Family Gap Year Post #16: 5,000-Mile Road Trip—Our Adventures (June, Part 1)

The idea for an epic road trip for the month of June came from the thought that it would be cheaper to ship our car from the mainland to Hawai’i if we drove it to the port in Long Beach, California. We also thought Henry would want to start the summer at Matt’s old sleep away camp in Indiana, so Indiana to Los Angeles became the start and end points of our trip. (In the end, Henry did not want to go to camp.)

Adventures

Highs

So.Many.Fun.Adventures this month!

We drove from Austin, Texas, to Indiana, Bloomington, in a single day. We used the Roadside America app to find stops along the way. We decided to swing by the Arkansas State Capitol to hold half a million dollars in our hands. I highly recommend this free excursion!

Our time in Bloomington was short but fun: swimming, tubing on the lake, and going for a walk with Sarah from the Friendlier Podcast. Matt and I took a detour to Flagstaff so he could photograph a friend’s wedding.

Then we were off to Madison, Wisconsin. It’s a lovely city. We stayed neared the Arboretum and loved renting bikes for the two days we were there. We biked through the Arboretum, around Lake Wingra, and to the free zoo. We also honored Henry’s desire to spend some time at a climbing gym.

Next it was on to Livingston, Montana, with a little pit stop in Eau Claire to eat breakfast with Kelsey’s family! My boys keep asking if we can play with her “basement boys” again (they have a basement in their new house).

Livingston, Montana, was such a tranquil place, and we loved floating on the river, walking to dinner, and playing at the neighborhood park every day. We also loved a trip to the Chico Hot Springs. Our “all family, all the time” led to a lot of intensity this month, so we split up for a day in Montana. Henry and I drove to Bozeman together, which was a lot of fun, too.

After Montana, we drove to see our friend Mere in the mountains of Baring, Washington. The boys LOVED the snow! We also loved hiking straight up a mountain in pursuit of a geocache, drinking hot egg nog every day from the Big Foot coffee shop, and visiting beautiful Lake Wenatchee.

Then it was on to Vancouver, Canada! We enjoyed two different botanical gardens (VanDusen and University of British Colombia), took a ferry and a bus to a quaint little town (Horseshoe Bay to Langdale with a bus to Gibsons), and spent each night eating ice-cream and talking with our friends on the beach.

Eugene, Oregon, was next. Our AirBnb was down the street from a park with sequoia trees and within walking distance of the Willamette River. We rented bikes again and loved biking everywhere—down by the river and to the neighborhood community pool with water slides.

From Oregon, we made our way to Arcata, California. Our AirBnb was surprisingly gorgeous (the pictures don’t do it justice), and it was a quick walk through the dunes to the beach. Henry fell in love with digging for sand fleas, and we hosted our dear friends from Austin for breakfast and a morning at the beach.

Then we made our way to Stinson Beach—one of our favorite spots in the entire country. It was a lot of “slow family living” with reading in the hot tub, playing games, watching movies, walking to the beach, finding a tide pool, and playing at the local playground.

Our next stop was San Francisco. We made a pit stop in Oakland to connect with one of my dearest friends and her children (I can’t wait to spend a week in Kauai with them!). Then it was off to an Alcatraz tour with two different sets of friends. San Francisco was a quick but fun trip. An additional highlight was a picnic in the park to celebrate Tate’s birthday.

Our final two stops were Southern California: Venice Beach and Pasadena. We loved boogie boarding at the Santa Monica Beach and swimming at the Annenberg Community Pool. And we celebrated Tate’s birthday by letting him pick his dinner out + one activity. He combined them into a trip to Alamo Draft House to watch the new Minions movie.

We ended the trip in Pasadena where we hiked to the Hollywood Sign.

Even our long road-tripping days were fun. Our system of “one hour on screens, one hour off (with a family audiobook)” worked really well for us. Of course, I’m only speaking for myself because Matt did most of the driving!

One of my favorite things about this month has been reconnecting with friends:

• Terry in Dallas
• Loren and Lisa in Bloomington
• Sarah in Bloomington
• Nate and Merrill in Madison
• Kelsey and Family in Eau Claire
• Mere and Phil in Baring
• Michelle and Loren in Vancouver
• Emily and Louisa in Eugene
• The Summerfields from Austin, Texas
• The Burkes from Austin, Texas
• Amy and Jef from Austin, Texas
• Jamie, Jif, and Luq in Oakland, California
• Noah and Kim in San Francisco, California
• John in Los Angeles
• Juhi and Rishi

Lows

The hardest part about our adventures this month has been trying to compromise as a family and make sure everyone gets their needs met.

I don’t remember having much control or say in what we did as a family when I was a child. I thought that’s just how it was. I thought I would get to make all the decisions when I was a grown-up.

But now that I am a grown-up, I’m questioning that method. I find myself wanting to run my family in a more democratic way. Why shouldn’t my children have a say in what we do or where we go to eat?

But it definitely makes life more difficult! For example, I wanted to visit so many Farmer’s Markets during this trip, and we only ended up at one of them.

Next Time

This month was a 10 out of 10 for me. My stress level is down to a 1 or 2. I feel like I’m growing stronger as a parent. I loved all the cities we picked to visit. I also loved visiting with so many different friends (and meeting new people, like Jessica, Eleanor, and Keva).

Lessons Learned

1. Our children need adults other than their parents in their lives. Henry loved hiking with our friend Mere this month. I would love to send him out to visit with her for a week every year! We also loved shadowing our friend Noah at the science lab where he works.
2. Meeting up with friends while traveling is so fun!!! This part surprised me. My favorite days were when we got to reconnect with friends.

Stay tuned for next week’s post when I talk about our Family Dynamic. In the meantime, you can see daily update on Instagram or weekly updates in my newsletter!