On The Road…Hybrid Style

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

The seeds for a hybrid road trip were planted when Karen and I were invited to spend Earth Day this year at Toyota’s North American headquarters in Torrance, CA. Toyota, hybrid-early adopters with their ever-so-popular Prius, also owns the Lexus brand which has its own line of luxury hybrid vehicles. Stewart+Brown is a partner of Lexus Hybrid Living and has teamed up with the brand for several marketing events over the last few years so when it came up that we were taking to the road in a few weeks for a trunk show at the fabulous eco-luxury boutique Eco Citizen in San Francisco our friends at Lexus offered to let us test drive one of their Hybrids and let them know what we thought about it. A no-brainer, right? For those of you that haven’t experienced a hybrid, they are a BLAST to drive! Especially the Lexus 450RX hybrid SUV that they generously loaned us for our road trip. It was our 15 month old son Huxley’s first road trip and an amazing trip for the whole family.

The trip officially started when I picked Hazel, our 6 year old, up at “kids club” the afternoon before our trip. Hazel was super stoked to ride in our “new car” and started jumping up and down when I told her it had a “Rear Seat Entertainment System” otherwise known as a DVD player. She couldn’t believe her good fortune and started to list all the DVD’s she was going to watch on the trip; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Pippi Longstocking, etc. When we got home Hazel didn’t want to get out of the car and asked if she could sleep in it that night. Well I didn’t let her but the incentive of the new ride made her an eager beaver springing out of bed at 5 am the next morning ready to hit the road. Huxley, on the other hand, was thrilled to have a spare set of headphones to play with in his baby car seat and a sister to torment.

Packed to the gills! For those of you that know, there is no such thing as “packing lightly” when you have a couple of kids. Didn’t think it would all fit but the 450RXh has lots of space for the traveling family.

Karen sets up the Navigation System for our trip. Lots of fun little items to play with here like watching energy efficiency, fuel consumption, and highlights where to find gas stations, hotels, and restaurants. My favorite “tool” is a little video camera that turns on when you are backing up.

Hazel gets set up to watch “Pippi” on the DVD.

Our most precious cargo! We wouldn’t even think of putting our kids in the car if it wasn’t safe. The RXh series has a state of the art network of airbags making it one of the safest cars on the road.

“Are we there yet?” 5 miles up the freeway from home. Santa Barbara is burning on the horizon.

Fifteen minutes into the drive and both kids are out…a much appreciated moment of zen!

Arriving in hybrid-style at the Eco Citizen trunk show.

A quick game of sandwich board hide and seek.

Celebrating our friends Dan and Liz’s little girl, Audrey’s, birthday bash. Hazel and Huxley blended right in with the “kid pack.”

Huxley makes a new friend…Mr. Pablo de la Vega.

Hazel having a blast with a balloon. I wish I could be so easily entertained.

On to Oakland for our second night. Had a great Mother’s Day morning breakfast on the balcony of our hotel overlooking the Oakland waterfront.

Spending Mother’s Day with the kids at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium was an excellent idea. If you’ve get the chance the place is amazing!

With so many things to touch and feel the aquarium was a interactive adventure perfect for a kid’s curious mind.

Since they were good little ones, Hazel and Huxley each got to leave with a new fluffy friend. Hazel picked a sea otter and named her Dottie and Huxley was fond of a penguin who is now named Chillie.

The scenic route back home took us on the most beautiful stretch of Pacific Coast Highway through Big Sur. We stopped at the fantastic Nepenthe restaurant for dinner…highly recommended for Mother’s Day dinner!

Thanks for the ride Lexus! – Howard, Karen, Hazel and Huxley.