Road Trip – sans kids


Road Trip – sans kids
By Allan Olson
Go west, young man ... or go east? That was the decision of the weekend for me and my wife. We haven’t gone west to shop in a long time, and a nephew was playing hockey at a town in that direction, so we could kill two birds with one stone, or we could skip it all and go east. I let my wife decide, since I was driving I would just go wherever she told me (like any good husband). We ended up going east, to the city on the hill.
Grandma arrived early on Saturday morning to watch the twerps, and we hit the road, just the two of us – NO KIDS! We didn’t have to worry about entertaining them in the mall (I remember playing UNO last year), or feeding them, or losing them. We just got our stuff and leisurely took our time without being pestered. When are we going to eat? When are we going to get something? Every parent is well aware of the whole litany of things kids feel a need to ask about.
We found ourselves rolling into Duluth just after 10 a.m. We enjoyed the day picking up a few items we were looking for that were not available locally, all without any pestering (even I behaved – amazing!). We spent a very laid back first hour walking around a store. Next up – the mall. We walked all around and found some good buys for mom and the kids at a couple of different stores, then stopped to grab a quick bite to eat. After lunch we visited a couple more stores and headed out of the mall.
We visited the newly-opened Hobby Lobby. I was overwhelmed by the horde of people in that small store, and was relieved when we finally left. I could not imagine dragging four kids in there with me. We made a few quick stops in other stores but didn’t leave with much, and before long we were ready to meet my cousin and his family for dinner.
We enjoyed some fine dining, although I didn’t eat a lot because I was still full from lunch. We were entertained watching our dinner companions deal with their two young children – somehow parenting is much more amusing when viewed from an outsider’s perspective. As we were wrapping up our visit nearly two hours later, we spotted two other Cass Lake couples seated nearby – small world!
We hit the road heading west toward home at about 7 p.m. and arrived a couple of hours later. It was much more relaxing to spend a day shopping kid-free; not as entertaining, mind you, but certainly less stressful. We are looking forward to heading back in that direction with the kids this spring/summer in search of geocaches with my cousin and his family – we won’t have to worry about shopping.
I was feeling a bit drained on Sunday; apparently the road trip wiped me out (even without the kids!). I couldn’t get motivated to do anything, only wanting to nap. That proved to be difficult, however, as the phone wouldn’t quit ringing and the kids wouldn’t clean their rooms without supervision or arguing. Peace and quiet came over the house that evening, with early bedtimes for everyone – myself included.
I did manage to get a little work done on Sunday. I cleaned a bunch of snow off the garage again with the roof rake, and just in time for the latest snow storm. Good thing I did, too, because my parents visited on Monday evening after a month-long vacation and dad needed his roof rake back!
This weekend’s plan largely rests on the outcome of the local high school basketball games: a win on Thursday for the boys and we will be heading down to Thief River Falls to cheer the team on to a victory and a chance to play for a sub-section championship. If the dice rolls in favor of the opponents, our plans are to stay home, but who knows, those plans could change.
Reminder – don’t forget to set your clocks forward one hour this weekend. Try to get out and enjoy the snow while it’s here. Warm weather is predicted, so the white stuff will be gone soon! Never fear, spring will soon be here.
Thanks for reading, and remember to watch out for school buses on the roads; they are carrying a precious cargo – our children. Also please exercise caution when venturing out on the lakes. Thanks for reading, and have a great and safe weekend. For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com

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