We had two road trips (6 kids and my parents) when I was growing up in the 60s. My paternal grandmother's house was maybe 20 minutes from our house and my maternal grandmother's house was 1300 miles away in Minneapolis, with a stopover in St Louis ... always hoping we'd get there early enough to swim in the Holiday Inn's pool. Backyard above ground pools, ponds, and lakes just weren't the same and lakes in Minnesota are ICY even in August. "Are we there yet?" started after lunch on the 2nd day's drive. How my folks loaded up 6 whiny kids in a station wagon for that kind of trip is still amazing to me.
My siblings and I talk about this occasionally. We grew up in a suburb west of Chicago. Grandma and grandpa lived in the city and it seemed like a long ride to us back then. It was only 8 miles. We had a good laugh years later when we realized that. 8 miles. I drive almost that far now to get a hot dog or burger for lunch. The real adventures were the big family picnics when we were kids. Aunts and uncles and cousins would get together at a suburban lake about 35 miles north of our house. I'm sure it was well under an hour to get there but it felt like we were going on vacation for a day. I commuted almost that far for a job back in the '80s.
We had two road trips (6 kids and my parents) when I was growing up in the 60s. My paternal grandmother's house was maybe 20 minutes from our house and my maternal grandmother's house was 1300 miles away in Minneapolis, with a stopover in St Louis ... always hoping we'd get there early enough to swim in the Holiday Inn's pool. Backyard above ground pools, ponds, and lakes just weren't the same and lakes in Minnesota are ICY even in August. "Are we there yet?" started after lunch on the 2nd day's drive. How my folks loaded up 6 whiny kids in a station wagon for that kind of trip is still amazing to me.
I was always jealous of families with station wagons. The back window seat was always the best!
My siblings and I talk about this occasionally. We grew up in a suburb west of Chicago. Grandma and grandpa lived in the city and it seemed like a long ride to us back then. It was only 8 miles. We had a good laugh years later when we realized that. 8 miles. I drive almost that far now to get a hot dog or burger for lunch. The real adventures were the big family picnics when we were kids. Aunts and uncles and cousins would get together at a suburban lake about 35 miles north of our house. I'm sure it was well under an hour to get there but it felt like we were going on vacation for a day. I commuted almost that far for a job back in the '80s.