Published on July 9, 2024 7:10 PM GMT
Last week, Lily, Anna, Cecilia, Harris, and I drove to StLouis and back playing dances. I wrote about one aspect last week, and willprobably continue splitting thoughts across posts. Today I'm thinkingsome about our approach to stopping along the way.
I grew up in a family with a very strong "maximize time atdestination" approach to road trips. We would often leave beforedaylight, with stops determined by the minivan's requirements foradditional gasoline. We would eat while driving, I recallcreative efforts to handle certain biological needs, and we'dgenerally try to get the trip over with as quickly as possible.
I did sometimes see other people taking a different approach, but itwasn't until the first time I drove a group of college classmates along way that I realized people have widely divergent preferenceshere. We were driving a van to Dance Flurry, about five hours Northof Swarthmore, and around lunchtime people started talking about maybestopping for lunch. I (really!) thought they were joking, and saidthat since we still had more gas and had brought along a bunch of foodwe didn't need to stop. There was a revolt, and we did not end upeating while driving.
Over time, I've come around to a view where one of the great thingsabout traveling long distances by car is the opportunity forinteresting stops. It's often the case that there are intermediatelocations that are better places to spend the marginal hour than yourorigin or destination.
Before this tour we put some time into thinking about nice places tostop, and we also did some looking up options while driving. We endedup stopping at:
Cecilia's father's violin shop, where he showed ushow he repairs instruments:
Lily and Anna both got to take turns putting on clamps:
Niagara Falls, on the way from Rochester to Pittsburgh. I'd been there once before, ten years earlier with Amy and Audrey, but it was great to take the older two kids there.
We also had a lot more time than on our previous visit, and so were able to take the elevator and boardwalk down to the base of the falls.
Lily loved the powerful wind and spray; Anna wanted to stay a bitfurther from the most intense area.
Golden Gate Park in Brookville OH on the way from Pittsburgh to Bloomington. Really big play structure (but Lily was worried about splinters and says it's a head bonking hazard), plus a creek. Lily did some vegan 'fishing':
Bluespring Caverns, on the way from Bloomington to St Louis.
It's an underground river, through a cave, with a boat tour.
I'd been in smaller caves before, but this felt very different.
Gateway Arch, another stop on the way to the St Louis dance. We went up to the top, in very small cars with tiny doors.
The view was excellent.
The Woodlands in Martinsville IL on the way from St Louis to Cincinnati. The headline attractions were a 90-foot slide:
And a pretty great zipline:
It was fast enough you'd go nearly horizontal when stopping at the end.
There was also a little creek, some musical toys, and a nice play structure.
Brookville Lake, on the way from Cincinatti to Indianapolis. Swimming and hanging out at the beach, very relaxed. The water was warm, though since I get cold easily I was glad to have my wetsuit with me.
Pepper Pike Park, onthe way from Indianapolis to Syracuse. Lots of green space, somewater, decent playground, nice bench swings.
Lee Athletic Field, in Lee MA on the way back to Boston. The playground and field were fine, but at the far end of the field there was the best stream we'd stopped at all trip. Lots of trees, cool water, squishy mud in places, a few skippable stones, and a small island you could wade to without getting your knees under.
There were also stops that didn't end up being so nice (usually: "toohot, no water, not much to do") but we generally kept these short,stretching legs and moving on.
I asked everyone to rate these:
| Lily | Anna | Jeff | Cecilia | Harris | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niagara Falls | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Gateway Arch | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Bluespring Caverns | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| The Woodlands (Zipline) | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 4 |
| Violin Shop | 7 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 3 |
| Brookville Lake (Swimming) | 3 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 6 |
| Lee Athletic Field (Island) | 4 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 9 |
| Pepper Pike Park (Green) | 8 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
| Golden Gate Park (Creek) | 9 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 8 |
Overall, I think this dramatically improved the tour. While I loveplaying dances, and that remains my favorite part, some of the thingswe saw along the way came close!
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