else since.

A more reasonable children's roller coaster. I was afraid pictures from the
other one might be used against me at a later time. Like with psycho therapists.
Or when choosing my nursing home. Notice my adrenaline junkie up front.

Finally, my husband joined us. I think mainly to monitor the final days of our journey. Suspicious of all of the photos I’d been texting him, he thought he’d accompany us on the last leg of our adventure – Lake Cumberland. Back to Kentucky we went - with yet more fun friends and their children. If the Blues Brothers had had a boat, it would have been almost as cool as the one we played in all weekend. If they had gone tubing on a lake, I doubt they could have topped our sun-soaked, wind-whipped, perma-grin ride. The kids – and adults – had a ball.

Tubing!

Despite all of the fun, the children were tiring of all the travel. And the mini-van was packed to capacity, thanks, in part to a piece of furniture I bought at a going out of business sale, oh, and that drum set I picked up for the kids at a yard sale for $3 (that will be the subject of my next post – Why I do manic things before 7 a.m. before my coffee.) It was time for the trip to end. I knew it was true when my four-year-old said, “I want to go to Raleigh, North Carolina.” Yes, dear, we’re on our way.

Now the laundry is done and folded. Groceries fill the fridge. The van has been serviced and washed. And the suitcases are back in the attic. It was an epic road trip. Would I undertake such a journey again? Absolutely. Or as they say in my corner of the world, “If the good Lord’s willing and the creek don’t rise.”

- Jaleh Reeves