we set out for indianapolis to visit my sister woo and BIL hunter soon after school let out for the summer. while my parents had been to see my sister after she and hunter moved out there 4 years ago, DH, the kids and i had not yet been out there...not for lack of wanting to, just finding the right time to go had been difficult.
so we finally got some dates on the calendar, and made plans to visit. my parents drove up from hampton, stayed the night at our house, and early the next morning, we loaded up the odyssey with luggage, toys, a stroller, and a cooler full of snacks, bottles of water, juice/milk, and mom's homemade kimchee. DH stayed behind a few days b/c of work, but the kids, my parents, and i headed out early monday morning. (DH would fly in, closer to the weekend.)
the decision to drive to indianapolis rather than fly was based on a couple of factors. while it is much much faster to fly there, this was to be the first real road trip for the kids. i wanted mimi to get to experience a little of other states, see the land and sights as we drove on, you know, experience a road trip! also, it was cheaper than flying us all out there, even with all our excursions/meals/lodging/fuel costs, and we were able to do so much more than just blow thru the indianapolis airport. and of course the idea of flying jars of kimchee...? 'nough said.
i spent quite a bit of time planning the road trip there and back, to make it fun for the kids. we visited the Carnegie Science Museum in Pittsburgh, and then the following day stopped in Columbus, OH to visit the Center of Science and Industry (COSI), staying a night in a super comfy hotel about midway btwn the two cities, and finishing the journey from columbus to indianapolis on the second day. then on our return trip, we visited the Columbus Zoo the first day, stayed the night at the same hotel (not a whole lot of options for good hotels out in the middle of mountains and farm country), and then the next day visited a cavern in western Maryland, called Crystal Grottoes, before heading home. with several science and children's museums to visit, i found it beneficial to purchase museum membership at a local children's museum. my cousin, hae, tipped me off about one out in Winchester, VA that was so reasonably priced and that participated in a reciprocal program, allowing members free/discounted fees to other museums in the program (over 300 in the nation participate). in retrospect, i'm not sure if the discounts were much better than what AAA offered, though. i didnt do enough research to know.
we averaged about 3 hours +/- in the car at a time, traveling approx 5.5 hrs each day. it was a very do-able trip for little Ozzy and everyone enjoyed the excursions (well maybe not my mom, so much. lol). i dont think the kids got to see much of the land as we were driving thru as i would have liked since they were mostly glued to the in-car dvd player. we had some arguments about what movies to watch, and i belatedly realized i had not packed a separate dvd player for mimi so she could watch her own age appropriate videos, so she was stuck watching some Thomas and Friends, Cars, Little Einsteins, and Mater's Tall Tales.
the kids were fantastic during the long drives. we had plenty of snacks/drinks in the car, and enough hands to ply the kids with whatever they wanted/needed. when an unscheduled potty time arose (ozzy's tiny bladder/too many juice boxes), i just pulled into the closest gas station, gassed up the car, and popped out the portable potty for ozzy, and thus zipped in and out without losing much time at all. we clocked about 10.5 hours on the road, covering btwn 600-700 miles each way.
while in Indy we ate way too much food, visted the zoo, the children's museum (touted as the largest in the world), watched Cars 2 at the theater, had dinner at Hunter's restaurant, went to Connor Prairie on the 4th to hear the symphony and see the fireworks (excellent with cannons blasting), visited with rob's cousins (John & Sophia's parents) who also lived close by, rob and the kids also visited an old school friend that Rob went to school with (Tina) who also lived in Indy. it was a fun trip. hopefully we get time to go back and visit with them again before too long.
so we finally got some dates on the calendar, and made plans to visit. my parents drove up from hampton, stayed the night at our house, and early the next morning, we loaded up the odyssey with luggage, toys, a stroller, and a cooler full of snacks, bottles of water, juice/milk, and mom's homemade kimchee. DH stayed behind a few days b/c of work, but the kids, my parents, and i headed out early monday morning. (DH would fly in, closer to the weekend.)
the decision to drive to indianapolis rather than fly was based on a couple of factors. while it is much much faster to fly there, this was to be the first real road trip for the kids. i wanted mimi to get to experience a little of other states, see the land and sights as we drove on, you know, experience a road trip! also, it was cheaper than flying us all out there, even with all our excursions/meals/lodging/fuel costs, and we were able to do so much more than just blow thru the indianapolis airport. and of course the idea of flying jars of kimchee...? 'nough said.
i spent quite a bit of time planning the road trip there and back, to make it fun for the kids. we visited the Carnegie Science Museum in Pittsburgh, and then the following day stopped in Columbus, OH to visit the Center of Science and Industry (COSI), staying a night in a super comfy hotel about midway btwn the two cities, and finishing the journey from columbus to indianapolis on the second day. then on our return trip, we visited the Columbus Zoo the first day, stayed the night at the same hotel (not a whole lot of options for good hotels out in the middle of mountains and farm country), and then the next day visited a cavern in western Maryland, called Crystal Grottoes, before heading home. with several science and children's museums to visit, i found it beneficial to purchase museum membership at a local children's museum. my cousin, hae, tipped me off about one out in Winchester, VA that was so reasonably priced and that participated in a reciprocal program, allowing members free/discounted fees to other museums in the program (over 300 in the nation participate). in retrospect, i'm not sure if the discounts were much better than what AAA offered, though. i didnt do enough research to know.
we averaged about 3 hours +/- in the car at a time, traveling approx 5.5 hrs each day. it was a very do-able trip for little Ozzy and everyone enjoyed the excursions (well maybe not my mom, so much. lol). i dont think the kids got to see much of the land as we were driving thru as i would have liked since they were mostly glued to the in-car dvd player. we had some arguments about what movies to watch, and i belatedly realized i had not packed a separate dvd player for mimi so she could watch her own age appropriate videos, so she was stuck watching some Thomas and Friends, Cars, Little Einsteins, and Mater's Tall Tales.
the kids were fantastic during the long drives. we had plenty of snacks/drinks in the car, and enough hands to ply the kids with whatever they wanted/needed. when an unscheduled potty time arose (ozzy's tiny bladder/too many juice boxes), i just pulled into the closest gas station, gassed up the car, and popped out the portable potty for ozzy, and thus zipped in and out without losing much time at all. we clocked about 10.5 hours on the road, covering btwn 600-700 miles each way.
while in Indy we ate way too much food, visted the zoo, the children's museum (touted as the largest in the world), watched Cars 2 at the theater, had dinner at Hunter's restaurant, went to Connor Prairie on the 4th to hear the symphony and see the fireworks (excellent with cannons blasting), visited with rob's cousins (John & Sophia's parents) who also lived close by, rob and the kids also visited an old school friend that Rob went to school with (Tina) who also lived in Indy. it was a fun trip. hopefully we get time to go back and visit with them again before too long.
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