Just this March we drove to Tucson and had a wonderful time. Cora now loves to spend time rolling down unknown roads to look at new environments. Seeing the landscape change from Rocky Mountain snow to Saguaro Cactus country can be quite breathtaking.  On the way you pass through desert plains that are abruptly adorned with red rocked mesas.  Even last year when we went to Mexico on our road trip she did fairly well.   We may not cover as much territory as when we were childless, but we drive a safe amount and everyone feels mostly rested when arriving at our destination.

What fascinates me about these road trips is seeing everything through her eyes.  Cora gets very excited by signs that have very large O’s and gets quite animated when she sees livestock grazing.  Her descriptions of different cars driving by is also hysterical.  In her mind tiny cars are SUV’s and sedans are described by their color.

Time and space is always an issue as well. If we run out of some specific food she will say, “Let’s go to City Market,” and describe the special grocery cart that they have at home.  If we say we will be at our campsite soon, she will tell us we could sleep at home, even though we have been driving for three days straight.  If we see cows with a horse she will ask if it is ours (we often walk her to visit Jessie the horse who lives with cows).

For the most part what fascinates me about traveling with a toddler is not the way they perceive the world through their developing brains, but the simple pleasures they can take from such travels.  Toddlers help you to slow down (if you let them) and to look around at the world with fresh eyes.  They love to point out odd things that you can see from your car window, but they also like to play with rocks and create fascinating imaginative games on the side of the highway when you stop for a pee.

Once, we had to walk a ¼ mile to the ‘toilet’ and then squat next to what seemed to me like the exact same sagebush that was next to the car.  In southern Utah, Cora made us walk around a ditch carrying imaginary friends back to our house. She had all kinds of explanations on how this was our house when we got there. This is your bed, this is the kitchen, etc.  In northern Arizona we pulled off the highway on an unknown dirt road and after we ate she lead us through an interpretive dance of feet stomping and twirling, while we overlooked endless red desert mesas.

On a horrible pull off,  where I was very disgusted by the toilet paper and old clothing laying around, Cora played a running game and did not seemed to be fazed by the  collision of human trespass and beautiful landscape.

At campsites she easily finds interesting rocks, sticks, or nooks to play in.  She gets comfortable and at home in minutes.  As we adults go busily PREPARING the camp site and reorganizing the car.

Toddlers know how to live life.

Heidi