Road trip!
We took a summer driving trip from Minneapolis to Chicago with our eldest grandchild, age 8, stopping at Wisconsin Dells on the way there and Madison on the way back. This was a very special time—it was the first time we have had a grandchild solo for so long (five days), and it was a chance to connect in ways that are hard to achieve otherwise. A small example: Some of my earliest memories are of Chicago and environs, having spent part of my childhood living there. By happenstance, our grandson came to share one of these memories: At the Shedd Aquarium, he noticed the the very fun name of the state fish of Hawaii, the humu humu nuku nuku apua’a. Sixty-plus years ago I learned and loved this name in the same place. Who woulda thought?
New and renewed experiences
Travel with a grandchild is also a chance to have some new experiences yourself. So that he could do them, I did things on this trip that I would NEVER do on my own:
• Ride the 6-story Howlin Tornado water slide at Great Wolf Lodge (in fact, I would never go to Great Wolf Lodge, or any water park, or ride any water slide on my own!)
• Ride in a virtual reality machine that turns upside down.
• Visit a house of mirrors (two of them).
• Grandpa got in on the act, too—emphatically not with the above (!), but going to an arcade.
I can’t in good conscience recommend any of those adventures to everyone—they could be hazardous for all kinds of health reasons. But the trip was also a chance to do things I haven’t done in ages, and to enjoy them way more doing them with our grandson than I would have on my own, like:
• Visit Chicago museums (Shedd, Field, Griffin).
• Go to a cave (Cave of the Mounds near Madison, Wisconsin).
• Eat deep-dish pizza.
• Visit The Bean.
Before you go
• Before undertaking such a trip, be sure you have the mental and physical stamina. For us, it was 6 AM to 9 PM of pretty much non-stop activity or conversation.
• Not every grandparent/grandchild pair is ready for traveling together. Could be too expensive, or personality or interest clash, or not enough relationship established, or not enough history taking care of the child to build the parents’ trust. If any these is the case, see ideas on the blog for lots of OTHER fun things to do with your grandkid(s)!
• Think and plan carefully about what your particular grandchild would like. Young kids can handle some time doing things designed for older people, but not too much. For example, we started the Chicago leg of our trip with a 75-minute architecture boat tour, which fortunately wasn’t any longer. (Much to my surprise, however, our grandson later commented, “The boat tour is a good thing to do at the start…because if you do it at the start, then you get to know Chicago a lot better.”)
En route
• Be sure to stay fueled. In our grandson’s case this required an astounding amount of food. Carry snacks and water.
• We relegated screen time to the car—which meant there were zero complaints about the drive time and no interference with other activities.
From the grandkid's perspective
Anyway, I had a great time, and so did Grandpa. But did our grandson have a good time, too? Yes! In his own words:
On food: “I really liked my quesadilla. And the deep dish pizza was good. I really liked the pancakes and waffles. That was basically all I had for breakfast. I really liked the milkshake. I really liked the Impossible Burger and fries, too.”
On hotels: “I think my favorite one was Great Wolf Lodge because of the arcade and all that stuff. I bet that [kids] would like the hide-a-beds.” (Philosopher Grandma has to add a few caveats for grandparents: Thin-walled hotel rooms, expensive food, hidden fees…be aware!)
On what NOT to miss, for kids: “I would recommend the Great Wolf Lodge because there’s an arcade a lot of other fun stuff, like a ton of water slides…I would say they shouldn’t miss the Shedd Aquarium. Same with the Griffin. And well, everything, basically.”
On what to AVOID, for kids: “If you lose on the flying ride at the Griffin, then it says, ‘Better luck next time, rookie.’ So don’t lose. [If you do lose?, asks Philosopher Grandma] “…throw a tantrum and destroy the game.”*
On missing your family: “Yeah. But I could FaceTime them and stuff and text them…so it wasn’t that bad.”
Advice for grandparents: “Don’t do the Howlin Tornado, OK? Because you’ll be howling.”
*For the record, no such thing happened, or would!
Philosopher Grandma Readers: What advice or great ideas do you have for traveling solo with grandchildren?