On Car Trips

On Car Trips

It is absolutely amazing raising six children in New York City and still having the chance to travel around America. Who knew we were in for the longest family trip of our lives when we signed up to try dog sledding during spring break? A 12-passenger car picked us up at 1:30pm. Now, a 12-passenger car is the size that I would normally use for just my family. But we picked up three more families (for a total of 15 people) for a 30-minute ride to the dogsledding run in the White River National Park.

It was a beautiful, snowy day and we were all excited to enjoy the day’s adventure. Alas, disaster struck: an accident on the one-lane road through the canyon and over the mountain had blocked off the easiest point of access to the run. The half-hour trip became a four-hour trip, with nine other people in the car, stuffed in together in their snowsuits and boots, like puffy sardines. The car was crawling along at one mile-an-hour, so I offered my kids the chance to get out of the car and run along beside us, to give them a bit of freedom and fresh air. The kids, moving faster than the cars on the road, and they enjoyed the offered for the time out of the car in the snow.

The trip could have turned into a disaster, but my kids were fantastic. They played with the other children, and when they weren’t beating the traffic in a running race they stayed in their seats, behaving themselves for hours on end. They were the most well behaved children, and I was so proud of them. It’s amazing to see all the values and life lessons you try to instill in your children finally manifesting themselves in their actions and behavior in these sorts of stressful, tedious situations. When it came to game day, my kids stepped up the plate. And they all hit home runs!

Still, perhaps it was also the fortuitous mix of people in the car that made them so able to handle the situation? I wonder, would it have been the same if it were just the kids and me in the car? Whatever the case, be positive! The time does come when your hard work pays off…

We didn’t have the bus drop us back home, but at the first hotel stop, where I treated my kids to a delicious dinner. Trust me, after that day they deserved to feel special !