Yesterday was, once again, field trip day. Can we not all agree that I am obviously the world’s most exciting homeschool marm? There’s no denying it.
We were having some crazy rain yesterday morning. Auntie Datenutloaf, fresh off the plane from California, called to give her salutations and inquire what was up with our crazy weather. Fun Fact: Visiting Southern Californians do not like the gloomy rain.
Me: I think it is supposed to rain the entire time you are here.
Auntie: I’m sure it will. What are you guys doing today?
Me: We are going on a field trip.
Auntie: You are going to drive in THIS weather?
Me: It’s just rain! Not snow. Snow is what you have to worry about. And not all snow, just the kind that sticks.
Auntie: I’m sure the roads are still slippery!
I have, honestly, never heard of anyone staying home on account of the rain. Tell me, dear readers, do you drive in the rain? Maybe I have lived in the hearty north for too long. We should definitely keep Auntie away from driving with David. He is against the use of windshield wipers.
He finds them “annoying.”
He figures that if he gets his speed up fast enough, the rain will just sheet off the car.
After I hung up with Auntie, it started to snow. Then out of nowhere came blue skies and sunshine.
That should tickle her fancy.
All week long, I have been stressing about this field trip. It is not just in the big city, it is in the Even Bigger City. I know your heads are spinning and you are trying to figure out why I just won’t tell you the names of cities, but it is against the rules that Sir Lumberjack established in the formative days of this blog. My apologies.
I have a large vehicle, and along with that, a healthy fear of parking garages. I am quite certain that if I were to attempt to drive the rig into the parking garage, I would decapitate us all. All week long I have been stressing about this. I looked online to try and see the clearance for the garage. I asked friends and loved ones if they thought we would survive the parking garage.
The general consensus was that we would be A-OK, but I was not convinced. When I got to the children’s museum, the parking garage had a clearance of 6’6″ and that, my friends, is sure to be instant death for me and my offspring. So, I just kept driving until I found a parking lot about 4 blocks away. My kids are obviously not used to The Even Bigger City.
“Mom, what is a parking garage?”
“Mom, why do we have to pay to park?”
“Mom, there’s lots and lots of PEOPLE!”
“Mom, how come I am the only one wearing a Carhartt jacket and cowboy boots?”
Because we are hicks, son. And don’t you forget it.
The children had a lovely time at the science museum. The girls disappear now in social situations such as these, so I only have pictures of the dudes.
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Yes. Handsome Dude does appear to be putting out the vibe. But can you blame him?
Afterwards, we had to rush back to the rig and get to the big city, not to be confused with the Even Bigger City, and get to church.
The GPS froze my phone and I had to find the freeway on ramp all by myself. And I did. This is actually amazing and deserves some recognition and praise on your part.
So, I was feeling quite confident in my driving abilities and could not wait to boast of my awesomeness to David.
I was so pleased with my awesomeness that I missed my exit.
And the next one is in about 6 miles.
I called David and he told me I had to go to the emergency vehicle turnout. I argued with him that this is illegal, but my argument fell on deaf hears. Because, have you heard? He doesn’t even believe in windshield wipers. So, I went to the emergency vehicle turnout and realized what a HUGE mistake that was.
Have you, pray tell, ever tried to pull onto a freeway when the cars are going, oh 75 miles an hour?
Not a good plan, especially for a gal who has a fear of parking garages and unprotected left turns.
A police car came by and I yelled at him to PLEASE COME GET ME!
I figured that I could ask him to give me a ticket and please put on his helpful, flashing lights and get me back on the freeway.
He did not come and get me.
Finally, there was a break in traffic and I floored it. I am happy to report that no one died in a fiery car wreck.
My dad is totally going to have a stern talking-to with me after he reads this post.
I think for my birthday, I am going to ask for a chauffeur. Driving is not my strong suit.
Happy Weekend.
I am so sorry for your troubles, but it makes me feel better to know there is someone else out there that struggles with driving and directions and fears and worrisome things like parking garages… it might not be so nice for you, however, to know that I am old enough to be your mom and I still worry about such things!
Ah shoot! And I was seriously going to ask you where you live, ’cause it sounds so exciting there. Can you give us an idea? US? Canada? East? West?
my fear of big cities…one way streets. i have always been afraid that i would accidentally go down the wrong way!
In that case, I feel EXTRA thmart for figuring out where you live! (Or my sister, rather, but that’s close enough.) We’re actually not too far from you which is very beside the point for you but it adds to my extra thmart, very special feeling. Happy weekend!
Yay for finding the freeway ramp all on your own!
Oh dear. I had to read this out loud to my husband. He doesn’t like to use wipers or windshield wash. Doesn’t want to waste it. Holla!
Southern Californians do not like to drive in the rain. They are scared of it. I live there now so I know. However, 8 lane freeways and gangs to not scare them.
Oh, your post reminds me of a time we took our brood of five and a few friends to the big city for a ball game in our big ol’ 12 passenger van that I drove around on a daily basis. When we got to the parking garage, I told my husband (who was driving) that we couldn’t fit! He said we could fit, and proceeded to go on in. I think this garage went underground before it went up, and in the depths of the garage, we SCRAPED the ceiling! We actually scraped pipes (several) that were wrapped in some kind of insulation stuff because I think other vehicles had scraped too. We ducked our heads all the way into our parking place, but by then the damage was done. I think the van still has scrape marks on the roof! When I was the driver, I took the kids and van to the parking LOT, just like you did. Aren’t we the wise ones.
Good work finding the freeway. Well done. I have driven around that even bigger city many times and still have anxiety about finding that ramp, and getting into the correct lane to make it, and finding the correct one way street, etc. I don’t much like to drive, either. Why then do I spend long hours in the car shuttling to and fro? Homeschooling – I always thought you had to be “home” for it…
You know what makes windshield wipers less than necessary? Rain -X. Let the guys at Oil Can Henry’s put it on for you – it costs $10, way more than doing it yourself – but the stress savings when driving with LJ will totes be worth it.
Um, parking garages. I have a friend who has a big rig… and they took the lift kit out of it until they were ‘done’ having kids, just so she could drive with confidence in the parking garage near her OB. She was wicked good at parking that thing too. I couldn’t bear to watch…good times.
Mom of the Week award for two field trips! Wow!
OK. not done yet.
LOVE the title of this post. So clever you are.
and I think you should have driven the 6 miles to the next exit. It probably would have taken the same amount of time and saved you many stress wrinkles. You are 30 now, and have to consider these things…
Love, love Rain-X!
I love it too! I just buy the Rain-X you can put on yourself. 🙂
Let’s see…rain…snow…blue skies and sunshine…all in the same day, sounds like Illinois weather, but I’m pretty sure we aren’t as “forested” as your pictures show so I know I’m wrong. But we did have that exact same weather, including thunder and 70 degree temps, several times in that last few weeks. Weird winter this year.
We live in South Africa where it doesn’t rain often and almost never snows. When it does rain here, many people actually stay at home and cancel activities – because ‘It’s raining!’
The highways become nightmares because nobody can drive in rain, and there are accidents all over… who knows what would happen if it snowed!
We are emigrating to Canada soon, and guess what our biggest fear is? Driving in the snow!!
Not a nice policeman for driving past you…
Poor Auntie Datenutloaf coming to visit you in the rain. My parents came from SoCal to visit us in New Hampshire (when we lived there) and it rained the entire week. My Dad was put out. You’d think, coming from the Mojave Desert, he wouldn’t mind the rain…
Tell Auntie never to visit western WA. That’s where I live and if we didn’t drive in the rain we would only get out maybe three days a year. Ok that’s a little over exaggerated…we’d get out five days a year. Yup, there’s a reason the vampires like it here. Kudos on finding the ramp without the GPS! Love reading about your adventures.
Woot woot, kudos to you for getting all handsome on finding the freeway ramp!!!!!!
The first time I visited Southern California, it rained the whole week I was there and people were freaking out. What normally takes about a 20 minute drive took us 2 hours because supposedly driving in rain is not easy. I am Canadian, so I don’t understand this.
Oh, and btw, you don’t always have to listen to your husband you know, I would have taken the the next exit ramp 6 miles away. I thought that taking the emergency vehicle turnout was illegal, it is here, but I guess it isn’t bad if the police did not stop and give you a ticket.
Have a great day, we are having crazy weather here for Canada, temps are in the 70’s, which is not normal for March, that’s ok, I’ll take it anytime I can!
I drove a group of ladies up to camp where we are hosting a retreat. Everything was fine until we were about 10 minutes from home. We all live in a “even bigger city” and there was a St. Patty’s Day parade going on and roads were closed. To make a long story short, I almost got hit by making a illegal turn around in the street and ran a couple stop signs. I don’t think they will be trusting me to drive them anymore.
#!- Kuddos and praise to you for driving sans GPS. You are my hero
#1- Tell Auntie that she musn’t come visit Alaska. She wouldn’t be able to leave the airport. She is un-invited. BTW, we drive in ALL snow. Even the sticky stuff. We just assume that we are going to slide off the road into the ditch at least once a season. Someone will pull us out eventually.
#3- I HATE LOATHE and DISPISE driving my honkin’ big SUV in big or bigger cities and/or parking garages. …so refer back to #! and pat yourself on the back for doing it on purpose for the sake of a homeschool field trip. You are one rockin’ cool homeschool marm.
Here’s the story on Southern Californians and rain: We lived there for 7 years, and it rained maybe 5 days a year. The first day of rain, all the oils on the freeway would come to the surface (at least that’s what the newspeople said), which made the roads really slick. Traffic accidents would quadruple, drive time would be crazy, it was like the world was coming to an end. Hence, Auntie Datenutloaf’s apprehension.
Holla Libby. Rain here is waaay different than your rain. First – it pours people. And she’s right – barrels of oil on the roads but there is so much traffic here you can’t go too fast which is a little safer. But I loved that it snowed every day. So Christmassy and cozy. Like living in a Christmas card. Such a lovely change from eternal sunshine. Where I live is definitely not Christmassy. I always suspected you’d be a good homeschool teacher. Now I absolutely know you rock. You should have seen them dear readers – truly amazing! For realz.