Back in the summer of 2005, my family and I took the longest road trip I can imagine. We live in northern California and our destination was Chicago Illinois. As if the two thousand miles between these locations wasn’t enough, my parents decided we would take an even longer route than necessary there.
Now don’t get me wrong, road trips with my family have never been what some might imagine. For some reason, my family is most calm when shoved in a mini van for three weeks and one hotel room each night. No one worries about our plans or what we feel should be done.
Everyone is just relaxed and truly on a vacation, both physically and mentally. So I knew that this ultimate road trip would be no different.The first day we left little Elk Grove we drove for fourteen hours and we finally stopped at a little town in the middle of Idaho for the night. These days of long driving got to be old news as we continued our trip.We drove into Yellowstone National Park and stayed for a couple nights in a nice little cabin near Yellowstone Lake.
After that we headed north to Little Big Horn in Montana and then to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. For the amount of time I was spending with my family without any break, I was amazed at how cooperative everyone was. No one seemed to be frustrated with anyone and everyone had enough patience to deal with anything that came up.
Our family isn’t normally like this. When we’re all at home everything is hectic. I always have things to do for band or school or work and my sister always has softball practice or a band concert.
My parents always have grading to do for their classes and we barely have time to sit down for a meal together.That’s why vacations have become such bonding times for us. They really have become the best memories of my childhood as I look back on the seventeen years of my life.This trip to Chicago was no different. We spent a little over a week driving to our final destination, stopping at attractions such as the Spam Museum Spam Jam and the world’s largest indoor water park.
We stayed at my aunt’s house in a suburb of Chicago for five days and visited Lake Michigan, the Chicago Institute of Art, and the Sears Tower. After our stay, we finally headed home. We spent three solid days driving twelve to fourteen hours each day.
Although this was excruciatingly boring, no one seemed to mind our task at hand. Cabin fever was never thought of, much less mentioned, and our long trip on Interstate 80 West went as smoothly as our exciting stop-filled journey east.This vacation and others my family and I have ventured our on are what I have come to treasure in my life. The memories and experiences we’ve had together can never be replaced or forgotten and I wouldn’t change anything about these trips we’ve taken.
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