When we were young, we went on road trips for our vacations, because we liked cramming 7 people in a van and trying to get to know each other more. At least the rest of the family did. I preferred to fly first class to exotic locations like Paris, Japan, Australia, Hawaii and Indonesia. Unfortunately, I was outvoted by my parents and my siblings preferred locations like Mt. Rushmore and the Hole in the Rock or whatever nonsense we would run into along the way to some secluded spot in Middle of Nowhere, Idaho. One year for vacation, we drove from South Dakota to New Mexico and back in two weeks. It was a riot camping in free camping spots and setting up tents late into the night. We considered ourselves lucky when we got to camp on the floor of a Motel 6. When we got tired of the Ipod, Ipad, laptop, smart phone, cellular phone and internet not being invented yet, we would play those family building games like uh, find all the state license plates or I spy. By the way, my eye isn’t little, so should I say, “I spy with my normal bitter sized eye?” Anyways, here’s some giftures you can spy.
I spy with my bitter eye…
…someone from Harriet Potter.
I spy with my bitter eye…
…a world leader Putin on the Ritz.
I spy with my bitter eye…
…someone a little hopped up on a little sugar.
I spy with my bitter eye…
…someone that likes to read books.
I spy with my bitter eye…
…a cat in the hat trying to go under the mat.
I spy with my bitter eye…
…a place where jobs grow on trees.
I spy with my bitter eye…
…a non confrontational, introverted goalie that loves to dance, but whose parents expected him to be a goalie when he grew up.
I spy with my little eye…
…some guy that can fly…or float…for a second.
I spy with my bitter eye…
…a guy…that’s so fly…my…oh…my.
I spy with my bitter eye…
…the next great video game guy.
I spy with my bitter eye…
…our next great Olympians.
I spy with my bitter eye…
…someone that doesn’t care just as much as I do.
And just like that, I zone out of the game and dream about someday having a screen that I can look at to avoid all people. To dare dream of a day when a phone will be able to be used in a car and roads trips will be irrelevant and this game will be eradicated from the earth.
ARRRRGGGGHHHHHH
Bitter Spy Ben
Ben's Bitter Blog 
That game will never be eradicated. They teach it in all preschools. We are doomed to live with it forever. Although it may be better than the one some friends taught my kids. Whoever spots the yellow vehicle first gets a point. Double if it’s a Hummer.
LikeLike
Wow, none of those games sound very fun, because you have to play them with other people. My favorite was the stay home and play video game one where you played with no other distractions.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Charlie from Always Sunny one got me. I think my son feels this way. He has been looking for a job for awhile now but living in a college city makes it tough. There’s a lot of competition for all those low paying no experience jobs. 😉
LikeLike
Yeah, I know that feeling. The jobs in my college town were pretty scarce too. The employers must have loved having cheap labor though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I went on a sort-of road trip yesterday, meeting up with a friend who lives about halfway across the country (and it only took me a little over an hour to get there… imagine that). Anyway, said friend forgot to mention a ferry ride, so that’s what I spotted with my bewildered eyes. I remember laughing out loud when my GPS told me to “take a left after 80 metres and then take the ferry”
Well, at least my GPS had spotted that -_-
LikeLike
Those hour long road trips are always insane. Reminds me of those Hawaiian excursions we took all the way across to the other side of the island and it took 45 minutes.
We tried to take a ferry last night, but it didn’t leave for an hour, so we took the long way and made it home before the ferry even left.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha, that’s great planning there, Ben!
LikeLike
We didn’t plan. That’s why we were stuck going the other way. That’s my life though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My favorite road trip game is “Annoy Everyone Until They Stop Talking To Me”. No matter what, I’m always a winner.
LikeLike
Yeah, I had a brother that always won that game too. I got pretty good at ignoring him and just taking a nap…while I was driving. Kind of a Vacation situation.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was an only child so I just bothered my parents and eventually they put a vhs player in the car which taught me as long as you annoy people hard enough, you get what you want. It must be weird to have kids nowadays tho since the cars now pretty much all have monitors in the back of the head rests as standard features. They don’t even know the struggle of rewinding or reward systems etc
LikeLike
We had those things when our kids were really young, but when they got older, everyone just got their own tablets, DS’s, phones and laptops and that replaced all those things. And all I had was stupid books that tried to make me learn. Stupid road trips.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha I still keep to my books on extended travels. Everyone always asks how I can read in the car and not throw up and I’m like, “Because I’m a superhero and better than you,” because it’s common knowledge that not everyone has that issue and if they don’t know why, they must be punished
LikeLike
But really it’s because you are a superhero, not because of those other reasons.
LikeLiked by 1 person
exactly
LikeLike
My favorites include the goalie dancing out of the goal, the cat getting through the pet door, and the beast-like beauty in the library. Hysterical! We went on a road trip last year when all of my children were officially adults, and we still played the game in which we go through the alphabet, finding items that start with each letter until we get to X where we start to change the rules and cheat or let the game fade into non-being. Any time I would attempt screen time or listening to a book on my phone, my children interrupted me. Go figure.
LikeLike
Wow, can they stop doing that? We usually try to by a book on CD for those long trips. But our kids prefer the old DS, phone, tablet thing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Our days of listening to a book together are pretty much over; they prefer music; I prefer not to hear their music. I try to listen to a book, timing it for when I see them fully employing headphones or taking a nap — and it’s as if they hear some sort of alarm: “Mom’s about to pay attention to something other than me.” Mememememememememememe… or something like that.
LikeLike
Yeah, kids are so weird. You do your best to pay attention to them and do everything for them, they ignore you. The minute you take a second for yourself, and they are all over you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
HAHA! Putin on the Ritz!!
LikeLike
Yep, or Bitter Benning on the Pizza!
LikeLike
Putin on a Ritz, priceless!
LikeLike
Yes, classic song, even more classic cracker.
LikeLiked by 1 person
haha! love that
LikeLike
I need an Oreo to ride around on.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Laughs out loud. Yummy…Oreos
LikeLike
It’s round so it should work too right?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes and doubly enforced.
LikeLike
Especially if it is Double Stuffed. Just watch out for the potholes with milk in them. It could cause flats Oreo’s.
LikeLike
Always a danger.
LikeLike
Milk is definitely dangerous to Oreos, in the best way possible.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reminds me of the road trip game I used to play. It was called, “Are we there, yet?” The way to play this game is to ask the question every 30 seconds, until one of your parents sitting in the front seat reaches back and tries to slap you silly. If they miss you get an extra point. If it’s the driver, and he/she wrecks the car trying to slap you, you get two extra points. If you survive.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the way you modified the rules. That makes a really dumb game way more interesting. Plus, when your survival is on the line, the stakes are way higher.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the punchbuggy game…you know, where you see a punch buggy and then you yell out punchbuggy! and whatever color it is and you punch the person next to you? Good times! So, when are we taking that road trip?
LikeLike
That sounds like the game we call SlugBug. I guess it is probably called different things everywhere, but basically the same lame game except for the punching.
LikeLike
Without the punching it just loses something.
LikeLike
Actually the whole game is kind of dumb and would be better if all the siblings just punched each other for no reason.
LikeLike
I agree.
LikeLike
First time for everything right?
LikeLiked by 1 person