Road trips with kids

[Filetmerlot]

Anyone ever do road trips with kids? I mean the kind where the drive is the reason for going and not just trying to get from point A to B. We just got back from the Smoky Mountains last week with the kids, but the driving part of that was more of a race against time. It's abut 1000 miles each way and we did the drive down in a day and a half and about the same coming back.

One of the things I would like to do is when the kids are a little older and can appreciate it is to drive either Route 1 from the Canadian border to Key West or route 66 from Chicago to LA. Hopefully take a month or so seeing the 'Roadside America' type attractions, or maybe seeing a couple MLB games or NFL games along the way if they coincide with our trip.

There would be no real goal, just driving and taking it all in while stopping where we want.

 

[kgtest]

once, when I had some time in between jobs and was relocating back mainland from Hawaii. I rented a car in LA, drove down south to San Diego and visited some friends along the coast as I headed north. Almost hit up Zion after Vegas stop, but we decided to pedal to the medal to get home and see our families. I had two weeks before my job started and the extra time when we got back to our new home base allowed us to start house shopping.



So I guess my reply to the question is "sort of".

 

[Luvdogs]

Sure, it's fun!

I'm a road trip lover from way back.

When I was ten we drove from NJ to Vegas. That was in 1967 when there was NOTHING for kids in Vegas. It was 110 degrees and they chased us from standing on the a/c vents in front of the casinos downtown.

We were supposed to drive to LA but my parents loved Vegas so much we never made it that far.

Also hit several National Parks on the way.

We've done several with my kids at different ages.

 

[bloom2708]

Can everyone in the family be off for 3 weeks? If so, then "slow travel" is great.

If you can cap your driving at say 4 hours per day, that leaves a lot of time to explore, relax, sight see, etc.

Getting 3 weeks off in a row for me is tough. Darn near impossible. We don't have real backups and when someone is gone, everyone else just sort of works more and covers. You come back and some stuff is done. Other stuff just piles up and now you have to scramble to catch up.

8-12 hours driving a day gets old fast. If you have a 7 day vacation, you spend most of your time driving. Then you need a vacation from your vacation.

If you are rich in time, then you have options. Camp, RV, tent, hotel, mixed bag. Slow travel ahoy.

 

[braumeister]

One of the things I would like to do is when the kids are a little older and can appreciate it

Aye, there's the rub.
"Are we there yet?"

I think you need to be absolutely sure that they would appreciate it, and the only way to do that is to take shorter trips with them now.

Most young people simply don't have the interest in "scenery" that older folks do.

 

[Bamaman]

After my wife's recent knee replacement, we have decided to forego our yearly international trips and do road trips in North America.

And.since we are raising our 7 year.old granddaughter, we.thought it right to take her 10 year old brother with us on a 300 mile trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains. After stopping along the way, my 5 1/2 hour trip took 7 hours. I.had forgotten how disrupting a young boy could.be picking on his sister, making loud noises and.being generally obnoxious.

When we got to our fifth wheel trailer, daughter #3 showed up with her husband and our 3 year old greatgrandaughter. We had 5 sleeping in an 8' s 8' bunkhouse--two of which were in a.snoring contest.

Our trip home was just like the trip to the mountains. Although we have Fire 8 tablets for games, I don't know if I am ready for a 2 day trip to Canada having to answer "Are we there yet?" every 15 miinutes.

 

[Aerides]

Do you remember being a kid in the back of a car with your parents on a multi-day roadtrip?

Yeah me too. While I can look back now and remember the parts that made it ... fun? .... I also remember hating most of it, appreciating little besides the actual few destinations, and mostly trying to fight with my sister the whole time. Our family stories of those trips mostly made up of the few most disastrous moments.

If it were today at least I would sit on my phone or ipad or something.

 

[Filetmerlot]

The kids are 7 and 5 now and the trip to the smokies was enough. I was thinking one summer when the kids are older like after 8th or 9th grade take one for a few weeks and do a trip to see a few baseballs parks or take the other one to do things she would like.
It might be that they pick the itenerary so they would have an interest in the trip.
I haven’t put a whole lot of thought into it yet, but I may keep it in the back of my mind.

 

[LOL!]

I make my kids drive whenever they are in the car. That makes the trip bearable for them. And for me.

And if road trips with kids were interesting there would be tons of YouTube channels that should satisfy one's desire for road trips. Check them out.

 

[candrew]

Do you remember being a kid in the back of a car with your parents on a multi-day roadtrip?

Yeah me too. While I can look back now and remember the parts that made it ... fun? .... I also remember hating most of it, appreciating little besides the actual few destinations, and mostly trying to fight with my sister the whole time. Our family stories of those trips mostly made up of the few most disastrous moments.

If it were today at least I would sit on my phone or ipad or something.

Yeah, that brings back memories. My brother and I used to fight in the back seat.

Dad - "knock it off back there!".
Mom - "don't make your father pull this car over or you'll both be sorry!"

Mom had perfected the ability to reach into the back seat and give us a good swat using the wooden handle snow brush! She was also a multi-tasker and could do it while keeping her eyes on the road.