Minute Hours

 

I am yet again reminded that children are a blank slate when it comes to knowledge, and have to be taught concepts of time and such. I am fairly certain that my kids currently don't know how many minutes are in an hour, and therefore don't know that half an hour is 30 minutes. They are learning the concept of minutes from watching videos, like a Bluey episode is 8 minutes and a Danny Go song is about 4 minutes. And sometimes they get the whole "tomorrow we are doing something" but it seems everything in the past is "yesterday." Time is confusing anyways - I get why kids don't get it.

Text:
L: How far away did Dad say the hotel was, half an hour?
R: He said 35 hours.
L: Minutes, girl. 35 minutes. 

Good to Not Go

 

I meant to post this with my Pensacola Travel Comic, but somehow they got separated. When I went down to PCC to see my littlest (or rather, youngest) brother graduate, I went with my daughter and it was a solo Mom weekend and I was a bit nervous about flying solo with my kid but it all went well. Even with two flights down and another two back, we never had to use the airplane toilet. Perhaps that's the trick, multiple shorter flights so you can use the restrooms in the airport rather than one long flight which increases the likelihood of needed a break in the air. Also I declined all of the drink services and had small sips from our water bottles as needed.

Explanation: "Good to go" is a phrase used to mean all can proceed, but "need to go" is a phrase that can mean you need the toilet, so mashing the two phrases together makes this comic happen. 

Text:
L: We got in a potty break before boarding our flight, so hopefully we are good to not go. 

Pensacola

 

I finally made a new travel comic page! I have done five of my trips in the past, and this is the sixth entry. Here's a list of the previous trips - you should be able to find them by searching the "travel comic blog" on my site but I should come up with a better way to collate them:

Germany and Switzerland 1 | Germany and Switzerland 2 | Germany and Switzerland 3 | Germany and Switzerland 4

Great Dismal Swamp 1 | Great Dismal Swamp 2

Nebraska 1 | Nebraska 2 | Nebraska 3 | Nebraska 4

Canada 1 | Canada 2

Utah 1 | Utah 2

We had a great time in Pensacola seeing my youngest sibling graduate - the next family member set to graduate is my niece on my husband's side (she's only a few years younger than my brother). 

Here's some photos that are drawn in this comic:

CT Rest Stop

 

I really like the mouseover in this one. Check it out. 

We traveled to CT over Christmas and we did see a rest stop with just a DD listed and we did not stop there. We prefer a selection of foods when we stop, but then again we have little kiddos so sometimes you just have to take the exit. I do like that the rest stops on the NJ Turnpike are getting renovated - the new ones are quite nice. One had the best changing table station I have ever seen in a public restroom, which might not be saying much but a nice countertop with a ledge and a garbage bin not near the door / high traffic area - it was just right. Sadly I don't recall the name of the stop, but maybe that's a new blueprint more places will use. Way better than the flimsy fold-down koala care ones. But sometimes you're just grateful to have a place to change the baby. 

Text:
M: This rest stop only has a Dunkin? 
L: Welcome to CT! 
R and O: *along for the ride*

Flights Impacted

 Was anyone else impacted by the Southwest Airlines mess? Thankfully we were staying with family and also we were able to flip our tickets to the train (that's in a later comic) so we were by no means stranded. But we were suppose to fly out on a Wednesday and they said how about Sunday? However my amazing husband was able to get us train tickets right away and that worked out (praise the Lord we even found seats next to each other in the carriages very full with multitudes of other people were in the same proverbial boat which was actually a train instead of an airplane). 

Whenever I hear the word "impacted" I think of wisdom teeth. Impaction is just not good, especially when it requires surgery. 

Text:
M: Southwest says our travel has been impacted by their issues.
L: How badly?
M: Like wisdom teeth.

Getting Kicked on Route 66

 

In the last comic of the year, I reflect on a trip earlier in the year when we had the joy of experiencing Route 66 for a quick getaway to VA. Well, it would have been a quick getaway if there hadn't been multiple construction zones that we needed to pass through. But it was a nice getaway, once we got there. 

Text:
M: Traffic and construction everywhere! This highway is horrible!
L: Are we getting kicked on Route 66?
M: Yes.

Life is a Gridlocked Highway

 

I heard this song on the radio and this comic sprang to mind. I might have even been sitting in traffic. It might have been a Thursday since this is quite a throwback of a song - it was popular like when I was in college which was forever ago. But pre-pandemic seems forever ago as well. Maybe the past just seems a long time ago, whether or not it was a few years or a decade or longer. 

Text:
A: 🎵 Life is a Highway 🎵
B: Gridlocked and going nowhere fast?

Utah, Page 2

 

The second and final page of our Utah trip. It was a great time, just me and my Mark exploring the town of Moab and seeing the sites. So many dinosaur remains out there! It turns out, back in the day, loads of people mined for uranium ("totally safe!" said the government) and while digging around, they found some massive bones and paleontology is grateful for their findings! So many trails to explore and view fossils that are just lying about, specifically tracks that have been uncovered. Our B&B that we stayed at gave us fresh melons in the morning to take on hikes and it was amazing! We went to the local grocery store to get fruit and were shocked at how expensive apples were. Turns out, if you can't grow trees then tree fruit is expensive. Very few trees were seen on our Utah trip. Moab Giants was an awesome experience and I kinda want to upload some photos to show the life-sized dinosaurs with which we interacted.

Text:

Panel 1 - M: All the food here is tasty! [Pho! BBQ! Thai! Mexican!]

Panel 2 - M: Four apples are HOW MUCH?!? L: wow. [L is shocked while M holds a receipt and a bag of apples]

Panel 3 - Dino tracks in the wild! [two dinosaur footprints]

Panel 4 - Melons on a desert hike [M holding a container while L eats a melon piece]

Panel 5 - Life-sized Dinosaurs at Moab Giants [L posing for M in front of a massive T-Rex]

Utah, Page 1

Another missed vacation comic! This one is from 2018, when we went out West to Utah to see a few national parks. It was a great trip! So much hiking, so many natural wonders, and excellent food in Moab where we stayed. We got to experience a Dark Sky area, which means after the sun goes down it gets super duper dark! We stayed in Arches National Park to watch the sunset, then drove almost out of the park and waited for total dark which was amazing - so many stars, so little man-made light! We wanted to be near the exit because wow, it was dark and I didn't want to experience the winding roads with only our headlights. The last panel here is a Comical True Story, where a random couple injected their opinion into our conversation because they couldn't handle my incorrect assumption. Which is totally fine - we were seeing our first canyon and figured once seeing one you've seen them all and they were assuring us that is not the case. So we will aim to go see the Grand Canyon at some point. Probably. 

Text:

Panel 1a - Arches | Canyonlands | Dead Horse
Panel 1b - UTAH
Panel 1c - September 1-5, 2018

Panel 2 - Sunset in the Park
L: Let's get out before it's completely dark!

Panel 3 -
L: Canyonlands is amazing! Do we even need to see the Grand one?
R: Yes. Yes you do. It's amazing.

Canada, Page 2

 We did a lot of walking on our trip, but that's how we like to do things. Lots of nature walks, grossly lots of banana slugs *bleh they look like a moving dog turd* but the scenery in the temperate rain forest was just amazing. We revisiting Butchart Gardens and Victoria Butterfly Gardens, we had previously visited them on our honeymoon a decade before. 

Text:
Panel 1:
M: We walked five miles today.
L: No, we were walking kilometers!

Panel 2: 
L: Unsweet iced tea is unheard of here. [found this out after asking for it at several restaurants]

Panel 3: Butchart Gardens
L: Flowers again!

Panel 4: Victoria Butterfly Gardens
M: Butterflies again!
L: Spike :( [Spike was a bird who liked to peck shoes - we met him on our honeymoon a decade ago, and they had a little memorial to him when we visited this time]

Panel 5:
M: Favorite day of trip?
L: The one where we didn't see any banana slugs!

Panel 6:
L: This bridge is see-through - this is awesome!
M: That is terrifying.

Canada, Page 1

 

So when I did my Nebraska comics, I was looking through the other comics I've done and I realized I hadn't posted my ones from some previous vacations! So here's the start of a two-day comic from a few years ago, when Mark and I did our ten-year anniversary by revisiting where we went for our honeymoon! We went to British Columbia, but not the same exact place as before as we wanted to explore more of this beautiful area. I highly recommend visiting BC! We got to soak in a natural hot spring, which was awesome. We took a sea plane to get to another leg of our adventure and that was exciting! The nature tour on a boat was cold but so worth it to see all the wildlife. And of course, seeing a fossil on display makes every vacation even better! 

Also, Happy Birthday to my grandma! She is amazing, and she is my namesake, and she taught me how to crochet! I love her lots. 

Text:
Title: CANADA August 31 - September 7, 2019
Panel 1: Hot Springs [two people soaking in a hot spring]
Panel 2: Sea Plane! [a sea plane either in the air or floating on water, either could work]
Panel 3: bald eagle! sea lions! humpback! seals! orcas! [three rows of people in an inflatable boat, floating in the water]
Panel 4: M: What's that over there? L: Dinosaur footprints!

Nebraska Page 4

Happy Mother's Day!
In the first panel, we never found out (i.e. looked up) what was in those BTC tankers, and I don't know how to look that up since all the top hits for BTC are Bitcoin. Maybe they really were full of virtual currency.... Panel 2 is referencing a massive tourist trap known as Wall Drug and my husband really disliked the place, but there were so.many.signs for it. I thought it was interesting to wander through - we were not interested in the free ice water as it was a bitterly cold day. Panel 3 is referencing a real sign and the sign that came to mind when I saw the afore mentioned real sign. Panel 4 is just a fancy word for being in debt, which I'm not, but you do need to be careful with souvenirs because there are just so many cool things to get. I'm holding a buffalo wearing a Mt Rushmore t-shirt and a wooly mammoth in said panel. And the final panel is a great summary for how the wedding did not go - it was a totally normal wedding, with delicious Middle Eastern food for the reception since both of them are working over there. That panel is also a reminder that we saw so.very.many Oregon Trail markers and landmarks - it was a real thing, not just a weirdly popular while education computer game!

Text:
P1 - 
 M: What is in those BTC tankers?
 L: Sand?
 N: Bitcoin. Filled to the brim.
P2 - 
 M: Anywhere you want to stop on our way out of Nebraska? 
 L: WALL DRUG!
 M: NO!
P3 - 
 Sign 1: PASS WITH CARE
 Sign 2: PASS WITH WILD ABANDON
P4 - Getting Souvenirs
 N: This is why you're insolvent.
 L: What's insolvent?
 N: That's also why you're insolvent.
P5 -
 A: What's a wedding in Nebraska like?
 L: Thankfully, no dysentery.
 M: Ten gallon hats.
 L: The bride had a flannel veil.
 M: Banjo processional.
 L: They left in a covered wagon. 

Nebraska Page 3

 The first panel is a reference to the phrase "no rest for the wicked." And now I know, that phrase is referring to eternal punishment of evildoers. Panel 2 is referencing a psychological manipulation term but also was the actual name of a motel we passed somewhere out in the Midwest. Here it is! Panel 3 is another actual place we saw (B&H Storage) whereas the joke is B&E (which means Breaking and Entering) and that would not be a great storage plan. Panel 4 is referencing that famous song, and Panel 7 is referencing Rushmore. And yes, Panel 8 has more butte humor (and is a reference to the famous line from Finding Nemo!). 

Text:
P1 - 
 M: The rest area is closed.
 L: I guess we all must be wicked.
P2 - 
 L: We could stay at the Gas Lite Motel.
 M: You've always wanted to go there.
P3 - 
 X: We use B&H Storage.
 Y: Better than B&E Storage!
P4 - 
 M: Look, antelope!
 L: Are they playing with the deer?
 M: No, but in the song -
 L: I still feel misled.
P5 - 
 N: 3 out of 3 adults agree - the baby needs to stop whining.
 M: And yet...
 L: *covering ears*
 L2: WHINEEEEE
P6 -
 M: There are horses in blankets over there.
 N: I prefer pigs in blankets.
P7 - 
 L: That mountain needs a face carved on it.
 N: Why not ours?
P8 -
 S: What's there to do in the Badlands?
 L: ... I'm gonna touch the butte.

Nebraska Page 2

Happy Birthday to my amazing husband! He did basically all the planning for our jaunt out to the Midwest and the trip went very smoothly. 
 For the first panel, we did indeed wear our ski jackets out to the Midwest and it was a good thing we did! It got bitterly cold at times. But as you can see in Panel 5, it also got warm! That panel's dialog was taken from a short hike we did to see eagles - we saw deer and cacti instead and possibly eagles but might have been a hawk or vulture. We did not pack binoculars, can you tell? Panel 3 is a throwback to our trip to Germany when a huge statue was described as "Texas" and now I think that whenever I see a massive statue. We did actually see some tumbleweeds, don't let Panel 4 fool you. And per Panel 7, we did have some juvenile humor surrounding the many buttes we saw. 

Text:
P1-
 M: We're gonna look like tourists in Laramie, Wyoming.
 N: Why, the ski jackes?
 M: No, we'll be in Laramie.
P2 - 
 L: How much longer?
 M: 30 minutes.
 L: I feel like you said 45 minutes an hour ago.
 L2: WHINEEE
P3 - *Denver Airport's massive horse statue*
 L: That statue is Texas.
P4 -
 L: We really are out West - a tumbleweed just crossed the highway!
 M: Pretty sure that was a plastic bad.
 L: Close enough!
P5 -
 M: The sun is hot - I am roasting.
 L: Like a red pepper?
P6 -
 M: That's a large eagle.
 L: Or maybe it's a drone!
 N: Birds aren't real.
P7 - 
 M: To your left, the Rocky Mountains!
 N: To your right, a red butte.
 L: *snicker*

 

Nebraska, Page 1

 The week before Easter, we went out to the Midwest for my brother-in-law Peter's wedding. We took a roundabout path to get there - flying into Denver, driving up to Wyoming, over to South Dakota, then finally to Nebraska for the wedding, and finishing by driving back to Colorado to fly out. It was a great week! It was our first major trip with out almost-one-year-old (she's one at time of posting, but you can see this trip was a few weeks ago). We had my brother-in-law Noah with us for the trip which was great - having three adults and one baby is a good ratio :) 

The conversation in this comic didn't quite happen - the waitress was looking at my driver's license because my credit card says to verify ID, and when she asked why we were out there we just gave the short version of "brother marrying a local."

Text:
So much text. This is the title page for my Nebraska travel comic blog so it says "Nebraska" in block letters then specifies "also: Denver CO, Laramie WY, Rapid City SD, and Chadron for Nebraska" with the dates April 11-17, 2022.

Waitress, examining driver's license: What brings someone from Maryland to Nebraska?
M: My brother, who's living in the Middle East, is marrying his fiancée, who's living in Africa, and she's from North Dakota.
W: ?
W: Well, have a nice day!
L: Thanks!

Metro Baby

 

Happy Anniversary to my amazing husband! I'm not sure what we're doing this year, but it will likely be a day trip with our little one. Not sure if we will drive somewhere or take mass transit - unsure how Lucy will handle either (she hasn't been on a long car trip as of the time of writing - just local errands and locations like church or friends' houses). We might find something to do by looking at a local blog - Mid-Atlantic Day Trips. The author has a lot of great travel tips and locations, and we have found several nice local spots by looking there. 

Text:
L: I wonder if Lucy will like riding the Metro.
M: If she doesn't, nobody else will!

Great Dismal Swamp, Page 2

 

Happy almost birthday to my brother!

I think I will try to comic our adventures, as it is helpful to remember all the small moments as well as the big ones. We had a short weekend away, but plenty of happy memories from it. 

Text:
Panel 1: VA Beach Boardwalk
L: Let's never get to the socks-and-sandals stage of not caring
M: Agreed.

Panel 2: 
M: Duck Donuts on the Boardwalk
L: An upgraded Pastries in the Park Sunday.

Panel 3:
M: I see a lot of red and orange ahead.
L: I only see some red cars, no orange.
M: On the map - it's slow ahead.

Panel 4: Flower Flamingos in the Botanic Garden

Panel 5:
M: Actual archaeologists unearthing Jamestown!
L: Cool!

Panel 6: Cactus Jack's - always a delicious meal.

Panel 7:
M: Look at all the history around us!
L: So many Pokestops!

Great Dismal Swamp, Page 1

Over the Labor Day holiday, we took a trip down to VA to see the Great Dismal Swamp. I heard about this park on a blog I follow and it was a nice trip. There were a lot of bugs in the swamp but that's expected in a swamp. We did not spend the whole weekend in the swamp - we went over to Jamestown and VA Beach and a garden as well. We drove by the creepy church twice because Google Maps tried to take us through someone's yard to get to the swamp. 

Text:
Great Dismal Swamp, September 4-6, 2020

Panel 1:
M: Let's start this weekend right - with a proper Friday evening!
L: Board Game Arena with the Hong Kong relatives!

Panel 2: 
L: New First Baptist Church, why do you have an angel in a field surrounded by cherubs??
M: Creepy

Panel 3: That is a Very Large Bug attacking our car

Panel 4: Lake Drummond
M: This is the blackest lake I have ever seen.
L: The waves look like iced tea.

Panel 5: Black Bear Trail, so many mosquitos

Panel 6: 
M: Where is my mask?!?
L Check your face, my love.

Uneven Vs Odd

 

Happy Birthday to my Grandpa!

As for this comic, maybe I should have added ties to my figures so you could tell more clearly this is a job interview. Yes, the interviewer is putting the resume in the trashcan. He does not understand non-linear thinking. DOT is Department of Transportation; sometimes abbreviations are regional like MVA vs DMV but I don't think DOT is one of those. Around here it's the Motor Vehicle Administration because Delaware/Maryland/Virginia is DMV (but the MVA has DMV in their urls so....). 

Text:
Interviewee: Instead of "Uneven Lanes", why not just say "Odd Lanes"? 
Interviewer: Yeah, I don't think you're a good fit for this DOT position. 

Cinderella's Coach

I thought this up after buying tickets to travel somewhere (probably CT) and I don't upgrade because it's a short trip and I'm not a large person so the tiny space is fine usually. Speaking of travel, head over to my other blog to see my thoughts on two popular ways to travel.
Also, happy birthday eve to my oldest little brother! Welcome to your twenties.

Text:
C: I'm tired of riding coach. When can I upgrade?