At the end of the week, my husband and I are leaving for a ten day road trip. We’ll start out in Philadelphia, make our way to Cincinnati, stop in Chicago, say “Hi!” to Madison, WI, relax in Spring Green, WI, take a ferry across Lake Michigan to Holland, MI, cross the boarder in Detroit, visit the Canadian Falls, and finally head home to Philly. A trip like this has required a great deal of preparation, but luckily UDPL has had resources to help me every step of the way!

Planning:
Even though I was specifically looking for info on the Great Lakes states, UDPL has travel books for nearly every destination you could imagine and is a great first stop when planning a vacation!I’ve never been to most of the stops on our trip, but I want to tour these cities like a native! I looked at a handful of UDPL’s travel books and found some great ideas. The Smithsonian Guide to Historic America, convinced me to plan stops at the Taft Museum of Art AND the William Howard Taft National Historic Site while we’re in Cincinnati. Road Trip USA helped me find things to do in Spring Green, WI while I’m there visiting Frank Lloyd Wright’s Talliesin and the House on the Rock.

Entertainment:
Except for the afternoon we spend on the S.S. Badger ferry crossing Lake Michigan, we’ll be doing a lot of driving on this vacation. My husband has made some excellent playlists and mix tapes, but I wanted to supplement with some audio entertainment I picked up from the shelves of UDPL. I’ve been on a Stephen King kick lately and picked up Duma Key to listen to while we drive. I also grabbed a remastered version of Charlie Byrd’s 1959 Bamba-Samba Bossa Nova, and Taylor Swift’s 1989 because every road trip needs some upbeat music to get through the long stretches! If horror stories set in Florida, T Swift, and Bossa Nova aren’t you’re thing, that’s okay! UDPL has books and music for every taste, including those of younger travelers!

Relaxation:
One of the best parts about any vacation is relaxing with a good book or a great magazine.  I’m really looking forward to reading on the patio at the resort in Wisconsin. I’ve already started loading my tablet with digital books from Overdrive. My first order of business will be to reread Carol Rifka Brunt’s Tell the Wolves I’m Home. Or maybe I should first catch up on both the current and back issues of Food Network Magazine from Zinio. Either way, Overdrive and Zinio will put hundreds of titles at my fingertips no matter what I feel like reading!

One thing UDPL has prepared me for that you won’t find on the shelves is a love of libraries. We’ve planned brief stops at public libraries all along our trip and I’m especially excited to see the beautiful Chicago Public Library. It’ll be great to see the amazing things that are happening in libraries in another part of the country. I’ll be sure to take photos and tell you all about it when I get back!