Travel pace has really slowed down with a 2.5 month old baby in tow. Before, we might wake up at sunrise and go go go, returning only after sunset. Now, we'll try to time it so that we're ready to go as soon as baby S has her mid morning milk, right after her first nap. Then, we'll try to time the arrival to our first destination, so that we're feeding her again before departing for the next. Bedtime is around 7:30PM, which means we have to be home by 6PM in order to properly feed her and get her ready to sleep.
There's also extra equipment to lug around - car seat, stroller, carrier for rougher terrain that the stroller can't go over, diapers, change of clothes in case of accidents...
Is all the effort in planning even worth it?
We decided to see for ourselves by taking baby S out to explore the Southwestern region of Vancouver Island. From the moment we got into the car, baby S started screaming because we made the mistake of leaving her alone for 10 seconds in her car seat while folding up her stroller. She stopped the moment the car started moving, but both H and I were drained from trying to calm her down.
In search of caffeine and sugar to recover from this episode, we made our first stop at The Stick in the Mud.
This seems to be a popular spot, as there were a few others in line to order. A group of road bikers were just parking their bikes, and were loudly declaring that they needed sugar and caffeine. This reminded me of my good old days of road biking...
I was already over my caffeine quota for the day (1 very large cup of black coffee for breakfast), as I'm still breastfeeding, so I had an iced London fog. I do not regret this choice as it was a very tasty beverage. They use bamboo straws, which were a bit flimsy and made it slightly more difficult to drink out of, but these are strange times. Usually, I would've brought my own container. I do wish I could've tried their coffee, or had unlimited budget to buy coffee beans, because they roast in house and a small bag of their beans was $20. Guess I'll have to return to this cozy cafe one day!
Baby S does not look amused in the photo, because it was hot and windy in the little town, so we escaped to the forested trails leading to China Beach and the Sooke potholes. This was actually the day before all the smoke from the US blew over to us, so looking back now, I feel grateful for the chance to have this mini daytrip before being trapped indoors.
Was it worth it? I'd say yes, because baby S looked so amazed and awe struck by majestic trees along the hike. I'd like to give her more of these types of experiences.
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