Pete's Log: Travels with baby

Entry #1828, (Parenthood, Travel)
(posted when I was 41 years old.)

At the end of September, Jamie and I decided to do a "test" road trip with JB and Boogs. We were thinking of driving to Colorado for thanksgiving, but wanted to try a shorter drive first. So we decided to try for St. Louis. We packed a million baby supplies in the car, plus a couple things for ourselves and hit the road.

We drove a mix of back roads and interstates and took many breaks, including at a variety of roadside attractions, including the Gemini Giant, the Kaskaskia Dragon, and a two-story outhouse. We spent the night at the Moonrise Hotel, an eclectic and dog-friendly hotel on the western edge of St Louis. Overall it was a fun and successful trip. And we decided we would fly to Colorado instead.

So come Thanksgiving time, we flew to Denver. JB did great at the airport and on the flight. The plan in Denver was to rent a car and drive all the way to Crested Butte. We thought our flight got in early enough to accomplish that. But our flight was delayed and then getting the rental car in Denver took an absurdly long time. So by the time we were actually on the road, there was little daylight left.

We also forgot to factor in that there would be ear popping driving up and down the mountains. So JB let us know in no uncertain terms that she had had enough for one day. So we stopped and spent the night in Buena Vista.

The next day we made it to Crested Butte where we stayed at the gallery with Mom and Dad. They were very happy to have us. One especially nice aspect of our stay was that when JB woke up, we could hand her off to Mom who would happily entertain her while we got some more sleep.

We had a great thanksgiving with various Rozmans and other friends of the family. JB got to meet her (second) cousin Jasmine who is about four months older than her.

Black Friday we went skiing with Tommy. There were only two lifts and three runs open, but it was fun anyway. It started snowing heavily while we ate lunch, so we got to ski some light powder at the end of our day.

Saturday we were supposed to drive back to Denver and fly home. We had considered driving partway on Friday, but the heavy snow made that a bad option. So we got up early and found conditions were not promising for making it to Denver for our flight. (Monarch Pass was having wind gusts of 75 mph and US 285 was closed at Kenosha Pass, among other things). Luckily we were able to change our flight to Sunday for free. So we waited for the weather to clear a little, then set out to get halfway to Denver. We went out of our way South, taking Cochetopa Pass, breaking for coffee in Saguache, and then spending the night in Salida. Sunday we took US 50 to I25 and got to the airport with plenty of time for our flight. JB likes her second flight less than her first, but once we got to altitude she managed OK.

Overall she's a trooper and seemed to enjoy her new experiences. Jamie and I still need another vacation to recover from our vacation.