Our family just returned from a spontaneous road trip to Phoenix, Arizona. This is a trip we’d planned to take in March, during spring break, but due to job circumstances, it became clear that now was the time to go. This realization came to us at 4pm a few Fridays ago. By midnight that same night, we were on our way.
We learned a lot on that trip. First of all, I learned that getting cute, new shorts and sandals and even a pedicure are not necessary items for going to a warm location and having a great vacation (I will admit that my mom was horrified to see my winter feet when I arrived, but we all got through it). There simply wasn’t time to get everything done before we left. I packed what we’d worn last summer and we were off. I figure that leaving at the last minute probably saved me over a hundred dollars. Not only did I not buy a bunch of new clothing, get a fresh haircut and color and do all of the other pre-trip stuff that is normal for us, I also just grabbed snacks and drinks from our pantry. I found that we didn’t need a bunch of special treats from the store to make the trip more fun.
I also learned that it takes a lot less to keep three kids occupied in the car for 34 hours (each way) than I’d thought. In total, we spent six days on the road. We made the trip down in 2.5 days, the trip back in 3.5. The kids watched three videos the whole trip. They read books, wrote in journals and did other normal road trip stuff. And they brought with them things we already had around the house. Granted, much of it was stuff they hadn’t seen in awhile that I had put away in anticipation for our March trip, but I didn’t buy one single new thing to entertain them.
What surprised me the most, however, was their Game Boys usage. Although they all had multiple games with them on the trip, during their designated Game Boy time they always chose to play one cooperative game in which they had to work together to succeed. Not one time did an individual game get put into a machine. They wanted to play together. Who would have guessed!
We also learned that we are a road trippin’ family. We had a ball. We sang, we saw all kinds of sites, both educational and cheesy, and we felt really good about the fact we weren’t spending nearly as much money as we usually do on vacation. One of our favorite parts of the trip was finding out of the way, local places to eat that were the same price as fast food. The kids tried so many new things that they deemed themselves “food-lets.” My youngest son even exclaimed after one meal, “This is the first meal I’ve ever eaten in which the potato chips weren’t my favorite part!”
It was also the first family vacation ever where I didn’t feel like I really needed a break from the kids when I got home. Learning new things is good!