Indiana/Kentucky Road Trip: Day 1

Last summer, we attempted a road trip with both kids to nearby Chicago.  It did not go well.  Henry spent much of the car ride screaming and crying and refusing to nap.  After arriving in Chicago, he promptly climbed out of the Pack 'n Play for the first time ever.  That night, he awoke in the middle of the night at the hotel and we couldn't get him back to sleep.  We eventually let him "cry it out" much to the dislike of our hotel neighbors, I'm sure.

That whole experience led us to rethink our road trip days.  We decided to fly on our next couple of trips.  Then, earlier this summer, my mom and I attempted a short road trip to Kansas City to visit some family. It was like a dream come true!  Both kids did fantastically well.  Our confidence in road trips was renewed!  We began to test the road trip waters and planned a trip to Indiana and Kentucky.

Many people thought that a road trip to Indiana and Kentucky was kind of a strange choice.  I admit, deciding on where we would go had much more to do with the proximity to our house than to the excitingness of the location.  We didn't think we were ready to try a 13 hour drive with the kids so instead we decided to take a trip with only 2-4 hour driving increments.  Perfect.

Our friends initially told us about Holiday World, located in Santa Claus, Indiana.  It sounded fun, was close, and was most definitely affordable.  After talking with others, I heard so many good things about Holiday World that it became the man contender for our short road trip. After all, we had already done Chicago, Kansas City, and Memphis.  We searched for other places nearby to visit and decided to make a nice big loop.  Our route would be St. Louis to Santa Claus, IN to Louisville, KY to Indianapolis, IN to St. Louis.

Day 1 was a breeze!  The kids were pumped, snacks and activities were packed and we even pulled out on time!  The first leg was only 3 hours long.  We were too early to check in to our hotel, so we found our way to Lincoln's Boyhood Home and looked around at all of the exhibits.

It was a great way to stretch our legs and get some educational information while we were at it.  It got a little toasty as the day went on, so we decided to check out Santa's Candy Castle.  If that doesn't sound like a place we needed to visit, I don't know what does!

The whole town of Santa Claus is dripping with the Christmas spirit. It is kind of refreshing in July (and a little strange).  Santa's Candy Castle is known for it's "famous" Frozen Hot Chocolate.  We agreed it is delicious!  The biggest score here, though, may have finding a box of Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.  This is the special Harry Potter Jelly Belly package that includes realistic tasting flavors like earthworm, dirt, earwax, vomit, and boogers.  Quite the find for our little Harry Potter fan and her willing-to-try-anything little brother.

After waiting for Santa to come down the chimney and pretending to be Rudolph, it was time to check into the hotel and rest for a bit.

Henry surprised us on night one by sleeping pretty good. It wasn't perfect, but it beat Chicago's night one by a mile and a half! He was undoubtedly resting up for a full day at Holiday World!