What a long, strange trip it's been...

Ever since I got pregnant, I feel like our lives have been this hectic accomplishing of things on our to-do list.  Classes, tests, papers, GMAT, family obligations, birthdays, travel for work, etc.  I always kept saying, "don't worry, Scarlett, things are going to get easier after (insert activity here)."  Once we knew that Billy would be applying to Business school, we focused all of our energies on getting him in.  Once that happened, we sighed a breath of relief and then dove headfirst into wrapping things up for our eventual move.  Our light at the end of the tunnel was the iconic summer roadtrip that we were planning for the summer before Billy started business school.

This is how I envisioned our road trip would be like:

Besides the hair color reversal, I loved the idea of an open road, the top down on a rented convertible, me smoochin' on Billy (while wearing a cute scarf around my head to keep my frizzies in place), all while eating strawberries dipped in chocolate.

In my road trip fantasy, we'd have a picnic packed in the backseat, ready to be brought out the moment we notice a beautiful, wildflower-strewn area alongside the road.  We'd drink champagne and watch the sunset or something treacly romantic.  Of course, my rational brain stomped that fantasy to pieces and instead, forced me to realize the truth of our situation: from here on out until the last crow's feet have etched themselves onto my face, we will not be able to have a romantic roadtrip like I longed for.  Instead, I realized I had at least 18 years left to do this:

Minus at least 3.  There's no way in hell that I would ever take more than 2 kids on a road trip.  If they want road trip, they'll have to ask Grandma or Abuelita.  

Coming from a family with 5 brothers, we took 1 long road trip in my entire life.  I bet my parents hated it as much as we did.  We all packed in to our family's gray Mitsubishi van, and since my brother John and I were the smallest, we were relegated to the back of the van in the seats that were equivalent to the seats in the last row of an airplane.  We drove all the way from Miami, FL to Connecticut and back again.  All while listening to the same crappy tape of elevator music.  or Diana Ross.  or 80s Salsa.  Reliving it is enough to make me not want to speak to my parents or siblings for the next week.

However, even though we had a slightly temperamental almost-one-year-old boy, I was still committed to the idea of a road trip, so that we could at least DO something with the precious free time we had left before Billy started school.  We decided that the day after I moved to St. Louis, we would be on the road on our way to my aunt and uncle's house in New Castle, PA (about a 10 hour drive away).  We met there with several members of my family and extended family (including our crazy, but lovable, Dominican cousins).  We had Desmond's dedication ceremony (more on that in another post) and several of my close friends came to witness it.  It was really lovely.  We were able to sit back, relax and enjoy being taken care of by family.  Plus, we hardly held Desmond at all...everybody wanted a little piece of him.

Since we didn't want to overtax Desmond on day 1 of B+S+D road trip 2011, we decided to drive only 5 hours the first day and finish the 5 hours the next day, which meant we had to stop in Cincinnati for the night.  We left St. Louis at around 2pm and no joke, Desmond slept 3.5 out of the 5 hours that we drove.  I was astounded since he NEVER liked being in his car seat.  The kid would wake up and stir for a second, look around, notice that we were still driving, and fall back to sleep.  Once he did wake up, it was a different story.  Either Billy or I would have to sit with him in the backseat and play games or read to him to pass the time.  The 5 hour road trip ended up taking us 7 hours since we had to get out a few times to let Desmond run around (the trick is to get off at exits where it doesn't lead you to another highway...like exits with the name of a street.  Names like Main Street or something like that are always promising.  Take the exit and then look for a park (9 times out of 10, we found a nice grassy area where he could play and eat.  Also, going off the beaten path and taking the time to look around may lead you to wonderfully eccentric and eclectic eating spots.  Places you wouldn't have known to look for if all you were doing was getting off at places where there were tons of fast food restaurants).

hahaha!  Desmond's looking at Bill like he's such a dork.  And would you have imagined Billy would have chest hair?  I didn't when I met him.  :)

Dinner in Cincinnati at Dilly Wines: part wine/craft beer store, part restaurant.  Pretty decent fish and chips.

Our first morning in Cincinnati.  Isn't this the most beautiful picture ever?  Their hair is exactly the same color. 

The next day, we got an early start towards New Castle.  I've always told Billy what a wonderful time I had at Hiram College, where I did my undergraduate studies, and since it's kind of on the way to New Castle, I decided that it would be a good time to go visit.  It's located in Hiram, Ohio, out in the middle of nowhere.  Seriously.  It's surrounded by 2 small towns (Mantua and Garrettsville) that are each about 15 minutes away and the closest grocery store is at least that far away.  However, it was such a special time in my life and I met some of my best friends there.  I had an amazing education and really loved living there.  Plus, it's such a beautiful campus.  So, after years of telling him all about how wonderful it is, here was an opportunity for him to experience a bit of what I experienced.

This was the dorm room that I shared with my forever roommate, Annie (also godmother to Desmond and whose daughter, Iris, is my goddaughter).  We spiffied it up a lot more, but, you can't deny the fact that it seems like, what Billy said, a "Soviet-era bunker."  Beautiful views of the Cuyahoga Valley, though. 

Billy and Desmond in my old dorm room.  Craziness.  Made me nervous about having Desmond there...God only knows what kind of pot debris is leftover in the air and dust.  We got out of there fast.

In the swing in front of Bowler Hall.

That's me in the middle!  Dance Team also included my dear friends Carrie, Nicole, Annie, and Jennifer.  P.S. We got rid of those outfits after my freshman year. 

 

This is the coolest park near Hiram Township: Nelson's Ledges State Park.  You drive for a few minutes down a typical rural Ohio road and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, come out these huge (for Ohio at least) rock formations (ledges).  It's all green and quiet and cool (as in temperature). 

At the waterfalls.  Or what's left of them after a hot summer.

 Desmond enjoyed walking around Hiram and wanted to walk around the ledges so badly, but, silly us, we forgot his shoes.

After Hiram, we went on to New Castle and stayed for about 5 days.

We initially were just going to turn around and head back to St. Louis because of financial reasons (not working for the entire month of July will do that to you), but we decided to make it a priority to spend time with each other and visiting friends.

Desmond and Jennifer and her baby Malcolm.  Desmond showed such an affinity for Malcolm.  He can take or leave our dogs, but he loved, loved, loved Malcolm.

Interspecies bonding.

My brother, John, his girlfriend, Katie, Billy, me, and my dearest friend Sherrie in front of Pittsburgh.

P.S. road trips are not advised if you're still trying to lose "baby" weight.

Church converted into a brewery in Pittsburgh.

Visit to my second family, the D'Angelo's house, in Youngstown, OH.  This is my beautiful goddaughter, Iris.  She makes the craziest faces.

We decided to go and visit Billy's sister Kseniya who lives in Carlisle, PA (middle of the state) and our friend Michele, who lives in State College (she's a grad student at Penn State).  We thought 4 hours wasn't anything big since we've done 5 before, so we decided to go ahead and keep on truckin'.  and let me tell you, rural Pennsylvania is GORGEOUS.  There's a reason why the Amish choose to live out here.  Gorgeous, gorgeous country. 

At one of our many stops...

To let Desmond run around...

and get thrown in the air several times by his more muscular-than-me pop.

This is when he was just starting to learn how to walk!

This was one of the parks we found on our road trip.  This was also the first time that Desmond rode on a swing by himself and enjoy it.

Fresh from a loooong nap on the road; visiting his Auntie Kseniya and Carol Ann in Carlisle, the cutest little town.

At Kseniya's work: Thomas Printers.

Yes, those are actual letterpress machines in the background.  Pretty awesome, eh?

Having treats and drinks al fresco in Carlisle.

We considered making the 4 hour drive to go to NYC to visit my little brother John, but decided that Desmond wouldn't enjoy NYC as much as an 11-month-old.  That and my brother's lovely girlfriend, Katie, was visiting family that weekend.  So, we decided to keep on with our original plan to visit my friend Jennifer in West Virginia.  Jen, also Des's godmother, owns a store, Mission Savvy,  in Charleston where she sells eco-fashion items (all way above my price range, but the price reflects the cost of the materials and all is made sweatshop-free in the United States).  She also has a sweet little slightly neurotic bird named Malcolm...

One of the bad things about our road trip is that Desmond's sleep and nap schedule was all messed up.  He was sleeping all day in the car, which worked really well for us, but would be awake sometimes until like 11pm at night.  This is a part of the day when naptime hit him hard...

Looking around for a comfortable spot on the dog bed on Jen's porch...

Aaaaahh...found it.

From Charleston, we drove to Louisville, KY.  What a nice surprise that town is.  I was expecting something totally different than what was actually there.  We stayed in a really cute home and the ladies gave us food recommendations and stuff to see.  Did you know that Louisville (I say it Lou-uh-vul, but I think Billy started off saying Loo-ee-ville, although now he says it the right way) has a thing for The Dude from the Big Lebowski?  They have entire carnivals dedicated to him.  And, like Louisiana (and St. Louis) the symbol of the city is the fleur-de-lis (King Louis the XIV's symbol)?  If you are ever in the vicinity, definitely stop by and check it out. 

Right outside of the main house for the Maker's Mark distillery.  Notice the bottle shape on the shutters.

  

Each Maker's Mark bottle is hand-dipped.

Billy hand dipping his own bottle.

 Aaaaand...that's the end of our road trip.  Sigh.  It was really a lot of fun to see the midwest and parts of the East as a family.  Desmond went above and beyond my expectations, as long as we worked around his naps, got him out of the car to blow off some excess energy, gave him delicious snacks to eat in the car, and interacted with him when he was awake. 


Now, 10 hours across a few states is like no big deal.  :)