Uncle Roger's Notebooks of Daily Life

Five Things To Know Before You Go On Vacation

Summer is here and that means summer vacation. If you're planning on heading out of town with the kids, you need to be prepared. You've got to pack sunscreen, make sure you've got the right kinds of clothes, and find some place to stay. But there is more to being prepared than all that; there are a few things you really ought to know before you hit the road.

Emergency Room/Urgent Care Facility

We were on holiday at Lake Tahoe and had just bid my in-laws farewell that morning. The kids waved their goodbyes and watched them disappear down the snow covered street. We went back inside to decide what to do with the rest of our day and less than an hour later we were looking for help. As I wrote at the time, "Jared had gone from a giggling, active, ball of energy to a morose, immobile, couch potato. His eyes were sunken in and he was pretty pale."

Desperate, I tried calling our health insurance to find the nearest emergency services. Unfortunately, they were of no help whatsoever. I grabbed the phone book and started looking at ads. Now, if you're ordering a pizza or looking for a movie theatre, picking one ad over the other probably isn't going to matter too much. When the life of your child is hanging in the balance, however, you want the absolute best care possible and looking at ads in the phone book seems a might iffy.

As it turned out, I found the ad for an urgent care facility nearby and we rushed over. The young doctor knew what she was doing and, despite Jared being rather young for it, she tested him for Strep Throat. Sure enough, that was the problem. We eventually got antibiotics in him (that's a whole 'nother story) and he was as good as new.

Now, however, we not only know the urgent care facility, but we've found the local hospital with an emergency room.

Road Service/AAA/Mechanic

I won't bother to mention all the times Rachel and I ran into trouble on the road while tooling about in Indy, 1959 Land Rover; suffice it to say, there were many. Instead, I'll mention the time I ended up at Donner Summit, in the middle of a blizzard, with a two-year-old and a six-month pregnant wife.

This was in our relatively modern 1999 Land Rover Discovery, Captain Spaulding. We were coming back from Tahoe and, while on the long road up to the summit, the engine started to overheat. I made the decision to continue on for safety's sake which turned out to be the wrong decision for the Rover's engine. We made it to the top, though, and we able to call AAA and Land Rover Rocklin.

It's a good idea to not only have road service like AAA available, but to know where you'd want to take your vehicle in case of problems. We were lucky in that the Disco was still under warranty, but if we would have had to scramble to find an independent repair shop in the middle of a snow storm, we would have been screwed. The more unusual or fancy your car is, the more important this is.

Prescriptions, including eyeglasses

If you or your kids rely on medicines, make sure you carry a copy of your prescriptions with you. You'll want to be able to replace them if your pills end up at the bottom of a lake or lost in a snow bank. Further, and perhaps more importantly, make sure you have a copy of your eyeglass prescription. While you might be able to skip a day or two of your blood pressure medicine, it makes for a pretty rotten vacation if you can't see.

Even worse, if you're driving, not being able to see can be deadly. We were in Calistoga one summer when my glasses broke and could not be repaired. I certainly did not enjoy the trip as much as I would have otherwise. Had I had my prescription with me, I could have gotten a new pair made -- an expensive option, but probably worth it since I needed a new pair anyway.

Late night grocery/restaurant

You're out on a grand day hike around the lake or spending the day flying down snow-covered hills. The next thing you know, it's after 9pm and your kids are tired and starving. But all the restaurants in the sleepy little town you're staying in are closed for the day. Even the grocery stores are dark and quiet. So do you let your kids starve? Of course not! Life is sure easier, however, if you already know where to find a kid-friendly restaurant that's open late.

Failing that, an all-night grocery store should have plenty of foodstuffs that can get you through until morning. Sometimes, a loaf of bread, some meat and cheese, and a bit of produce, combined with a promise of a big breakfast, is enough to ward off an overly-tired/overly-hungry temper tantrum. It might even work for the kids too.

Indoor activities

Whether you're facing an unexpected heat wave with temps over a hundred or a blizzard that has you worrying about being able to get home, there are bound to be times when doing stuff outside just isn't going to work. We have found ourselves in Calistoga when it was too hot even to get in the swimming pool, at Lake Tahoe when it was snowing too hard to go sledding, and camping in the rain. At times like these, it's good to have a backup plan.

If you're in a good sized city like San Francisco, there are bound to be plenty of museums or other indoor activities the kids will enjoy, but what if you're not so fortunate? What if you're in a small town bereft of major cultural institutions? Don't worry; there will be things to do no matter where you are. You just need to know where they are and when they are available.

Before you head out, do some homework, even if heading inside isn't your plan for your vacation. If you have to, it's easier to find indoor activities at home than it is on the road. Find children's museums, libraries, even universities that have drama or music departments just in case. As a last resort, make a list of local bookstores -- many offer readings and talks on a regular basis -- and shopping malls.

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