Every summer my family used to take a car trip. Winter car trips were shorter and to a closer destination, and Mom stayed home. Summer trips fell into two categories: visiting family (many branches of the extended family) or sightseeing somewhere we’d never been before. It seemed we always took a different vehicle.

 I remember like yesterday the day Dad brought home the used light blue Ford camper van with the pop-up top. It could sleep all six of us! Two short kids got the double bed canvas cot that stretched across the two front seats.  In back, the formica table had two seats facing each other so you could play endless card games to make the 2,000 mile trip pass more quickly.  The table folded away and the seats made into a double bed for Mom and Dad.  Then the top popped up and two more single cots fit up in there for two bigger kids.  The dog slept on the floor.

We took a tent, too, that summer when we drove up along the St. Lawrence River, and we took turns sleeping in it.  I guess we started in Maine and followed the river westward.  Each night a mighty storm drenched everything we had along.  In the morning we would drive out of the rain, and at night the storm would catch up to us again at our next camping spot.  This went on for seven days straight.  Then the van broke down.

Your children will have many fond memories like this of your family trips.  They’ll probably remember the bickering, too. And the road games.

 We went to many beautiful places. My father loves to drive and my mother enjoys traveling, too. Imagine the scene: two adults and four children usually in a station wagon, driving miles and miles to see some wonderful things. We usually planned each day’s drive so we’d end up at some family member’s house.  Sometimes we’d stay there a day or two to take in the local sights and get to know our cousins.

 Definitely take your children to the nearest mountains. The Smokies, the Rockies, the Appalachians, it doesn’t matter. Mountains will forever remain in your children’s memories. Campfires bring back memories for anyone who has ever enjoyed one. Family trips always included cooking out on a grill and a fire at night. Remember S’Mores? First you toast the marshmallows on a skewer or stick, making sure they are brown, but not black! Then you take 2 Graham crackers and place a toasted marshmallow and a piece of chocolate between them to make a sandwich. There you have it! S’Mores!

 It’s always good to visit memorable natural phenomena, such as geysers, sand dunes, rock formations, oceans, river rapids and caves.  You can usually stop to go swimming at state parks, and you can have a great picnic lunch there, too.

 Truly, family trips make memories for life! Where are you doing this year?

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