Posts Tagged: Road Trip

Lifestyle

Riding In Cars With Kids (And Why I’m Not As Crazy As I Look)

how to day trip with kids stress free

(Relatively) stress-free day trips with kids are totally possible 

As a family, we are very, very bad at staying put. Even when we fly off to some faraway destination together, we have a tendency to hop into our rental car and explore other places –  even if it’s only for a few hours here and there. It's partially a desire to really get to know a place beyond what you might "expect" to see - but I think it's mostly just that we really love being in the car together.

But we do have two children under age five, and trust me: plenty of our friends have expressed confusion about the fact that my husband and I actively seek out time in the car. “But Jordan,” they ask, “isn’t that…kind of…the worst?”

SNAPSHOTS

Noah’s Art

noah's art joshua tree

I totally forgot to show you the last stop on our road trip - and I have to, because it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

When we were in Joshua Tree, we stayed at a gorgeous AirBnB way out in the desert, and when we were driving back to the main road we saw this crazy sort of art installation rising out of the sand, and pulled over to discover a full-on outdoor museum of "assemblage sculptures" - basically, pieces created using only found objects ("Noah" refers to Noah Purifoy, the museum's founder).

If you ever make it out that way: go, for real.

Lifestyle

Road-Tripping With Kids: A Survival Guide

Q. Hi Jordan!

I was hoping you could do a post on keeping young kids happy/entertained in the car when you get a chance? We'll be driving from Rhode Island to North Carolina in a month with my 21-month old (and a surly cat, God help me) and I'm really nervous about it. We usually plan longer car trips around bedtime/naps, but that obviously won't be possible this time around.

Any tips would be much appreciated!

Lifestyle

Magic Hour

joshua tree national park

Joshua Tree, California

You guys, I'm going to have to apologize in advance in the event that all of a sudden I turn into a total chakras-and-crystals person, because I don't know who it is that is in these photographs, but the Jordan that I know does not decide to spontaneously break into yoga poses while watching the sunset barefoot in the sand.

Or...jeez, I don't know. Maybe she does.

Anxiety

The Reader

truth or consequences new mexico family vacation

Late night lights in Truth Or Consequences, NM

We needed this trip. So, so badly.

I knew it when we decided to drive out here, how good it would be for us to just spend time together, as a couple and as a family, in a way we haven't in a really, really long time. It's mostly the hours in the car that have done it: we talk, sing along to music, run around gas station convenience stores picking out terrible, horrible things to eat, and mostly just hang out together.

SNAPSHOTS

The Thing

what is the thing route 66

YOU GUYS.

I SAW THE THING.

I have been wanting to see The Thing for over a decade, ever since my dad and I drove cross-country and I saw it listed in my guidebook and then - with massive sadness - realized that we weren't going to hit it on our route.

Eat

The Great Fried Onion Burger

fried onion burger sid's diner

Ever since we hit Route 66 (or at least parts of it) I've been following the recommendations of my road trip book very nearly to the letter. Why a for-real, paper-pages book as opposed to a series of apps and Yelp reviews and road-tripping sites? Because something about driving the old road makes me feel like you need a book to hold in your hands. You need to turn down pages and have somewhere to tuck receipts and pamphlets you find along the way into, you know?

Anyway, one of the places that my book declared unmissable was El Reno, a.k.a. "Hamburger City."

Obviously I am stopping at a place with the nickname "Hamburger City."

There were three diners that came highly recommended, but we ended up at Sid's Diner because apparently it was featured in an episode of Man Vs. Food and I was all curious about why.

SNAPSHOTS

Ghost Town

route 66 ghost town

The thing about "taking Route 66 across the country" is that you can't really do it, not anymore. When the massive I-40 Interstate was built in the '80s, it basically mirrored the Western part of Route 66 and essentially put the old road out of business, so nowadays if you want to see Route 66 you have to sort of pop on and pop off of the Interstate whenever you can. And ever since we hit Oklahoma City, where our route collided with Route 66, that's what we've been doing, because it is so worth the effort, if only to see how great America's car-traveling culture used to be.

It's also sad, though: in a lot of these towns you'll find one "famous Route 66 spot" that's still doing well, maybe two, but the majority of the other businesses just couldn't survive the Interstate bypass and subsequent drop in tourist traffic. They're still so beautiful, though, and so romantic: full of gorgeous neon signs and '50s-style motels and interesting architecture and people with stories to tell. So you take your time, you have a second cup of coffee, and you listen. And sometimes you get a little lost trying to make your way back to the Interstate and find an all-but-abandoned overpass that's become home to thousands of birds that come streaming out in a huge cloud when you drive by, and you stop and get out of your car and watch them fly.


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