Lack of money, the expense of a trip, medical needs, handicap accessibility, and the reality of travel with a very large family kept us in Ohio. This summer was our last chance to do a family trip before kids start moving away for college, missions, or marriage. We saved our pennies and made our plans. We booked an entire floor of an old mission in upstate New York last November. Last week it was trip time. I would love to say it was an easy, perfectly smooth trip, but it was a lot of work, some unexpected issues, and a bundle of wonderful memory making.
Thursday morning grandma and grandpa arrived at our house and we loaded our 12 passenger van and their small car with everything for the 14 of us for 3 days. There was food, clothing, medical supplies, a wheelchair, stroller, snacks, glow sticks, new audio cds, and one backpack of activities for each child packed by the children themselves. It felt like unloading a clown car in the circus at each rest stop. A parade of 14 people, mostly children, stretching legs, using the bathroom, and then loading right back in the van to leave again. The trip from Ohio to New York is 6.5 hours without stops. It took us 8 hours.
We ran into some problems with the Airbnb (not clean, outdated/gross showers in some rooms, lack of air conditioning in a couple bedrooms and the living spaces in hot July weather even though we asked specifically about that when making our reservation, a fridge full of expired and moldy food from past guests), but we really had no other options. We made it work.
Thursday evening after we got in we drove 30 minutes to eat dinner at McDonalds and do a small grocery trip at WalMart in the nearest small town.
Friday morning we did medical care we usually do in the afternoons for an hour and a half, then got everyone ready to leave for the entire day. We drove an hour north to the Palmyra, NY area. Lunch was Wendys. Then it was time for sightseeing at church history sites (Smith Family Homes, the Sacred Grove, the Palmyra Temple, the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center). We had a wonderful day.
In the evening we settled in to our seats to watch The Hill Cumorah Pageant, and outdoor performance on a giant stage with a cast of more than 700. It was amazing. After our hour drive back to the place we were staying it was 12:30am Saturday morning. Everyone went to sleep for a few hours.
The official Saturday morning started with another hour and a half medical care for Mason while everyone else packed everything, including lunches, and loaded vehicles. Then we were on the road by 9am heading to Niagara Falls. The only words to describe the falls are powerful and amazing. We had long, hot lines to wait in to get down to the Maid of the Mist, a boat ride that takes you around the bottoms of the falls. It was worth the lines!
The rest of the day was traveling home, eating our packed lunches on the road and stopping for dinner. We pulled in at our house at 10:30pm, 13.5 hours after we left the Airbnb in New York. We were exhausted, but happily so. Sunday was spent recovering, unpacking, and washing mountains of laundry.
Food we packed or picked up at a grocery store in NY:
- bagels
- bread
- milk
- Nutella
- oatmeal packets
- lunchmeat
- fresh fruit
- chips
Snacks we packed:
- candy
- pretzels
- oreo type cookies
- cheese crackers
Fun Fact: Eating out is not cheap for a large family. We ate out 4 times over the 3 days. The rest of the meals we packed or prepared at the AirBNB we stayed at. The restaurant food for the 12 of us (not grandma and grandpa) cost as follows:
- McDonalds - $72
- Wendys - $73
- Dinner at the Pageant by the local Kiwanis Club - $71
- Ice cream at the Pageant by the local Kiwanis Club - $24
- Chick Fil A - $80
Wow! What a great trip. We loved Niagara Falls when we saw it. We didn't go on the boat and did the Cave of Winds instead. Sorry your airbnb wasn't perfect.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
Sounds like a good trip. I hope you get some kind of refund on the Airbnb!
ReplyDeleteJust thinking about the logistics of your trip makes me want to stay home forever! :) We've taken a few big trips over the past few years, and they are so, so, so much work. But the kids LOVE them. I'm not sure how we make that happen. I'll bet your kids are already wishing there were another big family trip in the works. I'm super impressed that you managed so many meals out, and kept it to only about $300. And I'm with Josette in hoping Airbnb compensates you for that bad experience!
ReplyDelete