Day 1 of our 2021 summer vacation is in the books!
Slightly anticlimactic, as the first day of a long road trip usually is. 🙂
It started like this, around 8:45 a.m:
Today’s highlights included….
* Driving through parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and a smidge of Pennsylvania.
* Chicago traffic (not too bad on a Saturday, though!)
* A lunch stop at Chipotle that took way too long (thanks entire soccer team in line in front of us)
* A short but heavy rainstorm in Ohio
* Mild/moderate panic when I could NOT find a hotel room for us to stop at for the night!!!! We always just “wing” the first night, depending on how far we make it… well, everything from Cleveland to Erie was completely sold out. Finally found a Quality Inn on another highway that required a little detour, but it worked (and was LITERALLY the only option). phew! Definitely going to book something now for the way home.
* Made it to Hermitage, Pennsylvania with time to spare at a Buffalo Wild Wings for quick beers/appetizer snack before bed. My dad and Ivan were impressed with the local (new to them) beer selection, too and fit in several samples. 🙂
Next stop… Bennington, Vermont! Our first “real” stop of the trip.
Daily gratitude: I am grateful we finally found a hotel room last night!!! It was def not amazing but it was fine for a quick one night stop.
GRATEFUL KAE 
what a scare not have a room to sleep at night. hahaha… I would never do that (not booking before leaving home). hahah…. glad you found one. day 1 seems fun!
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Oh my gosh HOW in the world were you okay traveling without a pre-booked hotel? My parents who just left for Colorado yesterday always stop in Nebraska on the way out. They booked their hotel two weeks ago and if it weren’t for my mom’s elite status she was doubtful that she would have gotten a room. Everyone is traveling again and hotels are just not empty anymore. You definitely need to make sure that you book something for the trip back. Also, are your parents driving with you or are they in a separate vehicle??
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Hahaha, well…. In my defense, we have been doing road trips for years and years and we ALWAYS just reserve a hotel that afternoon for the evening once we get a better feel for how far we will actually drive that day… and I have never, ever run into this problem before!! So I was shocked! But I think you’re definitely right, its probably due to more people traveling again than usual (and Saturday night…). I have had all our other lodging reserved for many months, so I think we should be okay for the rest of the trip! I’m usually an “overplanner” if anything regarding travel. 🙂 My parents are driving in a separate vehicle. We could technically fit in one but it’s much more comfortable for all + luggage in two. 🙂 we only do one if it’s a quicker/short trip. Hope your parents have a wonderful trip! Colorado is so amazing.
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I am glad you found a room. Yikes! I wouldn’t have thought that hotels would be SO booked up, especially in areas that aren’t big tourist destinations! I guess everyone wants to be out and about right now. Good call to book something for the ride home.
So fun that take your parents with on your trips. We do the same thing as my parents are fun to travel with and very helpful! We have gone to Florida w/ them twice and next February we plan to go to Tucson when they are there visiting my sister. They went for 2 weeks last year to meet my niece and plan to do it again so we’ll meet up with them and stay in the same condo complex, hopefully!
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