As you know, my husband and I are on a road trip.  You can read about our tips for taking road trips with your kids and keeping your kids safe on my other two Road Trip posts.  We are still at the beach, and are loving it.  My husband and two-year-old are down playing on the beach with a shrimp boat and dolphins in the background, while my one year old is in napping.  My daughter and mother-in-law were out looking for shells first thing this morning, and my daughter found the most amazing shell.  Ahhhh…I love vacation!

One of the things I like most about road trips is experiencing Americana.  I love seeing the country and how other people live.  Our friends and family are always asking us how we find all of our weird, quirky stops, so I thought I would write a quick article on how to find Americana (e.g.. great diners, obscure monuments, and giant statues).

Here are some of the resources we use to find fun things to break-up our drive and experience our surroundings.

Travel Section – My husband reads the travel section of the Tribune each weekend and USA Today and WSJ when he is on business travel each week.  He regularly clips articles about interesting restaurants and stops, and saves them in a folder for future trips. The USA Today pointed us to the best burger in NY, The Burger Joint and the Tribune inspired our trip to the Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan.

Books

• 1000 Places To See Before You Die and 1000 Places To See in the U.S.A. and Canada Before You Die – We own both of these books, and have found countless ideas for fun weekend trips and great restaurants, attractions and hotels to check out around the world.  At the end of each trip, we write the date and our rating of each of the “1000 Things” places we went to.  It has become a family tradition.  These books make a wonderful gift too.
• James Dean Died Here – This book will tell you the locations of great pulp culture landmarks.  It includes everything from where Apple Computer was born to the sites of famous assassinations. We visited Richie Cunningham’s house in Los Angeles and the famous gym from the movie Carrie in Hermosa Beach, California.
• Off The Beaten Path- This book has great ideas for scenic drives, etc.  We’ve been on some amazing drives including Highway 1 between LA and San Francisco, Avenue of the Giants (a scenic drive through the Red Woods in Northern California) and the Blueridge Parkway in the Smokey Mountains.
• The Great American Road Trip – This book has all of the amazing little Americana stops we love so much.  If you want to know what city the largest ball of twine is in or where to find the giant dinosaurs from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, this is the book for you.

The Atlas – My husband has an unusual affinity for the atlas.  He regularly breaks out an atlas when we are home watching TV or when he is reading the paper.  The man is just plain curious!  His Atlas of choice is the Rand McNally Road Atlas.  They have little red squares that are labelled with points of interest.  He dragged me and hour and a half out of our way on our move/road trip from LA to Chicago to see the highest point in Iowa, Hawkeye Point.  We also found The Corn Palace in Mitchelle South Dakota through the Atlas, which is honestly a gem!

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network - My hubby and I love this show, and have visited a number of Guy Fieri’s recommendations.  In fact, before embarking on this trip, my husband looked up the cities we would be in or near on his website to find some great dining options.  We visited  Manci’s Antique Club yesterday, and it was delicious and had some of the most interesting decor I’ve ever seen.

For us, discovering Americana is what makes the journey so fun.  What types of stops does your family enjoy on road trips?

As I mentioned in my last post, Road Trip – Traveling Tips From The Road, my family is currently taking a road trip from Chicago to the panhandle and back.  We left Memphis yesterday and stopped in Tupelo, Mississippi to check out the house Elvis was born in.  It was quite an interesting little stop, and gave our toddlers such much needed time to run around.  We then made the long drive down to the beach house we rented with my in-laws in the panhandle.  Today was spent playing on the beach, and it has been glorious.

Since my family does so much traveling and my kids are still so little (one and two), safety on the road is a big concern for me. I always feel like hotel rooms and vacation rental houses are full of dangers.  At home, we have specific rooms baby-proofed for my toddlers, but I have yet to find a vacation home or hotel that offers “baby-proofed” rooms.

In fact, within ten minutes of getting to the house we are staying in now my two-year-old was playing with the cords to the blinds and my one-year-old had the cupboard under the sink open.

I recently attended a baby-proofing seminar at Giggle (2116 N. Halstead).  Josh Berliant, owner of Baby Solutions, provided a number of really great tips on how to make your home safer.  I was impressed by how many of his tips were free (did not require any products to implement). After the seminar I asked Josh to send me some tips on how to make traveling with small children safer.

• Most hotels offer cribs at no charge, but Josh recommends bringing your own crib-sheet.  You should also check the crib to make sure it is stable. I conquer.  Numerous times we’ve been at hotels who simply wrap a queen size sheet around the tiny mattress, which has never struck me as being very safe.
• Walk around the house/room and check the furniture to see that none of it can easily be tipped over if your child pulls up on it.
• Keep the bathroom door closed.  Just this morning our youngest some how made it into the bathroom and to the toilet before either my hubby or I could get to her.  GROSS!
• If you are renting a car-seat from a car rental company, make sure it is installed properly. Ask for the manual if it is not attached to the seat.
• A strange environment just invites danger.  Babies want to explore their new surroundings (especially while your in the bathroom or getting ready to go.) One way I’ve solved this problem is putting my little ones back in their pack-n-plays next to me while I get ready.  I just throw some toys and a sippy cup in their with them, and they tend to be entertained long enough for me to get ready.

A couple other things we generally do are:

• Get a handicap accessible room with two queen beds.  You can generally fit a pack-n-play easily in the bathroom, which essentially turns your room into a two-room suite.  Make certain the baby cannot grab anything off the counters, etc.  We tend to put the crib in the shower, fold the shower curtain up over the bar and make sure there is nothing else within reach.
• On the second queen bed we set up a changing station on a towel.
• We bring a small container or plastic bag of Clorox wipes with us.  That way we can wipe down the surfaces our baby is most likely to touch.
• I would also recommend checking the drape cords.  Dangling cords can be a serious strangulation hazard.

Let me know what you and your family do to keep your little ones safe on the road.  Happy trails!