Random Travel Thoughts

A weekend trip to the city inspired in me a number of thoughts on travel.

#1. Driving through farm country would be much more enjoyable without crop dusters flying overhead and dropping carcinogens on the fields. My husband pointed out that I don't know that they are actually spraying poisons- they could be spraying beneficial nematodes. Yeah, right, that's likely. Next...

#2. My brand new- freshly aligned tires will no longer be aligned after driving Interstate 80. I've driven on smoother highways in Third World countries. Even though the 80 is basically a long stretch of potholes and drop-offs, everyone is still in a big hurry and driving 90 miles an hour.

#3. If any member of my family does not have food on a regular basis, they will become a wanker, myself included. We must travel with food at all times, or it will be ugly. My car is crumb covered mess, but in a worst case scenario, we could probably survive for a few days on the food particles under the seats.

#4. It's good to note that in Japantown, most of the food will have some sort of fish taste, whether it actually contains fish or not. (The kids and I were fine with this, poor husband didn't look so impressed.)

#5. An amazing number of children seem to think it is acceptable to walk in front of people who are in the middle of an interactive museum experience, and start messing with it as if you're not even there.

#6. An even larger number of children (and adults) do not have the attention span to read the instructions on interactive museum exhibits, let alone stick around to see what the exhibit is about or does. Instead they just run from display to display pushing buttons in a spastic frenzy that would make an excellent Ritalin commercial.

#7. Art is very subjective. People who take too seriously a canvas that is just painted solid blue can be rather amusing. Really, depth and meaning? It's solid blue- nothing but solid blue. There was a white one too. It, of course, inspired a much different mood.

#8. I think having unreliable internet access is more annoying than having no internet access at all. With spotty service, I just keep trying to get on. I'm failing most times, but since I got on that once, I just know it can be done. If there was just no internet access here, I wouldn't even be wasting time trying in the first place. In fact, I might have just left my laptop at home instead of lugging it on this trip. I'm glad I finally gave up and went on a walk.

#9. My children are great at finding ways to amuse themselves in the car. They're set up with all the travel games, sketch books, car games and hand crafts, but after a while they like to play things like “Let's see if we can hold our breath over every bridge.” Especially interesting over long ones such as the Golden Gate. I hope they didn't lose too many brain cells.

#10. I love traveling with my kids. Truly, I do.