For the record, I'm not a big fan of road trips. Spending hours continuously confined in a vehicle with the members of your immediate family is just not my idea of a good time. When Mr. M and I were first together we had to stop every hour on the hour when traveling between Seattle and Forest Grove OR to visit his family. By the time we got married, I could ALMOST make it with just one rest stop in Longview/Kelso, or a shopping break in Centralia.
It must stem from childhood trips with my family. Dad could spot a brown sign from twenty miles away. We would veer from our planned itinerary to experience the largest tree root, biggest stump or oldest fossil of dinosaur dung in the immediate vicinity. I'm sure I've seen every dam, waterfall, vantage point and wide spot in the road in all the remotest areas of Washington. My sister and I reached the point when we would create a diversion, fight or require an immediate potty stop to distract him from seeing those blasted brown "Point of Interest" signs. By whose standards is this deemed a point of interest? If some enterprising individual took the initiative to construct an ice cream stand or gift shop near said attraction, then I might be persuaded. Going just for "the experience" was always highly over-rated in my book.
Mr. M and I joke about brown sign stops - his threats to divert from our planned path to view the scenic route, oversized rock or significant crack in the earth are met with a stony glare. If we decide to venture forth and find it not to be worth the effort, it is forever a comparison for other things. "It was about as compelling as fossilized dinosaur dung." "Remember the burial spot of the first settler in Twisp? Me neither."
We didn't take our boys on many road trips, until they got into Scouts and many weekends were commandeered into hiking, camping and badge acquisition excursions. Just getting to the ocean, Canada or Oregon for us was a 3 hour tour. Anything beyond that made Rx necessary for mom to be a willing passenger. When we drove 18 hours to take our son to college orientation weekend, I was ready to bail after about the 10th hour. The guys were ready to leave me on the side of the road. Whining like a caged pet. Now they know why it was often the three of them alone on trips to St. Helen's and the like. Leaving mom at home was the best option. Wine, bath and chick flicks for the win every time.
For the longest time, my sister and I agreed that these signs were brown for a reason - a crappy reason to stop and there was usually a bad smell in the area as well. When Dad is old and feeble, we're going to take him on road trips and make him stop at all the brown signs. He'll probably forget he's been there before, and that will be OK. Because we remember each of the ones that has ice cream or a great bakery in reasonable proximity. Cle Elum Bakery, Vantage Cafe, Winthrop ice creamery = Road Trip! I call shot gun!
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