The Drive.

I think I have finally recovered from the whirlwind road trip to Minnesota Isla and I took last week. I had predicted the drive there would take 7 1/2 hours and I was overestimating...hoping to beat that time! HAHAHA. I wish. It took me 9 1/2 hours. That included breaks. By hour 7 I was starting to hallucinate. By hour 8 I was starting to question my sanity. By hour 9 I was ready to burst into tears at any given moment. Let's recap...

Isla and I got on the road at exactly 9am. Isla whined a little in the backseat, but eventually fell asleep for about 45-50 minutes. Not nearly what I was expecting! When she woke up, she continued to be fussy, so I pulled over in Edgerton, WI (the BURG! where Abb and I stayed back in January) and fed Isla in the backseat. Hilariously, I got myself locked back there since the child locks were turned on. I debated hurling my body over the front seat, but there was very little wiggle room. I also considering crawling over all of our luggage in an attempt to escape through the back door. After a minute or so of slight panic, I realized I could reach the ignition, so I put the keys in and rolled down my window (duh!) to open the door. We were on the road within 20 mins and Isla seemed pretty content.

At 12:00 we hit Wisconsin Dells where I decided to stop and have lunch. We went to a McDonalds with a lovely outside eating area. Isla and I spent almost an hour here. Isla is a slow eater, plus factor in the bottle, bathroom break for me, and diaper change...it was taking a while! Isla was enjoying the fresh air so I didn't feel like rushing us. After all, road tripping with a baby is no longer about how fast I can get anywhere...it's about enjoying the ride!

We were back on the road a little after 1 and proceeded to hit TONS of construction and lane closures. Isla fell asleep for another 45 minutes and for the most part did pretty well this part of the trip. She was a little fussy, but tolerated being strapped in.

Eventually Isla started crying and getting hungry again. I let her cry for a while, hoping she'd fall asleep...no such luck. I kept wanting to make it to Eau Claire to feed her, but it wasn't happening. My head was POUNDING so I pulled off at some random town to feed Isla a bottle, change her diaper, and get myself some Aleve.

Isla was not happy about returning to her carseat and proceeded to scream from this town (outside of Eau Claire) to Hudson. That is A LOT of screaming! At least an hours worth. I decided to stop in Woodbury (my old home...best city ever!) to give Isla a snack and some fresh air. Plus, I needed to pick up a gift at Babies R Us! Right as we pulled in the parking lot, she fell asleep!! I should have just continued on my journey, but I was seeing a former coworker the following day and I had to finish her baby gift! So I woke up Isla and gave her some Cheerios as we shopped.

Now it is a little after 5pm and I realize I will have to drive through St. Paul and Minneapolis during rush hour to get to my final destination. By this time we've been traveling for 8 hours and I'm really not sure I can make it much longer. I prayed that traffic wasn't horrible and we continued on. Isla pretty much cried the entire hour it took to get to my friend Alicia's house. We arrived at 6:20pm...delirious, hungry, and exhausted.

Traveling alone with an infant is definitely a challenge. It's exhausting and it requires a lot of planning and patience. Seeing my friends and family definitely made the drive worth it though. I am just not sure I'll drive alone again with Isla for a while. Having a little help on the way up would have been nice! But I'm proud of myself for being able to do the trip alone...it is something I wasn't sure I would be able to do! It definitely made me realize I'm capable of doing much more than I give myself credit for!