Twentieth Anniversary Trip : Day 1-2

Eric and I were married almost 20 years ago while I was home on leave from a deployment in Iraq. Needless to say, we didn’t get to have a honeymoon. Between dealing with PTSD, followed by kids, and all that comes with those, we just never seemed to find the right time. We decided a couple years ago that we wanted to finally have our honeymoon to celebrate our twentieth anniversary, and the time finally came this year.

We scheduled a trip to spend 4 days at Disney World and 2 days at Universal Studios. To make things a little easier on us, we divided the travel into 2 days. The drive was surprisingly pleasant, given it was 14 hours without any stops. It was our first time traveling without kids in as long as we could remember. While we weren’t specifically following our usual dietary restrictions, we wanted to come up with snack and beverage options that wouldn’t have a bunch of sugar and empty carbs. We focused mostly on nuts, beef jerky, and protein snacks.

Snacks

We both wanted mixed nuts for when we wanted a snack on the drive, but didn’t want a mix that was all peanuts and cashews. So I ordered the nuts we wanted and mixed them into a container for the trip. They were so good! We used a mix of pecans, macadamia nuts, almonds, shelled sunflower seeds, and a little bit of cashews. We mixed them all in a storage container and used that to refill an old mixed nuts can that fit in the cupholder of the car.

Along with the mixed nuts, we also has a small collection of protein snacks that included protein bars, protein cookies, and beef jerky. I personally prefer mostly Quest protein bars and snacks. They have a good protein/carb/fat ratio as well as not having any of the ingredients I am allergic to. The best part about these protein bars is they don’t melt in the car. They do soften a little and can change shape, but they maintain the same consistency and texture. They also don’t have that typical protein bar texture to begin with, it is more like a chewy candy bar.

While I am typically not drawn to sweets, I do occasionally like some sweets. I especially like the Quest protein cookies. My biggest craving is actually chips, which has been helped by Quest protein chips as well. They were great for the drive too since I would feel full and the chip cravings would be gone. The frosted cookies have several flavors, but the chocolate are my favorite. The larger protein cookies have even more flavors. Some are dryer than others, but I haven’t had a bad one yet. The protein chips are a different story. The texture is a little different to tortilla chips, so don’t expect them to be like Doritos. I tried several flavors, and did not like the ranch or nacho cheese flavors at all. I liked the fiesta lime flavor, but it was way too hot for me. The loaded taco flavor seems to be perfect. It actually does remind me of Doritos, and the flavor balances out the odd texture well. They completely satisfy the chip cravings for me, which is a huge help.

Whatever snacks you like, Quest has a ton of low carb, high protein options. They even have muffins and potato chips now. I can’t wait to try those out and let you know how they are.

Drinks

The biggest hurdle was finding drinks that had enough caffeine to keep us awake and focused, while also not containing added sugars, aspartame, or acesulfame potassium. Unfortunately being allergic to acesulfame potassium extremely limits sugar free option. We experimented with a few different brands and flavors from grocery stores and gas stations. Eric had a few more options available to him since he only has to avoid the added sugars, but I only found one brand that avoided all three. For me the best choice was Celsius which, luckily, has a ton of flavors to choose from. Some are carbonated and some are not. Below are my three favorite flavors after trying nearly every flavor available in my area. At grocery stores they are over $2.00 each, and at gas stations they are usually even more.

Once I narrowed down brands and flavors, I discovered I could save money by ordering online. I found that buying it by the case on amazon is much cheaper than in the stores, even more so if you utilize subscribe & save.

Eric is not a big fan of the celsius, and he went through a lot of different options before deciding on a few favorites. He has the flavors below on subscribe & save now. The Monster Peachy Keen and Ghost Tropical Mango are his top favorites.

Comfort

When I was about to have my fifth child, I fell and broke my coccyx. Then, lucky me, I delivered her 2 weeks later, with said broken coccyx. As a result of this I have difficulty sitting for long periods of time without pain. Eric ordered cushions for the car to help alleviate the pressure that would cause this pain. It was an adjustment, but I was able to drive to Florida and back with no pain whatsoever. It also works wonders on the desk chairs when spending hours at the computer or working on craft projects.

All in all we had a pleasant drive that actually passed faster than expected. With the kids in the car I am way more stressed and crave junk food, but with just the two of us it was actually quite peaceful. We didn’t have to stop nearly as often, and when we did we took walks around the rest areas to stretch our legs. We even made the trip in record time with just the two of us. We also learned a lot to use for our family trip coming up in December.

TO BE CONTINUED…