We live in a fabulous location. An easy hours drive can have you in the heart of Amish country, the Jersey Shores, Delaware Beaches, Annapolis- home of the Naval Academy, Philly, or Baltimore. If you are willing to go another 45 minutes to an hour you can be in DC or NYC.
Yes, we love our location. We also are huge fans of day trips. We very seldom pack all our stuff for an overnight stay-- why bother when we can make a day of it then sleep in our own beds?
Here are my tips for successful day trips:
- Be ready the night before. Pack the bags, lay out the clothes, find all the shoes... This assures that you'll leave the house before noon.
- Pack food. Lots and lots of food, in individual servings. It may take longer but is so much more do-able when walking through the zoo or in the car. Don't forget the merit of carrots, apples, cheese sticks... junk doesn't feel very good in your tummy come about 5:00.
- Pack water, but be mindful of how many bathroom stops you want to take...
- Babywipes, babywipes, babywipes.
- Wear layers. I'm always surprised at how chilly a breeze can make a sunny day feel. Sweatshirts are your best friend!
- Take it easy! The joy of a day trip is that what you don't see today you can come back for. I'd much rather really enjoy one museum than rush through 3.
- Go for the offbeat attractions too! Some of our favorite things we have seen were in the back corner of a museum nobody suggested we visit (An amazing flag collection in a closet of a museum at the Naval Academy).
- Don't forget your camera! I take photos of signs that tell where we are, so when I get around to scrapbooking them (wink wink, yeah right.) in 25 years I'll know where we were.
- Don't forget, it is about Having Fun!
This is Eve. Good thing I believed her when she said she was feeling sick and told her to "lean out" rather than tossing her cookies on Sleeping Henry.
8 comments:
Day trips are awesome. Jason loves them too. They do take lots of preparation and I love your suggestion to have everything ready the night before. Somehow I think that because we will be back for bedtime, it won't take us any time to get ready in the morning. Which is why our daytrips usually start way too late.
I think daytrips are a lot of work but so worth it. And pictures are important so that when your kids whine that you don't do anything fun, you have proof of the truth!
Day Tripping with you to Philly was great! And we didn't even plan very well, we just sort of grabbed jackets and crackers and went!
I like being prepared the night before, but I also have to remind myself that sometimes you just have to seize the moment, head out the door, and in a emergency you can always stop at a store (wet wipes, food, etc.)
Planning ahead makes it affordable, less stressful, and more likely to succeed.
Great post! Now--time for us to day trip somewhere...does Costco count? (just kidding)
I forgot to add pj's. We usually bring all the pj's in one big bag so if we stay too long, the kids can go straight from car to bed. :)
Adding PJ's = brilliant!
My memories of "day-trips" with you and your siblings are nice. Sally's comment about the proof with photos is important. I have no proof of most of them, and just hope your memories are good ones.
I'm glad you included the addition of the P.J. packing. Nice planning! Happy Day Tripping to all!
Love, Melissa's Mom
That was one of the reasons we sooo enjoyed living in Maryland for a few years. It seemed to be fairly close to many interesting and fun day trip locations.
Di
The Blue Ridge Gal
We loved our day trips with you when we were there! YOu have excellent advice. I need to follow it (except maybe the pj's part - my boys sleep in whatever) so we can have lots of wonderful day trips here in the Rocky Mountains.
Gabe will be selling alarms in Philly this summer. He arrives on April 22. Please feed him occasionally. He was excited he would be close to you.
I loved the photos! Especially the ones with all 5 of the kids in them, and the one with giggling Henry on Dave's back.
We took lots of day trips with our 5,and lots of camping trips. I loved camping and seeing the kids' antics in the campground, knowing that no one was messing up my house at home. We took lots of long driving trips to see grandparents in Calif. Lots of planning & packing organization, The best loong trips were when we had a p.u. camper and the kids rode in back in the cab over. We communicated via walkie talkie.That was pre-seatbelt days!
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