Disneyland or Bust: A Mother-Daughter Coastal Road Trip

[RGirl]

sounds like a great start for your trip! and quicker then expected packing? bonus!

I know! I always love it when the packing actually comes together quickly.

i'm so excited for the start of your TR, but i'm even MORE excited about the napoleon dynamite gif! we love that movie!!

I love that one too!

Okay, so I'm late.... but this looks like fun, so I'm grabbing the passing train TR while it's just pulling out of the station.

Thanks for hopping aboard!

I've done a 2,700-mile road trip with a five year old, did it again with the other rug rat when she was.... 10? I think?
And of course, you know about the last one that's an ongoing TR right now.

So, I believe it.

And I believe we're both a little nuts.

It is a little crazy, but definitely fun too. Now that you mention it, I can recall driving from Western Washington to upstate New York with an 8-week-old puppy. I should have remembered that when I was thinking THIS trip might be crazy.

Obviously, nothing!

Tell her to cough up some moola!

Until you've driven for 10 straight hours and you're wondering about your sanity.

So true ... so true.....

But it's fun, too, right?

It is - I do really love the planning of a good trip.

um.

You mean July 25th, right?

DOH!!!!

Back to edit...... ​

Hi Willow!
How was the ice cream? What flavour did you make?

Willow: It was vanilla! And we made it in a bag!!!!

Work: "Hi Roni? It's work. Got a second?"
Roni: "No hablo Inglés. <click>"

Taking notes for the next vacation.....

Here's a tip that took me a while to figure out.

By all means, make a packing list. The sooner the better.
Add to it as you think of things you've missed.
Now here's the important part.

Don't sweat it.

It's not like you're going to be air lifted into the middle of the amazon.

"Oh no! We forgot to pack Band-aids!"

Yeah. Big deal. Pop into almost any store you can think of and buy some.

I usually do have a good packing list, and I eventually got one together to a certain degree this time, but for some reason, it was just not coming together very well early on.

I DID keep reminding myself of your latter point - there are plenty of stores between here and DLR.

Oh, I hear you!
I'm not commenting on it on my TR, because I don't want to upset Dee's mom or the other moms that might possibly read it.
But those dang tutus!!
Every day I had to haul 'em out, get out the suitcases and put 'em back.
Repeat in the morning.

Pain in the but I agreed to bring 'em, so...

I was actually thinking about that when I read your description of loading them. I was all, , if he's anything like I am, he's going to be unloading and repacking those dang things every day.

What a great idea!

Thanks! We have had a lot of different countdown calendars over the years, but the Mickey head ring has stuck the last couple of years - it's the easiest to make and just as fun as anything more elaborate. Of course, Willow really digs all the little gifts.

car trip + adult = fun
car trip + child = not so much fun... "Are we there yet?"

So true! Luckily, Willow had gotten all her "are we there yet's" out of the way on our Spring Break trip. I am not sure, but I don't think she actually said that line the whole trip. Of course, we had had several conversations about it before our departure.

And I bet you were simply marvelous!

Certainly her mother and grandmother thought so.

I don't see why not.
I must admit, I have never had my toes done like that.

You should try it!

Of course!

You're a genius too, huh?

Totally!

Curious to see if you'll sleep.

Spoiler Alert: I actually did! Something about not having to work the next day results in much more sleep for me.

Great so far! Looking forward to more!

Thanks! I appreciate you joining in!

 

[pkondz]

Willow: It was vanilla! And we made it in a bag!!!!

Cool!
And I love Vanilla. Good choice!

I was actually thinking about that when I read your description of loading them. I was all, , if he's anything like I am, he's going to be unloading and repacking those dang things every day.

Oh, Lord.
Every Freaking Day.

Luckily, Willow had gotten all her "are we there yet's" out of the way on our Spring Break trip.

I was not so fortunate on this last one.

 

[dizneeat]

Roni! Thanks so much for the shout out!

I still have so many threads to catch up on, so I missed this one. But I am here, saving my spot and now going back to read!

 

[RGirl]

I was not so fortunate on this last one.

When Willow was a little younger, every time we went to Portland, as soon as she saw a tall building, she would say, "Is that our hotel????" EVERY tall building.

Roni! Thanks so much for the shout out!

I still have so many threads to catch up on, so I missed this one. But I am here, saving my spot and now going back to read!

Hi Karin! Thanks so much for stopping by. I know you have a LOT of catching up to do after your looooooooong vacation.

 

[RGirl]

“Why aren’t we flying? Because getting there is half the fun. You know that.”​

Courtney really came out swinging with the opening round of our competition, correctly identifying the movie Frozen and the character Elsa. So for now, the scoreboard looks like this:

Courtney: 2
Everyone else: 0

But there'’s lots of time remaining! Remember, first to name the movie from whence the chapter title hails gets a point; two points for movie and character who uttered the line. One point for the character if the first person to get the movie doesn’t get the character. Good luck!

A Quick Note: During travel days, at least at the beginning, many (if not most) of the photos were taken by Miss Willow. For some reason, she stopped being excited about/willing to take photos right when we got to the most beautiful part of the drive, so there ya go. But you can enjoy a lot of pictures of the really boring parts of the drive, so there’'s that!

Day 2A - Saturday, 26 July 2014 - Southeastern Washington to Lincoln City, Oregon

The day was finally here! We were leaving!!! We got up pretty early, showered and all that jazz, and I worked on packing the car with Miss Willow'’s help, of course. Willow pulled off the last Mickey head on the countdown ring.

​

While we were packing the cooler and trying to cram everything into the car, my dad wandered by out on his morning walk, so Willow and I got one more chance to say good-bye before we headed out. Before long, however, the car was ready and so were we!

​

We hit the road at about 7:30AM. Willow was pretty psyched.

​

Willow: I was pretty sad to leave home and Poppy and Nini [grandparents], but I was excited to get to Disney and the rest of the road trip.

Now, of all the driving we did, this is probably the most boring stretch. It’'s brown.

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There are a lot of windmills.

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And that’'s about it. Eventually, however, you do start spotting mountains.

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Willow: We spotted a mountain that kind of looked like Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom!

But it'’s mostly brown and dotted with windmills for a while. Luckily, for much of this drive, you are driving along the Columbia River, and that is pretty. Willow likes to get close-up, zoomed-in photos of water, so you can’'t really tell how pretty it is….

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There are also dams, but again, for some reason, Willow wanted her pictures as zoomed-in as possible. She later explained that she was trying to make sure that she got a pic of the fish ladder.

​

Anyone familiar with Willow'’s picture-taking propensities from last year'’s TR will not be surprised that some of these showed up.

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I guess she was admiring her new purse at this point.

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And she was apparently enjoying a Tinker Bell movie.

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Willow: Because I like fairies and because there is a funny thing that Vidia says. And I like Silvermist because she can make bubbles out of water. I like Fawn - she'’s an animal fairy - because she takes care of the animals. I like when she teaches the birds how to fly. And I like Vidia when she makes a big cast of wind.

Up Next: Day 2A, “Why aren'’t we flying? Because getting there is half the fun. You know that.” (cont.)

 

[RGirl]

Day 2A, “Why aren'’t we flying? Because getting there is half the fun. You know that.” (cont.)​

Since we were traveling by car, I did decide that we would bring a cooler with food so that we could avoid eating out for every meal at least during the first few days of our trip. By the time Willow was hungry for lunch (having eaten leftover pizza for breakfast ), we weren’'t really at a lovely picnicking spot. So I ended up just parking after fueling up the car and putting together a little lunch plate for Willow to enjoy in the car - we called it her lunch “buffet” because it consisted of such a variety of things - ham, cheese, crackers, bell peppers, Cheetohs, and I don’t remember what else. She was happy with it though!

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Willow: Cookies!!!

Once we got through Portland and headed out towards the coast, traffic picked up considerably - not surprising on a weekend day in summer, I suppose.

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The scenery did get a bit more interesting too, and Willow took a few pictures for you.

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Wait, what? I guess her favorite blanky and pillow-pet Pluto were a little more interesting than whatever was going on outside.

Willow: It’s name is Blue Blanky! Which I love VERY much.

At some point along here, this conversation ensued:
Willow - I just saw a ghost.
Roni - That’s nice…..
Willow - Yeah, it was eating grass.
Roni - [thinking, “A ghost? Eating grass? Has she lost her mind???] WHAT???
Willow - Yes, eating grass.
Roni - [thinking, “Ooooooh”] Did you say GOAT???
Willow - Yes.
Roni - I thought you said GHOST!

And much laughter ensued.

Willow: That'’s one of my favorites!

We made it to our destination, the Surftides in Lincoln City, Oregon, at about 2:15PM. We were struck by the change from the 100+-degree temperatures we had been experiencing at home to the cool 60s temps at the coast. Pleasantly struck, let me be clear.

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Surftides was completely sold out for the night and had been the night before as well, so our room most definitely was not ready. We took the opportunity to check out the VERY windy beach.

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There was a VERY windy wedding ceremony about to take place.

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Willow played in the sand for a few minutes, but the wind was really not that pleasant, so we decided to wander back up the stairs to the hotel area and check it out and then check on the room situation.

We ran into the bride on our way back from the beach. Willow has not attended a wedding before (all of my friends were married LONG before I became a parent), so she was just awe-struck, staring at the bride. Amazingly, this lovely young woman stopped on her way down to the stairs to take her to the beach TO GET MARRIED and said hello to Willow and chatted for a few seconds. Willow was thrilled.

Of course, when we got back to the office, our room still wasn'’t ready. We were hanging around in the main lobby area, and a nice desk employee called us over and gave Willow a set of paddles and a ball and told us we could go across the street and play at the tennis court. Now this ball was NOT made for tennis courts since it did not bounce - I guess it was designed for some kind of beach play, but that wasn'’t going to happen with the wind; it likely would have ended up far out into the ocean the first time we let go of it. Nonetheless, we had a wonderful time just goofing around with the ball and paddles at the tennis courts. Willow had never played a paddle/ball-type sport before, so it was a rather hilarious endeavor.

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Willow: I kept missing, but sometimes I hit it, and then Mommy missed, and I said “Let me handle this.” Sometimes she hit it far, and I laughed because it was funny. I felt like something was funny to me - it was hilarious!

Up Next: Day 2B

 

[jedijill]

Clark Griswold in National Lampoon's Vacation. Now going back to read the updates. :0)

Jill in CO

 

[pkondz]

I haven't even read the update yet (but I will!) but had to post.
Had to!

I mean, I better get this one, right?

National Lampoon's Vacation.
Chevy Chase as Clark W. Griswold

 

[pkondz]

Aw, man! If I hadn't taken the time to type the preamble...

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Loving it so far!!

 

[dizneeat]

Roni and Willow, that is ONE fun TR to read!

Roadtrips can be so much fun and I just love the lunch buffet for Willow. We travel just like that when we go to Italy.

Oh, and I am sorry I completely fail in the quiz ..... maybe if you would post those quotes in German?

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

"We spotted a mountain that kind of looked like Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom!" Awww I love it! And she's right.

Ok Roni, Willow''s CLEARLY got this TR thing down.

Wow, how sweet of the bride to do that. My goodness. Such kindness.

 

[lwanthony]

I love Lincoln city! We head that way at least once a month from our home here in Portland. I feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

-Lane

 

[KatMark]

Sounds like a smooth travel date despite a little traffic on a summer weekend.

I love Willow's pictures and her offering her own thoughts as you go along.

Sorry the beach was so windy. How lovely of the bride to speak with Willow.

I hope your room is ready soon.

 

[afwdwfan]

Nice!! I hope you love DLR as much as we do. How many days will you have to explore DLR?

Our plan is 3 park days. Probably get there mid-day on a Tuesday. Grab a bite to eat and check out DTD, Wed, Thur, Fri in the parks and fly home on Sat.

Willow: We spotted a mountain that kind of looked like Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom!

She is being brainwashed well!

Luckily, for much of this drive, you are driving along the Columbia River, and that is pretty. Willow likes to get close-up, zoomed-in photos of water, so you can’t really tell how pretty it is….

I absolutely love that drive. It definitely is beautiful and unlike anything we have around here!

Willow wanted her pictures as zoomed-in as possible. She later explained that she was trying to make sure that she got a pic of the fish ladder.

Well, at least she know what she's trying to do.

Willow: Cookies!!!

That's all it takes to make a so/so lunch great.

At some point along here, this conversation ensued:
Willow - I just saw a ghost.
Roni - That’s nice…..
Willow - Yeah, it was eating grass.
Roni - [thinking, “A ghost? Eating grass? Has she lost her mind???] WHAT???
Willow - Yes, eating grass.
Roni - [thinking, “Ooooooh”] Did you say GOAT???
Willow - Yes.
Roni - I thought you said GHOST!

Aw, man! If I hadn't taken the time to type the preamble...

Did it take you 8 minutes to type it???

 

[STLMickeyMom]

that mountain picture is really pretty--and it does sort of look like Everest! good eye, willow!

the ghost/goat story was so funny! I love conversations like that.

the surftides looks like a pretty hotel. how nice that the bride stopped to talk to willow.

I see willow has tinsel in her hair again. I love that sparkle in her hair. how do you do that? I think it'd be sort of fun to do in our hair for our trip.....

 

[RGirl]

Clark Griswold in National Lampoon's Vacation. Now going back to read the updates. :0)

Whoa! Speedy McGee there, Jill!!!

I haven't even read the update yet (but I will!) but had to post.
Had to!

I mean, I better get this one, right?

National Lampoon's Vacation.
Chevy Chase as Clark W. Griswold

Aw, man! If I hadn't taken the time to type the preamble...

Lesson learned!

Loving it so far!!

Thanks! I'm so glad you joined in again!

 

[RGirl]

Roni and Willow, that is ONE fun TR to read!

Thanks Karin!! I'm so glad you have joined in again!

Roadtrips can be so much fun and I just love the lunch buffet for Willow. We travel just like that when we go to Italy.

She truly enjoyed it, and it was a fun way to eat on the road.

Oh, and I am sorry I completely fail in the quiz ..... maybe if you would post those quotes in German?

I would translate if I could!

"We spotted a mountain that kind of looked like Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom!" Awww I love it! And she's right.

I knew you, in particular, would love that observation, Rob!

Ok Roni, Willow''s CLEARLY got this TR thing down.

She's VERY excited to be co-writing it.

Wow, how sweet of the bride to do that. My goodness. Such kindness.

It was really pretty shocking and SO SWEET.

I love Lincoln city! We head that way at least once a month from our home here in Portland. I feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

Hi Lane! I love Lincoln City too - I remember going there as a kid. We have done several trips to Seaside and really enjoy that as well.

And you live in one of my favorite cities!

Sounds like a smooth travel date despite a little traffic on a summer weekend.

It was definitely a VERY smooth first day - I was quite pleased.

I love Willow's pictures and her offering her own thoughts as you go along.

She is loving having some input this year.

Sorry the beach was so windy. How lovely of the bride to speak with Willow.

It really was so sweet. And very unexpected!

I hope your room is ready soon.

Oh man! We were really hoping so too!!!

 

[RGirl]

Our plan is 3 park days. Probably get there mid-day on a Tuesday. Grab a bite to eat and check out DTD, Wed, Thur, Fri in the parks and fly home on Sat.

That sounds like a great plan! We have done three park days on our January trips, and it has worked very well. I can't wait to hear about how much you LOVE it!

She is being brainwashed well!

Bwahahahahahaha

I absolutely love that drive. It definitely is beautiful and unlike anything we have around here!

I have done it many times, and I still enjoy most of it. The river is gorgeous, and everything gets so green as you get over to the western part of the state.

Well, at least she know what she's trying to do.

She definitely had a plan of some sort!

That's all it takes to make a so/so lunch great.

Hey, are you calling my buffet "so/so"??????

Did it take you 8 minutes to type it???

Gah!! I almost choked to death I was laughing so hard!!!

that mountain picture is really pretty--and it does sort of look like Everest! good eye, willow!

She got quite a few good shots among the selfies and the close-up water.

the ghost/goat story was so funny! I love conversations like that.

Oh man! I was laughing SO HARD! Both of us were!!! I just love moments like that!

the surftides looks like a pretty hotel. how nice that the bride stopped to talk to willow.

It was so sweet and unexpected!!!

I see willow has tinsel in her hair again. I love that sparkle in her hair. how do you do that? I think it'd be sort of fun to do in our hair for our trip.....

They just tie it in. But the last couple of times we have had it done, it has slipped out really quickly. So I think we'll be finding something different to do next time.

 

[librarygeek]

I'm so excited for this TR! I love the idea of doing the quotes as a contest at the beginning - too bad I'm such a slacker on checking TRs lol!

I'm loving the fact that Willow is chiming in. And her nail idea was too cute!

I would love to do a road trip someday like that. The most we've done is driven to a place and stopped at one other place along the way (When we went to Chicago we stopped in Ohio to visit the Cedar Point amusement park). Once I have more than a week's worth of time off that's something I'd really like to do! I love the mountains. And your first stop, that beach, is beautiful. Can't wait to visit the west coast!