Road Trip

Last weekend, I took my niece on a road trip to her home so she (and I) could attend her sister's baptism. I was a little nervous, as I think I mentioned, because it was 10 hours there and 10 hours back, but it went remarkably well.

So what do you do with your niece for 20 hours in a car?
-study physics. I am pleased to say I do remember some of what I learned 20 years ago, although it may not have been super helpful to my niece.
-expound on the consequences of a lack of dancing among Puritans. I'm pretty sure the world would be a more peaceful place if they had just danced a little more.
- read more pages than you have to for Linguistics (my niece, not me)
-discuss the woes of being a college student, such as deciding on a major and a career and LIFE! (Good news? You actually can get do-overs. Majors and careers are a lot more squishy than you'd think).
-name rock formations that probably already have names, but ours were way more fun, like Jabba the Hut and Platypus Rock.
-sleep (No, not me. I was driving, remember?)
-stay awake by eating lots of carrots (this was me). And I did have plenty of other snacks, most of which were fairly healthy. Let it not be said that road-tripping with me is bad eating.
-enjoy the beautiful scenery and then get really sad that you can't pull over and photograph it. (SO many great fall colors! And the landscape was the perfect backdrop for those colors!)
-Spontaneously name your GPS Georgina and try to convince her that you aren't starting your trip from Chicago.
-discuss the world situation and come up with solutions*
-review American Heritage homework. I was pleased with their curriculum but slightly disappointed (and also relieved) that the infamous "nailing jelly to a wall" quote has been de-emphasized.**
-conduct physics experiments (which counted for her homework assignment)

The worst part of the whole trip was being about 30 miles from home and getting stuck in traffic on the highway. We took an hour to go 5 miles or so. It was soooooooooo annoying. Apparently it was because of construction, but when we got to the actual construction, we zipped right along. I do not understand traffic.

Anyway, it was a delightful (though exhausting***) trip and totally worth it. There were lots of hugs from kids, there was a baby to adore, I got to see another niece perform with her flag team and take great pictures with my new lens, and now I can't wait for Christmas when I get to go back!

Fine, yes, I did pull over and take pictures. But only once!

*US President, North Korean President, or whatever he is called, Dr. Phil, and a ball pit. I think this could work. 
**When I took the class, they were very taken with this phrase - or something like that. Nailing jelly to something. Apparently Washington or some other revolutionary bigwig said it, and I swear we talked about it incessantly.
***Why is sitting in one place for long periods of time so tiring?