Road Trips

[catherine]

This doesn't really fit in Transportation, although in a way it does, so anyway.

I just want to express how much I like road trips. I haven't been on a ton of them, but those that I have were so much fun. One time my daughter needed to get back to the NE from Houston and I happened to have a business trip in Houston, so we meandered through the Southern states visiting Hope, AK, Memphis, Knoxville, Tazwell, VA, West Virginia, Washington DC, and finally, home. We had a great time.

Today, I finished up a week of travel, and felt that great rush of relief at being done for the week, and I got in my car to get home (about 20 minutes away) and when I got on the highway I had this urge to just keep driving! Just drive anywhere! Connecticut, Vermont, Pennsylvania, who cares? I just felt like ramblin' on.

Anyone have any good memorable road trips to share? I can think of a few of you who probably have some great ones.

Please, give me a few ideas and let me travel vicariously!

[sweetana3]

A very long time ago we drove from upstate NY back to Indiana and every night we stayed at a different historic inn. One was an old family camp, one was a lovingly restored historic house in Lancaster and the best was the oldest tavern on US 40. I still remember each place and how much fun we had.

On another trip we got sidetracked trying to find somewhere to eat that was not fast food and got lost off the interstate in PA. Found the most amazing little town that tooked like time passed it by. Ate at a local place and was served by the kids they hired to be the wait staff. Food was great. Best part of the whole trip.

I want to take a road trip to Texas and visit every (40) Half Price bookstore in the state.

On one road trip to the JC Campbell Folk School in NC, we were led to a long and windy two lane road that never ever had a straight or level part. Found out we had driven the Dragon's Trail, a popular motorcycle route. Never again. Sometimes the Garmon is crazy.

[Zoebird]

Yes. Several.

My husband, his best friend, and I drove from PA to eastern canada (cape breton island) and enjoyed wandering about and seeing some sites. Later, we did the blue ridge parkway and had a great time with that one.

as a kid, we did the southwest, and I went with another family to yellowstone and around. I really like utah, too.

I'd like to do several great road trips. I'd love to do the midwest, for example, and the northeast -- I'd like to basically go from the great lakes to the pacific ocean. I'd also like to go across southern canada.

we road trip here in NZ. it's wonderful. You can go through a lot in a short amount of time.

[Florence]

We are going on one of our favorite road trips next week. We are going to drive through the Texas hill country while the bluebonnets, Indian paint brushes, primroses, and many, many others are in full riotous color.

[Float On]

We love driving. The 330,000 miles on our truck tell the tale. Most all trips were business related but I love the journey.
And we stop and look at all those roadside markers - have learned a lot.

[Stella]

I am a fan of roadtrips too. My favourite as a kid was from MN to Alaska in my grandparents RV. That was amazing. Absolutely amazing. We also took a very cool trip with my dad to Canada, just Dad, my sister and me when my mom was on a trip to see her sister.

This past November and December we road tripped quite a bit. We went from Minneapolis to Indianapolis for Thanksgiving and then took all of December traveling through Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. We were planning to make a roadtrip to Arkansas and Louisiana to see Zach's dad for Spring Break, but he ended up coming up here. We've done that roadtrip before, though, and we will probably do it again soon.

I was pleased at how well our month long roadtrip went. I wasn't entirely sure how it would go with a seven-year-old, six-year-old, two-year-old and baby, but they were all remarkably well behaved. The girls have been talking about it ever since. They soaked up soooo much information on that trip. We have a U.S. map in our dining room and they are always pointing to spots they've been to on the map and talking about them and then pointing to places they'd like to visit.

I think we'll have to find excuses to travel to the East Coast, Pacific Northwest and Canada soon. We also need to get back to St Louis to see my cousins there. It's been a few years. When all 5 kids are a bit older I'd like to take them to Alaska too. I have family there also.

Isabella was looking at a Minnesota map a couple of weeks ago and has it in her head that we should take a trip this summer up north to Grand Marais, MN, on the North Shore of Lake Superior, and then take a ferry across to Isle Royal, MI. I think that sounds lovely, but it might have to wait another year or two. Northern MN is beautiful and makes a nice mini-roadtrip.

The most we may manage this year, with another new baby, is a quick weekend to WI to see my aunt and/or Diana in Wisconsin. Next year we are hoping to make it to South Dakota to see Travis' Godfather, who is a Jesuit priest working at a reservation there. We'd make the obligatory Mount Rushmore visit while we were out there too.

[Rosemary]

As someone who does not enjoy being in the car for hours, I'd really like to know what makes it possible for all of you to truly enjoy roadtrips, because there are many places that I'd like to take my daughter that are best approached as a roadtrip, such as the national parks between MN and WY. After 8 hours of driving, even with a stop or two, I feel like a caged animal and have to pace or walk for a long time before my body feels comfortable again. And I know that many people do more hours than that in a day.

The only roadtrip I've ever enjoyed was when I moved cross-country and limited the number of hours/day driving because I had a toddler who needed to run also. But that made the trip costly, in addition to taking extra days that my DH usually doesn't have in his vacation time. So we usually fly, and rent a car when we need one, which makes travel even more expensive...

I suppose I am predisposed to dislike sitting in the car because as a kid my younger brother bothered me relentlessly. I have memories of him annoying me from VA to PA and all across Texas... that's what I remember about roadtrips of my youth (besides the miserable humidity of VA with no A/C and the glaring sun and intense heat of TX in summer). So please, feel free to put a positive spin on all of that!

[ctg492]

I too have a hard time sitting in the car. Back in the day young a foolish, we drove back and forth from MI to TX a few times, FL to MI a few times. I remember it being all new and exciting and full of life. Oh wait maybe that was me and boyfriend at 19 Now there are places I want to see, but the travel out weights the thrill. I guess I have to recapture the feeling of youth and freedom, I will work on that and need to on all aspects of life.

[catherine]

Well, regarding the sitting in the car factor, the way I see it is, I do look at the journey as being the joy of the trip. If you're traveling with people whose company you enjoy, you get to talk to them for a long time. You get to spend hours listening to your favorite songs. You get to look ahead at a great expanse of road and really look at the sky and absorb yourself in the scenery (my uncle used to spring out of the car on a road trip to exclaim, "THAT'S a nice vista!" It got to be a road trip mantra). You get to just pass through places you've never seen before and just stop off on a whim and experience something that's not in the guide books. You get to talk to locals. NONE of those things can you do if you are simply getting from point A to point B. So, if you're feeling uncomfortable, just slow it down a little. You don't have to drive 8 hours a day. And if you have to spend a little extra on another night in a hotel, so what? How much is plane fare?

[SiouzQ.]

I have a LOT to say about road trips, but it'll have to wait until later 'cuz I got to get to work. I look forward to reading about this!