My family takes road trips a few times each year. We usually stay in state, going either camping or to Wisconsin Dells. However we have taken a few trips to visit my family in Indiana too.
Having the kids on road trips can be challenging sometimes and a lot of fun others. It really depends on their mood. Sometimes I can’t even count how many time I hear “Are we there yet?” I’ve found that I have to come up with creative ideas to keep them occupied on our road trips.
- Bring along a portable DVD player so that they can watch movies.
- If there’s enough room, let them each bring a pillow so they can be comfortable if they end up taking a cat nap.
- Play road games such as counting a certain color car or finding license plates with a certain number/letter in them.
- Make a stop at a rest area every 2 hours or so. That way they can stretch their legs and you won’t have to pull over as soon as they feel the urge to pee. Kids wait until they really have to go sometimes and it can be hard to get off the freeway if there’s a lot of traffic or you’re far from an exit.
- Bring along some travel games that they can play. You can usually find them in the game section of most stores.
Now that my boys are getting older, they’re really getting into cars. They’re pretty smart about it too, pointing our different makes/models all the time. We rented a car for our last road trip this past August and they just loved that. I can imagine how they’d freak if we ever got to rent the Batman-themed Optima above!
Aside form the kids loving the rental car, it was convenient for us too. We didn’t have to worry about anything going wrong with the car because the rental agency does periodic preventive maintenance and checks them to make sure nothing is starting to go bad.
As mentioned above, I haven’t ever taken a road trip too far from home. Next summer, my husband and I really want to take a trip just the two of us. A road trip is one of our ideas, so I have to ask for your help!
Where was your best road trip destination?
