Weird Stuff is Fun

I haven't lived in Kentucky very long, so when a copy of the latest in the series of "Weird" states books was offered to me, I was more than happy to accept. Weird Kentucky is a travel guide to "local legends and best kept secrets" by Jeffrey Scott Holland.

It's a beautiful hard bound book loaded with huge clear photos of all sorts of good weird stuff that we love. It's divided into topical sections rather than by city, so it is a bit different from most travel type books in that sense.

Naturally, being a Road Trip Mom, my favorite section was the road-side oddities. I have already had the pleasure of visiting one of them recently -- Dinosaur World, which was weirdly wonderful to say the least. (I'll have photos from our adventure there posted on my website soon). After reading this book, there is lots more that I am ready to go see for myself, and when the Bible putt-putt golf course opens for the summer here in my own town, I will be ready and waiting to putt through Noah's Ark and right into the New Testament. My only disappointment is that there are a few items described in the book that no longer exist (and so we can't go visit them), and not everything is open to the public either. But it's good to know that these oddities exist (or existed as the case may be).

My kids love this book too, and it will be going in the car with us on our next few trips through Kentucky until we are familiar with everything weird we can find in our newly adopted state. I definitely recommend Weird Kentucky, and would recommend the "weird" book for your own state. There may be strange and wonderful things awaiting you, but you don't even know it yet.

Reader Mail

I love fan mail! Who doesn't?! I got a really nice letter a while ago from a reader who had a great road trip. She sent me a list of some of the specific activities from MomsMinivan that were a big hit with her kids, and I thought others might like to know what worked well --

"I just wanted to thank you for your great ideas! We went on a roadtrip through Utah/Arizona in October - seeing 4 national parks and "4 corners" along the way. I prepared many things for the kids to do, but the biggest hits were:

• Counting cows game - my kids still say "your cows are dead" whenever they see a cemetery, and finding a man with a peg leg has become a big family joke.
• Fortunately, Unfortunately - they could do this all day.
• Pipe cleaners! My kids made strange hanging contraptions all over the backseat of the car. They want more, more, more!!
• Battleship - The kids love it, we even sent copies of it to a friend in Iraq to share with his soldier friends.

Thanks again - I love your site!!"

I'm so glad I could help! I wish you many happy travels! Readers, if you're looking for the list of where she got these activities, head over to the article with my big list of kids car games.

Road Trip Fun: The Green Game

In honor of Earth Day, here is a car travel game invented by my 15 year old Cousin Ben while he was on a long road trip through California.

The Green Game:
When driving through towns and cities, look for a hybrid vehicle, such as the Toyota Prius. Then count to 45. Within 45 seconds you will see another one if you are in an environmentally friendly area. Play this to measure which towns are "green".

Friends at BlogHer

My friend Devra from Parentopia got to meet Katie Couric last week in New York! Katie invited some of the Blogher attendees to her office for an informal meeting.

Check out the YouTube video that her studio posted about Katie and the bloggers she met! Here's still shot from the video so you can find Devra in the group. Go bloggers!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEXOLbNhiQc

BTW, this now makes me only 4 degrees from Kevin Bacon.

*I am very good friends with Devra.
*Devra met Katie Couric in NY with the bloggers.
*Katie Couric was in "The More You Know" (1989) with Courtney Cox
*Courteney Cox was on The 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards(2007) with Kevin Bacon

Stuff on My Mutt

I'm a proud dog-mamma today because my old dog Oscar made it onto one of my favorite "pure amusement" websites: StuffOnMyMutt.com. In fact, he's on there twice.

You can see him here, wearing the big cone collar looking like a spokesmutt for Direct TV, and here is is again as the Stuff On My Mutt fan club leader. He has a rather goofy look on his face in that second picture, but I promise that he really didn't seem to mind the sticky notes. He's a good old boy!

And for the cat lovers, they have another silly site called Stuff On My Cat. We haven't sent in a picture of our cat yet, but you can see him in my cat post on MomsMinivan.

Dear RoadTripMom: Back Seat Bickering

QUESTION: What's your favorite tactic for dealing with kids who start bickering in the back seat?

ANSWER:
Generally, the thing I recommend the most is to just change the activity. Make some suggestions to the kids from the ideas that you have hopefully prepared before the trip! More specifically though, my favorite tactic when nothing else seems to end the bickering is to put on some new music and start singing loudly! .....Very loudly!

The kids will either start singing along with me, or they will unite with each other to try to make the parents STOP singing! Either way, the bickering is over. It definitely helps to have a sense of humor about it. Sometimes I have even used it as a (humorous) consequence. For example, "You kids need to start another activity instead of bickering, or else I will be forced to start singing!" It works every time.

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