Summer Trips (with a 5 year-old!)

This summer, hubby and I have decided to take our 5 year-old grandson on two great adventures of his short, sweet lifetime.

He is absolutely in love with trains, addicted to Thomas the Train by age 3, he’s been filling the family room with wooden tracks since he opened his first boxed train set. Acknowledging that love, we decided that a BIG train ride was in order.

It has been a very long time since grandma and grandpa rode a train. For me, the most memorable train ride was in 1981 from Indianapolis to Minneapolis and back within 24 hours. This wasn’t a joy ride. I took this trip to catch up with the communications theorist I was relying upon for my doctoral dissertation. He happened to be addressing a conference in the Twin Cities and could offer me one hour of his time. I took him up on it and made the whirlwind trip without enjoying much of the scenery, happy to be given an audience with this world renowned writer.

We decided that a trip to Chicago would be a great way to spend a day with the grandson. But, as I ploughed through Amtrak’s website I became increasingly confused by the host of accommodations, prices and on-train options. What didn’t confuse me was the realization that spending eight hours on a train with a 5 year-old required more patience than grandpa and I could muster.

I searched for a date that would allow us a family sleeping room primarily so we could contain the chaos that was bound to ensue two hours in to an eight hour ride. Then, we would need a hotel room somewhere near the train station with the intention of turning around and heading back the very next day. This was clearly becoming our worst idea of the year!

Poking around the myriad of train options, I came across La Crosse, Wisconsin. This was a destination to be envied! Just a few hours from home, it offered a lovely opportunity for scenery without the endless hours of time on a train with a crazed child. It offered lunch and a few brief hours of strolling around town before we would need to return. It allowed the perfect balance of time on the train with time on the ground and hopefully, if we work it right, time for a nap!

So we settled on it -- La Crosse it would be. Now all we have to do is pick the dates, buy the tickets, pack up the kid and be on time for our St. Paul departure. Not as simple as it sounds, but surely it beats a 16 hour round-trip to Chicago even if the museums there are fabulous. We’ll do that when he’s eleven!

The other grand adventure we’re planning is to visit Duluth harbor when the Tall Ships are in port, August 1st - 4th. We of course decided this after seeing the write-up in the Sunday paper, by which time all the hotel rooms within a ten mile radius had already been filled. I was whining about my dilemma to a friend at work who said, “Why don’t you use our cabin? It is just 30 minutes outside of Duluth!” I couldn’t believe my ears. Such a deal, we would use her very rustic cabin, for free no less, and have a wonderful quiet retreat from the noise and excitement of the day spent with the madding crowds along the harbor. It will be splendid.

The down side is that the cabin has no running water and thus, only an out-house for life’s necessities. This will be good, we thought. We know how to manage with just an out-house and teaching our grandson how to rough it will be a great life lesson for him as well!

We’ll see how this goes. Both trips are coming up in August and grandma and grandpa are clearly more excited than the 5 year-old who barely understands the implications of travel with extended family. This could be wonderful, this could be terrible!

I am hopeful about these trips because I believe that time spent with grandparents teaches (or can teach) kids things that are not as easily learned when in the presence of their parents alone. Some of these lessons include:

• Gaining the perspective of another generation
• Seeing places that may not appeal to mom and dad
• Trying new foods that would usually not be on the family’s menu at home
• Stretching to learn new things and experience fresh ideas
• Experiencing the history of a place through the eyes of older people
  

I am confident these summer excursions will test the metal of both my husband and I but the gifts they will give us will out-weigh any discomfort or distress a 5 year-old can impose on his loving and proud grandparents.