Today felt like one of those summer days spent almost entirely in the car.
We got up early to pick up our youngest daughter from CampIT, where she had spent the past week. She had such a wonderful time! It’s an IT camp with exactly the kind of attitude I love—encouraging curiosity, creativity, and hands-on learning with electronics and technology. It makes me so happy to see kids excited about building and experimenting instead of just staring at screens. The camp is in the middle of nowhere… so close to nature. Can you spot the brush!?
From there, we drove about 1.5 hours to my hometown.
All three girls are staying with my mum for the next week, and I know they’ll have a wonderful time together. They’ll get a week full of grandma’s love, freedom, and summer adventures, while the house will suddenly become very, very quiet.
On the way back, Jānis and I decided to stop and buy a better filtration system for our swimming pool, some art stuff for kids and long nozzel for watering. Hopefully it will keep the water much cleaner this summer and save us a bit of maintenance.
Since we were already out, we made another spontaneous decision—we stopped at Čili Pizza. I hadn’t eaten there in about 14 years! It was funny walking in after so long. We treated ourselves to a meal that definitely wasn’t the healthiest choice, but sometimes that’s part of a road trip too.
We suddenly heard a loud metallic bang, and something flew off the car. We quickly pulled over onto the side of the road, switched on the emergency lights, and tried to figure out what had happened. It turned out that one of the windscreen wiper blades had flown off! Jānis had turned on the wipers, and the old blade simply gave up. I ended up walking about half a kilometre (about a third of a mile for my USA friends) back along the road to find it. Thankfully, we had spare wiper blades in the back of the car, so we replaced it in just a few minutes and were soon back on our way.
The rest of the journey was much calmer. The sky put on quite a show for us, with magnificent clouds that reminded me of Laputa, the floating island from Castle in the Sky. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, a beautiful (light) rainbow appeared.
After another hour and a half of driving, we finally arrived home.
Helmī made the video, had to share on Youtube 🙂
Funny.
Goodnight.
Ilze
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She lost in a big way! Great English. ☺️ I’m glad you had another blade onboard, why id there a line drawn through the town name? Nice smooth road! And a Ford. 👍🏻
… the end of the town, end of speed limitations.
Thank you! 😊 Luckily, Jānis always keeps a few spare parts in the car, and this time they really came in handy! And yes—a Ford! 7seater 🙂
If I was a child now I would want to go to ITcamp. In my childhood IT didn’t even exist. I believe the calculations for Armstrongs moon trip were made on an abacus. 🙂 You two had a fine day and the pizza’s looked delicious. So did the skies!
I think you’re right! Kids today have opportunities we could only dream about. I love that they’re encouraged to build things, experiment, and solve problems instead of only using technology. It was a lovely day, and yes… the pizza tasted even better after such a long break!
A lovely, peaceful, normal day . . . glad you had that yummy pizza stop, just the two of you . . . actually very healthy for the soul and not that bad for the body! Enjoy your ‘quiet’ days !!!
Thank you so much! ❤️ It really was one of those simple, peaceful summer days. And you’re absolutely right—sharing a pizza together once in a while is good for the soul. 😊 Now we’ll see how quiet the house really feels without the girls!
I think what I love the most about road trips is seeing the landscape around me. The pizza stop seem nice.
I completely agree! Watching the landscape change is one of my favourite parts of a road trip too. Latvia isn’t a huge country, but there’s always something beautiful to look at. And yes, the pizza stop was a nice little treat. 😊
I liked the photos and Helmi’s video – and English – but didn’t spot the brush
The small brush (blueish) was on the roof top! There must be a story!
You did good finding the wiper blade, good that you had spares with you. You all had a busy day. I spotted the brush. I can spot blue easily. 😊 It is one of my favorite colors. I bet your girls are going to have a wonderful time with your mother.
I hope they do! It’s at the sea 🙂
What a lovely day, Ilze. The video is so cute!
Thank you, it is cute 🙂
Esmu drosa kad meitenem ies labi pie vecvecakiem. Man uznaca labas atminas par manam nometnes dienam Latviesu Luteranu Baznicas Nometne Katskillu kalnos Nujorkas stata. Velak gaju latviesu vidusskola vasara Garevera Miciganas stata.
Tu domā Garazers?! Man tante Anita arī tur ir pavadījusi laiku! Viņa cenšas katru gadu kopā ar draudzeni Britta doties uz turieni 🙂