Upon accepting the invitation of again accepting the position of Manny, I was warned of problems that might present themselves on the 9-10 hour trip in the minivan. I am so happy that very few of these problems reared their ugly heads. Thank goodness for planned parental necessities. The three girls were equipped with their own bags of goodies for the long trip both to the East and back home again. We also had a large bad of DVD’s to watch on the player in the car. I also brought a few kid-friendly Disney movies and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (one of my favorite movies growing up; sad to say the transition to the stage did not go as well).
Basically, I only remember the occasional statements of “are we there yet” and the like. The extremely long voyage across Pennsylvania had to be broken up to prevent melt-downs and I’m sure the adults enjoyed our happening upon Bellefonte. In the dark, it seemed to be deserted but as we approached downtown there were cars, and several restaurants, many of which were some variation of a pizza shop. Funny that it was close to State College, home of Penn State University. We decided to stop at Mama Lucretia’s…. pizza, pasta, cheesesteak all of which were very tasty (unless that was the hunger talking).
I must comment on the eating habits of one of the kids. “Goose” frequently made the comment that “Beeber” would have an order of paper with a side of plastic. The eight-month old will find anything to put in his mouth to endulge in: napkins, plastic bibs, straw wrappers, anything: typical. Just watch your plate; if he spies anything within reach, he will get it! After eating, most of the time a great majority of it ends up on the floor around him.
Back in the car for the remainder of the long jaunt, the kids all took naps. Taylhis also rested for a bit. I did my best to stay awake to ensure that C was still alert and going. Thank goodness we had some music going and comedy. Listening to some Miss Saigon and Assassins seemed to make the time go a bit faster. I also learned that one of the songs from Jekyll and Hyde was cut from the final show. I saw the musical in Toledo a few years ago and saw that Bring on the Men was missing. I thought perhaps touring companies might have cut the song, but it was taken out prior to the Broadway run.
Finally, after the less than an hour announcement turned into a bit longer, we arrived at our hotel around 1.30 AM. Constuction, police cars everywhere, drawbridge, lots of obstacles…. AH travelling!! I LOVE IT! Especially when I am not driving 😀
Sounds like you had an adventure, and you haven’t even written about the final destination….
I’m beginning to wonder how much time taylhis and company will need to get that part of the story in cybernetic print.
😉
Manny, heh. I hadn’t realized you really *did* leave when L did.
I have two versions of Jekyll and Hyde here, and on one of them the song “Bring on the Men” was replaced with “Good and Evil.”
Yeah, Derek. I have two versions also. I guess I had not put the concept together. I just prefer the concept song. I think it has strong production value not just because of the songs subject matter;
I will need LOTS of time, since I have to work in my blogging between laundry catch up and unpacking and RECOUPERATING! Plus I like to go into lots of detail since I’m saving printouts for the kids for when they’re older… My account of the trip will be published in several installments over the next few weeks – rest comes first!
I enjoyed this installment of yours, jamiahsh, but I skipped the first one since I want to have a fresh take on the adventure – might have to skip future ones as well… we’ll see.
Oh yeah, and it’s time to go update my Zoo List 😉