Thanksgiving and the holiday season means spending a lot of time in the car.
This weekend alone, C and I have driven from Ypsilanti three hours south to a small town in northern Indiana where we both grew up. Then we’ve headed two hours north to Grand Ledge to spend some time with my family. Tomorrow we’ll make the 90 minute drive back to Ypsilanti. That is a lot of hours spent in the car.
Some people get bored in the car, but I’ve always been pretty decent at going on long rides. The only downfall I have is my tiny bladder that makes us stop at nearly every rest area along the way.
C and I have developed some strategies for helping the time to pass by quickly. Sure, we sometimes just talk to each other, but other times we rely on these new and old methods to keep us from hating to travel.
Whitetail deer in winter (Photo credit: GlacierNPS)
Zip is a family game that my mom has passed on to us kids. It’s a goofy game that is just supposed to take your mind off of the road and make you look outside. The goal is to get to 100 points. You get points by “zipping” things, but there are only certain things that you’re allowed to zip. Cats are 10 points, dogs are 5. Deer are 25 points, as are little boys in red shirts playing. Cemetaries are 50 points, but they also wipe out everyone else’s points, and white horses are 50 points, too. So, it’s not uncommon, especially in the winter, for our car to be filled with the sounds of “Zip a deer!” or “Zip a cemetary!” There are even epic tales of Zip passed around. Like, when G was too young to really play, we mistakenly told him that he could zip weeping willow trees and even now, whenever we pass by a weeping willow, he will sing this little annoying song. Or when my mom was playing against my dad, who had already racked up a deer and a cemetary, so my mom was knocked back down to zero points. They rounded a bend in the road and passed right by a baseball diamond full of little boys in red shirts playing. My mom won that game.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (soundtrack) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Other times, when C and I don’t necessarily want to play a game, we’ll throw on some music and sing along. Movie or musical soundtracks work the best for us. Our go-to is definitely the Pick of Destiny Soundtrack as performed by Tenacious D. We can sing every single word to every single song. It’s actually pretty impressive. I also love to sing along to the Les Miserables Soundtrack or the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack.
Other times we like to solve little puzzles, much like those tweeted by @ShakespeareSong on Twitter. This fantastic tweeter will translate modern song lyrics into funny archaic phrases. C and I love to read them randomly and try to solve them. One of our favorites is, “We art not required to remove our garments in order to experience a splendid outing.” Or, “My pelvic bone is unable to fabricate false statements.” Can you guess what songs they are?
How do you and your family kill time in the car?
XOXO
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Equal Parts of a Whole 