Sleep-deprived road trip thoughts

So these are misc posts I wrote as I was going along; complete randomness -- consider yourself forewarned.

We had a car cooler on loan from my mum; the car cooler has two settings: hot and cold. The first time we plugged it in was cold. Things stayed cold, life was wonderful. The second time was hot. My bag of mini mars bars is now one GIANT mars mess and we were lucky we caught it before the cokes exploded or C’s beers do whatever beers do when they get too hot. Lol at least now we know how to tell which way it’s set ;). And that mars bars, once re-chilled, make for a still tasty, if oddly shaped, pull-apart bar.

Singing loudly fuels late night driving; idk about anybody else, but I really enjoyed the live concert featuring me ;)

Google lady gives amazing instructions while driving (including, thankfully, what lane to be in) but is very hit or miss when walking.

Waterproof phone and camera both survived far more of a torrential downpour than I would willingly have subjected them to. Win.

Just because the sandals are the most comfortable footwear you own, does not mean it’s a good life choice to wear them for a 3h city hike when they haven’t been worn since pre-winter. And definitely don’t do it two days in a row, even if your other shoes are wet. Ow.

Scavenger hunts are more fun when you do all the challenges, particularly the silly ones.

I am far more willing to talk to strangers to solve a puzzle or win a game than I am for any practical life purpose. Strangers also seem to enjoy participating in said games.

Budget hotels are budget for a reason; some make it far less obvious than others.

Finding that the most amazing cookies exist but are more than a 20h drive from home is both a very good thing and a very sad thing.

I like subtlety in my life. I've come to the realisation that the things and behaviours that make me dislike the States generally fall under the “too much” category: too big, too loud, too in your face, or tries too hard. And alas, while the vast majority of people and things probably don’t fall under that category, they are, by definition, quiet about it and thus drowned out.

mmmm Piña Colada slushy

7-11s in the States have piña colada flavoured slushies. I am so jealous. I also did not discover this nearly early enough in our trip. All the junk food that I eat way too much of at home, I can’t eat here because it tastes wrong (they usually don’t use real sugar - corn starch they use for flavour is illegal in Canada). Which, when I briefly lived down here resulted in me losing all kinds of weight ;). But is less fun when you’re trying to be a kid in a candy store on a road trip. So discovering NEW junk food is wonderful. Ice cream and baked goods from actual bakeries are also generally excellent ;). And, given US sizing, I’m still going on the cookie I bought two days ago. Lol

I have, for most of my adult life, been subject to motion sickness. I can’t use gadgets in the car, or read, or sit in the back seat. Buses are my own personal hell. And motion sickness drugs knock me out cold. They do work, but less fun if a good part is the adventure is to enjoy the ride. Arm bands help a little as long as I put them on early. Usually if I’m in the front seat I’m fine as long as it’s not stop and go or really jerky driving. So I figured I’d prob be okay on this trip; if nothing else, I know what to watch for and I’m very careful not to do anything to trigger it. However, much of my blogging I wanted to do while being a passenger. Reading and writing are a hard no, but it turns out I can touch type - with a real keyboard I’ve been able to do that since high school (my single most useful hight school class bar none - grade 9 typing lol). But I never realized until this trip I can do it almost as well with my phone as long as it’s letters only. The issue is when autocorrect tries to help.  I have definitely found a few interesting “fixes” when rereading at night and undoubtedly have missed others. The other fun one is there’s no way to landmark without looking, so if I get to the wrong line I can have a very large amount of transposed letters. It’s a code you could puzzle out if you were really bored but less fun trying to remember what I was actually writing ;-P

So one definite win as we travel - burgers! I haven’t had a good burger since we moved - everywhere sells these stupid smash burgers. But idk if it’s just where we live now or if it’s an Ontario-wide trend but it is not good. Twice on this trip I’ve had truly awesome burgers. It’s the little things in life ;)

Somewhat surprised by the number of bail bond offices. How and why is that such a big industry?!?!

A week was enough of a road trip for me.  Almost every other vacation, I haven't been ready to return when we did, but this one I was definitely ready to come home and sleep for about 3 days.   That being said, I had an amazing time, and really enjoyed myself, which is even more impressive when I remember it was a vacation I wasn't sure I wanted to go on to begin with.   So huge win there :)

Now it's time for Spring to arrive.