Midwest Adventures

2105 Miles. 38 Hours Driving. 8 State Line Crossings. 7 Days. 5 Cities. 2 Times The Camera Came Out.

Statistically speaking, this is what a quick road trip back to the midwest to visit family looked like for us. The answer to the most oft asked question about the trip….Ezra did great in the car. Sure, he had his moments; but we’re attributing those more to his being three years old than to being in the car. Neither Ahna or I ever sat in the back with him, and of the 38 hours in the car, he only watched the DVD player for about 4 hours total (it’s helpful to have the kind that we remove when it’s not on)…meaning that by and large, he spent 34 hours confined to a car seat entertaining himself in one fashion or another.

We tried really hard not to have any day of driving that was too long (longest day was one that we thought would be about 7 hours and turned into 9 due to having to take a detour due to the Missouri River flooding in Iowa) which lead to the fact that 5 of the 7 days had a drive that was at least 3 hours long. Our trip took us first to northern Iowa to see Ahna’s Grandmother and other family, then it was on to the La Crosse area of Wisconsin, before heading to our final destination city of Sioux Falls. It was awesome to be able to see everyone, and even though it required a lot of driving, it was great to be able to spend time with everyone at their houses – something that doesn’t happen nearly as often as we would like. And now that that’s done, we know that Ezra can handle long car trips….future destinations are open for discussion.

And as far as that camera thing? It simply just didn’t make it out of the bag but twice. Trust me, I know it’s weird….lot of country, lots of driving, lots of family; but not lots of photos. Oh well, the camera on the phone made up for it a couple of times.