Our summer kicked off by a girl roadtrip to pick up Lucas in Space camp. Yes, a roadtrip to Alabama, you heard me right. Originally was to be just a quick drive back and forth but Mia was so excited about girls roadtrip that I booked a hotel and we were on our way.

A few suggestions for my future trip:

• don’t forget battery/car charger and rely on Waze to take you through the rural Georgia and Alabama – you are stuck in Deliverance
• do bring entertainment for the little peanut that doesn’t blast “Let it go” through the car for 3 hours while you are trying to take a call. Call that was 100% on mute so pointless for me to be on anyway b/c I couldn’t get a word in through Idina Menzel – and which one of the 10 men on the call would be able to hum it with me and really just letting go of the dragging transformation conversation that is nowhere as cute as a 5 years old showing off her Elsa skills
• Do know your state borders well because the question you are sure to be asked 100x is – are we in Alabama yet? There is an amazing feeling of justification and relief when you get to say ‘Yes, we are” – which is not at all reciprocated. Ah, ok. What? No screaming with joy?
• Set expectations for hotel – as we ran into a really nice Westin, full of weddings, parties and cocktail soirees (both of us in desperation to pee), my little traveler was not impressed – “where is our kitchen, where are we going to eat, why are there all the birthday parties here”. Mama, let’s go find the pool, I will take this bed,… chatty Cathy here

We ate sushi, walked around shopping area – and picked up our space camp graduate.  Lodging a bit like military barracks, 40 boys in a large room but all in all pretty exciting to learn how to be an astronaut, command a ship, do some engineering stuff and pretend you are a bit too special for a 5th grader by “graduating”. As I said to Mia, graduating from Kindergarten or a $1000 space camp is not an achievement but an expectation with exclamation point!

Driving through Alabama was an awakening what rural US looks like – newspaper that publishes people that are arrested daily on 1st page, Trump and pro-gun, anti-abortion, Jesus running for an office signs – yet incredibly nice and sweet Indian owner of gas station, curious which European country my accent is from and guessing it right! Probably 1 of 100 who ever did!

All in all, successful trip – loved spending all day with the peanut who is so much fun to listen to and exploring a state we clearly don’t know much about. It even prompted me to listen to a podcast about Alabama and the Tuskegee study…

And no, it wasn’t just Elsa – it was a bit more rocky coming home….listen