Traveling with One

Last weekend I drove my second kidlet to North Dakota to drop him off at International Music Camp.  It’s always fun to spend one on one time with this kid, and we had a fun, fast trip.  We started late in the day on Saturday and drove to Devils Lake, and then headed to camp Sunday morning.  He’s an easy traveler.  He reads a lot in the car, and I just have to give him food when he’s hungry.

It was fun to look at the interesting clouds when we made it to the prairie.  We were both hoping for thunderstorms with lightening, our favorite part of driving in North Dakota, but we didn’t get lucky in that department.  There were a lot of fun clouds, though.  Our favorite looked like a gargantuan crocodile, with sharp teeth in its open mouth. The sunset was amazing.

I somehow managed to hit the car keys while driving and turn off the car engine while causing down the highway.  We started slowing down.  “Wait a minute!”  I said, “Is the car even on?”  It wasn’t.  He shook his head at me in disbelief.  He’s convinced he will be a better driver than me when he starts to drive.  I have little doubt that will be the case, actually.  I’m a pretty terrible driver.

We stayed overnight at a recently built motel, and the room key looked like a credit card.  This, of course, is not unique or unusual.  What was weird was that there was no slot to insert the key card in the door for the room. I stood there trying to figure it out with no luck.  Finally he grabbed the key and held it in front of some kind of censor on the door, and voila!  The lock clicked and we entered right in.  Technology!  He was sputtering in disbelief at me, and admittedly, I did feel a little bit old.  But that’s OK.  I deserve to feel a little old. I might not be the fastest and sharpest, but I have to be getting at least a bit more wise each year, right?

We passed the turtle in Dunseith, and I asked him if he wanted to stop and check it out and take a picture.  He did!  I was actually pretty delighted.  I love that this turtle that I visited in my childhood and passed each year I attended music camp is still hanging around.  I’m pretty sure somewhere there are pictures of my seven year old self and my brother next to this turtle.