A List of our Trips:

2012 March & April South Florida and Back (Everglades, Florida Keys, Dry Tortugas, Charleston, Lexington)

2011 July Canadian Maritimes (New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland)


2011 March & April Outer Banks (Yorktown, Kitty Hawk, Hatteras, Charleston, Savannah, Atlanta, Louisville)


2010 July Canadian Rockies (Jasper, Yoho, Waterton Lakes, Glacier & Theodore Roosevelt National Parks)


2010 April Deep South (Mammoth, Pensacola, Orange Beach, New Orleans, St. Louis)


2009 July & August Southwest (Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, etc.)


2009 June South Manitou Island, MI


2009 April Chesapeake Bay (Washington DC, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia Beach, Chincoteague Island, Philadelphia, Hershey)


2008 July & August New England (New York to Maine)


2007 July & August Rocky Mountain National Park/Grand Tetons/Yellowstone

Keeping the Kids Entertained

When we plan a trip, we encourage the kids to pick something that they want to do or see along our route and we do our best to accommodate them. We’ve been known to drive a couple of hours out of our way because someone had a hankering to see the Liberty Bell. Okay, whatever floats your boat… We want the kids to feel ownership in these trips and not feel as if they’re just being dragged along.

I have a couple of small Rubbermaid containers that come on each trip. J has a medium-sized one that houses craft supplies: paper, markers, pens, notebooks, pipecleaners (yes, a great in-the-car craft item), popsicle sticks, tape, scissors, etc. It’s amazing the creations that have come out of the backseat with the supplies in this box.

B’s small container is full of games: cards, hand-held electronic games, travel-size versions of popular board games, etc. He also finds new free apps for the ipod touch before we leave on a trip.

Besides these two boxes and a portable DVD player, I don’t pack anything for the kids. They’re responsible to pick out books and other small toys that need to come along. This is another time when you only want to bring what’s needed. The kids will do fine coming up with things to do; you don’t need to surround them with stuff.

We have found that a light blanket and pillow really increase their chances of napping in the car, so that’s worth the space.

Secrets of Success

Plastic Grocery Bags. Yes. They can be used for so many things: trash bags, dirty laundry, picnic lunches and more. I stash a ton of them within easy reach in the car as well as in our food tub and our suitcases. You’ll be amazed how handy they are.
 
Wet Wipes. A travel staple for cleaning up the car and grubby hands and feet. Keep these in reach too.

Candy. I don’t like the idea of bribing kids with sweets, but let’s be realistic. It’s amazing how far they’ll walk when they’re rewarded with the occasional fruity tootsie roll. Don’t underestimate the power of sugar.

Water. My kids always seem to be thirsty and there’s nothing worse than a whiny kid who just needs some hydration and you can’t give it to them. I’ve tried lots of ways to keep water handy, but my recent favorite is to buy a big pack of disposable water bottles and refill them as needed. I used to just bring a reusable water bottle for each person, but they get lost, dirty or somehow contaminated. With the disposables, we reuse them a few times, then recycle them. And if they get lost, we have extras.

GPS. It has saved our marriage. I still follow along on a map and get in trouble at times when I don’t know where we are, but it’s not crucial. Just go where the Garmin says to go.

Itinerary. We print out a full itinerary of our trip, including addresses and contact numbers of hotels, campgrounds and excursions. We include on it the deadline for cancelling reservations in case our plans change or we’re somehow delayed, so we don’t get charged for something we don’t use.

Getting ready to go

Packing…

Packing is a pain. Definitely. I’ve learned a few things, though. You don’t need as many clothes as you think you do. I’ve never run out of clothes on a trip, especially since everyone seems to come home with more t-shirts than they left with. Pack enough underwear and socks and the rest can slide a little.

Pack one common toiletries bag that you can keep track of. Everyone’s toothbrushes, toothpaste, hair stuff, etc. all goes in the one bag and I’m responsible for it. When you’re in and out of hotels for a week, it’s easy to leave stuff behind, so I keep track of this stuff myself.

The car…

Always vacuum the car before the trip. Yes, you’re going to trash it over the course of your travels, but you don’t want it to start out that way. It will drive you insane. Every time you stop for gas, collect any trash that’s accumulated (candy wrappers, fast food cups, crumpled papers) and dump it! Assign one of the kids to wash the windows while you’re gassing up too. Keeping the car as neat and clean as possible will mitigate some of the chaos.

Keep the car as empty as possible. You might be able to cram stuff in at home into a precise Tetris-like puzzle, but you will never be able to duplicate it in the hotel parking lot or, especially, after hauling out a tent and camping gear multiple times in one trip. Keep it simple and only bring what you really need.

For example, during our first trip I borrowed about 25 DVDs from friends to keep the kids entertained during the car ride. I think they watched the same 2 over and over. Be realistic about what you need and don’t waste the limited space you have.

 Speaking of the car, we’re fortunate to have a lot of room. We travel in a mini-van that typically seats 7 and there are only 4 of us. We remove all or half of the back seat to accommodate our suitcases and gear. Our preference is to remove only half of that backseat so that we still have an extra seat available; that way we can separate the kids into different rows if needed, or allow them to stretch out more to sleep. I’ve also enjoyed slipping into that backseat with the kids’ DVD player when I need a break from so much family-togetherness.

Planning a trip

How do you decide where to go?

We love to go places we’ve never been before. Our goal is to get our kids to 49 states. (We tell them they’re on their own to get to Hawaii, but who knows?) We keep a map on the fridge with the states they’ve been to colored in and a large highway map decorates our family room wall with our routes highlighted.

On one of our early trips, we spent time in the car talking about the places we wanted to see. We jotted them down in our notebook, then numbered them in the order that made sense based on the kids’ ages and the geographic locations of each destination. We’ve stuck to the plan ever since.

How do you plan the trip?

I’m lucky. My husband loves to plan these trips and researches everything from hotels to campgrounds to excursions and tours. He does all the research online and makes many phone calls and emails to get the scoop on each place. Trip Advisor is a great tool to get traveler reviews, although some people like to use it to complain, so take it with a grain of salt. We often leave reviews as well to pass along the help.

How do you afford to do these trips?

Some of the trips we go on are more expensive than others, but we do our best to keep them reasonable. However, we know that this is the only time in our lives we’ll get to travel like this with our kids, so we’ve learned to strike a balance between being cost-effective and taking advantage of the unique opportunities that each trip provides. We don’t want to leave a destination with any regrets.

That said, we try to keep our costs down. We camp when we can, which saves a lot of money compared to hotels. When we do stay at a hotel, we always look for one that includes breakfast.

Speaking of food, we try to go out for just one meal per day. The rest of our meals and snacks come out of a small cooler and a Rubbermaid tub that we pack at home with food bought on sale at our own grocery store. We’ve been amazed at how long we can eat out of “the tub.”

Another cost-drain for some people is souvenirs. We stop at a lot of places and our kids have learned that we will typically buy them a t-shirt commemorating each major destination on the trip. Other little toys and “junk” are purchased with their own money. (Funny, but they never seem to think these things are worth it when it’s coming out of their own savings.)

Canadian Maritimes Day 12

Kids woke up in puddles. Their mats and sleeping bags are pretty wet. The tent is soaked. There are a few puddles on the floor. Everything had been packed so perfectly in Newfoundland and now everthing's wet. Bummer. But, we're in good spirits because we're headed home.

Drove to the border crossing. Easy and uneventful. Changed clocks to Eastern Time. Driving through northern Maine on a 2-lane highway - looks a lot like Michigan. Still raining. Heading toward Bangor.

Uneventful drives through Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Stopped at Wendy's for lunch and McD's for supper (New York). Last fast food of the trip - yay! Sun did eventually come out and it's been a pleasant drive. Drove along the Erie Canal for awhile. Hard not to get the song stuck in your head as you drive along it.

We'll have 2 border crossings (New York to Ontario and Ontario to Michigan) plus a stop in Niagara, but current ETA on Garmin is 4:10 am.

Border crossing at Buffalo was no problem. Drove into Niagara to see Niagara Falls. It was a crazy zoo down there. There was a party going on! Tons of people and kids even though it was 11 pm. Parking was $20 and we didn't have enough cash or time left, so M dropped off the kids and me so they could see it and then circled around town to pick us up again. Kids thought it was awesome, even though they'd been falling asleep in the car. They really woke up with the party atmosphere and the view of the falls, lit up in the darkness. They were impressed. We'll have to come back some day.

Kids snuggled into the car and quickly fell asleep. Border guard at Port Huron woke them up to check i.d. We look like slobs in this car - it's gotten BAD! But, we will soon be home. ETA: 5:23 am, Sunday, July 31.