Because I just can't leave the running analogies alone...

Remember how I blogged a few weeks ago about the comparison between running a relay like the Wasatch Back and running a marathon? I came to the conclusion that the relay was harder because even though you got breaks, it lasted longer and was therefore more tiring. After this trip to Minnesota (we got back really, really early on Thursday morning and I'm just now in the proper mental state to spend some time at my computer), I'm wondering if I might have been wrong in my original assessment.

The drive up to Minnesota was sort of like running a relay. We got in the car on Wednesday morning (a little more than two weeks ago) and had a pretty long day in the car that day. But we got out several times for meals and bathroom breaks (although I must admit that the little urinal we used when Isaac was in the spica cast is very, very handy for long car trips with toddlers). We pulled into Miner, Missouri (yep) and it's neighboring town of Sikeston for an early dinner at Lambert's Throwed Rolls, a place we've passed many times but never stopped. We arrived at our hotel in Cape Girardeau in time to swim in the pool, watch tv, and explore every square inch of the lobby while we tried to get the littlest kids to bed. The next day, we knew we had about seven more hours in the car to get to Chicago, so we got up early, drove to St. Louis, split up (girls to the arch and the art museum, boys to the zoo), then met up and drove to DeKalb, where my sister lives. Then we took a break for a few days, went into Chicago and hung out in DeKalb before embarking on the next leg of our journey-- the five-hour drive to Minneapolis (and yes, another zoo). The next day we drove five more hours (with yet another zoo trip) to Marshall, where we pretty much stayed put for a little bit more than a week. So it took us six days to get from Houston to Marshall, with only one long driving day, three short driving days, and a lot of stops along the way.

On the way home, we took the marathon approach. We left the house in Minnesota at 4:30am, planning to drive about 15 hours, to Denton, Texas. When we got to the Kansas/Oklahoma border, we decided we were still feeling strong, so we canceled our hotel reservation and just kept driving. Just like the marathon, we did hit the wall about 2/3 of the way through (terrible traffic and thunderstorms near Oklahoma City), but we pulled into our driveway at 12:30am, only 20 hours after getting in the car.

So which way should be the preferred mode of travel? I'm not sure. The first week seemed really long sometimes, but it was also really fun. The last day, although painful, was just one day.

And as a recap, some trip highlights:

States visited: Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas

Zoos visited: St. Louis (still the favorite), Lincoln Park, Minnesota, Zollman Zoo at Oxbow Park, Great Plains

Stuffed animals accumulated: two puffins, a wookie, a fox, a kangaroo

Great moments:

• Catching hot rolls at Lambert's Cafe
• No tears upon leaving the St. Louis Zoo
• Our own tin can elevator up to the top of the Arch
• Ted Drewes-- Bryce even ate his this year without complaining!
• Riding the city bus from the Chicago Art Institute to Lincoln Park and back again (four adults, four children, two strollers!)
• Dinner at the American Girl Cafe
• Aunt Jilly and Uncle Carl getting their taste of parenthood while they took the kids to the movies and the pool and watching them while I went to the gym
  
• Sharing Jilly's strawberry birthday cake
• The dinner salad at Cosetta Italian Market in St. Paul
• Having lunch with friends in Rochester and feeling like it had just been a week instead of three years since we were together
  
• Finally going driving west of Owatonna on Highway 14
• Running in Minnesota-- along the river trails, through the town, at noon in July
  
• Sleeping with the windows open
• Closing the windows because it was too cold
• Taking Annie to Walnut Grove and Plum Creek and watching her get excited about Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Driving along the range in Pipestone and feeling hopeful about all of the windmills
  
• Culvers. Oh how I missed my Turtle Sundaes!
• Annie riding the YMCA waterslide about sixty times
  
• Well-behaved children at the nicest restaurant in Marshall
  
• Roasting hot dogs and marshmallows in Camden State Park
• Watching fireworks
  
• Finally pulling into that driveway!
  

Not so great moments:

• Two kids puking before we left Texas
  
• Maren sitting on my lap and whining while we tried to pick strawberries (Maren did a lot of whining)
• Taste of Chicago with four adults, four kids, two strollers and 95-degree temperatures
  
• Five zoos in seven days is way too many zoos
• Beezus and Ramona
• Hitting a huge thunderstorm in tornado alley
• Maren eating salsa at Marshall's only Mexican restaurant ("hot, hot, hot")
• The outhouse in Camden state park ("There's a sewer down there!")
• Cleaning the car once we got home!
• More than 3000 miles at $4.00/gallon
  
• A car so full of stuff it was sometimes hard to find the kids
• Knowing that we won't be able to go back to Minnesota very soon!