Roadtrippin'

This April, my little family had the opportunity to take a long road trip from our home state of Wisconsin all the way down to the Emerald Coast in Florida. Our road trip consisted of about 16 hours driving each way with LOTS of stops to keep our little guys (2 and 4 years old) entertained and make sure we stayed active throughout the trip. I know that taking a road trip can feel overwhelming- especially with littles or when traveling to a new place, so I made sure to document our experiences in hopes of helping you out along the way!

Fair warning: we did a lot of stopping (2 overnight stops each way) throughout our trip because we find it easiest to break up our driving into smaller, more manageable drives for our boys. It absolutely isn't necessary, but to keep everyone happy, it works for us!

First Stop: Lafayette, Indiana

We started our drive late on a Sunday night, stopping after driving just over 3 hours. We spent the night in West Lafayette, Indiana- Home of Purdue University. A new Towneplace Suites had opened up earlier in the week, and we thought it would be a great opportunity to try a hotel we've never stayed at before. The hotel was spotless, the service at the front desk was kind and helpful, and the rooms were a really great size for traveling with a family. While we didn't stay for the free breakfast, I imagine it would have been great based on the rest of our experience.

We left nice and early the next morning for our next destination- Nashville, Tennessee. Before we left the West Lafayette area though, we had to stop at Mary Lou Donuts. If you are looking for something special, this is it. I stopped into Mary Lou right before 7:30am on Monday morning with my youngest. We met the owner, Jeff Waldon, on our arrival and had an opportunity to explore the options before trying some of their delicious donuts. Jeff was so kind and gave my son and I a quick tour of the donut line. We were able to see some of their top sellers (glazed yeast) being made and glazed. It was so fun to see how things were done! Jeff shared that the most popular items on the menu are the glazed yeast, apple fritter, and blueberry cake donuts. We tried all of them (even got to try a WARM glazed) and can report honestly that every single one of the donuts that we tried was outstanding. Our boys had their typical donuts with sprinkles, but ended up gravitating back toward the apple fritter. DO NOT SKIP THIS STOP! You will 100% regret not grabbing an apple fritter to snack on during your drive. Luckily, Mary Lou Donuts has a stop on Commerce Dr. which is right off of the highway for a quick detour if you didn't stay in the area like we did. They are open from 5am-1pm Monday- Saturday.

Next Up: Nashville, Tennessee

Our second day of travel started in Lafayette, Indiana and ended in Nashville, Tennessee with several fun stops along the way. The first stop of our trip was in Franklin, Indiana just outside of Indianapolis. Franklin, Indiana is home to a super cute little downtown area that is home to a really awesome playground and splashpad. Youngs Creek Park was the perfect stop for the kids to get out and stretch their legs. It had a playground area for younger kids and one for older kids. We were lucky to have driven through early enough in the morning that we had the entirety of the park to ourselves. Woo hoo! We played at the park for a while and then walked down the street to Coffeehouse Five where mom and dad both had a delicious coffee. The boys enjoyed a strawberry lemonade on our trip!

After exploring the park in Franklin, Indiana, we got back on the road to continue our journey to Nashville. While we didn't stop this time, if you need another stop shortly after Franklin, there is an outlet mall with a cool playset in Edinburgh, IN. Our boys love to play there when we drive through the area.

Our next really cool stop was at Kentucky Down Under Adventure Zoo in Cave City, Kentucky. We had done some research on Kentucky Down Under prior to our visit, but the actual experience itself exceeded our expectations. The adventure zoo is on a large plot of land, so I highly recommend renting a golf course for your adventure. Little legs probably won't make it through the entirety of a visit, so to save your back (toddler parents KNOW), make sure to ask about the golf cart when you check in! Some of the highlights of our visit were feeding and petting the kangaroos, feeding the goats, hearing the birds talk back/whistle back to us, and the gems. Our boys love going to the zoo back home, so we knew they would enjoy seeing the animals here. What we didn't expect was them asking to go back and feed the kangaroos every day since our visit. Ha! Make sure to carve out about 2ish hours for a visit to Kentucky Down Under (add some time if you are walking instead of using a golf cart), and bring water, snacks, and $$ for the gift shop! This experience was so cool, and it was a GREAT stop to have so long into our day. Our kids really needed space to move, and this was it.

 Another fun stop along this drive, just 5 minutes down the road from Kentucky Down Under Adventure Zoo is Dinosaur World. While we didn't get to experience Dinosaur World for ourselves, we received lots of recommendations for the experience and would absolutely stop there on our next trip. There are some really cool things to see like dinosaurs that really move! So fun and such a cool idea for littles!

After Kentucky Down Under Adventure Zoo, we continued our trip to Nashville. We stayed at The Courtyard by Marriott Goodlettsville and had plenty of room in our room to move around with two kiddos. It was clean, comfortable, and the staff was kind. We would recommend staying here with kids, as our room was bigger than other hotels we've stayed in and gave our boys lots of room to stretch out with all of their travel toys.

When we take long trips, we like to arrive early enough to our destination for the evening that we have an opportunity to do something fun with our boys. Our fun activity this evening was a trip to BoomBozz Craft Pizza and Taphouse. This BoomBozz location has a fenced in playground on their back patio which was a highlight for our family. We requested a set on the patio so that our kids could enjoy the playground with the other littles visiting with their families. Our boys made fast friends with the other groups of kids outside and did not stop playing- even when their dinner arrived. We imagined this might happen! Our waitress was fantastic and boxed up their meals (pizza and a rice krisipie treat for one and chicken bites, fries, and a rice krispie treat for the other) for them to eat at our hotel once they were finished playing. While the kids played, mom and dad enjoyed a beverage (highly recommend Dr. Robot if you are a beer drinker!) and dinner. We started with the meatball dipper appetizer which the perfect comfort food after a long drive. The Boombozz #1 salad was the perfect healthier addition to our meal, off-setting the delicious pizza that we devoured. We enjoyed a pizza that was half Pollotate and half Nonna. While my husband liked the Pollotate more, the Nonna was my favorite. Sorry- no pics of the pizza as my husband slid it off of the pan on accident while trying to grab a slice! Ha! Both the experience and the food at BoomBozz was top notch and we are already planning our trip back!

Last Stop: Destin!

While we didn't make any really big stops on our drive from Nashville to Destin, we do have a few recommendations for short stops to stretch your legs along the route! Here are some fun stops for the drive from Nashville to Destin:

• Durbin Farms Market in Clanton, Alabama

• Priester's Pecans in Fort Deposit, Alabama

• Sweet South Market in Andalusia, Alabama

  
  

All of these stops have delicious treats for the whole family and will give you an opportunity to explore something new while stretching your legs. We stopped at all 3 and would absolutely stop at each of them again!

Our final stop for the week was Destin, Florida. We stayed right at the beach and have nothing but great things to say about Destin. I'll be posting about Destin and some great things to see, eat and do there shortly. Stay tuned!