"That's because she's not a boy"

This past weekend my children didn't listen when it was time to get off the Nintendo Wii. They had just gotten a new Star Wars Lego Wii game and were pretty engrossed in it. As my wife was getting upset about it, my 3-year old chimed in and asked if he could play with my iPod touch. My wife was a little frustrated and in an angry moment exclaimed (for the Nth time) "Ugh, I hate the Wii" (she really doesn't, she likes Wii Fit).

As she stepped away, I looked at my 7-year old and quietly commented "Mommy doesn't like videogames".

He immediately said, so matter-of-factly "That's because she's not a boy."

He's so right. :)

Hotel learnings, Pt. 1

This is what I've learned after two days of getting hotels on the road, coupled with a lot of other knowledge along the way.

Hotwire is good. They get great deals on unused inventory. We stayed at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark. Hiltons though, in general, are over-rated. This was considered a four-star hotel, but the room was decidedly two to three-star at best. The only four-star feature of the hotel was the doorman and the lobby bar. I knew when Hotwire said they had a four-star property downtown for $59 it was going to be a Hilton. A quick visit to the Hilton site, showed a $199 rate, so I feel pretty vindicated. My biggest issue with Hilton is they nickle-and-dime you for everything. Internet is $9.99 / day. Parking was $16/day, or $24 for valet. I couldn't leave my car for 10 minutes to unload, and had to drive to the parking garage and then schlep my stuff across the street.

I had considered using my Starwood or other points, but $59 for a 4-star hotel seemed like a better cash exchange.

Tonight we're staying in a Baymont Inn, and honestly the room is just as nice as the Hilton. Perhaps the bedding is of a lesser grade, or the mattress not as high-end, but the room has everything, AS WELL AS a fridge, which the Hilton did not. You can't possibly expect to get 4-stars and not have a minibar, in my humble opinion. Oh, and this hotel has free internet and free parking, right outside my window, for $69. And my children are just as happen. I booked this hotel on the travel site from my company using my corporate discount (we are allowed to use this discount for personal travel). Its the same rate as a AAA rate, but I don't have my card and didn't want to be asked for it. Add the free breakfast tomorrow, and I think its overall a better deal than the Hilton, and my kids like this one just fine (I asked them and they didn't have a strong opinion).

Now I'm also setting a precedent with $60 and $70 (+tax, license, dock-fee and registration) hotels, versus $40 hotels, but I've seen those, and I've stayed in those, and they are scary. I don't need to save $20 or $30 and be in a dump.

Kayak.com, Expedia, and Travelocity are also excellent, as is word-of-mouth. I'll add more details as I know them. Oh, and all things considered, the Hilton was barely worth it at $59 a night.

OK, we'll see what happens with Oklahoma City or perhaps Amarillo tomorrow night (or Elk City or Clinton), depending on what time we get out of here, health of my kids, and bathroom stops.

Update from the middle of America

Literally. We're in Rolla, Missouri. Take a look at a map of the US and you'll see it's pretty close to the center.

It's also very close to where we stayed last night, St. Louis.

Now that might be fine, if, for example, we had a ton of activities in St. Louis, and then maybe did some other ones along the way. But that's not what happened. My oldest son got sick; like a flu with a high fever. So we were just able to get out of the hotel this morning by noon. Then we did the following routein:

1. Drove for a while.
2. Stop to go to the bathroom.
3. Repeat.

He was really feeling sick, so at the last stop, a Steak and Shake (I've never actually been to one before) in Rolla, MO, I asked him if he wanted to keep going or get a hotel and sleep. He said "hotel", so I asked the waitress for a recommendation and she actually knew of a great one that was safe, nice, and reasonably priced. A few validations on the Internet and I wound up booking it through our corporate travel department for $69, and it's actually very comfortable. It's the Baymont Inn & Suites in Rolla, and includes free breakfast, which I learned this morning saves a minimum of $10 since you aren't even tempted to go to the Starbucks in the lobby, even if you have a room full of food. It probably saves more if you have no food in your room. Ah, that reminds me of a post I need to do about saving money on hotels on the road.

So we are 416 miles from our start, with 1396 more miles to go. If my oldest son is healthier tomorrow, we can hit the road reasonably early and go for a long day, since there's nothing major along the route. Regretfully we've abandoned the route I was hoping to take, which was through Memphis and then Arkansas. I'll have to visit Memphis another time. For now we're taking the most direct route, albeit with some diversions on to the old Route 66.

OK, the kids are eating pizza (delivered from Imo's and its surprisingly good). My oldest son is feeling better, so I think we're going to brave a quick Walmart trip after pizza. Then I'm going to put them to sleep, do some photo processing, charge my camera gear, and plan tomorrow's route... But first some hotel guidance... (next post)

Lessons learned when road-tripping with a 7 and 5-year-old...

Today started Day 1 of a multi-day journey home; specifically from Chicago to Scottsdale.

We got a much later start than I would have liked, but it was pouring and traffic was miserable in Chicago, so there was little I could have done anyway.

First lesson was that I bought and brought too much food. This isn't camping, it's driving, and you are never far away from another 2 apples if you need them. Also, my playmate igloo cooler is too small; it only fits 6 drinks, I need more space.

I have this amazing Verizona wireless card and it worked brilliantly in the car. The kids were using their favorite web sites and staying thoroughly entertained. I need to research more how they can both share the same WAN card, since creating a small peer-to-peer network didn't work. I'm sure I can figure it out after a few minutes online.

I need to buy a bathing suit, chapstick, kid-safe shampoo, and a CF card reader since I seem to be missing mine.

So what did I really learn this first day?

Visiting the Lincoln Museum in Springfield was kind of heavy. The kids were definitely traumatized by the exhibit depicting a slave auction. They also weren't particularly into the period pieces nor the history of the civil war in general.

This post got auto-saved, so now let me update everything with Day 2. The agenda has dramatically changed...

How do I get my 5-year old to be in a picture?

Aaron refuses.
I used to as well as a child. Now I regret it, but I think I
understand his brain.
I'm thinking of resorting to bribery, but he hasn't told me what he
wants yet. I'm not going to get mad about it. That *never* works
with him.

More later

Rows and rows of corn

I never realized Illinois was such a corn state as well, but that's
all you see driving south on Route 55. I wonder if it looked like
this when dricing on route 66?

Aaron needs his glasses adjusted. They are missing a nose pad.

I'm still not sure if we're going to be one night or 2 in St. Louis or
if we'll make it in time for the arch and river cruise.

And the last key question is do I use Starwood points or Hotwire?
They have a 4-star for $59 plus taxes. I'll book one night when we
get to Springfield...

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Sent from my mobile device

The road trip has begun and through the first toll

Wayyyy late start. 10:22 in Deerfield.. Next stop, Springfield, I'll.

Its raining. Traffic is heavy... Guitar Hero music is playing..
Uh oh!
Forgot the guitars...

Ok, returned to base, got the guitars and one other thing. Back on
the road at 10:37...

Want to play Guitar Hero in the hotel. :)

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Almost in the zone; Aaron was on his V-Smile, Ilan was using my laptop
and Verizon card to go to Nick Jr.

Then 'can not install missing plug-in'. I had to pull over to
manually install because it would not install from IE or Firefox.

3D Vidia player... Updating extra components...

It may be working...back to our route....

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Sent from my mobile device