ROAD TRIP

[Lisa O'Brien]

With any luck I will be going on a 16 day road trip cross country this summer. Starting out in Michigan heading to California and then back tracking to Arizona - Fort Huachuca. Along the way we are planning on stopping at Mt.Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon to name a few off the top of my head. I was wondering if anyone had any other ideas of places to stop along the way. I am hoping to make this a fun educational trip for my g.nephews (ages 2 &5).

[Sweater Cows!]

We just got back a couple weeks ago with our 10 yr old, we were supposed to be gone 16 days as well but came home/got home on day 12. Give yourself plenty of travel time and be prepared to change/alter plans if neccessary (meaning don't get your heart so set on something that you can't instead just spend a day at the pool instead for everyone to relax/decompress, most of what kids want to do is the pool when staying at hotels, usually every other part of the trip is secondary to them).

Just enjoy the time, all the sights are great but pushing things on them to be "educational" will get them burned out fast. IMO forget educational, they will not remember very much anyway in 10 years! Even from 2011 to 2012 mine didn't remember anything if it wasn't personally important to her. Just go to enjoy your family and to have fun. At 9/10 mine got real sick of all the stuff I wanted her to see because I thought she 'should' instead of just letting her see what *she* wanted. The second year I learned to follow her whims, if she enjoys it that is more important than if she learns anything 'educational' plus having fun *is* learning.

We went did it last year as well.

The first year 2011 we did Disney in Florida and by the time we were on our I think 7th day of the trip (leaving Disney to get on the road the kid was demanding we put her on an airplane to Grand Rapids and that my sister would surely pick her up from the airport.

This year she was heck bent on having her own room at the hotels. She(like me) likes her 'solitude' which means watching video's on the laptop in her room at home. It was hard on all of us not having our video games/computer/TV time in solitude at night to wind down.

I don't know how many adults your traveling with but please consider getting rooms that have kitchenettes at least for every 2 of four nights. Eating out 24/7 may sound nice but after while we were shopping at walmart and having salads/sandwiches and ramens made in the microwave. And that is hard with two vegetarians, really hard. Kitchenettes will make a world of difference in nutrition ie behavior of child and adult alike.

Also In the second half of the trip this will get more important... a separate bedroom for the kids(and adults) to have some quiet time while the other adults/kids are up watching TV. That will keep everyone sane. Being 'stuck/trapped' with your family in hotel rooms(even nice ones) for that long is really difficult no matter how much you all love each other. If making reservations ahead of time and making sure the beds are queens and not doubles is good as well, god I hate those rooms with full/double beds, I slept with the kid a couple nights as DH and I on those double beds is not cool. and yes even some of the nice hotels ones are that way.Even if not used to it a small fan for in hotels rooms to have some background noise is great as well.

Best Western plus (and premier I assume)are awesome, we stayed in a BW Plus in Savannah GA that was AWESOME!(but harder to find along the expressway without prior knowledge). You can join hotel programs like Best Western rewards and get free nights, start now with that.

We had the headphones for the PSP's, ipods, laptop, and movies, car games, books. Since my girl is older she only brought one stuffed toy animal along as she/we knew she would want so much along the way that we would fill up lots of space with new things. Start sparse as you will have lots more stuff by the time you get home. Plus if you really need it there are places to purchase things. Bring Pillows and blankets for in the car.

There are Laundry facilities at hotels/laundromats as well but I always take to many clothes when heading south as we have to pack for all sorts of weather between here and FL..lol zero degrees to 80!

Also, we stop  ALOT(fear of running out of gas so we stop at just below half a tank) and with little ones you may also when driving. I warn>> DO NOT believe google for how long a drive is..ever..I figured out that 100 miles is about 1hr 45 minutes(ludington to Grand rapids). packing snacks and drinks in a cooler helps but we still like to stop and refuel and stretch. If google says 6 hours add AT MINIMUM 1 extra hour (stopping at a restaurant to sit down and eat takes longer than it seems once you hit the road).

It sounds stressful but I learned to be open to changing plans to meet everyone's needs. We had a list of must see things and a list of if then great but if not then okay. I am ready to hit the road again for a couple weeks though!

One of the coolest things we did was Raccoon Mountain Pumped Storage Plant in TN, not on our planned sights but the neatest thing to drive 7 miles up a mountain to see and drive around a reservoir like the one we have here in ludington (different and smaller in TN) and all because I missed a turn we saw the awesomest thing.

[Lisa O'Brien]

Lot's of great stuff - I know what you mean about being open to changing of plans. Last month I took my kids to Hawaii and I had a whole bunch of things I wanted to see, unfortunately the only thing on my list that I got to see was Pearl Harbor and go to a luau. At one point I decided it wasn't worth arguing about getting up early and sight seeing, I just figure I'll see it next time I go, all in all it was a successful vacation. I'm hoping with this road trip to see a bunch of National Parks and getting some good camping in. I think the kids will enjoy the Great Salt Lake- maybe not Mt.Rushmore so much but the adults will get to see it. I'm hoping to get some some trip tiks from AAA when the destinations are more formalized.

[Sweater Cows!]

Lisa, somehow(a glitch maybe) an identical double of this topic was posted and had zero comments as they were all in this thread so I removed it so we didn't have posting in each one.

[Lisa O'Brien]

Yes thank you it was a weird glitch.

[Dave]

You could always hit Vegas if your in Nevada... never been there myself but from what I understand, its a lot more family oriented then what it use to be years ago.

Or if your a Star Trek fan, you could make a visit to Riverside, Iowa, the hometown (fictional of course) of James T. Kirk, captain of the USS Enterprise of Star Trek

[Lisa O'Brien]

I'm always up for Vegas - I'm not sure about it being more family orientated - when I took my kids there yrs ago (probably 2003) the people on the streets were handing them pamphlets for the whore houses and they were only teenagers. My boys had a good laugh, me not so much.

[Lisa O'Brien]

Larry,

Thanks - A lot of our sightseeing will depend  on the kids, but we are hoping to make it to make it to all the attractions. At this point the 16 days is a hope - we are waiting on my nieces husband to get his final check in date at Fort Huachuca and find out how many days leave he can take from his current station (West Point). They are hoping for a month, so that they can go back to Michigan and visit with family and friends for a couple of weeks. At that point I would fly into Michigan meet up with them and start the drive cross country. If they don't give him a lot time they go to Michigan for a short visit and then I will fly into meet them and start a pretty much non stop trip to Fort Huachuca. 

I'm hoping to get some relaxation in but with 2 little boys and 2 dogs (that I'm allergic to) I'm thinking I'll spend a lot of time running around and not being able to breathe. But I am excited about camping, I haven't done that in years.

[AQUAMAN]

Good luck with your enviable road trip. However, a word of caution, in my family, us 2 kids were also taken on a lot of vacations when we were very young, ages 2 & 5 are very young, really babies yet imho. As we grew older, we were reminded of many of those trips to various famous and not so famous places. We both had to tell the truth, brought up that way, and had to inform our parents we did not remember all those wonderful experiences, cause we weren't old enough to appreciate them. Of course after we reached a certain age, like 10 and above, the recollections were more real and vivid. But as for traveling across the desert, with babies and dogs, in the middle of summer's vicious heat, into the 100 degrees plus area day after day, methinks I would choose an alternative, or at least wait a few more years for those precious youngsters to have an experience they can hold as a lifetime memory.

[Lisa O'Brien]

You are right they probably won't remember the trip, but on the bright side their parents will get to see spots they haven't seen before, and even though the  tots won't remember the adults will remember it. My kids don't remember a lot of the trips we took when they were small but I have a lot of good memories of them (when they pretty much lacked their own opinion - and everything was an adventure instead of it's to early or it's stupid {teenage years}). Plus the vehicles have air conditioning (I wouldn't be going if it didn't). I think we will end up playing it by ear, it just seems if we have to drive to Arizona we should see some of the sights on the way even if it takes us a couple of hundred miles out of the way.

[Sweater Cows!]

I didn't catch at first that this was a move out there, and not a round trip vacation. That will make a difference in the whole thing.

Are you taking dogs? that makes a difference as well, please get gps collars for them as it owuld not be nice for them to end up running off, I would be more worried of the stress a trip of this sort put on my dog. Only one of my four mutts prefers the car and even then a couple hours is enough.

[Lisa O'Brien]

Yes we are taking dogs - they have 2 that I'm allergic to - just that fact alone guarantees they will not run off.

I believe they will be crated in the rv - although I'm not sure what they have planned.

[Lisa O'Brien]

Dale - Thank you