Entries tagged with “road trip” from Car & Caboodle

Our family is currently planning for a road trip and gathering supplies. We'll be travelling in our brand new black Honda Odyssey van which we adore. Sadly, so do all the little birdies. It's as if they were waiting for us to get as large and as black a vehicle as possible, so they could do their thing. Usually on the way home from the carwash.

Much as I adored the 101 Dalmations series I'd rather not drive around in a vehicle that looks like it should be chasing a firetruck. Which is why I was overjoyed to find the Red Hot Shop at Target, filled with road trip supplies for the month of July.

While perusing the selection of limited time boutique items ( this months' theme has everything from cute Orla Kiely journals to retro cameras and game tins) I came across the Grumpy Girl Auto Bird Turd Emergency Removal Kit .  Ahem. Hallelujah!

What a stellar find! As if I did not have enough reasons to spend time in Target stores and perusing their site, it's brilliant finds like these road trip gems that have me writing less and shopping more.

We're travelling to the Pacific Northwest on our vacation but we're sure to make a few Target pit stops along our route for whatever we've forgotten to pack. Lets start a Target tally now. How many Target stores will we drive by and how many of them will we stop in?

And how about you? How many Targets did you shop at during your last road trip?

We're heading into the summer months and although the price of gas is at an all time high, many of us are still planning on heading out on a road trip at some point between now and Labor Day. And in anticipation of the trip, you may be thinking about what dvds to buy/rent to keep the kiddos amused.

But wait! Before you plug them in - check out our suggestions for fun family themed travel. Themed travel you ask? What the heck is that? Well consider it the equivalent of the themed party. Just like leis and beverages with paper umbrellas make a barbecue less boring, themed travel can turn an ordinary roadtrip into an extraordinary adventure.

The Theme: Concert Tour.

Before the Trip: Let your kids pick their favorite artist/popstars. Buy or lend them some oversized sunglasses and have them make a sign for the car window discouraging the paparazzi. Compile a playlist of their favorite songs by the artist(s) and don't forget to pack their ipods.

Games for the Trip:

1. Lyrics Challenge: Think your kids know every word to "Life's What you Make It?" by Hannah Montana or whatever your kids fave star is? Put that knowledge to the test by challenging them to sing the song in a round robin, one word at a time.
2. Band Campers: Score a point for every RV you spot that may or may not contain your fellow rockers.
3. Famous Friends: One person picks a person at the next table at a restaurant, or in the tollbooth and decides what celebrity they think the person looks like.They write it down and everyone takes turns guessing.

 Other Activities:

1. Fan Mail  - Send out postcards to your adoring fans describing life on the road
2. Song Writing - Because travel inspires you to write a song
3. X was here - Take a picture of your rocker(s) in costume at landmarks. Bonus points to anyone holding a mic or musical instrument.

Additional Optional Accessories:

• Themed pajamas, bedding, etc (for night travellers)
• Themed Stationary and Travel Activity type books
• Disposible Cameras

Most of all don't forget to pack your sense of humor!

Got a themed roadtrip idea or pictures/amusing blog posts of your own themed road trip to share with Car and Caboodle? Tell us about it in the comments!

One of the reasons we launched Car & Caboodle started with a road trip we took when our daughter was just seven weeks old.  We were offered the chance to try out a new 2007 Mazda CX-9 and drive it from Carmel, California to Los Angeles.  Despite concern about how our newborn daughter would take to a 6-hour car ride, the CX-9 was one of the cars we were considering to buy, and this seemed like a great way to see if we really liked the car.

You see, since the birth of our daughter, my wife and I were just beginning to consider what kind of new car we should get.  Some of the questions we asked ourselves included:

• What is the right size car for us?  A bigger car means more room for stuff, but you gotta wonder if all that stuff is necessary to schlep.
  
• What's the gas mileage?  Should we go hybrid?  With gas prices over $3 a gallon, this seems important.
  
• Can we stay hip and how do we avoid a minivan?  We're not going to be one of those families, are we?
  
• Will the car have room for both our baby and Labrador Retriever?  Pre-baby, we took our dog to the beach, on hikes, and to dog parks.  Is it possible to still do that in one car with our baby?
  
• Does it have driver side memory seats?  For us, this is a highly personal issue, maybe not for you, but we love it when we don't have to readjust the seat, mirrors and steering wheel every time we switch drivers.
• Does the car seat fit in the back row?  We found out that in some cars, a car seat in the back meant sacrificing passenger legroom in the front. 
  

As for our road trip, there are reasons why the CX-9 won Motor Trends SUV of the Year.  The design details, the power, and the room for lots of baby gear makes this a good car choice for families.  With its third row option, there's room for your children's friends, and still some usable storage behind it.  My one drawback is that the car's sleek design lines and powerful engine doesn't necessarily match the softer steering feel.  When I mentioned this to Mazda, they told me that their smaller CX-7 had a sportier ride while the CX-9 was designed for a more luxurious ride.  Overall, we enjoyed our road trip, took longer breaks to feed our daughter along the way, and thought that the CX-9 was a worthy choice to consider for our family.

Best of all, the road trip started the conversation that launched Car & Caboodle.

Related CX-9 Links:
Official CX-9 Website [Mazda USA]
Our Road Trip Photos [via Flickr]
CX-9 lets suburbanites ditch safari dreams [MSNBC]
Rigors of Extreme Camping No Match for Crossover [Mother Proof]