Comments | sstormwatch: Day Out with Thomas!

sstormwatch

Day Out with Thomas!

Jul 27, 2008 14:22

We had a great day yesterday. We traveled to Felton (a hop above Santa Cruz on the coast), and spent the afternoon with Thomas the Tank Engine, one of Cam's birthday gifts, tho 'Elle got to enjoy it a lot more I think. ( kinda long... )

maurelle, holiday, cameron, personal

Comments 6

marymont July 27 2008, 22:06:23 UTC

I feel strongly that minivans are far better than SUVs for carrying stuff. Since 2005, they have been able to fold the seats flat into the deck, which makes them even better. They ride like cars rather than trucks, they don't have the tip-over risk that SUVs do, and they are vastly more fuel-efficient.

I got my first minivan in the 1980s and have been happy with them ever since.

sstormwatch July 28 2008, 21:02:55 UTC

That's what we have come to realize. Which makes me scratch my heads at those who buy SUVs with the express intention of having more cargo room. Really? Where, is what I want to know.

hsifeng July 27 2008, 23:05:02 UTC

The mid 90's Toyota Sienna that we were borrowing for months from my folks was great: We could take seats out when we needed to pack a whole bunch of stuff for an event, the dogs could ride in it comfortably and we could transport a large group of friends for out-of-town adventures.

The gas was higher than our little four-banger Toyota truck, but the trade off was worth it most of the time.

sstormwatch July 28 2008, 21:03:28 UTC

That is one of the vans we would like to test drive. Next time we are going to do just that.

dmetrixavier July 28 2008, 00:35:22 UTC

Being the owner of a Chrysler Town & Country, I would highly recommend it! Not only does it have the stow-n-go seating (basically the seats fold in neatly into the floorboard of the van) it can seat up to seven, and still have room in the trunk for stuff. We have the bench seat in the back, and four captain's chairs. We usually fold all but one of the rear captain's chairs down in the back, and we have enough room for 40% of our guilde's faire stuff (the rest goes into a small trailer). Mileage is between 26-30 MPG.

Draw-backs: Because of the stow-n-go seating the rear of the van is lower to the ground, so you might scrape more often if going out of an odd driveway. Also, the spare tire is located in the front of the van - rather difficult to get to. Ours is a 2006; they might have fixed this problem with the newer models.

The newer models come with lots of change options, such as a pop-up table and rear facing seats for board or card games - such as the commercial shows... LOL.

sstormwatch July 28 2008, 21:05:22 UTC

I've been wondering about the pop-up table, and if people can really play games when facing backwards while the van is moving. I would get too car sick for it, I think. But we have rented the Chrysler once or twice, and we liked the stow and go seating arrangement. Very handy, and empty spaces to put stuff when they aren't holding seats.