On the Road

Like many others, we found ourselves making travel plans for the holidays, only this year we have a few extra variables to consider. Our pediatrician highly recommended driving rather than flying with our two week old, so we had planned on renting a car and leaving New York early Sunday morning.

Of course, Mother Nature had a her own thoughts - the 10 inches of snow which blanketed the greater part of the East Coast ended up delaying our trip by a day. Instead of Sunday, I found myself waking up at 5:30am on Monday, making my way via bus to the outskirts of LaGuardia airport and the National car rental counter.

By the time I made it back into the city to pull our SUV up to an (illegal) spot just in front of our building, it was about 8am. Packing the car consisted of far too many trips up and down the elevator - each time taking my shoes off in the hallway outside our door lest I track all manner of dirty snow into the apartment. The loading frenzy was exacerbated by the need to continually monitor the car for parking police. Somehow, we made it out relatively quickly, and just after 9am we were cutting through Central Park on a long road trip to North Carolina.

We weren’t sure how Miller would take to such a long trip, as his only prior experience in a moving automobile was the five minute cab ride home from the hospital. Now we know - this kid is a champ. He hardly made a peep all the way through Jersey, and by the time he finally woke up to realize he was hungry, it was lunch time and we were in Maryland. After Chick-fil-a and a diaper change, we were back on the road and Miller assumed his now regular position which can only be described as a highway induced stupor.

There were a few hiccups along the way - the regular traffic around DC as well as trying to negotiate an important work conference call while both phones ran out of battery.  Sure, we had to stop a couple extra times to feed Miller, but all in all the trip went by pretty quickly.  A little after 12.5 hours after pulling away from our apartment, were pulling into the Huitsings’ driveway in NC.

The reward for all our travels?  A nice long visit with family for Christmas.  We’ve already introduced Miller to cousins Jacob and Jensen, Uncle Jason, and Granny for the first time - he will meet Aunt Kelly and Uncle Andrew today.  And, for sure, both sets of grandparents have enjoyed some quality cuddle time.

It was a long haul here, but man is it going to be worth it.