its traveling time

We're going on a trip.  A very long trip. We're driving from the East to the West. We're moving back to Alberta. And we're going home for Christmas. 

I'm very excited. This will be the first Christmas I've been home for since we've been married and I'm so excited about sharing all the Funston traditions with Jared. And of course, watching Kilmeny take in her first Christmas. 

We're getting all packed up and prepared for the trek. I've gathered a few essentials for the road- some of our favorite snacks like sea salt and vinegar Kettle Chips (my favorite), chocolate bars (mars bar and coffee crisp(oh yeah!) , baby carrots and apples (we're trying to be somewhat healthy), and for my husband- twizzlers. We scored some sweet deals on the munchies since we knew we would want them and we took full advantage of sales. We've got snacks for Kilmeny, and of course our travel mugs. By the way, if you're ever wanting a good one, the double-walled mugs from Starbucks keep your drink hot for a long time. And when you're traveling during the winter, that's a very good thing! Our ipod is loaded with music and sermons. We'll be talking and laughing and making all kinds of new memories. It's going to be a great trip. I hope. It'll be a little interesting traveling with an 11 1/2 month old who will be confined to her car seat for hours days on end.
I'll be addressing our Christmas letters (since I really don't have time for that with today's busy last minute packing and cleaning) and doing a little cross stitching on a project that I started a long time ago. I figure 40 hours should bring it close to completion.

We sat down several weeks ago and planned out our route home. My amazing husband printed out all the addresses and phone numbers we'll need so we can just type it in to the GPS as we're enroute. He also booked the few hotels that we're going to be staying at. We're staying with friends and family most of the way home which makes the trip extra-special. And it makes our travel time reasonable. Our longest is eight hours and that's across Manitoba and Saskatchewan so it'll seem like much longer. ;-)

I'm not a big fan of long days in the van. We've done it. But it's my preference not to travel that way. at. all.  I don't really sleep in the vehicle and while Kilmeny will sleep all night when we're driving, she'll be awake when we're totally bombed. Plus we end up stopping at gas stations in random small towns  late at night early in the morning to stock up on caffeine and munchies to keep us awake which only adds to the overall bagged feeling once we're at our destination. We prefer to stock up on the munchies that we only ever buy for road trips from the grocery store because we're cheap like that. We will be stopping for coffee, obviously, and we have a few favorite places to eat at in the States that aren't in Canada. (Chipotle, baby!) But we try to keep our stops and purchases on the low side.

So, that's how we travel.  And it works for us. 

What are your favorite travel snacks?