Our live music camping date to Saratoga Springs last summer celebrated the end of the Dead and Company era. For their farewell tour, Mike and I decided to see the band both nights and take our first-ever solo camping trip.
But then, Mike turned 50, and we needed to celebrate. And Las Vegas built a must-see concert venue, “The Sphere”. And Dead and Company took up weekend residency there this spring. And well…..
Not sure how to justify and arrange plans to jet set across the country for a concert just days before leaving on a 39-night cross-country camping trip, we did the responsible, adult thing, and bought tickets for the Saturday, June 15th Dead and Company show at The Sphere. Okay, but seriously, we didn’t book airfare until we had a solid plan. We’re not TOTAL buffoons.
It all worked out beautifully in the end. All we had to do to add a three-night Mike and Rachel only trip to Vegas days before we embarked on an epic road trip with our travel trailer was pull our camper to Maryland, book a long-term parking spot in an RV and boat storage yard, have an awesome sister and brother in law and nieces and nephews agree to host a five-day “cousin camp” at their home, and book airfare out of BWI. Easy peasy? Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with us.
In hindsight, (our Vegas trip is complete and we’re on the road with the boys as I type!), I both A) can’t believe we even attempted to tack on a trip to Las Vegas at the beginning of our trip this summer and B) am so incredibly happy we successfully tacked a trip to Las Vegas onto our trip this summer. I’m especially happy for the boys. When asked what their favorite part of their trip this summer was, I have a strong feeling that both of our boys will say “cousin camp”, and that makes Mike and I both so happy.
Leaving for our cross-coutnry trip from Maryland instead of Pennsylvania didn’t change the time on the road, and only altered our route for the first day of travel. After our spring break trip to Richmond where we visited Busch Gardens, we realized that we are parenting some pretty hard-core roller coaster enthusiasts. Leaving for our road trip a day earlier than planned and from a different location allowed us a little wiggle room in our earliest days of travel. And so – a two-night stop in Sandusky, Ohio for a trip to Cedar Point Amusement Park was born.
To update my trip in numbers post, our new numbers are 45 nights, 13 campgrounds, 8 National Parks, a plane ride, one (last?) concert with John Mayer and Bob Weir, and an epic cousin camp, all in a family road trip book-ended with roller coasters. And we’re off!
