one hundred and sixty eight

Not surprisingly, the laundromat has lost a bit of it’s former gleam for some of us. Thank goodness we received a timely parcel in the mail today, just as we were heading out to do our laundry.

Our AAA membership has once again come in wonderfully handy and we are now in possession of six regional guidebooks, five regional/USA maps and one extremely detailed TripTik. We have been planning our road trip with online and library book resources but it is nice to have maps and guidebooks in hand for circling destinations and stops and for dog earring pages.

Peter and I have our itinerary and packing lists on googleDocs and we’ve been collecting points of interest on Pinterest. We can set our route on Google Maps. We know we’ll be able to access our info on our phones as we travel and love the technology. But the hard copy maps and plans are just perfect for those brand new to learning map skills and navigation.

Catherine has been reading for quite some time and went though the maps locating the state capitols, our major destinations and other landmarks. She found, and circled, things that she wanted to do or see in the guide books. She found places where our planned routes deviates from the AAA highlighted routes. It was real life geography at it’s finest.

Even non readers can explore maps. Esme identified campgrounds, ski areas, colleges, lighthouses and forests by their symbols. She pointed out the differences in roads-highways vs. smaller roads and found state capitols thanks to the stars. When I pointed out Denver she saw that New Mexico was nearby. Not happy with hearing that we wouldn’t be going there she put her finger down and traced a route right to Santa Fe. Smarty pants.

Long story short- hooray for maps!