Road Trip Wednesday: Memorable Road Trips

It's YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesday!  Read more about this is all about here.

This week's topic is:  What's the most dramatic road trip you've ever been on?

Well, given that I pretty much grew up on road trips every summer, and the fact that drama seems to just follow me wherever I go, I don't think I have slim pickins' on this one.  Question is, which one to choose?

My first road trip was when I was 2 years old.  We moved from Jacksonville, Florida to Whidbey Island, Washington by car.  I was told it was a 5 day trip, but I have no memory of it.

There are also road trip stories which  include projectile-vomitting toddlers, changing diapers while parked uphill in the middle of The Grapevine in Southern California, and sitting for 2 hours in completely stopped traffic on Pacheco Pass with a screaming 5 month-old.   But I think I'll spare you all those details.

Southbound I-5, approaching the Grapevine near Fort Tejon,

Pacheco Pass -- Eastbound 152, just past Casa de Fruta

So I'm harking back to the BC days.  The before children days.  The time when my husband and I could throw our clothes and toiletries in a bag, jump in the car, and start the 8 hour drive down to southern California right after having worked a full work week.  If we left the San Francisco Bay Area at 5:00 pm, made at most 2 stops, we could make it down to San Diego by about midnight or 1 am.  No problem -- we were relatively young, and had NO KIDS.  Since both of us had families in Southern California, it was a trip we had made about 3-4 more times a year for many many years.

The particular trip I am thinking of happened in February of 2000.  My brother in-law and his wife had driven  from their home in Fresno down to San Diego to visit their two children who were in college.  Because it was also his 50th birthday, his wife had secretly asked the rest of the family (none of whom lived in San Diego) to come down for a surprise birthday dinner at a Hawaiian-fusion restaurant.  Of course, the whole family agreed.

So after work on a rainy Friday in February, we set out on a trip that we had made so many times before.  We gassed up the car, grabbed a couple of In-N-Out burgers to go, popped in the newly released audiobook version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (read by Jim Dale, who is amazing, by the way), and off to San Diego we went.

It was raining pretty hard, and we expected that.  However, as we made our way out of the Bay Area, south towards Gilroy (home of the garlic festival), it started raining harder and harder.  Traffic was terrible.  By the time we were in Pacheco Pass, it was about 8 pm, and raining so hard, the drops were coming at our windshield horizontally. We found ourselves ducking as bullets of rain shot towards us.  Every now and then,  gusts of wind would shake our little Honda Civic.  We told ourselves, hopefully it will get better by the time we get to the central valley.

We were wrong.

We got onto I-5 -- the main artery through California, and for the next 5 hours, it rained.  Hard.  The whole time.  At one point, we turned Jim and Harry off, because it was so stressful just driving.  We wondered how it was possible for it to rain that hard for that long.  Wouldn't the whole state be flooded by now?

It looked like this.  Found this on Pinterest here.

Sometime past 1 am, we found ourselves in Irvine, CA -- halfway between LA and San Diego, about 2 more hours to go to our destination.  Having taken turns driving, we were beyond exhausted.   Howard, my husband, decided we needed to pullover into a parking lot and just sleep in the car.  Well, he slept; I didn't.  It was raining just as hard as it had been when we left the Bay Area.  I spent most of the time worried that we would fall victim to some crazy ax-murderer.  Crazy random thought, I know.  But that's where my thoughts go when I'm exhausted at 2 am.  It didn't matter that he parked us in a 24 hour gas station so that there was someone nearby.  And it didn't help that the wind howled, and drops of rain falling from trees crashed on our roof every 2 seconds.

Found this image here

We eventually made it to my parents house in San Diego.  After getting sleeping for most of the day, we recounted our journey to my parents.  We learned that the storm that started in the Bay Area the night before had travelled south with 70-80 mph winds, the same speed that most of California drives on I-5 in the central valley.  In my mind, I visualized a satellite image of California, a giant storm cloud travelling down the state, with our little car right underneath it.  Kind of like the rain cloud that followed Eeyore wherever he went.  That's basically what we'd done.  The state was not in danger of flooding.  It was not raining throughout the entire state for 10 hours, it just rained on us as we drove down!  

Anyway, we made it to the birthday party.  We sat with our family at the restaurant, hiding behind menus as the waiter led Howard's brother to the table.  He stood right next to us and didn't even register it was us until Howard yelled, "Surprise!"  We laughed when he jumped back almost bumping the waiter, surprised to see his family before him.  It was worth it.

So there you have it:  our most traumatic, I mean, dramatic road trip.

YA Highway Road Trip Wednesday

It's time for YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesday!
This Week's Topic is: Good for a laugh: who is your favorite comedian or funny book and/or movie?

I don't know if I have one favorite comedian as much as many -- Lucille Ball, Dick Van Dyke, Robin Williams, Jim Carey, Adam Sandler, Tim Allen, Ellen Degeneres, and Will Farrell...the list can go on and on.

As far as favorite funny book...as a child, it was Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends.  As an adult, my mom and I enjoyed reading anything by Erma Bombeck.  And as a teacher, I've added Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar, as well as books by Andrew Clements to the list.

Favorite funny movie?  The one that almost ALWAYS comes to mind is The Princess Bride.  I think Rob Reiner is a genius, and there are SO MANY memorable lines!

I got this image from here

• Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya.  You killed my father, prepare to die.
• He's only mostly dead.
• Inconceivable!
• As you wish.

Yes, this list can go on and on, too.

Thanks for the Road Trip, YA Highway!  I think it's time I go dig up this DVD and make plans to watch it this week!

Turkish Delight Anyone?

So last Wednesday's YA Highway Road Trip got me thinking.  The topic was about opening your "Fantasy Bookstore", what would it look like, what would you sell.  Of course, I would sell children's books of all genres; picture books to young adult.  Several people posted about including a cafe in their Fantasy Bookstore -- which I totally would do that too.  One person said she'd sell cupcakes in her children's bookstore -- which I think kids and parents would DEVOUR!

Not sure if other people suggested this in their posts, but  my husband and I then started discussing the idea of a cafe in our children's bookstore that served foods that were featured in or inspired by children's novels.  We decided that having an entire menu to create, serve, and maintain everyday would be too complicated, and it would take away from our focus on books and children's literacy.  So we came up with the idea to feature ONE ITEM every day (or once a week?), print out a calendar, and use it as an incentive to have people come in and visit the bookstore.

With that concept in mind, we came up with these foods inspired by children's novels...

• Turkish Delight -- from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
• Green Eggs and Ham -- from Green Eggs and Ham (of course)
• Haystacks (confection made from fried chow mein noodles, butterscotch chips and peanut butter) -- from How to Eat Fried Worms
• Butterbeer -- Harry Potter
• Pumpkin Pasties -- Harry Potter
• Oatmeal (Gruel)-- Oliver Twist
• Lamb Stew with Dried Plums -- Hunger Games
• Dauntless Chocolate Cake, Candor Ice Cream, Erudite Fizzy Drinks -- Divergent series
• Cloudy with a Chance of Spaghetti and Meatballs -- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
• Stone Soup -- Stone Soup
• Pancakes, Cookies, Muffins -- If You Give A Mouse A...

Now let me be CLEAR.  We do NOT have any plans whatsoever of actually doing this.  But it was fun to imagine! :)

Any other ideas to add to this list?

YA Highway Road Trip Wednesday

I'm in my early 40's, and I'm a huge YA fiction fan.  Maybe I'm reliving my young adulthood, I don't know. Anyway, I follow this site called "YA Highway" -- so much fun.  Every Wednesday, they have this thing called "Road Trip Wednesday".  Here's their description...

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

So here I am, adding my two-cents' worth to the YA Blog Carnival:

This week's topic:
 Imagine you get to open your own bookstore. What would it look like? What kinds of books would you sell?


My bookstore would be relatively small -- kind of like the bookstore in the movie, Notting Hill.  The entrance would look like this:

Isn't that cool?  Found it on Pinterest here..

I would sell children's picture books, early chapter, chapter, middle grade, and of course...ya fiction.  Fiction and non-fiction.  A different section for each type of book, with decor that would appeal to each age group.  Lots of pillows, cushions, comfy chairs to sit.  I'd host story times for all age groups, and open-mic times where kids of all ages could share their writing.

As far as what to call this non-existent bookstore, I know not.  If I wanted something ultra-cheesy, I'd go with Books-R-Us, or Barns and Nobles.  But I don't.  Since I'm lacking in the name-idea department, please feel free to name my bookstore if you'd like...