While visiting family in Sonoma during our Spring Break road trip, we spend an afternoon exploring wineries of the Dry Creek Valley. The area, specifically known for their zinfandel grapes, is located on the west side of US 101 in Northern Sonoma County close to the towns of Geyserville (tiny) and Healdsburg (small). The landscape, as one would expect, is absolutely gorgeous, void of a lot of development, and lucky for us, free from crowds. Whether that was due to the weather (rain off and on), time of year (early April), or just the fact that this particular region has remained undisturbed from a lot of other retail, I can’t be completely sure, but I certainly appreciated it!
Traveling to and through High Altitude Destinations with Babies
When we road tripped from Seattle to Oregon and California, we traveled through more mountain passes than I could count or keep track of. One of our longer stays was also in the small mountain town of Truckee, California where the elevation is about 6,000 feet, a far cry from our usual comfortable and damp sea-level living.
We took a couple of things into consideration (and preparation) knowing we were traveling with our newest (now 4-month old) adventurer, and we also picked up a few tips and ideas along the way to make high altitude travel most comfortable for babies.
Oregon-California Family Road Trip: 11-Day Itinerary
We recently embarked (and returned all in one piece) on our first {family of four} multi-day road trip. The journey was eventful to say the least, and to my surprise, a whole lot more enjoyable than I anticipated. I’ll admit that I expected wild tantrums occurring in the backseat along with piercing baby cries that would be impossible to quiet.
And while there was some of unpleasantness, it certainly wasn’t the norm. More often, we found ourselves enjoying the scenery, having the luxury of researching possible lunch and rest stops, and actually engaging in grown-up conversation! The one thing that did cut into our travel time (and sometimes sanity) was the amount of bathroom stops required for a 3.5 year old!
We’ll dive into more specifics of each of our destinations (and even pit stops) in the coming weeks and months (we covered a lot of ground!), but first we want you to see the bigger picture, and a few statistics for fun.
Day 1: Salem, Oregon
A good distance away (but not too ambitious) from our home in Seattle for the first leg of our trip, and also the home of my husband Slaed’s aunt, uncle and cousin. Here we visited with family and took some time to explore the capitol.
Baby Naming in Paradise: Big Decisions while Exploring Oahu’s Ka’ena Point State Park
How did you go about choosing names for your children? Or if you don’t have kids, do you know how your name was chosen? Was there a process involved? Maybe you just knew all along…or possibly the name was already picked out for you because of family history or obligations. Whatever the case may be, I think the ways people decide on names is fascinating. .
Amazing, really. I mean, the possibilities are endless, and for me at least, the pressure to choose “correctly” can be overwhelming.
Names got tossed around all throughout both of our pregnancies. One of us would might make a suggestion, and if it was acceptable to both of us, we might write it down on our list. Then, after months of brainstorming, the narrowing down, nitty-gritty decision making happened in the same way: On vacation.
Day Tripping: Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park
Travel with a brand-new baby, unless absolutely necessary, isn’t something we planned to do right away. We planned to take it easy, one day at a time, and gauge the new addition’s temperament and needs. We thought we might venture out, but nothing got written down on the calendar, if you know what I mean.
The thing is though, we’re still those same people who love to explore and stay active even when a tiny bundle is around. Once the family visits had died down, and we had a free weekend, we thought we might as well try out a day trip.
Tacoma isn’t too far, under an hour’s drive from our home in Seattle, and we had on our bucket list to visit the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. We’re members of our own Woodland Park Zoo, but we were curious as to what was happening “down south” and knew it was an outing the whole family could handle.
Last Family of 3 Travel Adventure: Wallace Falls State Park
Before welcoming our newest family member into the world, we had one last travel adventure as a family of three. It was important to use to spend some quality time together just before our lives turned upside down with new routines, a new normal, and new responsibilities.
Some time away brought a chance to bond and strengthen our unit, which inevitably brought along a lot of refection as well as anticipation.
What will one more member do to our dynamic?
Surely it could only get better.