This past weekend I drove just over 900 miles. And none of it had anything to do with car rallies! I went to visit my cousin Cindy in Windsor, California. She is probably the person in my family I most relate to - she’s a little crazy like me. Well, ok, she’s a lot crazy - just like me. It used to be about 6-7 hours to drive there, now It’s a whole day’s drive to get there because of traveling with a kid. I can only hope it doesn’t get too much longer with another kid. Thank goodness Eddie loves traveling in the car.
I try to get up there as often as I can. It ends up being about once a year, although I missed 2011. I went in July 2010, 4 months before my wedding. Cindy was in my wedding and so I wanted to do some wedding stuff with her. I ended up getting my dress while I was there at a little boutique in town. Packing back then meant throwing a few clothes in a bag and bringing some snacks for the drive.
Last September when Eddie was 14 months old I headed up there again. This time packing was a bit more complicated. In addition to my clothes, I had to pack Eddie’s clothes plus a portable crib and bedding, high chair, stroller, food and milk for the drive up, Eddie’s plates and cups, diapers, toys, and books. My car was full. This was my first experience driving a long distance from home with Eddie. I had written a car rally with him when he was only a few months old, but if he happened to get cranky we could always just head home. On this trip, we were far from home. He could not be a better car kid, I don’t know how I got so lucky. Back then, Eddie would only poop at home. No really, I’m serious. So I was a bit concerned about that. He didn’t go in the car or once we got there in the evening. The next day, however, was a poopapalooza. Three poops, one right after another. He was clearly holding it in for a while and I was happy to know he felt like he was at home at my cousin’s house.
There are two main routes through Central California, Interstate 5 and California Hwy 99. I used to take I-5 assuming the Interstate would be faster. But after talking to my dad (who goes up and down the state somewhat often) I decided to try CA-99. It is so much better. I-5 is two lanes and has few stops. CA-99 is often 3 lanes, sometimes 4, and goes through more cities and therefore has more places available to stop. Plus I think going through cities is much more pleasant than miles and miles of nothingness. The main factor in choosing my route from the center of the state west to Windsor is that I hate going over bridges. I really hate being charged a toll to be terrified. And since I have to go through or around the Bay Area, bridges are a concern. The Bay Area also has really bad traffic. When it was just me I would plan the time through the Bay Area to coincide with traffic patterns, but now since it takes longer and I have to travel on the kid’s timeline and not just mine I can’t do that as easily. So last visit and this visit I started looking at alternatives. I now go over the top of the San Francisco Bay (which is surprisingly large) and only have to go over a couple of tiny bridges. The bridge I avoid by doing this is 5.5 miles long. That’s 5.5 miles of white knuckle terror I don’t have to go through. CA-12 to I-80 to CA-37 is much more scenic. There are protected wetlands with hills in the background. And I avoid more of US-101 coming out of San Francisco which is a traffic disaster pretty much always.
I considered taking even more back roads to get there this time, but I didn’t mostly because I’m pregnant. I know how often there are available bathrooms on the route I took because I also took the same one last time. Once I get off CA-99, bathrooms are a bit more scarce but often enough that I wouldn’t pee my pants in the car. Maybe next time on the way home, when it’s at the beginning of the trip and not at the end, I’ll take some back roads through Sonoma and Napa counties. The nice thing about having kids is that you can use the carpool lanes. This comes in handy when I finally get on US-101 and can zip by most of the traffic for the last 20 miles or so going up there and the first 20 miles coming home.
One of the apps I have on my phone is for In ‘N Out. If you aren’t from California, you may not be familiar with this little piece of heaven. It’s a burger place. And that’s pretty much all they make. Burgers, fries, shakes, sodas, and in varying combinations. I like my cheeseburger Animal Style, which means they cook the patty with mustard and then they put dill pickles, extra thousand island dressing, and grilled onions on the burger in addition to the usual tomato and lettuce. Their fries are made fresh, you can actually watch them cut up the potatoes and put them into the frying oil. Eddie will usually fall asleep after about an hour of driving and stay asleep until almost lunch time. So when he wakes up I check the app to see where the next In ‘N Out is, and stop there for lunch. There are more locations on CA-99 than I-5, another reason to pick that route. The old ones are drive thru only with a few tables outside, the newer ones have indoor seating (high chairs available). This is preferable if you are traveling with a toddler, but part of me still loves the old ones the best.
I only had to make two other stops after that, one for gas and one for the bathroom. I need three tanks of gas to make the round trip, so I fill up before I go, fill up once on the way there, and once on the way back. I waited a bit too long to go to the bathroom and ended up having to go really bad by the time I stopped. At least I probably won’t have to deal with that next time I go. Gotta love the third trimester of pregnancy, right?
I decided to make a detailed packing list this time so I didn’t forget anything. When I say detailed, I mean detailed. Every single item of clothing, toys, books, food, even the big items were on the list. It was 4 pages long. It helped immensely. I could see what needed to be done and what was all ready to go. I worked on it for a week or two and started packing a few days before I left. I have never felt more organized before leaving for a trip ever. It didn’t seem to change the fact that I didn’t feel like I had enough time to get everything done, however.
I had a special delivery to take up with me. On Cindy’s dad’s side of her family a relative owns a British pub style restaurant in Burbank called The Buchanan Arms. They make bangers and mash with gravy, but they deep fry their bangers in the same batter as the fish and chips. It’s not far from me, but Cindy laments the distance because she loves the bangers and mash so much. She called me a few days before I left and wanted to know if I could stop there and bring some. So I picked up some bangers, gravy, and the batter mix to bring with me. We had that the night I got there. Wow. It was amazing. Yum, yum, and more yum. Probably the longest takeout delivery I’ve ever been involved with.
More about the trip next post. It was a fun filled busy weekend!
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