My Vacation: Day One, the Drive

We rented a van and drove to California. This was a much better plan than stuffing 10 of us into our 9 passenger Suburban that may or may not make the trip without breaking down.

Mapquest said that it would take 13.5 hours to drive from our house in Eugene to our hotel next to Disneyland. Since we can't go the whole way without stopping, I told the kids 15 hours. I was right. Aside from stopping to fuel up the van, we stopped once for breakfast and again for lunch. My kids are good travelers and don't require a lot of stops.

I am sure it didn't hurt that we bought 2 portable dvd players for the trip (one had 2 screens and oldest son had the one he bought so everyone had something to watch, except the baby). And lots of snacks. And Will's blankie.




Good news, I didn't have to read to my husband. NOT ONCE. Instead, I downloaded P.G. Wodehouse's Love Among the Chickens for him to listen to. I remember it as having been one of the funniest books I have ever read. Like many things, it wasn't quite so funny the second time around, but I lived through it. Anything to keep from having to read aloud a drippy Grace Livingston Hill novel. (Not that GLH is all that terrible, it's just that I have read most of the books, some more than once, and I have had more than my lifetime dose of her tra la la life is so wonderful novels. Sorry.)

Not having to read left me free to take a picture or two out the window.

Not where we are going, but it sure looks fun.

We left home slightly after 5 am and arrived in Anaheim at 8:15 pm. Sweet. Traffic wasn't all that bad even when we got close to Los Angeles. About 60 miles out things started to get heavy, but still fast. We were going 70-75 and cars were whizzing past us at 80-90 mph, crossing lanes and weaving in and out(including the state trooper in his SUV). I mentioned to my husband it was like watching a choreographed dance. His comment: "This is fun!"




Almost there!



We drove straight to our hotel, no mistakes, thanks to my superior navigation skills. We checked in, unloaded the van, went to Burger King for dinner, then back to the hotel to go to bed. We had adjoining rooms so the boys slept in one and the girls in the other with my husband and I. Anticipation and excitement for the next day was running high.

Next: Legoland California!!