Two weeks from today will be Princess Nagger’s first official day of Summer Break.  More evidence that time is flying by way too fast, as it seems like just yesterday she was heading off on that big yellow bus on the first day of school.  le sigh.

Growing up, the end of school meant road trips and camping trips with my family.  My dad would use his vacation time to round us four kids up and we’d spend time driving to different cool places (which, as kids, most likely we didn’t appreciate as much). 

Most years we would do a week-and-a-half camping in the mountains and the other week-and-a-half camping at the ocean – one of the major benefits of living in the Pacific Northwest, as either locale is a fairly quick drive.  Which, I’m sure, is why we’d do that more than the actual long distance road trips because my parents were smart enough to hang onto what sanity they had left. 

Something I apparently need to work on.

In just a matter of weeks we’ll be hitting the road – 2 kids, 2 dogs and 2 insane adults.  Not just a day trip, oh no – we have to do it big.  We’re driving from Pennsylvania to Seattle.  Round trip, it’ll be approximately 96 hours and 6200 miles.  Crazy, much? 

I’ve been working on our travel routes, breaking it down to limit the actual driving time to around 10 hours per day, to try to keep the bored whining to a minimum, but still get us to the Pacific Northwest and have enough time to have quality time with family members before making the long drive home. 

Thank goodness for modern technology as the kids will be armed with DVD players (and piles of movies), Nintendo DS’s, and a Kindle Fire.  I think that might help at least on the first leg.  The subsequent 9 legs will most likely be tricky.

Which brings me to this week’s question:

Do you take road trips? Any vacation plans this summer?

Have a great weekend.

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Happy Aloha Friday!

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From Kailani at An Island Life:
In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So on Fridays let’s take it easy on posting, too. Ask a simple question…nothing that requires a lengthy response. It’s a great way to make new blogging friends!

 

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35 Comments

  1. In fact, we’re taking a few days next week. Leaving on Tuesday & comin’ back on Friday and because of my back we’re not going far this time. Just up to Key Lime Cove & Great America. Should be fun. It’s only an hour’s drive, so I think I can handle that. Dang, if I saw that sign I’d go out and buy me a GPS! Have a great weekend Girlfriend & hugs to the Princess & Lil’ Dude.
    Xmasdolly would like you to read ..Weight Be Gone! One Woman’s journey back to good health!My Profile

  5. I’ll be driving up to the Salem, OR to drop The Boys stuff off at Med School. Then JR is flying up to meet us. We will then drive down the coast to around the LA area then scoot over to Texas. JR, me and the dog. Should be a blast.
    Michele would like you to read ..Spin Cycle – Picture, Painter, ArtistMy Profile

  6. We can’t make many plans in the summer, since it’s prime business time for Beloved and he is on the road so much. We are taking a mini “stay-cation” next week, taking off Thursday and Friday and turning the 3-day weekend into a 5-day weekend, which is much needed. Other than that, we’re not doing anything except the week of the 4th of July, when Oldest Son, Darling Daughter and Mr. Fixit are flying up here and we’re renting a cabin in Hocking Hills for several days. Not that that constitutes a vacation for me, of course, but I’ll be so happy to see them I don’t care.
    Jan’s Sushi Bar would like you to read ..Summertime, And The Livin’ Is EasyMy Profile

  7. Growing up we used to go on a lot of summer road trips. These days hubby only has so much time off. Most of our trips away will be to visit family that is within 5 hours of here by car. Nothing really specially planned this summer as of now. Enjoy your trip and all of the places that you will explore along the way 🙂
    Beth – TheAngelForever would like you to read ..A Whoopee Cushion Parenting MomentMy Profile

  8. I recently chaperoned a high school band trip to NYC. We left from central Alabama and took a bus the whole way… Not as far as Pennsylvania to Seattle, but we had 100 teenagers in very small confines for 20 hours straight! Be safe on your trip and enjoy every moment!
    Rebekah would like you to read ..Mini Dry Erase BoardMy Profile

  12. Ack! 96 hours on the road? You have all my blessings, I could never do that with ONE kid!
    We go about as far as 3 hours which is our commute to Disney, one we take gladly. Sprite has her iPod which helps. 🙂

  13. Your twitter button up top leads my to my (general) twitter, not to subscribe to you! 🙁 Anyhow- following via one of these here friday hops! I drove from California to Massachusetts with two boys (then 6&4) and a baby girl! It took three days, it was a little nuts, but we survived!

    TGIF,
    Julie
    http://www.theprogressiveparent.org
    Julie would like you to read ..TGIFMy Profile

  15. I keep ending up living places where road trips are not options haha. I grew up in Alaska, and although Alaska is gigantic the farthest my parents ever drove us (to my dismay now, although AK doesn’t have much of a road system in some places) is to Homer, which is only about 120 miles away. When I was really young we drove back to Alaska from Oregon, but I don’t remember much of it. Now I live in Hawaii. We drive around the island a lot but Oahu is only so big 🙂

    The longest drives I ever made were with my husband. The first trip is what made us decide to get married, CA to TX. The second trip was after we had gotten married, that was TX to MD, gladly it did not make us decide to get a divorce 😉 haha

    After we move back to the mainland I’d love to take the kids for a drive. They will be about 3 and almost 5 at that time, so hopefully we won’t lose our minds! 😀

    Sorry for the essay haha, btw I love what you commented last week about Princess Nagger! 😀

  17. We are planning our most epic trip yet this summer. We are going to Torch Lake in Michigan in August. I will be looking closely at any tips you give out after your trip. I’ll take all the help I can get.

  19. I LOVE road trips! Absolutely love them. In 2007 we took a road trip from Florida to California. We spent 2 1/2 fabulous months visiting landmarks all across the United States.
    We have family from Texas, Utah and Colorado visiting this August and that has pretty much taken over thinking about much else as far as taking a holiday goes. We’ll do the rest of the summer day by day. 😉
    Cathi would like you to read ..Aloha Friday – The ChiropractorMy Profile

  20. When I was little, we drove across the country. Took 3 days. I get very stir crazy and so much anxiety in the car nowadays, so I don’t think I could do it. But I’m betting the kids have a lot of fun. Maybe you can create some landmarks that they can watch for along the way and note how some of the states are very different (more rural, much flatter, lots of mountains). Have a fun, safe trip!
    Motherhood on the Rocks would like you to read ..ALOHA FRIDAYMy Profile

  21. We do take road trips. I like to get up and get going sometimes because I do get restless.

    No vacation plans as yet, but we’ll see.

    And you are such a nice mom. I do bring books and games for the kids in the car, but mostly I insist that they look outside their windows and appreciate, or we play road games 🙂 Fire hydrant colors still rule 🙂

    Happy weekend!
    JamericanSpice would like you to read ..Meltdown on aisle seven – AFMy Profile

  25. Wow, I thought I was insane. LOL You make my trip seem like a cake walk.
    I’ll be driving my 2 little boys (husband has to stay home and work) from San Antonio to Northern Utah. It’s about a 22 hour drive and my kids will be 5 and 2 years old. I’m hoping it will be fine. Last year I did a 12 hour drive with them by myself, but they were each a year younger, and we managed to survive. We’re going to stay with my in-laws for about a month and then we’ll drive home, but not to San Antonio. While we are gone the movers will be packing up our house and shipping all our stuff to Louisiana where we’ll be moving. It’s going to be an interesting summer! 🙂
    Amy would like you to read ..#Win an all-expenses paid trip for 2 to Hollywood! ET’s Hanging With the Stars SweepstakesMy Profile

  26. No road trips planned since we wouldn’t get very far on an island. However, we are going to Disneyland in a couple of weeks!

  28. I can go summer vacation in the next weekend. I have that found excellent plans for road vacation trip. I think this interesting plan helps me much better to enjoy vacation myself. Thanks for being so fantastic plan. 🙂

  29. Oh, you know I think I could really enjoy a crazy long road trip– we’re on an island here– sometimes, I know we’re just going in circles, literally.

    Aloha,
    Just stopping in from the Aloha Friday Hop to say “thanks a bunch” for joining the fun”. It’s so sweet to have you with us and I’m looking forward to keeping up with your adventures as I’ve followed you on G+ and here there and everywhere.

    xoxo,
    Nicole
    localsugarhawaii.com
    Nicole would like you to read ..sean says…My Profile

  30. But that sounds so fun! I remember going cross country when I was younger. Back then, it was torturous for me – no A/C, nothing in the way of awesome pit stops like they have now, and car sickness. Ugh.
    But now that I’m older, I’d love to do it! 😉
    Jennifer would like you to read ..Cutting My Own HairMy Profile

  31. Lol, you make it sound so great that I feel like having kids just for the sake of a crazy road trip :)) I sure miss the trips with my folks…

  32. this is pretty interesting story … i like it a lot .. I have read your other blogs and those are nice too …

  33. We just got back from a train ride to Chicago! It was our first time on a train. It took 9 hours to get there.

    I hope you have fun on your trip if you haven’t gone already. Sounds like fun. It’s a good idea, having lots to do!

  34. I can’t imagine how my kids will react if we will be at traveling the same distance!Yes,I take road trips but without kids.I enjoy it but sitting for a very long time gives me a backache.My family plans to go to Lake District this summer.

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