Our trip by the numbers

Total miles traveled: 3,420.8

Longest day (hours)*: 13 hours and 20 minutes on July 25th from Madison, WI to Clearfield, PA

Most miles in a day*: 689.2 on July 25th.

*2nd runner up for this was 12 hours and 45 minutes to go 562.1 miles on 7/17. We drove only 30 minutes less than our longest day but went 127.1 fewer miles thanks to Chicago traffic and the Great Potato Wedge Debacle of 2009.

Lowest gas price: $2.29 in Elma, IA

Highest gas price: $2.75 in Fishkill, NY

Average gas price: $2.48

Average MPG: I didn't actually go back and calculate this because I'm too lazy to dig out all the receipts and match them to my mileage log but the two times I did do it we were getting 21 mpg on the highway so we'll go with that as an answer.

Number of days: 11

Number of vomiting incidences: 2

Number of meals at Mabe's Pizza: 4

Number of meals at Arby's: 3

Number of meals at McDonald's: 1

Number of pitchers of beer: Ummm.....I lost track.

MILEAGE BY THE DAY:

Day 1: 583.3 miles - Upton, MA to Youngstown, OH
Day 2: 562.1 miles - Youngstown, OH to Madison, WI
Day 3: hanging around Madison
Day 4: 142.5 - Madison, WI to Decorah, IA
Day 5: hanging around Decorah
Day 6: 134.1 miles (hanging around Decorah plus we went to Elma, IA and back.)
Day 7: 274.7 miles - Decorah, IA to Aitkin, MN
Day 8: hanging around the lake
Day 9: 431.3 miles - Aitkin, MN to Decorah, IA to Ridgeway, IA to Madison, WI
Day 10: 689.2 miles - Madison, WI to Clearfield, PA
Day 11: 444.0 miles - Clearfield, PA to Upton, MA

Mille Lacs - a photo essay (Subtitled: My 1,000th post!!!)

Assembling Jake's new fishing pole:

I can't count how many times I've sat in that very same spot where Jake and Hannah are fishing in these photos:


Picking blueberries. Grandma B will be so proud:


My family on the dock where I spent so many hours of my childhood. I love seeing them there:

Playing at Roger's house on Round Lake:

Feeding the ducks at Roger's:

Learning how to knit from Aunt Lin:

The big fish in Garrison, MN. I can't tell you how many pictures I have of me in front of this fish:

Jake at the lake:

Hannah at the lake:

Tubing - A photo essay

The next generation of Lentz tubers (Sorry Lincoln but when she's in Decorah she's a Lentz....not a Snow):

Hannah in her tube:

Hannah and Auntie Rachie:

Stylin' on the river:

Hannah, Grandpa Dan, and Daddy on the river - three generations of tubers:

Hannah and Daddy....passing down tradition:

My little river girl:

Cleaning up lunch....a true tuber always has an (empty) beer bottle or two in hand:

Decorah, IA - a photo essay

Hannah playing in the Co-Op (formerly Fairway) parking lot:

Eating ice cream with Water Street of Decorah in the background:

What a mess!:

Jake at the Chick Hatchery:

Hannah at the Chick Hatchery:

Riding the train at Nordic Fest:

Hannah and Lincoln at the Whippy Dip:

Madison, WI - A photo essay

Lincoln playing frisbee:

Jake cheating at getting across the monkey bars:

Hannah swinging on the bar:

Hannah and Uncle Kevin:

Jake running through the park playing Star Wars:

Hannah on the swing:

Hannah riding her bike:

On the road - a photo essay

Hannah working in her workbook:

Jake riding his bike through a puddle at the Bad Luck Rest Stop:

Hannah getting ready to hit the road again:


Hannah's unique sleeping set-up:

Passing the time with a nap:


Jake chilling on his first day without Hannah:


My boys at lunch:

Photo essays coming soon

I have lots of photo essays to put up from our trip and I hope to start getting them up this evening.

Home again

We made it home! It's good to be home. I promise to post lots of pictures soon. Right now we're just trying to settle back in and get everything together before going back to work tomorrow morning.

Homeward bound

We're on the road again and this time we're heading for home. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed tonight. It was such a great feeling to boot up the GPS this morning and hit "Where to?" and then "Go home".

Last night we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Clearfield, PA. It was a very nice hotel. The pool was very busy and very crowded but we were able to get down there and work off a little energy. Jake was all fired up after 13 hours in the car but we let him stay up until about 11 p.m. We were down in the pool until about 10:40 or so and then came back up to the room for showers. At 6:00 a.m. we woke him up....which he was not too happy about....and took him down for breakfast. Getting a good breakfast in him seems to be the key to keeping him from getting car sick. Once we got on the road (just before 7:00 a.m.) he fell asleep again and slept until about 9:15 when we stopped for a potty break.

This morning I drove for the first few hours while Jakey slept and Lincoln watched a movie. We were driving through the Appalachian Mountains which is incredibly scenic. It was a very pleasant...and very peaceful....morning drive for me.

Right now we're getting ready to stop in Fishkill, NY for lunch. You would think that someone over the years would have thought to change the name of that place. What an unattractive name.

Pressing on

Our original plan was to stop in Youngstown, OH tonight on the way back to Massachusetts. It's a nice middle point for the trip...11 hours one day and 12 hours the next....but we decided to press on a little farther into Pennsylvania this evening. I made a hotel reservation in Clearfield which is about two hours past Youngstown. It should shorten our day a little tomorrow and hopefully get us home around 4 or 5 p.m. instead of 6 or 7 p.m. My goal is to get home early enough tomorrow evening to unload the car, unwind a little, and maybe even get some laundry done before the work week begins.

Jake is doing great in the car despite Hannah's absence. He is quietly playing with his rods and balls (i.e. Magnetix) right now and earlier he took a nap and watched a movie. He has been a real trouper and I couldn't be prouder of him. Of course that may change before we get to Clearfield as it will have been a 13 hour day of driving if we don't stop anymore between here and there.

Every now and then Jake asks "Where's Hannah?" or "Why did Hannah get to stay behind?" but when we explain that it is because she's old enough to do so he takes it pretty well. I'm curious to see how many days it takes for him to quit asking. When he's not asking that he just randomly throws out a "I miss Hannah." every now and then.

The ride today has been pretty smooth. We had about 5 minutes of rain just before Cleveland, OH while I was driving but other than that it has been dry the whole way. We started out with bright sun this morning and it has gotten progressively cloudier as the day has gone on but nothing like the dark clouds and lightening that we had last night. As usual Lincoln has done most of the driving but I did a stint between Toledo and Cleveland while he took a nap. He probably wishes he hadn't done that since it allowed my mind time to wander and when he woke up I told him I thought we should continue driving a few extra hours.

I have to say, it's very nice having the laptop and mobile Internet access with us in the car. Once we decided we'd drive on into Pennsylvania tonight Lincoln took over driving so that I could find a hotel for us. I was able to pull up "hotels on I-80 in Pennsylvania" and get a list of all hotels available at each exit. Then I was able to check availability and price before cross-checking their reviews on TripAdvisor. So much better than how we used to travel with a AAA hotel book when I was a kid.

So tonight it's onto PA and tomorrow into MA. It will be good to be home. We've had a great trip but I'm excited to sleep in my own bed tomorrow night. I'm sure Lincoln is too.

Advantages to Hannah's absence

We all miss Hannah who is off with Grandma and Grandpa for three weeks but I must say I'm enjoying the extra space in the car and the ability to put my seat back when I want to take a nap.

Lesson learned

Jake threw up again this morning. We spent the night at Rachel and Kevin's in Madison last night and got up and on the road by 6:15 a.m. We figured we'd drive awhile and then stop for breakfast somewhere before Chicago. Jake threw up right as we were pulling into the Denny's parking lot. Luckily this time he threw up before breakfast so there wasn't much in his stomach. Every other day he has been fine and each of those mornings we made sure to feed the kids before getting on the road so obviously that is our problem. I've never gotten car sick before but the few times that I felt like I might it has always been while riding in a car on an empty stomach. I guess from now on we'll have to figure breakfast into our plans before hitting the road for a long car ride.

And in conclusion...

Our trip is finally over. Well, over except for the two long days of driving ahead of us. The vacation part is over.

Last night we had a wonderful dinner with Lin. Lincoln and the kids went out to play Frisbee in the yard while Lin and I sat with a bottle of wine in front of the fireplace in the library and talked for a few hours. We had so much fun up at the lake and I really wish we had more time to spend up there but we'll just have to schedule another trip back there sometime soon.

This morning we got up and got on the road about 8 a.m. We were headed back to Decorah to experience a little bit of Nordic Fest which we haven't been back for in a couple of years. Three years to be exact. The whole second part of our trip down from Mille Lacs to Decorah was spent following behind a massive summer storm. Cresco, IA was hit with some of the worst weather and there were lots of trees down, a boat that blew into the street, and a number of silos taken down. According to my parents who drove through Cresco later in the afternoon on their way to Ridgeway the corn was pretty much flattened as well. Not pretty.

Luckily we managed to avoid the storm altogether although we could see if off in the distance while we were driving. The clouds were very black and lightening was constantly going off in the distance. Right before we got to Decorah the skies opened up and it was pouring rain but luckily we didn't get any of the high winds or hail that had been predicted. When we finally reached Decorah it had stopped raining and cleared up slightly which was good because otherwise we would have skipped stopping in Decorah this afternoon and would have headed right out to Ridgeway.

Once in Decorah we stopped at the Chick Hatchery for the kids to play with the baby chicks. I love going in and playing with the little chicks....they are so dang cute and soft. Afterwards we walked down the street a ways and the kids rode on Pokey Pete, a little train that runs during Nordic Fest that I rode on when I was a kid. I did some shopping and decided to fill up the hole left behind by Hannah with all sorts of stuff we probably don't need but that I really liked. Every time I came out of a store Lincoln would have to go back to put the stuff in the car because it was either too bulky, too heavy, or too awkward to carry. When I came out of one store with empty hands his chin literally dropped to the curb. After a quick, and very messy, stop at the Whippy Dip we headed out to Bob and Lorraine's for dinner. Bob and Lorraine are actually my Dad's aunt and uncle and are my godparents. They live about 15 minutes out of town and I love going to visit them.

Aunt Lorraine is what I call a "typical old-school Iowa farm wife". They don't actually live on a farm but I'm pretty sure she was probably raised on one. If you stop by her house unannounced she'll have a full spread of ham, potato salad, corn, and God knows what else on the table within minutes. When she's given notice you should really see what she can do. Tonight we had a lovely dinner with them that included us, my parents, Uncle John and Aunt Sandy, their son Greg, and their son Rod and his wife Lori and their daughter Leigh. It wasn't the entire family on their side but it was great seeing those that were able to make it. While dinner was being prepped the skies opened up again and it poured rain but it didn't last too long. After dinner the sun came out and I finished up getting all of Hannah's stuff together and transferred over to Mom and Dad. Hannah is now in their care for the next three weeks. She'll spend another week with them in Iowa before heading back to Seattle for two weeks and then back to Boston on August 15th. I'm holding up pretty well but Jake has already expressed how much he misses her. It should be an interesting three weeks.

Right now we're headed over to Madison to crash at Rachel's for the night before beginning the long journey home to Massachusetts. It has been a crazy drive through a very eerie twilight. Off to our right, and occasionally in front of us, we see dark skies and bursts of lightening flashes. Behind us and over our left shoulders you can see a beautiful sunset. The combination of the two make for a very interesting sky over us right now. Luckily we're still avoiding the major storms moving through the area and it should stay south of Madison for the night so I think we'll be okay.

As I wrap up this posting on the latest part of our journey I'll leave you with this little tidbit from Jakey:

Jake: How come Hannah gets to stay?

Me: Because she's eight.

Jake: She's not eight. She's seven.

He got me there. She technically won't be eight until August 18th. Damn this kid is getting too smart for his own good.

Day 1,578 of our trip

In some ways it seems like we have been on vacation for a really long time. We left last Thursday on our drive to the Midwest and here it is a week later and we still won't be home for a couple more days. The trip has been very successful so far. The kids have been fantastic and for the most part the weather has been nice. Some days have been cloudy or chilly but at least we haven't really had much rain except when we were driving.

Yesterday morning we packed up the car again and headed out of Decorah to go up to the lake. My Aunt Lin and Uncle Jim have a house on Lake Mille Lacs and we're up here for a few days to visit. When I was a little girl Jim let Grandma and Grandpa live up here so to me this always used to be Grandma and Grandpa's house. There was a small house that they lived in and a trailer that Jim used when he came up to fish. The long term plan for this property was always for their retirement. Over the last year and a half or so they've built their dream house up here and let me tell you....the place is GORGEOUS! There is a library with twelve foot ceilings with bookshelves all the way up. They have one of those sliding ladders that go around the room so that you can reach the books on the higher shelves. There is also a beautiful fireplace, two soft chairs to sit in, and a view of the lake. The kitchen is state of the art, of course, (my uncle is a fantastic cook) and there is even a setting on his custom made stove that allows you to put a chocolate chip cookie on a paper plate on top of the burner and it will not burn the plate but will melt the chocolate chips in the cookie. I'm going to have to try that out later after we go to the store. The rest of the house is equally gorgeous and there are views of the lake from most of the rooms. There is a bathtub in the master suite that I'm not quite sure Jake could touch the bottom in....it's that big.

Being up here, despite the old house and trailer being gone, brings back a lot of memories. I loved visiting Grandma and Grandpa here. They have a horseshoe driveway that I spent hours and hours and hours riding Grandma's bike on when I was a little girl. Yesterday I watched my kids riding their bikes on the same driveway. I also spent hours down on the dock fishing and playing and we did the same thing with the kids yesterday. When I was a little girl Grandpa would send me down to the end of the dock with a long stick, some string, and a fish hook at the end. Needless to say I never caught anything. Jake and Hannah got to fish off the end of the dock yesterday but they definitely had an upgraded pole. Lincoln bought them a simple rod and reel down in Garrison yesterday and the kids loved it. Of course he should have probably bought two since now they fight over who gets to go fishing. Jake was determined he was going to catch us a fish for breakfast but thank God he didn't. I hate fish and I actually think it stems back to my childhood visits here watching Grandpa and Uncle Jim cleaning fish out on a table in the backyard.

The drive up yesterday was fairly uneventful. The kids did good although you can tell they're starting to get restless every time we buckle in for another long haul. It makes me a little worried for our return trip to Massachusetts with Jake.

Even though it seems like we've been on vacation for a long time it also seems like the time has gone by too fast. Today is my last full day with Hannah before we hand her off to Grandma Dena and Grandpa Dan for three weeks. I'm doing my best not to make a scene in front of her because I want her to continue to look at this as an adventure and not a sad situation.

Luckily the sun is coming out and it looks like we're going to have a nice day today. I'm sure the kids will want to spend some time on the lake fishing but we're also going to head into Garrison today to do some souvenir shopping and maybe head over to Brainerd, MN to visit Paul Bunyan Land. We'll also have to take some pictures with the infamous big fish in Garrison. I'll make sure to post those later. Tomorrow we head back down to Decorah for one day of Nordic Fest and dinner at my Uncle Bob's and Aunt Lorraine's house before handing off Hannah and heading back to Madison for the night.

As for right now it's time to get the kids dressed. Hannah is headed out back with Aunt Lin to pick blueberries from the garden and Jake wants to go fishing again with Daddy. What a life.

Tubing and other fun stuff

Yesterday Hannah went on her first tubing trip down the Upper Iowa River. Every year Lincoln, Rachel and I always go tubing. Sometimes other people join us and sometimes we go by ourselves. This year Dad and Hannah joined us. Hannah was very excited as this was the first year that she was old enough. Unfortunately it was a less then optimal year. The river was very low and we ended up scraping our butts a lot and actually had to walk certain parts of the river. Then once we got past the College Ave. bridge the water came to a virtual stand still. We ended up having to paddle most of the way through the stretch from College Ave. to just past the high school. Unfortunately that is also when the sun went behind the clouds and it started to get very chilly. I think Hannah enjoyed the first part of the trip - and I have great pictures to prove it - but she lost her love of the river towards the end. I asked her if she wanted to go next year and her answer was "I'll have to think about it".

After our four and a half hour tubing trip (which usually takes us about three hours) we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up. Mom had been babysitting Jake all day and they had a great day touring all the local parks and even went to the public swimming pool. After we all showered Mom and Dad took the kids back to the park and out to dinner while Lincoln and I went out for a "grown-up" dinner at La Rana with Rachel. After that Lincoln and I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince at the local theater. I swear, the smell of that place hasn't changed one bit since I moved away in 1988 (in a good way).

This morning Lincoln and the kids went down to the hotel pool while I took a nice long hot bath. I took Jake for a hair cut at 11 a.m. but it wasn't at the usual place that we go to while in Decorah. I couldn't get him into the usual place so I randomly chose another place that I remember having existed here in Decorah since my childhood but was a little panicked for Jake when we walked in and the place was full of old ladies getting their hair set for the week. Luckily the lady who cut his hair - the youngest one working there - did a great job with his hair and he looks wicked cute.

After Jake's haircut Lincoln and the kids and I met up with Grandma and Grandpa at Mabe's for lunch. I believe that is the fourth meal we've had there since Sunday. Right after that we headed out to pick up some flowers and do the "graveyard tour". Whenever we're in Decorah I always buy flowers for Gretchen's grave. Gretchen was the old lady that lived next door to us in Decorah and she was totally like a grandmother to me and Rachel. We loved visiting her and she always had crackers for us. Graham crackers for Rachel and Saltines for me. This year, unfortunately, I've had to add Grandma Lentz and Uncle Linus to the graveyard circuit. We drove out to Elma and I put flowers on both of their graves before driving out to Linus's accident site to show Lincoln. Whenever I visit Gretchen I'm sad but I don't cry. She has been dead for 12 years and we moved away 21 years ago. With Linus and Grandma, however, I was bawling like a baby. It was so sad. After driving out to the accident site we went over to my Uncle John's and Aunt Sandy's for a quick visit before heading back to Decorah.

Once back in Decorah I headed over to the spa for some steam therapy and a hot stone massage. It was pure heaven. I got a 15 minute steam treatment, an 85 minute hot stone massage and purchased three things of bath salts for less than I would pay out in Boston for just the massage. It was a nice break for me and it felt great after the tubing trip yesterday not to mention all the time we've spent in the car the past few days.

Once I was done at the spa we headed over to the Urgent Care Center at the hospital. No one was seriously ill or hurt but it was the only way to get Jake in to see the doctor. He started out with some scaly skin on his elbows last week which has turned into a itchy, nasty rash all the way up and down both arms. We got a prescription ointment for him before heading out to dinner and then back to the hotel room to pack up. Mom and Dad are coming up to play cards tonight so that the grown-ups can have some time to visit without the kids. We're staying in a suite at the hotel which has a separate room for the kids so once we put them down to bed we can stay up in the main room and hang out.

I promise to have pictures of our trip up eventually but unfortunately I've had trouble loading them on the blog using Lincoln's computer. Tomorrow morning we head up to Lin and Jim's at Lake Mille Lacs in Minnesota which will be another 5 hours in the car. Hannah told me the other day that if she has to get in the car again she's going "to blow up" but they did okay on the 45-minutes to and from Elma today so hopefully she's past the explosion stage.

Home Again

We are finally in Decorah. After a couple great days in Madison with Rachel and Kevin we headed over to Decorah to meet up with my parents in Decorah. No matter how long I've been away from Decorah it always feels like coming home.

Last night we had a blast with Rachel and Kevin playing cards and hanging out. Rachel is headed over to Decorah today as well and tomorrow we're all going to go tubing. This will be Hannah's first year on the river and I'm not quite sure how she's going to do but I think she'll do fine. It could be interesting. Jake will be hanging out with Grandma Dena while we're on the river.

That's about it for now. This afternoon we got moved into our hotel room. This is the longest stretch that we'll be in one location - three nights - so I unpacked everything and got us reorganized. It's nice to have everything unpacked for a few days.

I'm not sure what our plans are for the afternoon and evening but I'm sure we'll figure something out. Sometimes it's just nice to relax. Maybe we'll take a few beers down to the pool and sit in the hot tub. That sounds great right about now.

Having fun in Madison

Last night we had a great dinner with Rachel and Kevin and just hung out around their house. The kids went to bed kind of late but after being in the car all day they needed to get out some of their energy. The kids slept upstairs together and Hannah was put in charge of Jake, a duty she took very seriously.

The four grown-ups stayed up late drinking wine and beer and just having a nice long chat and a lot of laughs. We were up a lot later than we should have been but Hannah came through for us in the morning and she got up with Jake bright and early. After everyone got up we had a great breakfast of scrambled eggs and some delicious cinnamon rolls that they got from a bakery down the street.

After breakfast we all showered and headed over to a local mall. Rachel and I got pedicures while Lincoln and Kevin took the kids to the toy store to get something as a reward for how wonderful they were in the car. We met up again afterwards and headed to a small Farmers Market. One of the stands had "hours old" cheese curds and they were absolutely delicious. Very squeaky.

We left the Farmers Market and after a quick stop back at the house to drop off some stuff we went to a place called The Old Fashioned in Madison near the Capitol building. Unfortunately there was a long wait for a table but the kids did really good and we had an enjoyable meal once we were seated. Our original plan had been to head for the New Glarus brewery afterwards for a quick tour and some ice cream at a nearby place but we ended up running out of time. Instead we headed back to the house where Jake took a nap (I took a short one too) and then we loaded back up into the car and headed out to see Monsters vs. Aliens at the local dollar theater. The weather here today has been cloudy, cool, and only in the mid-60s. Not terribly pleasant for the middle of July but at least it isn't raining.

Now we're headed down to the park just down the street for the kids to ride their bikes and play on the playground for awhile. I think the plan is to do take-out and play a few board games after dinner. Tomorrow all of us, minus Kevin, will head over to Decorah. Less than 12 hours until we'll be eating Mabe's pizza and planning our tubing trip. I can't wait!

Mileage totals

Day one: 583.3 miles / 11 hours 45 minutes

Day two: 560.2 miles / 12 hours 45 minutes

We're here!!!

We finally made it to Rachel and Kevin's house in Madison, WI. Our 11 hour day turned into a 12 hour and 45 minute day. We hit some really bad traffic going around Chicago. Add a lot of crappy weather and it made for a less than fun ride but the kids did fantastic. Lincoln got the crankiest out of all of us towards the end but with the exception of my 90 minutes of driving earlier in the day he had done all the driving up until that point. He deserved to be cranky. We stopped just outside of Chicago to get gas and switch drivers before I did the last 90 minutes of our drive for the safety of everyone on the road. And when I'm the safer driver that's saying something.

I think that had we been able to avoid the traffic around Chicago and the 90 minutes of sitting in the Great Potato Wedge Debacle it would have actually been closer to a ten or ten and a half hour drive instead of eleven.

We got to Rachel and Kevin's house at 8:00 p.m. Central Time and they had some cold beers, a nice bottle of wine, and a fantastic dinner waiting for us. Now Hannah and Rachel are dancing in the living room while Kevin and Jake are playing with "rods and balls" (i.e. Magnetix). Lincoln and I are sitting on the couch drinking and watching the four of them. We have happily passed off parenting duties to Rachel and Kevin for the next 12 hours.

The day that never ends

This was supposed to be our "easier" day of driving. It was only supposed to last 11 hours instead of 12 and we were even able to leave later than originally planned because of the time change. Instead it has become the day that never ends. After we left Elkhart, IN we got stuck in the great Potato Wedge Debacle of 2009 where it took us one and a half hours to go 14.8 miles. Then, despite our great intentions of going around Chicago instead of through it, we've been hanging out in suburbia enjoying rush hour. We're creeping along one exit at a time. Right now I want to get out and run to the back seat to kiss my kids. They are doing great. They both took long naps and now they're hanging out in the back seat eating snacks. We ate lunch at 11 a.m. and planned to have dinner at Auntie Rachie's but the later it gets I'm thinking we may have to abort that plan and at least feed the kids before we get there...even if that means going through a fast food drive-thru. There has been the occasional "Are we there yet?" but over all they're being real troopers. I couldn't ask for better kids right now unless they were kids with magical powers that could make cars fly. That would be pretty cool.

On the plus side I've gotten to enjoy such delightful city billboards such as this one for do-it-yourself paternity test:

"Paternity Questions? The answer is as close as the nearest drugstore."