From SW Missouri to SW Washington in June 2015

[muttleynfelix]

No we would not be driving with MIL.  (2 weeks with MIL... eek)

[Deleted]

Frontier is adding St Lois nonstop to Portland... I believe I read. 

Will MIL not go then? 

[Deleted]

Jul 9, 2014 15:15:11 GMT -5 muttleynfelix said:

Jul 9, 2014 14:42:34 GMT -5 oped said:

Are you driving with MIL? 

Eta: I went back and reread. Yeah, I missed some the first time! But still didn't see if mil will drive with you? 

I dont ont understand why the thought of an sit plane ride is frightening you, but days on end in a car isnt? Not trying to be discouraging! But that's a long drive with young kids.

Because I know how my kids are in the car - good. I know how my kids are when I try to get them to "sit still" (as in not run up and down the aisle) during church. I know how my kids are sitting in a dr waiting room.  I know how they do in the car ... I can extrapolate from church and dr. office how they might be in an airport or on a plane.   The only time my DD sits remotely still is when she is getting a bottle at bedtime or nap time.  She squirms in her high chair. If she is strapped in a car seat, she has books, she has toys, she fights with her brother, but I know how she acts. 

But the plane will be more like the car than church, particularly if you are taking their car seats. And there are tricks.

i don't want to discourage driving. I just think its a long trip with those ages. 

[Lizard Queen]

We drove from Michigan through Chicago to Wisconsin, checked out Taliesin, and spent the night. Drove through Iowa and nighted in Nebraska. Then, caught a corner of Wyoming and spent the night in Colorado Springs. Checked out the 4 corners, stopped in Flagstaff and stayed in Scottsdale. Then, on to Taos after that. It was an awesome road trip, though driving through Nebraska was DULL.  It would have been < 4 days had we not stopped at various places, but what's the fun in that? We didn't stop anywhere but the hotel in Nebraska, and that was the worst part of the trip. There's probably something cool or goofy to see there.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Jul 9, 2014 15:11:39 GMT -5 muttleynfelix said:

Jul 9, 2014 15:05:50 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

What I would do is look again at one of those bigger airports and see if you can get a direct flight.  Then plan on either staying overnight before or after the trip at a hotel near the property.  This kills 2 birds with one stone.  You'll get free (or very much discounted long term parking) and you don't have to get on the road after getting off of your flight.

Unless something has changed from 2008, you cannot get a direct flight from Missouri to Portland. 

That is why I suggested looking at one of the bigger airports, not just out of Missouri and not just into Portland...for instance, you might want to consider flying into Seattle.  I'm not sure what you have in your area, but it might be worth a 3 hour drive for a direct flight.

[giramomma]

I'm a dork, and procrastinating with work now. It looks like a 30 hour drive one way. I couldn't/wouldn't do the trip in two weeks, unless you only planned to stay with your SIL for like 2 nights max.  When we road trip we do two days at 6-7 hours of driving, and then max 4 hours everyday after.  Or drive for a few days, and stay in one city for 2 nights, and then move on to another city. Packing and unpacking a car daily gets old. We even have it down to a science about how we pack.

Honestly, I'd plan for 2.5 weeks. That's what we did when we took a 24 hour driving trip, and we were still rushed at the end.

We are doing a 21 hour driving trip next summer, and I'm hoping to take three weeks. This will likely be the only time we take the kids out east. We also have a place to stay for one third of our trip.

ETA: Would you consider driving through the night? Or would that be too much time sitting for your DH? I knew one family that did the trip to Florida (24 hours) in two days. But they left at 9 pm at night and one parent drove all night and then the other one drove the next day.

[tcu2003]

What about flying out of DFW? We just did the DFW- Portland flight with DS last month, and it was fine. Just enough time on the plane for him to people watch, take a short nap, eat snacks, play on the iPad, and then land. You could drive down to Dallas the day before, sightsee (LEGOLAND, SeaLife Aquarium and a couple of other things are fairly close to the airport), then fly out, spend a week or so up in the Pacific NW, and fly back. And seriously, don't be scared of flying with the kiddos - you can do it! 

So I would fly, but I hate road trips, and C hates them more than I do - the kid throws a fit in his carseat on road trips between Texas and Kansas, so there's no way I'd do one that long. But your kiddos like the car better than mine.  

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

I'm a road tripper* who would totally do that trip with kids and with sightseeing along the way. Another option is to drive straight out, then meander back home after the visit. I find I feel more pressure to stay on schedule when we do sightseeing on the way to a particular destination than I do if we save our stops for the ride home. It also makes the ride home more fun and less onerous and depressing.


*stupid Autocorrect insisted that I really wanted "roast ripper" rather than "road tripper", LOL LOL LOL!!! Is a "roast ripper" even a thing??

[muttleynfelix]

Jul 9, 2014 15:18:47 GMT -5 oped said:

Frontier is adding St Lois nonstop to Portland... I believe I read. 

Will MIL not go then? 

If we aren't flying from the local airport, we'll pitch in for MILs flight if she wants to fly or she may drive. It depends on the BILs what they are doing.  

[muttleynfelix]

Jul 9, 2014 15:35:49 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Jul 9, 2014 15:11:39 GMT -5 muttleynfelix said:

Unless something has changed from 2008, you cannot get a direct flight from Missouri to Portland. 

That is why I suggested looking at one of the bigger airports, not just out of Missouri and not just into Portland...for instance, you might want to consider flying into Seattle.  I'm not sure what you have in your area, but it might be worth a 3 hour drive for a direct flight.

It is a 7-8 hour drive to Dallas or a 8-9 hour drive to Chicago.  Chicago could work since my sister lives fairly close to O'Hare.  

[muttleynfelix]

It is tough to get an idea of plane ticket prices since kayak doesn't flights up yet for June of next year.  The thought of spending a day in the car and then a half day to a day in an airport/plane coming and going doesn't feel like fun to me. I'll put it on the list of options. 

But the plane will be more like the car than church, particularly if you are taking their car seats. And there are tricks.

The plane I could see being like the car, but the airport? How do you entertain a toddler who never sits still in an airport? How do you keep the toddler the 5.5 year old, carry the car seats and not stress out and piss off the other travelers?

 In 2008, when I last looked at flights there was not a direct flight from Springfield, Tulsa, KC, or STL to Portland.  They all laid over, most of them in Denver.  We had layovers of a couple hours coming and going.  On the way home, the flight out of Portland was delayed and we missed our connecting flight in Denver.  We had a 3 hours layover in Denver. I was about to stab my eyes out without worrying about 2 little kids. 

And seriously, don't be scared of flying with the kiddos - you can do it!

It isn't so much the flying, it is getting to the airport, checking in, going through security, dragging 2 kids, dragging car seats, dragging luggage, renting a car, etc.  I've flown 3 times in my life, I'm not exactly proficient at going through the airport by myself.  DH has only flown commercial a handful of times (he flew a few times in the military as he was stationed in Germany). 

[Deleted]

You take a backpack of little toys and games you dole out every 10 minutes. You take along electronic distractions. You feed them. You slip them some Benadryl...

You know your kids best. At that age, to me 30 hr (is that both ways?) in a car would be the worse to contemplate  

[Deleted]

And it's not just driving either... It's checking in and out of hotels, carting toys, etc in and out every day, doing laundry on the road... 

[muttleynfelix]

Frontier is adding St Lois nonstop to Portland... I believe I read.

They say they have it, but when I throw in ficticious dates, they still send me to Denver for a 3-4hr layover coming going. 

[Deleted]

I think it just started this month... Might take a few.

[muttleynfelix]

Jul 9, 2014 21:15:14 GMT -5 oped said:

And it's not just driving either... It's checking in and out of hotels, carting toys, etc in and out every day, doing laundry on the road... 

But I've done that with them.   

[muttleynfelix]

I through in dates for October (just for an estimate, their schedule only goes to the middle of December) and all it gave me was flights with a 3 hr layover. 

[Deleted]

More power to you! I thought it was great with 12/14 yr olds, but I don't have the energy to even contemplate it with toddlers

[muttleynfelix]

If there is a direct flight from STL to Portland for less than $300 a person, I'll certainly consider it.  We got back from our vacation and said no way, we are not driving to Oregon and less than 2 months later we are saying lets do it. So, I don't know. I want to be able to get a budget in mind and figure out how the hell we are going to pay for it. There is part of me is like no way can we swing this, but most of me is saying that we have to go no matter what. 

[Deleted]

Jul 9, 2014 21:07:13 GMT -5 muttleynfelix said:

It is tough to get an idea of plane ticket prices since kayak doesn't flights up yet for June of next year.  The thought of spending a day in the car and then a half day to a day in an airport/plane coming and going doesn't feel like fun to me. I'll put it on the list of options. 

But the plane will be more like the car than church, particularly if you are taking their car seats. And there are tricks.

The plane I could see being like the car, but the airport? How do you entertain a toddler who never sits still in an airport? How do you keep the toddler the 5.5 year old, carry the car seats and not stress out and piss off the other travelers?

 In 2008, when I last looked at flights there was not a direct flight from Springfield, Tulsa, KC, or STL to Portland.  They all laid over, most of them in Denver.  We had layovers of a couple hours coming and going.  On the way home, the flight out of Portland was delayed and we missed our connecting flight in Denver.  We had a 3 hours layover in Denver. I was about to stab my eyes out without worrying about 2 little kids. 

And seriously, don't be scared of flying with the kiddos - you can do it!

It isn't so much the flying, it is getting to the airport, checking in, going through security, dragging 2 kids, dragging car seats, dragging luggage, renting a car, etc.  I've flown 3 times in my life, I'm not exactly proficient at going through the airport by myself.  DH has only flown commercial a handful of times (he flew a few times in the military as he was stationed in Germany). 

I took a 2 yo, 5 yo and 7 yo to Disney on my own - flight, rental car, hotel, and the parks....you have 2 adults and 2 toddlers, I think you can handle it.  I agree with the others - spending that many hours in a car would be torture unless you stop every 3-4 hours, which means your trip will take forever.

[muttleynfelix]

I agree with the others - spending that many hours in a car would be torture unless you stop every 3-4 hours, which means your trip will take forever.

Well the point of the trip if we drove would be for it take a while and to site see.  So, we'd do one long do western KS/eastern CO.  Then drive to Estes Park. The next day would start a cycle of doing something in the morning and driving in the afternoon with the goal of driving ~300 miles each day.  We'd spend 3 days at my SIL's house. The drive back would be slightly different because we would visit friends in Spokane, a relative in Great Falls (assuming she can get time off since she's military), then do a long day from Great Falls to Rapid City. Spend the day in the Mt. Rushmore area, then take 2 days to drive the 900 miles home.

After our trip to Florida, I don't want to do 2 - 500 mile days in a row and try to visit people. 

[Deleted]

Jul 10, 2014 9:41:58 GMT -5 muttleynfelix said:

I agree with the others - spending that many hours in a car would be torture unless you stop every 3-4 hours, which means your trip will take forever.

Well the point of the trip if we drove would be for it take a while and to site see.  So, we'd do one long do western KS/eastern CO.  Then drive to Estes Park. The next day would start a cycle of doing something in the morning and driving in the afternoon with the goal of driving ~300 miles each day.  We'd spend 3 days at my SIL's house. The drive back would be slightly different because we would visit friends in Spokane, a relative in Great Falls (assuming she can get time off since she's military), then do a long day from Great Falls to Rapid City. Spend the day in the Mt. Rushmore area, then take 2 days to drive the 900 miles home.

After our trip to Florida, I don't want to do 2 - 500 mile days in a row and try to visit people. 

my only comment on your itinerary would be the last 2 days of your drive home.  I would break that up into 3 days somehow.  also, Estes Park (took my kids there when they were 4, 7, 9) would need more than a day I think.

[giramomma]

Jul 10, 2014 9:41:58 GMT -5 muttleynfelix said:

I agree with the others - spending that many hours in a car would be torture unless you stop every 3-4 hours, which means your trip will take forever.

Well the point of the trip if we drove would be for it take a while and to site see.  So, we'd do one long do western KS/eastern CO.  Then drive to Estes Park. The next day would start a cycle of doing something in the morning and driving in the afternoon with the goal of driving ~300 miles each day.  We'd spend 3 days at my SIL's house. The drive back would be slightly different because we would visit friends in Spokane, a relative in Great Falls (assuming she can get time off since she's military), then do a long day from Great Falls to Rapid City. Spend the day in the Mt. Rushmore area, then take 2 days to drive the 900 miles home.

After our trip to Florida, I don't want to do 2 - 500 mile days in a row and try to visit people. 

I think 300 miles is too much. That's 4+ hours of driving, with stops for meals/bathroom that's 5 at least. That gives you an hour or two to sight see at the most. I don't know how long you want to spend at all the places. An hour for Mt Rushmore is fine. Don't know if you want to rush through all places like that. Now, my kids also max out at visiting one or two places a day.

We found that on long vacations the kids really value time in the pool. They don't always want to be checked out of the hotel room by 8. If we do, they want to be assured that they get an early dinner (5pm) and time in the pool before bedtime.

[wvugurl26]

On Southwest's website I threw in random days in September. They have one non stop daily between KC and Portland no layovers. $274 round trip and you get bags for free.

[Abby Normal]

I think for me it would come down to whether I wanted to spend time sightseeing on the way, or sightseeing at the destination.  DH and I are distance drivers but doing it with young kids is totally different.  You need to plan a lot of time if you are going to stop and enjoy things on the way.  With kids that young, I think I'd rather fly and then go explore the area. I'd take a couple days and go over to the Oregon Coast.

[tcu2003]

My kiddo loves the airport (he's 2, and has since 4-ish months old on his first flight). He can watch planes, watch people, run around and burn energy, have snacks, walk laps, etc. And on your way home, the Portland airport has a kid area past security near the food court - it was freaking awesome! Lego table with Legos, steering wheel/car type stationary toy, abacus-type toy, etc. Also a tv with a kid staton on (no idea what because C wasn't remotely interested in that).

[TrixAre4Kids]

Sounds to me like you want to drive. Here is a website to find odd and amusing stuff to look at along the way:


www.roadsideamerica.com/

[muttleynfelix]

Jul 14, 2014 20:58:12 GMT -5 TrixAre4Kids said:

Sounds to me like you want to drive. Here is a website to find odd and amusing stuff to look at along the way:


www.roadsideamerica.com/

We go back and forth. If we can really get a non-stop flight out of STL or KC for $300 per person or less, then I think we are currently leaning towards that.  The prospect of spending $400-$500 per ticket and having a 3 hour layover in Denver with DD was scaring the crap out of us.