The Pulse: Screamless Roads, Rock Climbing, and the Illinois Road Trip

Last week was the first full week of summer, and if how quickly that week went by is any indication of how the summer is going to fly by, I'm not ready. I wrote that as I lay in bed before the start of camp drop-offs. I'm not one to get teary-eyed, but dropping the boys off at camp this week made me sad for the rhythm of this summer. I'm gonna have to work on my outlook and figure out how to best approach this summer's look.

The prior week, we made it through the last days of school, celebrated by a water fight at the bus stop, and had L evaluated for braces. The littles had their sleepover and one-on-one time with the grandparents, and L had his solo time with me, punctuated with a sushi night and The X-Files. Memorial Day weekend was literally a wash with all the continued rain, but there were pockets of sunshine enjoyed with friends and good treats—I trialed making banana pudding and carrot cake cookies. (I'll maybe get around to posting videos of all these food makes one day...).

The holiday kicked off the week, and it kept rolling. After a handful of clients each day, the boys and I hit the road for Illinois to spend time with Gigi and visit with my brother and aunt. While it was more of a quality-time family visit, I did try to make the front end of the trip a little vacay for the boys. Since it was a lot of driving and everyone except N is prone to motion sickness while reading, I wanted to reduce screen usage and bolster engagement during the 9 to 12 hours of car time we had there and back.

The Road Trip Envelope System

After some time internetting, I pulled together a cart of items at Temu, a few books and games from Walmart, and purchased reusable mesh zipper envelopes for said items. Altogether, I purchased a mix of activities—some for this trip and a few to carry over for the upcoming summer vacation trip.

I numbered each of the envelopes to help with distributing them on the trip up and down so they weren't opened all at once. The goal was for them to enjoy the current envelope and then have time to get bored again before the next one. The biggest wins were Mad Libs, Kanoodle 3D, BrainBolt, and color-by-dot books with a variety of markers.

The trip up north was broken up by more stops, so the envelopes were used intermittently. Coming back home, the boys weren't allowed to use screens, so the envelopes and contents were well-utilized in addition to a favorite podcast. I can't say that it was smooth sailing on the battlefront of how much and when they could use screens, but we did manage to go completely screenless on the drive back home to TN—although that was more of a consequence rather than a choice. More on that later. Parenting is so fun at times.

The Slow Roll Up North: Our Route & Stops

We were initially trying not to overlap nights with my aunt and her hosting other family members who were also in town, so our trip up north was a slow roll and not time-bound. This allowed us to stop when we found something interesting and explore areas at our leisure as we drove up over the course of two days. I had mapped out a few areas to visit, and then the rest was just what popped up. I was surprised by some of the landscape of Northern Kentucky and Southern Illinois, and happy that the boys enjoyed the parks we visited.

• Dunbar Cave State Park: We just missed the window for a cave tour, but we did get to enjoy a quick walk to the caves and learn about the history of the area, which included the area as . a former plantation turned resort and an Africantown during the Civil War.

• Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (Elk & Bison Prairie): This was a hot spot. As dusk approached, we wound up looping through several additional times to see more of the animals coming out after the warm day. We were lucky enough to see several elk, and on the final loop, a male elk with some sizable antlers. The boys really enjoyed the short drive loop and getting to hang out of the car and spot elk, but we missed out on bison :(

• Dinner at Patti's 1880's Settlement: This was a ChatGPT find, and I think I went with it because it had a train on the front of the establishment. It ended up being a bit tourist-trappy—the food was reminiscent of White Fence Farm in Illinois and pretty overpriced. However, the mozzarella sticks and flowerpot breads were crowd-pleasers. I, of course, went with a patty melt-style plate that was covered in a cheese bechamel and topped with an enormous amount of potato chips.

• Stay at the Drury Inn Paducah: With multiple loops around the prairie and a late dinner, we drove up pretty late and basically crashed here. I had planned to enjoy the 5:30 throwback with discounted drinks ($1 per drink per KY law) and whatever food they had while lounging by the pool, but the late drive and subsequent bedtime led to crashing and sleeping in. I do love their waffles, though, and they actually have real eggs with bacon and cheese—a nice little protein-rich start for my day.

• Road Trip Tourist Stop (The Largest Superman Statue): Another point of interest I should've looked into a bit more. When I heard "largest statue," I had visions of grandeur in my mind, and apparently L did too. Metropolis, IL, may share the same city name that housed Superman, but we have different ideas of "largest"—it was all of 15 feet. Despite it not measuring up, it was fun to see and walk through the older part of the city.

• Garden of the Gods in Shawnee National Forest: I think it's safe to say that this was our favorite stop of the trip. I didn't realize this type of geography existed in Illinois since most of my experience there has been grasslands and crop fields. We got to hike and explore the relatively short 1/4-mile loop, climbing up the rock formations, posing, and enjoying the views. Beware of ticks - we each came out with a few!

• Southern Illinois Oil Rigs: Who knew Southern Illinois had oil rigs? I thought I was in Landman as we drove north, but the rigs fascinated N, and he had so much to say about them and their function.

• Stay at Tru by Hilton Naperville: I also really like this hotel chain. I prefer suite-style rooms for their kitchenettes, but Tru has a lot to offer and is a fantastic bang for your buck. At just over $100/night, you get access to the pool, workout room, games and shared entertainment in the lobby, and a rather decent breakfast (their cheesy egg omelets are a must for me). Plus, they serve Lavazza coffee, which wins this coffee snob over. The other breakfast win is the pancake station where you wave your hand, and two pancakes are made to order. The boys jazzed them up with whipped cream, mini chocolate chips, and syrup.

Thrifting, Beach Days, and the Consequences Screen Ban

Once we arrived in northern Illinois, we did some thrifting and garage sailing. It was Squishmallow heaven for the boys, which drove me a bit crazy, but they were happy. We also found a City Monopoly board at a steal for $2 (it's priced for $80 online!) and grabbed some local NFL and MLB gear.

For a lunch spot, we hit Adeline Jay Geo-Karis Illinois Beach State Park. After scouting out some deals, we grabbed Jersey Mike's using my aunt's coupons for a picnic at this park on Lake Michigan. It was a bit windy and chilly, so it was a shorter-lived outdoor outing, but we all made it to the table and broke bread. While there, we got to see the HoopBus—the one from the LA Lakers— and they were encouraging workers and kids alike to shoot some hoops.

Getting to bed at night was a bit challenging, and I failed to have them asleep earlier than 10:00 PM our time, so my patience wasn't at an all-time high. After the fourth night of poor listening and not going to bed at a decent time, screens were taken away for the entire trip home without the possibility of earning them back—you can imagine how well that was received.

We rallied and were able to pull off a semi-screamless drive, but not without some hiccups, and it definitely wasn't one of my finer parenting moments. But repair I did, and we were able to enjoy each other's company and the final 5 hours of the trip. Honestly, after all that happened, it actually felt more enjoyable. They were way more engaged with each other or their activities than if they were just sitting on a video game, especially once they found their grooves with particular drawings or games.

The deadhead drive home wasn't too bad; the weather stayed good with minimal showers, and we were able to grab groceries, pick up the pup, and somewhat pull the house together after unpacking. There is still a bit of a reset to do and life to catch up on, but it's only Monday (haha its actually Wednesday now)...

Playlist for spin this week: Country vibes for the ride.