We live about five-six hours (on a fairly curvy road for half of it) from the nearest *big* airport (San Francisco); sometimes we fly out of Oakland domestically. For us, who love to travel and have family far away, this has always been a drag. It was annoying before we had a kid. It's been much worse with him (carseat-hating) riding with us (the record of straight crying was 2.5 out of five hours).
Arcata-McKinleyville has a tiny airport, out of which Kelvin has flown occasionally. I had not, until our recent San Antonio trip. It was awesome! The airport is about 10 minutes door-to-door from our house, and it made such a difference in "travel fatigue," especially on our return trip. While it's more expensive, so not probably a feasible option for every trip we take, it made a difference on this one!
We left the hotel in Texas around 4 a.m. (which is not a problem for our not-needing-sleep toddler).
Iver slept a bit but was entertained on the TX-CA flight. He wore his hoodie as a "old woman who lived in a shoe" headdress.
Due to few flights to Arcata from San Francisco, we then had a five-hour layover. I'm not a huge fan of layovers this long, but it sure beats five hours on a mostly curvy road in the car with a restrained, cranky, and easily bored child!!!
While I watched the luggage (and read my book :)), Kelvin and Iver left the airport on the BART train and went into San Francisco.
There was an outdoor festival near the Children's Creativity Museum.
Iver was fascinated by "Bo and Rita."
He loves carousels!
We ate, and all had a great time! We all even got another nap in during the short, 1-hour flight north back home and had a few hours to play with Pepper (who was watched by Kelly and Matt), unpack, and get settled before our workweek started again.
For sure, this was a BETTER WAY to spend five hours!
