In Praise of Our iPhones and iPads

This year, both Jeff and I have iPhones on the trip, as well as iPads.  They have proved very valuable in a variety of ways.

When the campgrounds' wifi was weak, both of us used our iPhones as internet hot spots.  That helped Jeff with his work stuff and helped me keep the blog up to date. 

Jeff has used his iPhone's compass app to help him get a satellite signal.  He's also used the calculator.

I used the flashlight app to help me navigate during the night time scavenger hunt, and also get around the RV when everyone else had gone to bed.  It also works as a good reading light.

I found places to eat using the Trip Advisor app, the Local Eats app, and the Safari internet connection to get to http://www.roadfood.com/.  The Trip Advisor app also helped me make decisions on things to do and what things to avoid.  Like when it told us that the Manitou Cliff Dwellings in Colorado weren't built by Native Americans, they were just a reproduction.  No need to waste any money there.

What was great about using the TripAdvisor app on the iPhone was that once you selected something to see or a place to eat, all you had to do was click "directions" and the app would help you drive to the place. 

Both Jeff and I were able to take pictures with our iPhones when a camera wasn't available, and we also shot some videos with them.  I used my iPhone to post things on Facebook and check out what other people were posting.

We all played the license plate game and kept track of all the ones we saw using the License Plate Game app.  (We're still on the hunt for license plates from Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Hawaii.)

Since our RV radio is possessed by evil demons and does whatever it wants to, the kids have played music on the iPad so we're not driving in silence.  One night, Jeff downloaded a movie onto his iPad for some evening entertainment.

After the NFL strike was averted, Henry got on the iPad to log into ESPN.com to find out which players had been traded to various teams.

I was able to book campground reservations at KOA campgrounds on my iPhone or iPad, whichever one the kids weren't playing with.  That's another advantage of the iPhone and iPad - the games and music helped to keep the kids entertained during the longer drives.