What is your favorite road trip memory?

What is your favorite road trip memory?

I have fond memories of driving from Montreal to Gloucester, Mass with my family. Sprawled in the back area of the station wagon with my sister, passing familiar landmarks;Frontier Town, the Old Man in the Mountain, eating at iHop, anticipating the fun I would have in the ocean…
Even though I got carsick, I still loved the trip!

I actually have two! The first was a road trip I took in 2010 with my son, who had just finished his freshman year in high school. We followed most of the route taken by Sal and her grandparents in Walk Two Moons, one of our favorite books. This was our first time ever west of the Mississippi/Missouri Rivers. We camped in several National Parks along the way. More than the incredible experiences we had (prairie dogs, buffalo, hiking on the Continental Divide, not showering for days, Wall Drug...), it was the precious time the two of us had together for three weeks with no distractions (unfortunately, for my son, internet access was spotty in many places on our route). We didn't cover deep, meaningful, life lasting topics. It was just being in the moment together that will forever stay with me.

The second trip, and I honestly did not recognize its value at the time, was with my dad's parents. After my parents divorced, my grandparents made a point of taking my brother and me on a vacation during the summers while they were able. They were quick trips-Ohio to Tennessee or Toledo to Cincinnati. But thinking about Woody and what he learned from Old Man on his cross country journey, I realize now how incredibly blessed I was to have that time with my grandparents and how special their wanting to spend time with me made me feel.

My favorite happened recently. It involved a camper van, three small dogs, and my husband. Our route was south to north in the US, from California's Southern Sierra up through Nevada into Great Basin National Park, which is way under appreciated, but it keeps the remote park extra special. Next we headed to friends' riverside property in Idaho at the peak of whitewater season. Then Eastern Washington and a long stopover in Port Angeles, Washington, where we bicycled our brains out. We rounded out the trip with a visit to the Hoh Rainforest and a couple nights in Tokeland, Washington.

Our giraffes were more like terriers. But we also enjoyed watching and listening to a lot of birds native to the spots through which we traveled.

One of my favorite trips was out west (we live on the east coast) in California. My husband, our 2 sons and I flew there and back then rented a car. We had a great time visiting my husband's college, the redwoods, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Mount Lassen, Monterey, Yosemite and saw an A's baseball game. I don't remember the order but all 4 of us decided where to go and what to see. Everyone was happy!

My favorite road trip memory is about a trip my family of four took to South Louisiana where I got to walk in ocean water for the first time. It was one of the few times our family got to vacation together since both my parents owned and operated small businesses in a small town.

My father was a traveling iron worker - so too many trips and too much travel to retain one good memory. For me as a child constantly moving was hard - getting home from school on any one day and finding my parents packing for us to leave that night or early the next morning was often devastating. It was not until I had my own home and knew that it was permanent that I started to enjoy travel. One good memory was the trips that I took with my in-laws and all my sister and brother in laws for a week to a reservation in North Dakota fishing. It was fun. It was relaxing. It was family. It was inclusion.

My favorite road trips were with my parents visiting President's homes and libraries all over the country and also my Mom driving us on the beach in Daytona, Florida. I have had a lifetime love of history and interest in Presidents and First Ladies, going back perhaps to these early trips with my family.

I have had several memorable road trips,and since they are so very different in time and place, it is difficult to choose just one. A couple involve driving from my home state to the university where I earned my undergraduate degree (one with my mother and one with a college girlfriend) and also a driving trip in Europe with my mother.

I have gone on road trips throughout my entire life both throughout the US and abroad. Indeed, it is my favorite way of traveling! Each road trip has so many favorite memories of people & places. When I read the prompt, however, one memory jumped out immediately. I was nine-years old when my family drove from Atlanta, Georgia to our new home in San Diego, California--camping along the way. Hearing my mom making the coffee on the Coleman camp stove early one morning somewhere in New Mexico, I popped out of the tent in time to see the sun beginning to rise. We sat down at the picnic table together enjoying the spectacular vista with the sky aglow in pinks & oranges. However, we both froze when we realized we were being joined by a small skunk meandering through our campsite. Needless to say, that was one of the most spectacular & memorable sunrises I have ever seen, as all I could do was hold my breath & take it in until the skunk decided it was time to move on without leaving his "calling card!"

I love all road trip-but the one I remember is driving from Fort Bragg, North Carolina to Fort Lewis, Washington in a little VW Bug-in December, 1968 with my husband, a Sergeant in the Army on his way to Viet Nam, and our two little boys, aged one and two. We were chased by blizzards all the way until we got to Demming, New Mexico where the sun was shining. I have never been back to Demming, New Mexico because I am afraid I will discover that the sun does not always shine there as it does in my memory.

My favorite road trip was driving with my then 18-year-old daughter from our home in DC to UC Santa Barbara in 2009 when she started her freshman year of college. The trip was her idea, and for me it was bittersweet because I knew this was such a pivotal time in her life--a real "before and after" moment. I loved having her all to myself for the hours we spent in the car. We stayed with family across the country for the most part and listened to books on tape during long stretches of I70 West. Looking back it was rather magical!

When I was growing up, our road trips were to my grandmother’s home. We would leave very early and stop at a restaurant to eat breakfast. I always got French toast. Eating out was a treat in those days. There was a billboard on some land near the road in the shape of a truck advertising cookies. The truck billboard was positioned so that it looked like it was driving toward the highway. My dad always honked at it, and we always laughed. Great memories.

My husband and I took our daughter, who is now 39 years old, to many national parks and national park sites while she was growing up. She has always said that those trips were absolutely the best part of her childhood. One particular trip when she was 13 years old stands out from all the rest. We had spent several days in Yellowstone NP and left our hotel in Yellowstone early to get on the road to Glacier NP. As we were driving on the highway in Yellowstone we slowed for several buffalo to cross the road. Unbelievably a huge herd surrounded us and we slowly drove within the herd for several miles. My husband and daughter both agree with me that seeing, feeling, and hearing their breath and hearing their grunts and communication to each other while they walked alongside us like we were part of the herd was absolutely the most profound feeling we will ever have with nature.

My mother, father, sister, and I took a trip to South Louisiana to the Gulf Coast. I grew up in south AR on a bayou, but I had never seen so much water as we saw on our trip. My parents both owned and operated small businesses in a small town, so getting away on a trip for all four of us was a luxury and not often repeated.