Road Trip

In the midst of all our activities, we're also trying to plan for a 2 week road trip that will commence when the school year is finished. It's always been a dream of ours to travel with the kids and see all the different parts of the country (and maybe even the world when the kids are old enough to appreciate it).

If everything works out, our plan is to do a beach vacation, ski vacation, and 2 week road trip every year (with a Disney vacation thrown in every few years). The road trip may not always start from home. For example, we may fly out to the Southwest or Northwest and start from there, but the idea is to explore the various parts of the country in some detail.

We were leaning towards the East coast this year, but my sister Katie hinted that she and her beau Todd may be getting married over Memorial Day weekend in Louisiana. I told her that we needed to know because we were planning a trip. They couldn't work out all the details, so the wedding is on hold for now, but we had already decided that we would just plan our first road trip for the Louisiana\Texas area anyway. If the wedding didn't happen - no big deal.

I really enjoy the trip planning part. I could even almost just plan the trip and not actually take the trip. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to involve the rest of the family in the planning to the degree that I would like. I feel like being involved in the planning raises the anticipation level and is part of the fun of the whole event.

Actually, now that I think about it...that never really happens. Usually, when I hear about a family or a group of people taking a trip, it always seems like one person makes all the arrangements and the rest of the group just goes along.

My siblings and I arranged to send my mother on a trip to the destination of her choice for her 60th birthday. My mom hasn't traveled much, but she enjoys it and she has always instilled an appreciation for culture and the arts in her children, so we were not surprised when she chose Italy as her destination. My sister Kelley and her boyfriend, Paul, agreed to accompany my mom. My sister and I assumed that my mom would really be engaged in the planning of the trip - after all the trip was for her and it was to a destination full of all kinds of things she loves. However, my mom was content to let my sister plan it all. In my mom's defense, she works alot and often just doesn't have much energy. In the end it all worked out. My mom got to relax and follow my sister's lead and they all had a great time.

Here's a rough itinerary of our trip:

Day 1 - Drive to Mobile, AL and spend the night.
Day 2 - Sightsee in Mobile. Drive to New Orleans and sightsee before heading to Todd's place in Pierre Part, LA.
Day 3 - Visit with friends and family in Pierre Part and let Todd cook for us.
Day 4 - Drive to New Orleans for the day to sightsee and return to Pierre Part to spend the night.
Day 5 - Drive to Baton Rouge, sightsee, and see Katie's place in Spanish Town, and spend the night.
Day 6 - Drive to Houston, sightsee (NASA, etc) and spend the night.
Day 7 - Sightsee in Houston and drive to Galveston to spend the night.
Day 8 - Sightsee in Galveston and drive towards Corpus Christy to spend the night.
Day 9 - Sightsee in Corpus Christy and drive towards San Antonio to spend the night.
Day 10 - Sightsee in San Antonio and drive towards Austin to spend the night.
Day 11 - Sightsee in Austin and spend the night.
Day 12 - Sightsee in other parts of Hill Country around Austin and spend the night.
Day 13 - Drive towards Dallas\Fort Worth, sightsee, and spend the night.
Day 14 - Head home via I-20, miscellaneous sightseeing, and spend the night.
Day 15 - Miscellaneous sightseeing and arrive home.

It's things like trip planning that make me wonder...what did we used to do before the internet? I found all kinds of great resources. In addition to all the internet stuff, I also ordered a Texas travel guide and have been reading it in bed most nights. It breaks the state into several regions and then has information about all the towns in each region - lots of interesting stuff. I also ordered a New Orleans travel guide.

There all kinds of great internet sights about road trips. Here are a few of my favorites:

Factory Tours - We love to watch how things are made on the Discovery Channel.
Hampton Inn Landmark Locator - Neat search tool for finding landmarks in a particular area.
Road Food - Where the locals eat.
MSN Road Trip Articles - All kinds of great road trip articles.
Road Trip America - The premier road tripping site.
Tracks and Trails - Neat family that started a business offering customized RV trips.
The Gaidus Family - My favorite. This site is awesome. They have two boys (like us) and share our interest in creating lasting memories. When I showed Helen the site and the pictures of their boys growing up here in 1999 and here in 2007 - she cried. You can just feel all the great memories they've created for their family.