Attempting to go where no man... oh who are we kidding?

So on Friday night, we leave for a week's vacation. This is weird for us, because since Stella has been born (and hell, let's be honest, since I think 2005?) our vacations longer than a long weekend have been to visit family. Not that this has been bad - it has actually been lovely, but the locations are still to places that we've been before - Southern Illinois, Delaware, Chicago. The other trips Steve and I have taken in the last few years have been solo flights - and either to conferences (oh thrilling) or interviews (even more thrilling). Our trip in 2005 was a week long trip up to San Francisco and back (funny enough, the first 2 days were in San Fran because of a conference!) but the rest of the week was spent in Napa, Sonoma, and the Big Sur and Central Coast.

We are attempting to revisit some of this coastline, but intend to high-tail it pass the Bay Area and make it to at least Eureka. (which is about 1 hr south of the CA/OR border). See, the Vanagon needs to go through the big Redwoods, snake through the Avenue of the Giants, and stop by some NorCal microbreweries that might have outdoor seating that will accommodate a TODDLER AND A DOG. (pretty funny, eh?)

Yep. I'm a little trepidatious. 9 days in the VW with a dog (who currently has the runs and we are hoping is better before Friday) and a toddler who, frankly, is really happy everywhere as long as she gets a nap and sleeps well. We are hoping for the best. I mean, it's not like we are planning on stealth camping (like that would EVEN be possible) and we are certainly not going away from civilization, as we have planned our route to hit the various campgrounds along the way, or as one VW forum member calls them "pay per view sites." We have no aspirations to do major hiking. We have no aspirations that we will sleep well every night. We have no aspirations that there will be no crying, or bug bites, or at least one crazy poopy blowout diaper.

But that's ok. We are adding a big trip to the already full "family vacation camping lore" that surrounds the Germonskis. And one little girl is VERY excited. In fact, today when faced with crappy choices at Kmart (our only box store for 45 minutes around here) she started to cry that they didn't have any camp chairs her size. "I want a geen one Mama!" We're working on it. At least somewhere along the way, there has got to be a Target, right?

So if anyone has a favorite camp meal (since I won't be doing my regular gourmet chefing on this trip!) let us know. And cross your fingers, say a prayer, or a thought of inspiration - whatever strikes you - next week when you think, god, I wonder if those Germonskis are surviving that crazy trip?