First Leg of West Coast Road Trip ’09

Our fancy "retro" paint job on this fixer upper

Our '66 Cardinal Travel Trailer

When my daughter was six months old we spent five weeks on the road with her driving to New Orleans (from New Mexico) and back. Things were different then. We owned a ’77 Dodge Santana Camper Van and my daughter did not walk or crawl. We sold the van and bought a travel trailer so that we would no longer have three vehicles. More importantly, my daughter, at 20 months, walks and talks, all the time. Yet, the adventerous ones that we are, we are taking another five week road trip, this time to Los Angeles and up the coast to Portland, OR. We have managed the first part of our trip and made it to L.A.

I put a lot of preparation into this trip from fixing up our ’66 Cardinal travel trailer (including setting it up with a solar power system) to packing all our basic needs, but my biggest priority was entertainment. Read more »

From Parties to Puppets

Bread and Puppet Circus

Before I had a child, for entertainment, my husband and I liked to go to bars, rock concerts, the occasional karaoke night, action thriller movies and parties. When I became pregnant, it was clear to me that none of the things we liked to do involved children. I grew concerned that my lifestyle would have to change drastically and I wasn’t sure I was ready for it. I was still of the mindset that “family fun” was dorky. But, no longer. Read more »