To and Fro

I promise this is the last trip post as I'm sure you are all tired of hearing about it, unless you are a relative and then you probably like the excessive kid picture posts. 

We aren't very fast travelers. Our current limit for the day is about 7-8 hours. By which I mean, 7-8 hours of google maps time, which takes us about 12 hours. But we stop a lot. We try to get a good three and a half to four hours driving and then plan a big fun stop where we get out for at least an hour and really move then we start driving again we feed the kids and they are normally ready for a quiet time if not an actual nap. And it worked out pretty well because while there aren't a whole lot of places to stop between Albuquerque and St. Louis, the few they have are at good spaces - 

Springfield has a fun natural playground area with a homestead to explore and small playgrounds placed around a hike so you can hike, stop and play for a few minutes, then keep walking. 

Amarillo has a quarter horse museum.

And the George Washington Carver National Monument, while a few (motion sickness inducing) miles from the highway, was well worth the mini-detour. He is a fascinating man and I've been looking at picture book biographies to help us learn a bit more about him. It was a bit nippy when we stopped but we still took the hike out around but their inside exhibits were great for kids and we were the only people there so I even let Norah have some tummy time while the kids explored.   

I love this picture because of the story behind it and the fact that its just a random stump on the hike. Lucy had been told to pose so often that she had picked up on the art of it all. She saw a stump, called "Mom, take a picture. Jonah, come here. Stand here" and then just the way she leaned it and posed made me laugh.

And of course, there are always welcome centers (and their gift shops) if you are getting desperate. Jonah and I played "how many animals can you see on the cover of tourist brochures" more than once. 

And that's pretty much how we took a 30 hours road trip with three kids in a small car - and lived to tell about it!