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When I was growing up, our family would regularly visit my grandparents in Akron, Ohio. What I remember most about our visits is the 9 hour drives from Northern Virginia in our Volvo. Can you imagine 3 kids in the back seat of Volvo Sedan? Ah not so pleasant. I remember once bringing up the idea of flying to Cleveland which was the nearest airport. Most parents would just say we can’t afford that and move on, not my dad. He would sit me down and literally detail ad naseum, the cost of flying 5 people to Cleveland, plus car rental and the time it took to drive too and from the airport to Akron. An hour lost I will never get back. So drive, Grant Family, drive.
Both my parents are deceased but my siblings and I still talk about those drives and here are our mutual memories of our road trips to Akron.
- Leaving at the crack of dawn. I mean can you imagine, leaving for a road trip by 5am. Good grief. “I want to get there by mid-day so stop whining and get up.” This was my father’s comment when we complained about having to get up early.
- Having one bathroom break in 9 hours. I am not kidding on that one.
- No fighting – I am not saying, we wouldn’t start fighting but my dad was pretty strict. All it took with his James Earl Jones – Darth Vader voice, “Stop Fighting” and we were done. Dead silence for the rest of the trip.
- Having to listen to Jazz music – Sorry, I have never been a fan. This is of course after we left the DC area and could not get NPR.
- Stopping at Kentucky Fried Chicken (before it became KFC) in Breezewood, Pennsylvania. My dad allowed one food break and it was always Kentucky Fried Chicken, his choice. We never, ever, had a choice. “I’m the driver and it’s my choice.” I can tell you that we saw started seeing signs for Breezewood, my siblings and I would get so excited because we knew we were finally going to escape the car.
- Eating in the car. For years, we would be to actually eat in the restaurant and finally during high school, he relented although it was not a leisurely meal because you could tell he was counting the minutes of drive time he was losing out.
Tell me your best road trip memory? And will you embarking on road trip during the holidays?
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I remember those days driving to Colorado with my family. Fighting in the back seat and dad threatening to pull over….but what I remember the most is dad helping find those horses when we were playing the “find the horse” game. 10 points for white horses!!
many of my memories revolve around my grandparents too! can totally relate about few bathroom breaks!
I have so many memories from traveling too! And I always travel with my grandma. So it’s good memories with grandma :)!!
The longest road trip I ever took was to Florida…in an oldsmobile…worse 24 hours of my life! lol.
Most holiday’s our family gets together and after the dishes are cleared and washed I enjoy sitting down with the ladies and shooting the breeze and watching all the kids play together.
Happy Sharefest!
Ahh…The joys of childhood road trips! LOL 🙂 You know, I remember we had similar complaints and situations (lack of potty breaks, eating in the car, etc.), but what I remember more was the joy of being with the loved ones. It seemed the trip back was no where near as miserable as the trip there because we’d just seen family. Hope that makes sense. 🙂
Have a great weekend!