Summer 2012: Travel Tip #4

When your children are old enough to be excited about going on trips and understand the idea of destinations, start including them in the vacation planning conversation.  This happened for us, more inadvertently than on purpose, but it turned out to be a happy coincidence.  We love to take trips and road trips as a family and we always start talking about it ahead of time.  Last fall, we planned to stay home for Christmas, but the older girls mentioned that we hadn't been to Oregon for a Christmas vacation for awhile.  We took them seriously, took a week of our 2 week Christmas break, and went to my in-laws house for Christmas and it was a wonderful time. 

While beginning to discuss our summer plans in the late spring this year, our girls mentioned that they had heard about Mt. Rushmore in school and would really like to go see it.  So, as we planned our summer driving schedule out, we put Mt. Rushmore in the plan.  I was a bit wary that it wouldn't be all that exciting, for the kids or us either, but I was definitely wrong (for which I am happy).  Mt. Rushmore is a sculpture on a grand scale done right into the face of the Black Hills in South Dakota.  As we found out more about how it had been sculpted and the lengths that were taken to achieve this monument, we were all amazed by it.  The 3 oldest girls did the Junior Ranger Program that most National Parks and Monuments in the U.S. have and it kept them engaged and gave them a badge to take home as a memento of their trip.  So, if you have a chance to visit Mt. Rushmore one day, I would definitely recommend it as an interesting family stop.

Little D at Mt. Rushmore.

Mommy and Dakota

Wow!

Summer 2012: Travel Tip #3

Well, despite my best attempts at getting to wifi, it just didn't happen that often during this summer vacation.  Maybe by the next time I try this, I'll have a smart phone (hopefully), and be able to blog on the go.  Anyway, I'm going to put some vacation posts even though we are finally home.

As we were driving on the last leg of our journey, I asked my hubby if we should stop for something (a bathroom break or, maybe, lunch) and he said, "My rule while traveling with the kids is, 'If they don't need to stop, then neither do I'."  After traveling approximately 4000 miles this summer with 5 girls, ages 9 and under, I would have to say this is a pretty solid tip for traveling with little ones.  We definitely stop when they need to: for "potty" breaks, running around breaks at parks or open spaces, meal breaks, etc.  So, when everyone is back in their seats and settled and happy, there is no need to bother them.  We just keep on trucking until the first complaint or request comes and then assess the situation.  Our last day of travel was from Salt Lake City, UT, to SoCal again, just a little over 700 miles.  We made it in almost exactly 12 hours which was a pretty nice accomplishment, if I do say so myself.  :-)

Summer 2012: Travel Tip #2

My hubby and I have learned the hard way that pushing hard for very long distances in the van for 2 days or more results in very grumpy children, frustrated adults, and a road trip where no one is having much fun.  Since the idea of road-tripping is to actually see sights as you drive through the U.S., we decided to make more frequent stops this time around.  After leaving Southern Oregon, we stopped in Portland for a brief visit with my sister-in-law, a quick walk up to Multnomah Falls after leaving Portland, and also a short walking tour of a fish hatchery along the Columbia River Gorge where we saw some sturgeon that were over 50 years old and bigger than many sharks.  That night, we camped in  a National Forest in Idaho.  And the next day we reached our destination of Glacier National Park and camped there for two nights, as well.  So, the lesson we’ve learned is to make frequent stops, plan in several extra days for camping and sight-seeing en route to the destination, and make intermediate destinations between the start and end goal to break things up and keep everyone happy.   

National Forest camping stop-over.

Isabella enjoying the beauty of Glacier National Park.

One of the many old-time tour buses that makes the trek back and forth on the Goind-To-The-Sun-Road.

One of the many waterfalls being diverted through a waterway in the road.

Summer 2012: Travel Tip #1

Traveling with small children in a crowded vehicle for many miles at a time can be quite a challenge.  One of the biggies is finding good places to stop where they can get a nice break, stretch their legs, and get some energy out.  Rest stops usually just don't cut it for us.  There isn't a lot of space to play, play equipment is non-existent, and even the dog walking areas are pretty limited.  Instead, why not stop in a town off of the highway and find a local park to chill out in for an hour or so.  We did just that on Thursday in a suburb of Sacramento.  We just looked for a developed community, drove down a few main boulevards, and ran right into a small community park with two playgrounds, picnic tables, and lots of grass for walking the dog around.  The girls ran around like crazy, were able to eat their sandwiches, tumbled on the grass, and exclaimed over the beauty of our stop (which rarely happens when stopping at rest stops).  This turned out to be the perfect solution to our kids-going-bonkers-in-the-car problem.