Road Trip!

The car was packed and ready to go the night before which is typical for anyone who knows me.  We were all pretty excited by the prospect of the open road and what adventures it might bring.   As I checked the weather the night before there was a major winter storm headed our way (just our luck I thought to myself as we packed the car).  It put me a tad on edge but after a reasonable nights sleep we were up and out the door a little before 6:00 am.

It’s a two-hour drive from our place in Toronto to the US border crossing at Fort Erie near Buffalo, New York.  I was expecting a rough trip, especially with the impeding weather but we made it to the border before the storm and things looked great until we arrived at the customs booth at the crossing.   Apparently my new NEXUS card, which I got in June 2012 hadn’t yet been activated even though I had been to the US at least ten times by plane this was the first time by car.

Zach and Sami at the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame
with the Lombardi Trophy

 After a quick pit stop with US customs we were off again and headed down the south shore of Lake Erie to our first destination – Canton, Ohio.

The storm (Super Storm Draco – I love the US media when it makes such a huge deal of a winter storm :-), hit us just outside Cleveland, Ohio which made the driving a bit tricky  (lots of snow and ice) the last hour or so as we made our way into Canton.

After checking into our hotel and a quick lunch we headed over the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame, which Zach was desperate to see, not so much Sami although she was a very good sport about it.  We spent the entire afternoon soaking up the museum before heading back to the hotel for a swim. 

I made sure that each of the hotels on our trip had a swimming pool so that the kids could get some exercise and relax after our day of driving.  This was a brilliant idea, even if I say so myself…   We all took full advantage of this each day after our drive, it was so good to stretch out and relax in the warm water!

Ohio State vs. Kansas - NCAA men's basketball game

Day two saw us hop down to Columbus, Ohio a mere two hours from Canton for our second big activity – we had tickets to watch an NCAA basketball game at Ohio State University (Ohio State vs. Kansas).  Both were top ten ranked teams before the game so it was sure to be a great game.  We arrived about an hour before game time to soak up the atmosphere, and find our seats, which were in the very last row high up on corner – not prime seats, but it was fun all the same. 

The terrific first half left them close at the half, but Ohio State completely chocked in the second half shooting 9-36 from the field and so lost easily to the more seasoned Kansas team.  We decided that for dinner we would find a Cracker Barrel to see what it was like, after seeing sign after sign for it on the highway.  

We found ourselves in the burbs (not the boonies, bush, black stump or never, never….which the kids found hilarious) eating huge portions, in fact too much to even contemplate dessert which was a first for Sami (dessert is the main part of the meal!)

Back home in Australia there are a series of imaginary geographic boundaries, which I was educating the kids about and it goes like this.   To try and determine where you are or how isolated you are is dependent upon answering the following question – Are you in the city, the burbs, the boonies, the bush, near the black stump or in the Never, Never?  

The kids laughed hysterically every time I brought this up on our trip, clearly thinking that I was in someway making it up….until we went to the source of all knowledge….Wikipedia!    Low and behold it explained each statement much to my satisfaction.

Paul Brown Stadium - home of the
Cincinnati Bengals

 Our next destination was Hilton Head, South Carolina but to get there we had to first drive through Cincinnati then onto Knoxville, Tennessee (about 6 hours from Columbus). 

Zach is a huge Cincinnati Bengal football fan, so no trip to Cincinnati would be complete without a stop at Paul Brown Stadium and the teams pro shop.  Even Sami got into the act and had a sweatshirt picked out shortly after browsing the store.  Zach was loaded down with jacket, t-shirt and socks, his allowance and savings were almost completely spent (but that’s what its for – right?) but the huge smile on his face said it all.

The afternoon drive to Lexington, Kentucky was making us all a little stir crazy especially as the weather had now turned a little nasty again.  So it was with great relief that we made it to our hotel and chilled out for a couple of before dinner.

The next morning after breakfast the drive from Knoxville to Columbia, South Carolina took us across the Appalachian Mountains and through North Carolina.  The weather was horrid as we pulled out of the parking lot just after 8:00 am, strangely both raining heavily but also extremely foggy – didn’t think it was possible to have both at the same time given that the rain clouds were around us vs. above us :-)   We had lunch in Columbia before making out way down to Orangeburg, which was much closer to Hilton Head Island but still in the pouring rain.  

Christmas Day saw us get up early and drive to Hilton Head Island, arriving around 10:00 am (two hour hop).  We were all feeling a little tired of driving so we unpacked and all went to the gym for a workout.   It was sooooo good to work out after being cooped up in the car for days, we all really enjoyed the treadmill and weights.  To round it off we shot hoops for the best part of an hour, then after lunch we went to the indoor pool and spa to just relax!

 Zach researched our dinner plans that night, which took us to a rather cool place called the Old Fort Pub for an impromptu Christmas dinner including a big dessert, which Sami loved!   Each dinner time the conversation centered around our day – what we liked most and what we were looking forward to for the next day, and it was these times that I will cherish most about our trip.

Shells on the beach at Longboat Key, Florida

The next leg of our journey was going to take us via Savannah, Georgia to Daytona Beach, Florida but after an early start and the torrential, and I mean torrential rain (I’m not sure how it could rain for four solid hours with such intensity – windshield wipers on double…)

With the weather clearly against us we decided to continue driving across Florida and so take out the night at Daytona with the strict understanding that we’d come again when the weather was better!

We arrived into Longboat Key, Florida that is about an hour south of Tampa on the Gulf of Mexico almost 8 hours after he had set off from Hilton Head earlier that morning, but we were all thankful that the drive was now done!  Road trips are great, but nothing better than arriving into brilliant sunshine (finally!!!!) and wonderful temperatures with nothing ahead of you but days of beach and pool.   We had left Toronto with the temperature gauge hovering around 0C and arrived into Longboat Key, Florida some 30 hours later (driving time not elapsed time) with it now just over 22C…. Hhhmmm!

The kids were immediately into shorts and down to the pool to catch up with their friends who they see each year from all over the US and were enjoying their new found freedom of being outside and free of the car :-). 

As I write this weeks blog I’m on my journey back to Toronto (a little quicker this time) but without my trusty accomplices / navigators to keep me company….:-(    It’ll give me time to reminisce about the fun trip down and begin planning our next adventure!

Zach - TW - Sami at Longboat Key after our epic
road trip to end 2012

Happy New Year and all the very best for a safe and prosperous 2013!