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KILL ME NOW.
We were seven hours on the road coming home from Williamsburg.
Seven hours. Much of it in stop-and-go traffic jams. With a four-and-a-half year old (who was actually incredibly good) and a nine-month-old.
Kill. Me. Now.
Seven hours. Much of it in stop-and-go traffic jams. With a four-and-a-half year old (who was actually incredibly good) and a nine-month-old.
Kill. Me. Now.
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But not, I hope, permanent-like.
I made the mistake of driving from Baltimore home to NYC on Thanksgiving Sunday once. I hope never to repeat it. Sometimes I feel like I'm still in it.
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And it actually turns out that there is a train that goes from Baltimore to Williamsburg, which doesn't cost much money and doesn't take all that much time. It never even occurred to us to check, damn it.
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The one problem with taking the train at Thanksgiving is that in the Northeast, they sell out. You have to buy in advance, but we can certainly manage that. There are even more options if we just take the train to Richmond and rent a car from there.
I've been talking up how easy it is to get around on the East Coast even without a car for years, and now it's time to back that up.
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(What did you DO? How did you feed people? It sounds hellish).
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(What did you DO? How did you feed people? It sounds hellish).
It was. It was hellish.
We stopped three times. Once at a roadside parking area to nurse and to rig up an impromptu sunshade for Colin in case that was why he had been screaming for the past twenty minutes. (It seemed to have been, yes.) Later on, we were about to stop for lunch just after we decided to give up the interstate highway as a bad job and take secondary roads home, when Colin (who had been crying again) suddenly fell asleep. Alex heroically agreed to delay her lunch in favor of car snacks (cookies and Cheerios, which is an oat cereal) until he woke up again. When he did, we stopped at a McDonalds with a big indoor climbing structure. We took a fairly extended break there to eat, spoonfeed Colin some baby food, nurse, rest, change Colin's diaper, and let the kids have some carseatless play time.
Our final stop was after we'd been in stop-and-go traffic for a long time and Colin was melting down again. We pulled into a parking area and rearranged the car so that I could wedge myself into the tiny space in between the kids' carseats, so that I could parent more intensively. I nursed Colin again then, but he was still hungry and it turns out that in his new convertible carseat I can't nurse him while we drive. (I used to be able to manage in the infant seat.) It broke my heart to see him pulling meaningfully at my shirt. I fed him Cheerios one by one and spoonfed another jar of baby food while we were driving, and that seemed to take care of his hunger. But it was pretty rough anyway.
Alex was a little hero. I read aloud and we listened to music and she got a toy in her McDonalds meal, and all that helped, but mostly she was just really good about being in an awful situation.
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The stoicism small children can show is awe-inspiring sometimes.
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Even on Monday every seat on the train was taken but the train was comfortable and on time. It's a lovely way to travel.
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Routes:
(Anonymous) 2009-11-30 06:36 pm (UTC)(link)Free advice that I hope is worth more than you pay for it--301 is a MUCH better route than I-95, and especially on weekends. (I've driven Richmond to Baltimore more times than I can count.)
SamChevre (a lurker from Respectful of Otters)
Re: Routes:
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It still took us 5 hours (including one stop at MCD's with a playground).