In May of 2009, I took my children on a tour of North Dakota.  At the last-minute, I decided to take the Old Red Old Ten Scenic Byway between Bismarck and Dickinson instead of the faster and mostly parallel Interstate 94.  It’s one of the best travel decisions I’ve made.

Along the byway, we traveled through small towns, found a ghost town, and saw unique, beautiful old buildings, some of which are no longer standing.

The photos I shared of this day on the road visiting Sims and Curlew and Glen Ullin have been the starting point of several conversations with people who hold these nearly-forgotten North Dakota locations dear to their hearts.  Weeks and even months after I wrote about these gems, readers wrote to tell me more of the story.

After I wrote about North Almont and its elevator which caught my eye and made me pause along the road to snap a photo, a reader responded with the news that the elevator had been demolished, just as many other landmarks of historical or sentimental value have disappeared over the years.

This week, I received a message from Rob Reeves of Denver, Colorado, who photographed the North Almont elevator before it was torn down.  He shared this photo with me, and gave me permission to share it with others who may be interested.  And so, I present Rob’s breathtaking photo of a piece of small-town North Dakota history that is now gone.

It’s delightful when a last-minute turn brings about so much conversation and  kindred spirits are found in unexpected locales.  It is satisfying to the writer who receives responses to her work from others who have visited, and loved, these little-known places.  It is heartwarming to see people preserving the history and heritage of a state that is home to many, whether or not they still live within its borders.

You may recognize this post’s title as the last line of Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken. So often when I travel, I look for the lesser-traveled road, and it is the stories like this that spring from those backroads stories that are some of my favorites.

For families who aren’t able to get away as often, the idea of planning a vacation may be overwhelming.  Deciding where to go, when to go, and how much to budget for the trip requires careful thought, especially if schedules or money are tight.

These are the steps I take when planning a vacation.  Perhaps some of them will be useful for families planning their first trip, or even for seasoned travelers.  Please add your own tips below in the comments, and check out the vacation planning processes of other seasoned family travelers.

Decide when to go

For our family, the timing is the trickiest part.  My husband’s work makes it difficult to plan a summer vacation, so we work in trips when we can:  Christmas vacation, long weekends, and school breaks.  If I do plan something in the summer, it has to be easily canceled (more on that later) or doable by myself and the kids if he’s unable to take time off.  Think about how much vacation time you have, and whether you want to use all of that time traveling or would prefer a day or two of recovery before getting back to life’s routines.  Consider weather (especially if driving) and busy travel times (especially if flying).

Decide where to go

Once we have a timeline in mind, I begin to explore the possibilities.  Since we usually drive, farther-away destinations are reserved for long trips.  I’ll think about how many days we have, and how many of them we want to spend on the road, then sketch out a driving radius and see what locations fall in that area.  Sometimes we have a specific destination in mind and plan the timeline around it, and sometimes we have the timeline first and try to find a creative destination that will fit into the time allotted.  When planning a trip, I ask my kids for ideas.  They always seem to have ideas that I’ve never considered, and I throw them into the planning mix.

Decide how to get there

We’re usually road-trippers, and airfare is obvious for overseas destinations, but sometimes we have to run the numbers to find the sweet spot of cost vs. time to see if it’s better to fly or drive to our destination.  I price flights for our family and compare them to the costs we’d incur while driving (including gas, maintenance, and hotel rooms and meals if driving would lengthen the trip over flying).

Set a budget

Next, I start running the numbers.  I research the following to put together a rough budget:  Transportation–flight or driving expenses, rental car or bus transfers;  Lodging–hotel or vacation home rentals; Attractions–all of the fun things we’ll do at our destination or along the way; Food–a daily estimate of what it will cost to eat while away; Souvenirs–an estimate of what we’ll spend on remembrances of our vacation.  Some destinations are more affordable than others, and sometimes I have to choose a new location or shorten the trip because of the cost involved.  It’s also a good idea to throw in a contingency fund in case of unexpected car repairs or medical expenses while away.

Research

Researching a destination is one of my favorite parts of planning the trip. I order visitor’s guides from our destination and check out travel guides and AAA Tourbooks.  I scour websites to find interesting things to do along the way that I may not have heard of before.  I’ll pile up as many books as I can find, then sit with a pad of paper and a pencil and jot down absolutely everything that looks interesting.  Much of it will be weeded out later due to time, cost, weather, or closures, but I like to start with as many possibilities as I can.

Make reservations

Now the fun begins.  As soon as I decide on a location and destination, I begin making hotel reservations, being sure that they’re easily canceled if our plans change.  For our upcoming California trip, I made our first hotel reservations last July.  Rental cars usually are easily canceled as well.  Airfare, cruises, and vacation packages lock you in a bit more, so don’t make these until you’re absolutely certain you can make the trip–or else purchase a good trip insurance policy that covers your cancellation fees.  Don’t be afraid to make your reservations, but be sure to read the fine print regarding cancellation policies.

Keep records

I like to keep all of my reservation information (including cancellation numbers, if applicable) in one place–a computer file, a piece of paper in my vacation folder, online at tripit.com–so that I can see at a glance all of our essential information.

Monitor prices

As I said, I made some of our hotel reservations almost a year in advance, and since then, I’ve rechecked the prices at least weekly.  In one location, the price has steadily risen since I made that first reservation.  In another location, the price of our preferred hotel has dropped as our departure nears, and I rebooked at the better price.  Some air and cruise fares will issue a credit if the price drops after you’ve bought your ticket, but it’s usually up to you to spot the difference.

Create an itinerary

I draw up a rough itinerary when deciding when and where to go, but as we get closer to our trip, I get serious about penciling in what we can do each day of our trip.  Of course, this is always subject to change due to weather, closures, or trying to fit too much into one day, but I like to have a decent plan in place.  When creating an itinerary, I find it helpful to make a chart listing the open days and hours, as well as prices, of each attraction we want to visit.  Seeing when things are open helps to map out a plan, especially over the holidays, when places have additional closures or special extended hours.

Obsess and rethink and research some more

OK, so maybe I’m the only one who does this.  If you can make your plans once and leave them alone, I applaud you!  I have so many different itineraries and possibilities in my California folder that it’s bulging.  Whenever I create a new plan or possibility or amend the budget, I write down the date of my current state of thinking, and I keep the old plans in case I need to go back to them.  This is also the time that I get serious about finding the best prices on attractions, including signing up for our destination’s Groupon site, looking for coupons via the local visitor’s bureaus, and so on.

Make the kids’ vacation books

Before bigger vacations, I make a “vacation book” for my kids that includes information on our destination, maps of where we’re going, journal pages, and reproducible worksheets about the state(s) we’re visiting.  Originally designed to eliminate some of the “are we there yet” questioning, it has become a tradition and keepsake for my chidren.  It does take some time and planning to get the pages gathered and printed, so I start several weeks before we leave.

Start packing

I’ll admit it, and you may find this crazy, but for a big trip, I’ll start packing 3-4 weeks in advance.  As I think of little things we may need on the trip, but not necessarily before then, I’ll put them all in one location so they’re ready when it comes time to put them in the suitcases.  I also start making lists of things easily forgotten–certain medications, sunscreen, gum for on the airplane–in an effort to minimize forgetfulness.  This is when I also begin to think about which electronic devices we’ll bring, and which we’ll leave at home:  Do we want a video camera? Is the laptop necessary? Are we letting the kids bring any gadgets?  Once I decide which things we’ll bring, I start to gather the necessary cables, chargers, and memory cards that go along with them.  The actual packing of clothes and such comes closer to when we leave, but I put in plenty of thought so as to find the perfect mix of having everything we’ll need without overpacking.

Double-check everything

About a week before we leave, I get serious about rechecking our reservations and flight information, and being sure everything we’ll need to take is on the list.  I set aside an area of the house where vacation things can be dropped off.  If it’s for vacation, that’s where it needs to be; if it’s not for vacation, it needs to be somewhere else!  Then, when we’re ready to go, I know that we have everything when that zone is clear and the lists are checked off.

Prepare for take-off

If we’re driving, my husband checks the tires, oil, and gas levels in the car a day or two before we leave.  If we’re flying, I keep an eye on the schedules and recheck the airline guidelines.  We keep an eye on the weather, just in case it will affect our plans.  I print out basic itineraries and emergency contact information for our parents, in case they should need to reach us while we’re gone.  Then it’s time to pack the vehicle, throw in the last snacks and medications, and get on our way for our latest adventure.

Well, there you have it–how I plan a vacation for our family.  Do you use similar steps in planning your family’s trips?

One of the vacation-planning decisions I put a lot of thought into is this:  How am I going to capture our vacation memories?

It doesn’t sound like it should be difficult.  Take a camera, snap some photos, and be done with it.  Yet I always seem to be torn about exactly HOW to do just that.  These are the thought processes that run through my head.

1. I should take my pocket-sized point-and-shoot camera.
   I have a decent little point-and-shoot digital camera.  I carry it in my purse at all times, just in case some photography need should arise, and it’s known in my circle of friends that I always have a camera with me, because you just never know when you’ll need a picture.  This little camera is lightweight, has a decent zoom on it, and a cool GPS feature that remembers where each photo was taken.  It uses an SD card, which I can easily insert into a laptop for backing up and sharing photos along the way.  It will also take video footage.
   but
   Although this is my go-to camera for day-to-day on-the-go shots, its photos aren’t as good as camera B (see below).
2. I should take my digital SLR.
   I have a nicer camera, a digital SLR.  I’d be able to take nicer, more creative photos with it, for that “wow” factor.  Since this is a special vacation for us, I should take the best photos I can to preserve those special memories. 
   but
   This is a heavier camera, and while it has a decently comfortable strap, it would still weigh me down.  It would require more cords and gadgets for downloading and charging than the little camera would.  Would I end up lugging it along, and then leaving it behind when we’re walking a lot, or would I truly make good use of it?
3. I should take both cameras.
   After all, some days will be grab-a-quick-shot days where the little camera would be best, and others will be in locations where I’d want better photos.
   but
   Taking both requires double the number of cords and batteries and cards, and then there’s the question of how to safely stow the camera that isn’t currently in use.
4. I should take as many photos as possible.
   This is a vacation, a special time for us, so I should capture every moment that I can.
5. I should take just a few photos.
   Being behind the camera all the time means I’d get the memories stored away, but would it take away from my actual enjoyment of the trip?
6. We should pose for a family photo at any place with a cheesy and ridiculously expensive photo spot.
   In this way, I’m guaranteed to be in front of the camera once in a while.  Seriously, my goal is to have my face in at least one photo on each vacation to prove that I was actually there, and sometimes this is difficult to accomplish. 

   No matter which approach I decide to use (and I’m leaning in one direction, but I’m curious to hear what your family-vacation photo strategy is), one thing’s for certain:

7. I will sort, label, and put the best photos into an album when we return home.
   I’m determined that my family’s digital memories aren’t stuck on a computer, never to be seen again, so after each vacation I use a digital program to create a printed photo album.  My kids love to page through memories of vacations past and talk about places we’ve visited and things we’ve done together.  These shared experiences are perhaps the best part of traveling as a family.

In the end, it seems like a petty decision to agonize over.  I know that I’m blessed to have the resources to travel, and to have a choice in how to preserve our family’s memories.  Like most parents, however, I want to make the most of the time I have with my family, and photos and memories are part of that time together, so I want to use what I have to full advantage, and to give these treasures to my children.

What’s your family vacation photo strategy?  Please share in the comments.

This winter, we’re planning our first BIG family trip.  Sure, we’ve roadtripped all over the place, but we usually choose our destinations based on their affordability and driveability.  This time, we’ll be flying to the west coast, destination California.

I know that a lot of families keep Disney trips a secret up until the last possible minute, and I don’t blame them a bit for it.  We told our kids about our trip as soon as we started planning it, however.  These were my reasons for not keeping our Disney trip a secret.

• I hate keeping secrets.  Sure, I can do it if I have to, but I hate the secrecy of it all.  Yes, I know that’s the idea, but I’m always afraid I’m going to slip and say something I shouldn’t.
• Half the fun is in planning.  I’m certainly the primary vacation planner in the household, but it’s fun to bring my family into the conversation.  We’ve had some interesting discussions about why I’ve chosen one hotel over another, and looked at the map to see where we’ll be.  I’ve handed brochures and guidebooks to the kids so they can be experts in parts of the trip.  It’s fun to talk about our upcoming trip.
• The kids have their own ideas.  As soon as I mentioned California, my eight-year-old instantly said, “Legoland!”  Disney wasn’t his top priority.  My five-year-old’s request was to go to a desert.  Without their input, I might not have chosen the right combination of “When in Rome” things to do.
• It’s not just Disney.  Perhaps if we were going to Walt Disney World and that was our entire trip, a secret would work out better, but although Disneyland is an exciting part of our trip, we’ll be seeing plenty of other things as well.  I wanted the kids to know about some of the places we’re going ahead of time.
• Packing.  I’m by no means a last-minute packer.  When I went to Legoland Florida by myself, I started four days ahead of time.  When packing for a plane ride for six of us, I anticipate lining up the suitcases two weeks in advance.  It’s kind of hard to keep a vacation a secret when there are obvious signs like that in plain sight.
• School.  Because our children will miss some days of school, I fully anticipate some rough nights with a lot of make-up work to do before we leave.  If their teachers can prep the assignments, we’re going to try to get the work done before we go, so we can enjoy the vacation without schoolwork hanging over us.  If the trip were a surprise, the kids would wonder why they had so much extra homework.  We don’t take pulling them out of school lightly, so I want to make it as easy on teachers and kids as possible.
• Money.  Letting our children know about the vacation ahead of time has been an opportunity for fiscal education.  We explained to them right away that vacations cost money, and that we were all going to work together to supplement what we’d budgeted for our vacation.  We’ve cut back on day trips and eating out, and each time we forego doing something we’d usually do this time of year, we put the money we would have spent on it in the “vacation jar.”  It’s been a good conversation starter as we talk about how much things cost.
• Transitions.  While my kids are generally adaptable to new situations, they do much better if they know what’s coming next.  Especially because this is their first time flying, we’ll be able to talk ahead of time about what to expect when going through security, the lines and waiting that will be involved, what it will be like on the airport, and so on.
• Anticipation.  I know we’ll have some crazy days as we approach departure when we all have butterflies in our stomachs from the anticipation of the trip.  I’m pretty sure we’ll have a couple who can’t sleep the night before we leave.  At that point, I’ll probably wish we would have kept it a big secret.

If you’ve gone to a Disney destination, did you tell your children beforehand or keep it as a surprise?

Related:

Saving Money on Southern California Attractions Tickets

Choosing a Disneyland-Area Hotel

At the time, it didn’t seem out of the ordinary to me. I was incredibly busy when we were home, so I might as well take the show on the road and be incredibly busy while finding some fun and interesting things to do, right?

Now, I look back and do wonder just a bit how we managed it. After all, they were pretty little back then.

My children in 2007: Ages 4.5, 6.5, 1.5, and 3.5

When we traveled anywhere, it required a lot of gear. The stroller baskets were stuffed full and my purse and the diaper bag hung over the handles for a day trip in Chicago.

The three little ones got to ride in the strollers. The six-year-old walked six miles that day without complaining.

The youngest wasn’t even wearing real shoes yet.

At Chicago's Field Museum, 2007

Still, we enjoyed the family time together. This photo captures one of my favorite vacation memories.

At Buckingham Fountain, summer 2007

Yesterday, I drove the kids up to the Hutchinson Model Railroad Show. We’ve been there before; in fact a stop at the train show was the very first family adventure I wrote about on this blog, four years ago.

We hadn’t been to the train show since then, and it was an eye-opener to return to something I did when the kids were so young. (I get tired now reading that post and seeing that the model railroad show was just the first stop of a full day of activity four years ago.)

Then: My children were 6, 4, 3, and 1. The baby was in the stroller, and couldn’t see much of anything as the train layouts were over her head. With the older kids, I was nervous about them wandering away from me and touching something they shouldn’t.

Now: My 7-year-old chose to stay and help her dad on the farm for the afternoon, so I had only three children with me, who are now 10, 8, and 5. They knew that they could look around but not touch, and I could sit and enjoy a snack while watching them wander around the train layouts. Some things do get easier as the kids get older.

Then: My second son is the train-lover in the group. Reading the old post, I see that I was inquiring about getting started in model railroading when he was four.

Now: He’s still interested in model trains, but now he’s able to look at prices and think about saving his money if this is a hobby he wants to pursue.

Then: The kids ooohed and aaahed over the model railroad setups at the show.

Now: The trains didn’t seem as exciting to them. They claimed that they had better trains running last time, and wouldn’t let me convince them that their perceptions have changed a lot since then.

Then: We won a door prize of a DVD of model railroad outtakes.

Now: They fondly remember the DVD, that someone stepped on it and broke it, and asked if we could buy a new copy at the show. I wonder if it would be as good as they remember now that they’re older?

Returning to something we did several years ago reminded me that choosing day trips and vacations for families has a lot to do with timing. When looking at a destination, it’s important to consider whether your children are at the right age to enjoy it. Go to the children’s museums when they’re little, and don’t feel bad about saving the theatre until they’re older and can better sit still and enjoy it. Take them to different playgrounds when they’re young and it’s a big deal to them to play in a new park. Keep the guided tours of historic mansions for days when you don’t have to worry about them breaking something.

We’re starting to think about some of those timing issues for family vacations as well. While we enjoyed Philadelphia when the kids were 2-7, we want to save Washington, D.C. until they’re older and can absorb and remember more of the history. We’ve decided that this winter is our sweet spot for a California vacation — the kids will still enjoy Disneyland and Legoland but we can do it without a stroller and baby gear.

I know that it’s not possible to time every destination perfectly, but we never have a shortage of things to do when we travel. It’s important to choose the things that fit our family best — in interest, age, and cost — for the particular time that we’re there. We need to enjoy things fully while we have the chance, and sometimes it’s best not to return to a place of happy memories, lest it not be quite as exciting as we remembered it.

Saturday, September 24, 2011, is also Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day, with free admission to selected museums around the country.  To see the list of museums and download a free admission card, see the Museum Day website.

Are you planning to visit a new place due to one of these programs?

The lucky winner of this giveaway is Cindy from Plymouth, MN, who loves to visit Lake Superior and the woods around it.  Congratulations, Cindy!  Enjoy your Twizzlers.

Our family had five days of fun driving the Twizzlers Landmark Summer van last week, and now it’s your turn to enjoy some Twizzlers fun.  For the next five days, I’ll be accepting entries for a Twizzlers giveaway.

One entrant will win a Twizzlers prize pack which includes the following:

• Twizzlers beach towel
• Twizzlers beach bag
• 2 bags of Sweet n Sour Twizzlers
• 1 pack of strawberry Twizzlers Twists
• 1 pack of Cherry Pull n Peel Twizzlers

Entering is easy.  Just leave a comment below telling about your favorite American landmark.  It can be one you’ve been to already, or one you’ve dreamed of visiting.  The definition of landmark is completely up to you.  It could be anything from the Statue of Liberty or the Golden Gate Bridge to Carhenge or the World’s Largest Buffalo.  Be sure to leave a valid e-mail address in the “mail” section of the comment form so I can notify you if you win.

The fine print:
–One entry per person.
–Entrant must be a legal resident of one of the 50 U.S. states or Washington, D.C.
–My family and household are ineligible to enter.
–No purchase necessary to enter.
–One winner will be chosen by random drawing.
–Odds of winning depend on number of entries received.
–Winner will be required to provide shipping information within five business days of notification.
–Prize will be shipped directly from Twizzlers.  Items cannot be shipped to P.O. Boxes.
–Contest begins July 29, 2011.  Contest ends August 2, 2011, at 10:00 p.m. CDT.
–Void where prohibited.

Good luck! I can’t wait to read about your favorite landmarks.

While you’re thinking about Twizzlers and winning, why not enter the Twizzlers Landmark Summer giveaway, where you could win a trip to your favorite American landmark, or some other cool Twizzlers prizes.  Visit the Twizzlers website for more information.

This contest is now closed, and a winner has been chosen.  Thanks for stopping by.

I have many apps on my iPhone, but these are the ones I actually used on the trip. Some I expected to use on the road, and others came in handy at unexpected times. Some made our lives easier, and others were just for fun. Some helped us to communicate with friends and family, while others pointed us in different directions. The iPhone was a useful tool on our vacation, and these are the apps that made it so.

Standard iPhone Apps:

• Phone:  This may sound funny, but my primary reason for carrying a smartphone isn’t for using the phone.  There are months when I’ve used less than 20 minutes of talk time.  On this vacation, however, we used the phone for useful things like finding new tires for our vehicle and making reservations for the Pikes Peak Cog Railway.
• Calendar: I had planned our entire itinerary using an Outlook calendar.  Outlook syncs beautifully with the iPhone calendar so that I could look up details I’d put into the itinerary, or simply see what day it was, as it’s easy to lose track of time when on a vacation schedule.
• Clock:  I always wear a watch, so I hadn’t expected to use my iPhone’s clock as often as I did.  It came in particularly handy when crossing time zones, as I seem to have an inability to convert time zones properly.
• Camera:  Never much of a camera phone person, I was surprised at how often I pulled out the iPhone to use its camera for easy embedding in Twitter and Facebook entries along the way.  My other cameras definitely have better quality than the iPhone camera, but it’s hard to beat the ease of snapping a shot and posting it in mere seconds.
• Maps:  One of several map apps I used along the way, I found the basic Maps app to be especially useful for finding directions from “current location” to another point.  Its ability to figure in traffic delays to time estimates was especially useful, and it was more accurate time-wise than our regular GPS.  (Now, can anyone tell me how to get that beautiful compass to appear in this app?)
• Mail:  Although I was on vacation, there were some business-type issues that arose during the trip, and I was able to take care of them with the iPhone’s mail app.
• Messages:  I only began texting recently, but it came in handy on several occasions during our vacation, including when our lead car lost us at a red light and my sister texted me to tell me what the next turn was.  (Maps didn’t help me in this case as they were taking an alternate route to avoid traffic.)
• Safari:  From pulling up hours and locations to checking the newspaper at home, I used Safari frequently throughout the days of our trip.
• iPod:  On one of those days when the kids were short on sleep and nothing was going right, the iPod saved our sanity.  Connecting it to the aux port of the car and playing some well-chosen songs pulled everyone out of their bad moods and made the rest of the day’s drive tolerable.  (The Princess Who Saved Herself, followed by Baby Kangaroo and the Chicken Dance did the trick for us.  I have now added these songs and a few others to a new playlist called “Desperation.”)
• Mobile Hotspot:  When we got to a hotel that only had wired wifi and I needed to use the iPad because my netbook died, my iPhone’s mobile hotspot allowed me to do the research I needed to do.

Free Apps:

• Tally Counter:  When counting Wall Drug billboards while traveling across South Dakota, we began to lose track of how many we’d seen.  Tally Counter came to the rescue, keeping an accurate count for us until we got to Wall after seeing 90 Wall Drug signs.
• State Plate Hunt:  This app does one thing only, but it’s just right for keeping track of license plates you see while on the road.  For this trip, we saw license plates from 43 states and 5 Canadian provinces.  I think we could have found them all if we’d wandered the parking lot at Mount Rushmore for a few more minutes.
• Flex Fuel Locator:  We drive a flex-fuel vehicle, and it’s not always to find our preferred E85 fuel.  The Flex Fuel Locator app shows us where the closest stations are.
• Google:  Used for a number of things along the way, the most memorable was searching to see what color the pasque flower (state flower of South Dakota) is.
• Google Places:  We used Google Places to find restaurants and gas, but most importantly, we found a service station that could check a bad tire in a remote area of South Dakota.
• Google Voice:  My text plan doesn’t come with a lot of messages, so I switched to Google Voice texting when having some text conversations with my brother and sister.
• Facebook: I use Facebook on the go as a way to keep up with others and to post photos and checkins.  It’s one of the apps that lives on my front screen.
• Twitter:  The official twitter app made it easy to post updates with my #twizzlers #roadtrip hashtags.
• Current Altitude Free:  This altimeter was useful as we went up and down through the Black Hills, but we used it especially while riding the train up Pikes Peak to see how fast our altitude was changing.
• A Free Level: You never know when you might need a level, like when setting up a camper, or trying to figure out the “mystery” of the Cosmos Mystery Area.
• RedLaser: Some of the travel information I had utilized QR codes, and I used RedLaser to quickly find more information about those sites.
• Shazam: Solves those “who sings this song?” arguments; Shazam “listens” to the song and returns title and artist.
• Colorado Springs Travel Info:  When we wanted to be sure we weren’t missing anything in Colorado Springs, this app was nice to browse through to check attractions and events.
• PhotoPad by Zagg:  This one is an iPad app, but I used it to wow my dad.  After taking a timer shot of the whole family by balancing a camera on a car, it turned out to be a decent photo but needed cropping and some rotation.  I plugged my SD card into the iPad’s camera connection kit, opened the photo file, rotated and cropped it, and then passed the iPad around so everyone could oooh and aaah over it.  It was a three-minute edit that will likely be seen on Christmas cards come December.

Paid Apps:

• Roadside America, $2.99+: I’ve long been a fan of Roadside America’s website, but their iPhone app helps find off-the-wall places while we’re on the road.  It’s what led us to the Wonder Tower of the World.
• Magellan Roadmate, $49.99:  I bought this for $34.99 on sale and have used it in situations when I didn’t have a GPS unit with me.  Its turn-by-turn directions, traffic information, and maps rival those of a regular GPS; you just have to plug your phone in or it will drain the battery completely in about two hours.
• Weatherbug Elite, $.99:  I have about eight different weather apps on my phone, but I like this one for being able to add several cities and then page through them to see conditions, forecasts, and maps.  It made it easy for us to keep an eye on the weather where we were, where we were headed next, and back home.
• MyCast, $2.99:  Another weather app, MyCast seems to have faster radar updates than some other apps.
• Capture, $.99:  Instead of fumbling through the iPhone’s camera and switching it to video, Capture starts recording as soon as you tap the app icon.  It helps capture video more quickly.  The downfall is that you may tap it accidentally and get some video of the inside of your purse or pocket.
• Photo Transfer, $2.99: This app worked very well to transfer my iPhone photos to my laptop using a wifi connection.  The directions are clear and it works very well; no cables necessary.
• Home Library, $.99:  When we stopped at Barnes & Noble to get books for the drive home, this saved us from duplicating something we already owned, as I’ve scanned the barcodes of the books in our home library and stored them in my phone.

Do you have an iPhone?  Which apps do you find the most useful when traveling?

I’ve put together some highlights of our trip, with the help of my children.  Here’s our Twizzlers Landmark Summer in two minutes a day. I hope you enjoy it!

Our road trip plans seem to change by the minute, and as I perused the map (and this is why paper maps are still a very good thing to use at times) I noticed two things near our route in Wyoming that looked interesting:  Fort Laramie National Historic Landmark and the Oregon Trail ruts near Guernsey.

Actually, neither of these things would have caught my eye so quickly if we hadn’t visited Scotts Bluff National Monument a few days earlier.  As the kids completed their Junior Ranger booklets at Scotts Bluff, one of the questions was about the wagon ruts, and Fort Laramie was also mentioned.  So, for the second time in five days, we took off to learn about the Oregon Trail.

Wyoming has long stretches without roadside services, so we ended up eating lunch at 10:30 a.m. before heading to the landmarks.  The Oregon Trail ruts are amazing–they date back to the 1850′s and are still plainly visible.  The cut in the ruts was made over time by the wagons; a park ranger explained that in a two-week period one year, half a million people followed that path that was part of three trails:  Oregon, California, and Mormon.  After seeing the size of the covered wagons (much smaller than I expected), I was even more awed by the things the pioneers did to start a new life.

Fort Laramie National Historic Site is a well-maintained fort on the Wyoming prairie, and was also a stop along the Oregon Trail.  Here, the kids earned their fourth Junior Ranger badges in a week as we walked around the fort in 95-degree heat.

From Fort Laramie we headed back to Rapid City to retrieve our vehicle from the friends who were babysitting it, and then began the task of moving everything from the Twizzlers van back to our own vehicle.  The amount of stuff a family can fit into a vehicle for a week’s vacation will never cease to amaze me.

Tomorrow we head for home.  Although we’ve seen 95-100 degree temperatures every day of our trip, we missed the extreme heat and humidity at home in Minnesota, and we also will return to a working state government.  Vacations are always fun and interesting, but it’s always good to go home again.

Thank you to Twizzlers for sponsoring our travel this week.  Be sure to follow the other Twizzlers Traveling Families this summer, and enter to win a road trip of your own and other prizes at twizzlers.com.

Read about the rest of our Twizzlers trip:  Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4.

We left our hotel in Colorado Springs this morning with a view of Pikes Peak, and I’m writing this tonight from Boulder while watching the sun set over the Rocky Mountains from my hotel room.  Colorado is absolutely beautiful.

The kids are enjoying our trip so much that today they asked if we could drop Dad off at home so he could work, and then drive back to do more things here.  Dad and I politely vetoed that idea.

Our first stop this morning was the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, a stop that we all enjoyed.  Learning about the place where many of our American athletes train for the Olympics was informative, and seeing the pools, gyms, and other areas where they train was inspirational.  Although I’m not much of a sports fan in general, I love watching the Olympics, and my husband teased that I should have bought a Team USA curling shirt as it’s the only sport I’ve ever been remotely successful at.  (I was actually on a winning bonspiel team once, way back in high school.)

Then we said goodbye to Colorado Springs and headed to the Denver area to stop in to see my sister and her family for a few minutes before we all went out to dinner on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall.  After eating, we strolled down the closed-off street, browsing in the shops and watching the people and performers along the boulevard.

My favorite part of today had to do with the Twizzlers van.  Because my son is allergic to peanuts, he very seldom gets to eat a doughnut since most doughnuts are made in bakeries that sprinkle peanuts on the pastries.  Krispy Kreme, however, is peanut-safe, and it’s been our custom to stop for Krispy Kremes when we find a store along our way, since those in our area closed several years ago.  No trip to Des Moines is complete without a stop at Krispy Kreme, as it’s now our closest safe doughnut shop.

Mid-afternoon, there was just one other family in the restaurant, a grandmother, granddaughter, and young man.  They remarked about the Twizzlers van and I told them about our trip.  I also mentioned that we live in Minnesota but were at Krispy Kreme in Colorado because it’s such a rare treat for us.  She told me that her granddaughter is also allergic to peanuts, and that her daughter works at Krispy Kreme so they get plenty of doughnuts.  I went out to the Twizzlers van and brought back some Twizzlers packages for the little girl, knowing that they were a safe treat for her to eat.  It was fun to share this small treat with them, and we were thanked several times for the Twizzlers.  As we were preparing to leave, the grandmother came over and said, “Don’t leave just yet,” and shortly came back with a box of doughnuts for us.  It was fun and unexpected and a delight to be able to share two different safe snacks between these kids who have to be so careful about each and every thing they eat.  Today, the Twizzlers van made us some unexpected friends.

Tomorrow will be a long driving day as we wrap up our Twizzlers road trip, but we’re hoping to make at least one interesting stop along the way.  Tomorrow we’ll be driving most of the middle section of the van-top map.  Then we’ll be back to driving our own vehicle and passing the Twizzlers van on to the next traveling family.

Twizzlers is sponsoring our travel this week.  Read more about our trip: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 5.

Our hotel room has a view of the mountains, and we can see Pikes Peak from the parking lot.  Imagine waking up to that every morning!

This morning, a beautiful, sunny day, we drove up to Cripple Creek, about an hour west of Colorado Springs in the mountains.  Our first stop was the Mollie Kathleen gold mine tour, where we got a very interesting history lesson and each came home with our own piece of gold ore.  Despite being 1000 feet below ground, the tour was not frightening, and the pathways were much more open than several caves we’ve toured.

The view from the Mollie Kathleen parking lot, and the Cripple Creek Heritage Center across the road, is spectacular, with the town of Cripple Creek nestled in the mountains.

The heritage center is a three-level museum with several hands-on exhibits for the kids to enjoy.  I wished we would have had more time there.

We planned to ride on the Cripple Creek-Victor Railroad, but the cost for the 45-minute trip didn’t seem worth it since we’ve been on other trains before.  Instead we ate lunch in downtown Cripple Creek and drove back down to Colorado Springs to see the Garden of the Gods.  This park of beautiful rock formations has a driving route as well as hiking trails.  We stopped in the visitor center to see the displays, check out the gift shop, and have an ice cream cone as a thunderstorm rolled over the mountains.

Tomorrow we’ll see the last of Colorado Springs and head up to Denver.  There is truly a lot to do in this area–if time and money were no object, families could keep busy for a very long time in this area doing some very unique things.  One of our goals for this trip has been to do things we can’t do at home, and for the most part we’re succeeding.

I’ve added photos to yesterday’s post as I’ve resolved my computer problems; I hope you’ll go back and take a look if you’ve been following the trip.

Twizzlers is sponsoring this trip, and I haven’t talked too much about their product thus far, but we’ve been enjoying Twizzlers as good road trip food.  They’re nice for doling out when the kids want a treat but I don’t want to ruin their appetites; they don’t melt, even in the 100-degree temperatures we’ve been experiencing, and especially for our family, they’re one of the few candies that we consider to be safe for our son who is allergic to peanuts.  My favorite Twizzlers activity so far, however, has been folding and twisting them into letters of the alphabet to quiz my three-year-old niece.  (And yes, she got them all right before she grabbed the Twizzlers to finish her snack.)  The Twizzlers van has been getting plenty of attention as we drive from place to place.  It’s been a fun trip.  Do you have any guesses about the last things we’ll do before finishing our road trip?  Don’t forget to enter for your own chance to win a roadtrip from Twizzlers and share your own roadtrips at the Twizzlers website.

Twizzlers is sponsoring our travels this week.

Read about Day 1 and Day 2 and Day 4 and Day 5 of our Twizzlers trip.

We detoured to Genoa, CO, to see the Wonder Tower of the World, an old fashioned tourist trap with a antique store disguised as a museum. From there, we headed west on US Hwy 24 to Colorado Springs.

As we drove, we could see our landmark destination, Pikes Peak, in the distance, then gradually growing closer.

At the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, we explored the cave structures and museum, then moved to downtown Manitou Springs to taste the water from the mineral springs. The verdict: natural mineral water is not for us.

Finally, it was time for our trip up the Pikes Peak Cog Railway. We chose this over driving up the mountain as it would be much less nerve-wracking for both driver and passenger. By the time we reached the summit, it was cold and rainy, so we snapped our photos and ran inside for doughnuts…which were sold out! That’s the drawback of the last train of the day, I guess.

On the way down, the sun peeked out and we saw the natural beauty of The Pikes Peak area. It was a busy day and we did a lot; I may back off on tomorrow’s plans a bit to let everyone sleep later. There’s a lot to do in this area; a full week’s vacation would be very possible here.

My netbook has seen its last so I’m limping along; I promise to post more photos when I write about individual sites. For now, just know that we’re having a great time on our Twizzlers Landmark Summer adventure, and the Twizzlers van is getting a lot of looks and comments.

Twizzlers is sponsoring our family’s travels this week.

Read about the rest of the trip: Day 1, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5.

Our kids have been so excited about riding in this van that it didn’t take them long to say goodbye to family in the Black Hills of South Dakota, where we had enjoyed the weekend, and to get settled into our vehicle for the week.

We had seen that famous South Dakota landmark, Mount Rushmore, on Saturday, so we bypassed it today and instead took the beautiful Needles Highway through Custer State Park.  The twists and turns of the route didn’t bother our gang a bit as they remarked about the scenery, the tunnels, and the wildlife and flora we saw along the way.  Having to wait for buffalo to cross the road and spotting wild burros and pronghorns along the Wildlife Loop added to the fun.  This was by no means a quick trip; from the cabin near Hill City through this area took more than two and a half hours.  If you don’t have the time to make the drive, there are faster routes, but if you want to see some of the best natural things the Black Hills have to offer, this is the way to go.

Exiting Custer State Park on the south end takes you directly into Wind Cave National Park, so that was our next stop.  We stopped to take the shortest tour, “Garden of Eden,” at one hour in length, and have the kids earn Junior Ranger badges.  I highly recommend the Junior Ranger programs in our National Park Service sites as a way for kids to learn more in-depth information about the parks and historic sites they’re visiting.  Workbook activities vary in difficulty according to the child’s age, and after completing the program, they earn a badge from that particular park.  Collecting badges has become a favorite activity on our family vacations.

By the time we were done at Wind Cave, we made a quick lunch stop in Hot Springs, and headed down the road to Nebraska, where it hovered around 100 degrees for the entire afternoon.  We made a short stop at Carhenge, one of those roadside attractions that’s hard to pass by without stopping, and then went over to Gering to see Scotts Bluff National Monument.  What a treat to turn onto “Old Oregon Trail” and learn about the pioneers that crossed this way so many years ago.  Especially in the heat of the day, we could be grateful for our modern conveniences instead of traveling the trail in covered wagons.  At Scotts Bluff, the kids earned their second Junior Ranger badges of the day, and then we drove up to the top of the monument to see the view from this natural vantage point.  I especially like visiting these lesser-known and less-busy park sites, as we can enjoy and learn about them without fighting crowds.

After Scotts Bluff, it was time to eat supper and head to our hotel.  Tomorrow we’re off to our primary destination, Pikes Peak, but we’ve got plenty of fun and interesting things planned throughout the week.  Stay tuned!

If you’d like to keep up with us as we go, try following this link to see my #twizzlers #roadtrip posts on twitter.  (You don’t have to be a twitter user to follow this.)

Our Pikes Peak roadtrip is being sponsored by the Twizzlers company, but the choice of where to go and what to see is up to us.  In true roadtrip fashion, we’re going to see as much as we can along the way as we drive the Twizzlers van.

Read about the rest of the trip: Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5.

9 nights of luggage for 6 people

Vacation time is almost here, and while for my husband vacation means throwing a few clothes into suitcases and getting behind the wheel, for me it means a lot of time spent planning and packing.  Over the years, I’ve become more adept at it so that it’s less of a last-minute panic session and more of a slow-and-steady endeavor.  Here’s how I do it; maybe some of these tips will work for you.

• Make your lists . . . and check them twice. 2-3 weeks before we leave, I start jotting things down on a notepad on my desk.  I know we won’t forget the basics like clothes, but any little odds and ends that I want to have along go on the list.  Camera battery charger, Bananagrams, ice cream bucket and towel (for just in case) all go on the list so I don’t forget them.
• Let the kids help. Once they start reading (sooner if siblings will help), my kids choose their own vacation clothes.  I give them each a list like this:  10 shorts, 10 short-sleeve shirts, 2 pajamas, 10 underwear, 1 pants, 1 sweatshirt.  They each put their own clothes in a laundry basket, and then I set to pairing up the clothes so that they match reasonably well.
• Watch the forecast. 10-day forecasts are marvelous, and I begin packing in earnest as soon as most of our trip fits into that window.  The forecast can give me a decent idea of whether we’ll be wearing shorts or sweatshirts or needing umbrellas for most of our trip.
• It’s a vacation, not a beauty contest. When we hit the road, I operate under the assumption that most of the people we meet will never see us again.  While I want my family to be clean and well-groomed, vacation for us is not the time to break out our fanciest clothes.  Unless we have a special occasion like a wedding to attend, each person is restricted to one pair of comfortable walking shoes (plus flip-flops for the pool).  Clothes must be comfortable and pack well, because I don’t iron, especially when on vacation.  We keep accessories to a minimum.  I really don’t think the museum docents or park rangers will notice if we’re dressed in just the basics.
• Pack by the day, not by the person. If each of us packed our own suitcase, we’d lug six big suitcases plus a laptop bag into each and every hotel.  Instead, I pack smaller bags for each stop along the way.  A small pilot case can hold two nights’ worth of clothes for the six of us; we use duffel bags for one-night stays.  The things we need every night, like pajamas and toiletries, go into another suitcase, and I pack one bag with extras: a change of clothes in case someone gets sick or filthy, plus something for just in case the weather changes.  For this trip, the forecast is upper 80′s and 90′s for the whole week, so our primary clothes are shorts and t-shirts, but we each have a pair of pants and a sweatshirt in the extras bag.  I mark the bags with small tags that indicate the day and city we’ll be in, so each night we just have to grab the right bag, the pajama bag, and the laptop and swimsuits if we’ll be needing them.
• Have a bag of toiletries packed at all times. I used to forget the simple things, like my toothbrush or hairspray.  A few years ago, I bought a hanging toiletry bag and I just keep an extra set of everything in there.  Combs, shampoo, makeup basics, etc. stay in this bag at all times.  If I want to add extra things, I can, but at least the basics are always covered.  This has also come in handy when we’ve had unexpected hospital stays.
• Pile it up. Much to my husband’s chagrin, the last week before vacation involves piles of stuff somewhere in the house.  I find a clear spot in our bedroom or the living room and start stashing everything that’s ready to go.  Bags with snacks for the car, laptop case, and swimsuits can be packed several days ahead of time.  Suitcases go in the same location when they’re packed.  When we load up the car, we know we have everything when that spot is clear.
• Let the kids choose their entertainment. With the exception of their “vacation books,” which I labor over because the kids request them for each trip, I let my kids decide what to bring along in the car.  To avoid bringing the entire menagerie of stuffed animals or the dolls and all their accessories, each child is limited to a small briefcase which they can fill with whatever they want, plus a binder that includes their vacation books, paper, crayons, markers, and pencils.  In addition, I’ve loaded up my iPod with audio books, and I always have a deck of cards along for in case we have an unexpected wait somewhere.
• Charging cables stay in the car. After trips where I’ve forgotten a charging cable of some sort, I now keep car chargers for each type of connection in each of our vehicles.  Now all of our nooks, phones, iPods, and other devices can be charged on the go no matter which vehicle we’re traveling in.

So, that’s it.  The pressure of packing and remembering everything for a family of six used to make my pre-vacation days miserable, but now that I have things organized, I do a bit each day so that it goes smoothly when it’s time to pack up the car.

Do you have any roadtrip packing tips you’d like to share?

Somewhere in there, I attempt to keep up with laundry and housework and my favorite summer activity: planning our vacation.

Soon, we’ll be off for a family gathering in the South Dakota’s Black Hills, followed by our Twizzlers trip to Pikes Peak, Colorado.  The past few weeks have seen me making lists and checking them twice, preparing the kids’ vacation books, and making sure we have all our ducks in a row before heading out on the open highway.

We’re especially excited about our sponsored Twizzlers trip that will take us through Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming.  Remember that Twizzlers is not only hosting ten traveling families as they visit America’s landmarks this summer, but you also could win a family roadtrip and other prizes by visiting the Twizzlers website.  You can enter every day.

And now, back to packing . . .

Do you have any roadtrips, short or long, planned for your summer vacation?

Niagara, North Dakota, sits just outside the Red River Valley of North Dakota, 43 miles west of Grand Forks.

In the valley, the land is almost completely flat.  Just east of Niagara, the land rises along the Manitoba Escarpment.  Can you see it in the distance?  The valley land is very fertile, and potatoes and sugar beets are grown in abundance there.  Above the valley, the land is dotted with coulees and sloughs, and wheat and sunflowers are the main crops, with corn, soybeans, and canola thrown in the rotation.

Most of the roads are gravel, and these are the better roads.  Prairie roads are dirt and most often lead from field to field, but aren’t really for getting from here to there.  Street signs are a recent addition to the landscape, so we grew up with landmarks: the High Road (no, there is no low road), Skunk Hollow, Gregor’s Coulee, Norbert’s Corner, and Gertie’s Corner. (This is Gertie’s corner, with some beautiful North Dakota clouds above it.)

Niagara has never been a big town by anyone’s count.  Founded when the railroad came through in the early 1880′s, by most accounts, its peak population was somewhere between 100 and 200 people.  By the time I was growing up there in the 70′s and 80′s, the official count on the highway map was 76, and if given a piece of paper, I could draw a map of the town and list every inhabitant.

When Niagara celebrated its centennial in 1882, it was typical of many North Dakota small towns, home of several businesses supported by the surrounding agricultural community.

Today, there are 60 residents in town, and the grain elevator is the largest business still in town.  You can no longer get gas or something to eat in town.  Times have changed.

There is still a main street, but many of its buildings are gone, its businesses closed.

Yes, the main street is gravel, and has never been paved.  I remember how exciting it was when the road into town from Highway 2 was paved.  But the blacktop ends as it comes into town.

I guess you could call Niagara a lakeside community, although I never thought of it as such.  The Niagara Dam was built by the WPA (or was it the CCC?) many years ago.  Though used for fishing sometimes, it’s never been much of a recreational lake, and residents of the community remember tragedies that have occurred on the water.  Still, it’s pretty to look at as you drive into town.

As I wander through Niagara, I see things differently than most visitors do.

At the lumber yard, I hear the paint cans in the shaker, and the flip-flip-flip of us kids looking at the linoleum samples while Mom and Dad shopped.  I see Dick behind the counter, helping customers.

At the cafe, I see a trim building with Mildred or Marcy behind the counter.  I taste the best hamburgers ever, and remember that there never were french fries served there; only real home cooking came from the Niagara cafe.  I see the biggest, best ice cream cones for the mere price of a quarter.  And I hear the dice shaking to determine who pays for coffee, and the feeling of spinning on the stools around the horseshoe counter or sitting in one of the two wooden high-backed booths.

At the old post office, I see the mailboxes that never had keys, but instead dial combinations, with letters, if I recall, instead of numbers, as the code.  I remember the smell of the post office and hear the voices of Myron and Squirt behind the counter as they got the mail ready for delivery.

At the Corner, I remember Al finding just the right part when I had car trouble in college.  I remember buying candy bars from behind the counter, and getting Watkins products from Caroline.  I remember when the Corner moved into town because the four-lane highway displaced its original location, which wasn’t really original because it had been on the other side of the road in years before I remember it.

At the site where the old hall was, I remember community plays and running along the wooden bleachers with their stairs and pathways that were like none other I’d seen, and stories of graduations and basketball games when Dad was growing up.

There’s a barn in Niagara, right in the middle of town, and I remember it as just a barn, but my dad remembers it as the livery stable where they’d board the horses during the day while they were at school.

On one of the street corners, I remember four houses: Sagens, Aunt Ruth’s, Uncle Bert’s, and dad’s cousin Gladys.  Uncle Bill wasn’t far down the road.  Growing up at Niagara, I never realized how many of our neighbors were my dad’s first cousins.  We just all knew each other.

At the church, I remember the four-part harmony that we learned from an early age, and the Surface family taking up two or three pews on Christmas Eve, and playing Too Late for Supper during VBS recess time.  I also remember how many people came there from far away for my wedding, with the backdrop of my dad’s and uncles’ sunflower field next to the church as our unique photo background.

At the fire hall, I remember community gatherings, whether for morning coffee after the cafe closed, or more recently, to protest the possible closure of Niagara’s post office, which is the hub of community communications.

At the park, I remember being bundled up to watch softball games, where Robbie ran fast and Coot could reach any ball that came near him.  It doesn’t see many kids any more, but that doesn’t mean they don’t beg to go play in the park when we’re in town.

To a visitor, Niagara may not look like much.  To those of us who grew up there, we see changes but remember the way things were.  Why, then, would anyone want to visit Niagara now, with its lack of services for those traveling through?

Because Niagara has a museum.  This tiny town has an active historical society that cares for an 1881 log cabin,

an old Congregational church,

and a one-room school house.

The school especially is well-preserved, with desks, books, and other objects that were typical of the era, as well as memorabilia that’s especially interesting to former residents such as me, as I saw photos of my dad and his siblings, and newspaper clippings about the town.

The Niagara Historical Society meets regularly and has several projects on its list, including new stairs for the school, and repairs to the log cabin walls. The complex isn’t open for regular hours, so you’ll have to find someone with a key to let you in–if you’ll be traveling through, let me know and I’ll send you some phone numbers to try.

And that’s it.  That’s my hometown.  Is it much like yours?

Right now we’re in North Dakota.  We were supposed to go home yesterday, but we’ll be here yet for an undetermined amount of time, until we find out when our minivan will be up and running again.

That’s right.  I had car trouble while on the road.

Our minivan has 123,000 miles on it, and it’s been reliable.  I had it in for an oil change last week, along with a thorough checkup, and was praised for how well we’ve maintained the vehicle.

But we sometimes get sick right after the doctor gives us a clean bill of health, don’t we?  We can’t plan when bad things are going to happen.

And so, after enjoying a day at the lake on Saturday, my mom and I had four sleepy kids in the car as it neared 10 p.m.  After driving a desolate stretch that included crossing Devils Lake, we neared the highway, and the car started making a funny flap-flap-flap noise.

At the highway intersection, there’s a rest area, so I pulled into a semi parking spot, just in case I’d need a tow.  Paranoid?  Maybe.  Maybe not so much.

We opened the hood to call my dad to listen to the sound, and as we said hello to him, the car died.

I pulled out my AAA card and called the toll-free number for help.  I had to give information over the phone such as my membership number, name, and return phone number, as well as my location.  “Rest area on Highway 2 east of Devils Lake, North Dakota” wasn’t quite good enough; they wanted a cross street, street address, or exit number.  (A GPS device could help pinpoint your location if you didn’t know exactly where you were.)  Then I waited on hold while they found a tow service who could help me.

The first (and closest) one they called wasn’t available, so they tried another that had to travel about 50 miles to get to me.  With Devils Lake on the rise, roads are being raised and it’s hard to get across the lake quickly.  It would take over an hour for the driver to arrive.

So, we waited.  The kids fell asleep.  I called my brother back at the lake, who with his sister-in-law devised a plan and brought us a vehicle so we could get back to my parents’ house after the tow truck arrived.

We were in a safe place, a well-lit rest area.  A state patrol officer stopped to check on us.  We waited some more.

Finally, at 11:40 p.m., the tow truck arrived.  I merely needed to show my card and tell him where I wanted the vehicle towed, and he took care of the rest, while we headed out with the kids.  There will be no charge for my tow.

I’ll get a diagnosis on the car today.  And in looking at the AAA website, I found a feature of membership that I hadn’t noticed before: since we’re more than 100 miles from home, I can be reimbursed for additional expenses, up to $1,000, needed to get home, including meals, hotel, and rental car.

We have chosen to get the “plus” membership, which costs about $20 more per year than the basic membership, because it offers more flexible towing services than the basic level.  With basic, you can be towed up to 5 miles to the nearest AAA-approved facility.  With plus, you can be towed up to 50 miles, and you can choose the facility.  If you live, or travel, outside of metropolitan areas, the plus membership is well worth it if you ever need to be towed.  The plus membership for both my husband and me costs less than $100/year, and it covers us no matter which vehicle we’re driving or riding in.  If I’d been a passenger in my mom’s car or my friend’s car, my membership would have paid for their tow as well.

Other vehicle services include jump-starts, key lockout service, and more.  We’ve used our AAA membership to find a tire repair shop, and I’ve been towed one other time.  Perhaps there were closer tow services that could have gotten to us more quickly Saturday night, but I wouldn’t have known which shop to call, or if they were open.  With my AAA card, the AAA advisor did all the legwork and all I had to do was wait and show my card.

Even if we never needed the roadside assistance, I’d keep my AAA membership.  I love their TourBooks and maps and order them each time I’m planning a trip.  The TourBooks are a great planning resource for finding both things to do and lodging along the road.

Each year, my membership nearly pays for itself with the hotel and other discounts we receive through AAA.  Try it sometime if you’re booking a hotel room–see how much less you’ll pay at the AAA rate.  Usually it’s 10%, sometimes more.  AAA members also receive discounts at places like Target.com (10%); Barnes & Noble.com, and SeaWorld and Universal Studios.  When I show my card at the Albertville, MN, outlet mall, I get a coupon book that gives me discounts at many of the stores there.  It’s my first stop on every trip to the outlet mall.  The discounts we receive through AAA are what makes it smart sense financially.  The TourBooks and maps are icing on the cake.  And the roadside assistance is an excellent insurance policy any time we’re on the road.

I have been paid or given nothing to write about AAA.  I’m just a happy customer who had recent use of AAA benefits.  To learn more about AAA benefits and rates in your area, visit AAA.com.

Do you have AAA membership?  Have you used its benefits?  If you have another roadside assistance membership, how does it compare to AAA?

If you arrived at Travels with Children by way of the Star Tribune’s family page, welcome!  I write about family travel, and in particular, my family’s travel to places near and far.  On this site, you’ll find ideas for metro-area fun, daytrips and getaways in Minnesota, and road trips around the USA, all with a frugal twist on traveling with a bigger-than-average family.

Please look around and leave comments on things that interest you; or visit the Travels with Children Facebook page to keep up with the site plus local tips and deals.

Are you looking for family fun this summer? Perhaps some of these articles will interest you:

• There are a number of interesting, family-friendly destinations within a day’s drive of the Twin Cities.  A weekend getaway to Sioux Falls includes one of our family’s favorite science museums, the Kirby Science Discovery Center, plus a lot more.  11 Things: Sioux Falls will show you the highlights.  A drive down the Mississippi River to Dubuque, Iowa, is an interesting family road trip.
• A museum membership can be a great way to support a museum you love, along with the benefit of free visits to other places along your path.  Through reciprocal memberships, our family has been able to visit a wide variety of science museums, children’s museums, and zoos around the United States.  This summer, we’re hoping to use our Minnesota Historical Society membership to check off the last six state historic sites.
• Our outings don’t always involve museums or parks.  A stop at a new library or even a car wash can be interesting.  Our family also stops for historical markers and the world’s largest (or smallest) anything.
• Different families enjoy different types of travel.  I share what works for us in Why I Prefer Road Trips to Airplane Travel and The Vacation that Fits You Best, as well as why we travel with our young children.
• Read about the souvenirs that our family collects along the way:  Christmas ornaments and books.
• I offer tips on various topics, like finding a hotel room for a family of six, packing for a winter road trip or parking at the Minnesota State Fair.
• My “11 Things” series is a great way for readers to share their favorite locations.  Examples are 11 Things at Walt Disney World; Aberdeen, SD; Golden, CO; and Decorah, IA.  Do you have a favorite family destination?  Consider submitting your own 11 Things article.
• Sometimes I lay out a trip itinerary (like our Christmas trip to St. Louis).  Sometimes I write an honest day-by-day account of a long road trip (like our 17-day trip to Philadelphia a few years ago).  Sometimes I show a photo or a video of a particular place we’ve visited, like the Mississippi Headwaters.
• Family-travel bloggers from around the country are experts in their areas.  Each month, I put together a list of interesting places they’ve written about.  Check out the latest Finding More Fun post for ideas from around the United States.
• I live on a farm and brave the Minnesota winters, and sometimes I write about those topics, as well as telling the story of how a small-town girl from North Dakota started writing a blog about traveling with children.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you’ll return soon!

When we travel by car in the winter, we prepare for the weather as best we can.  We carry a winter survival kit in our trunk, along with extra hats, mittens, and boots; food and water; and blankets.  We monitor weather conditions and road reports carefully and change our plans if necessary to avoid a dangerous situation.

Summer travel is more carefree, but events this weekend reminded me that we still need to be weather-aware and weather-prepared when on the road during the warmer months.

This weekend, we had the opportunity for a quick getaway that ended with a friend’s graduation celebration in Iowa.  We knew that there was a potential for severe weather in the area, and that night, in our hotel room, wind and rain woke me up and got me thinking: what would we do if we were in a hotel when severe weather struck?

At home, we have our NOAA weather radio to alert us of dangerous weather situations.  Because we live in the country, we don’t have storm sirens.  In an unfamiliar place, though, I wondered if they had sirens, and whether we’d hear them in a well-soundproofed hotel room.  Would hotel staff alert us if severe weather were on the way?

Next, I thought about what we’d do if a storm were indeed coming toward us.  Did the hotel have a designated storm shelter available, or would we be on our own to deduce the safest spot?

Because we were connected to the Internet in our hotel room, I was able to look at the radar and alerts for the area to see that we were not in danger that night, and I slept more easily.

The next day, we drove to the Amana Colonies under increasingly dark skies.  At first thinking that heavy rain would be our biggest inconvenience, we scoped out places that would shelter us from getting wet in a downpour.  While we were in the Amana General Store, however, several people with smartphones (my husband included) started receiving notifications that we were in a tornado warning.  Because the store had a lower-level shopping area, we lingered there as more warnings came in; eventually there were three tornadoes that were spotted in the area.

Staff in the shop seemed unconcerned.  “Welcome to Iowa–this happens every week,” they said.  There were no sirens going off in Amana, no weather radios alerting people of the danger.  I took the kids to the basement, where we bought a deck of cards and planted ourselves on the floor to wait out the weather.  Perhaps it was seen as panicking, but I’d rather be prepared and in a safer place than to be scrambling for safety in an unfamiliar location.

My husband stayed on the porch and watched the weather for a while, but eventually he, too, got nervous as the clouds started to twist and turn, and he joined us downstairs, where we watched the radar and the warnings on the phone.

After this weekend, I’ve been thinking about severe weather when traveling–what we did right, and what we should have done differently.  These are my summer-travel severe weather tips.  Feel free to add yours in the comments.

• If you have a smartphone, download a good weather app that will notify you of severe weather warnings.  If it locates you automatically by GPS, it’s even better; when you’re traveling, you’re not always familiar with the county and city names listed in a watch or warning, but a GPS-enabled app will keep you updated to your current location.
• If staying in a hotel when there’s a risk of severe weather, ask about their weather policies when you check in.  Are guests notified of tornado warnings?  If so, how?  Where’s the safest place to be in a tornado?
• Keep your phone well-charged so you can keep up-to-date on the weather situation.  Set it near the door of a hotel room so you can take it with you in an emergency.
• In the event that you have to evacuate to a lower level, wear or bring shoes.  I had our swimsuit bag by the door to grab if we had to carry kids downstairs.  At least we’d have flipflops with us to make our way over potential broken glass and debris.
• Don’t count on being able to hear emergency sirens.  Some towns may not have them, you may be out of range, or they may simply not work as anticipated.
• Don’t rely on other people to keep your family safe.  Be aware of your surroundings, and don’t be afraid to seek shelter if a warning is issued.  Better to appear nervous and be safe than to disregard warnings and put yourself in danger.
• Try to find something to keep your children occupied while waiting out a storm.  In our case, a deck of cards and some old-fashioned candy sticks helped keep the kids’ minds off the storm.  Play games or talk to your kids to help keep the calm.  Storms are scary for kids, and they’re looking to you to keep them safe.
• Know what to do if a tornado is headed your way.  Those of us who live in tornado country are aware of what to do.  Those from other areas of the country or world may need to brush up before visiting tornado-prone areas.

As we saw yesterday in Missouri, Minnesota, and other places, storms can and do turn dangerous and even deadly.  It takes only a few minutes to think through summer storm preparedness when traveling with your family, but it can make a big difference in your family’s safety.  My prayers go out to all of those who have been affected by tornadoes this year.

Note about photo: That’s probably the best storm photo you’ll see from me, because if there’s bad weather, I won’t be the one outside trying to get good pictures of it.  I’ll be in the basement.

Do you have any additional tips for severe summer weather?  Please share them in the comments.

Our family has lots of summer plans, including a wedding, a family gathering, swimming lessons, and more.  One of the most exciting, however, is seeing some of our nation’s landmarks as part of the Twizzlers Landmark Summer promotion.  Along with other bloggers from around the country, including my friend and Trekaroo blogger Sharlene Earnshaw, we’ll be spending a week seeing some of our country’s most famous spots.  Our family will be heading out from Mt. Rushmore to see “America’s Mountain,” Pikes Peak in Colorado, sponsored by the Hershey Company and Twizzlers.  We plan to see other landmarks along the way, ranging from natural formations like Devils Tower to quirky stops like Carhenge.  Stay tuned throughout the summer as I keep you updated on our Twizzlers trip.  All the Twizzlers Traveling Families will be visiting different sites; see where they’re traveling by visiting on the Twizzlers site (click on the handy Twizzlers Traveling Family badge at the right).

For you, my readers, this is good news as well.  You can enter a contest daily to win some pretty cool prizes, including the grand prize, a trip to visit your favorite American landmark.  In addition, stay tuned here at Travels with Children for a Twizzlers prize pack later in the summer.

Summer’s all about fun, and spending time with my family touring national landmarks with my family is my favorite kind of fun.  Do you plan to visit any landmarks this summer?  Maybe you’ll run into one of the Twizzlers gang!

It seems that I’m always planning a vacation or getaway or dream trip of some sort.  Some come to fruition, and others don’t, but I really enjoy the planning.

Whether planning a day trip or a road trip, I have a number of tools that I use regularly.

Internet: I have a number of websites that I turn to, including

• Google maps, for calculating routes and mileage when driving
• Google search for “CityName Visitors” to quickly find the site for the local or state tourism agency, where I browse online guides or order paper materials
• Roadside America for quirky stops along the way
• Six Suitcase Travel when looking for overnight accommodations for our family of six, which doesn’t fit neatly into most hotel rooms

Travel Guides and Maps:  We’ve seldom had to use our AAA membership for roadside assistance, but I find the annual fee more than worthwhile when considering hotel and other discounts and the free maps and Tourbook guides.  I get a Tourbook for every region we consider visiting, and my kids love to pore over the maps.

Nationwide Guidebooks: Once we have a destination in place, I pull out my national guidebooks to see what interesting things I can find at our destination and along the way.  These include:

• The Next Exit
• National Geographic Complete National Parks
• Reader’s Digest Travel Guide USA
• The Most Scenic Drives in America
• Off the Beaten Path
• Over 1001 Amazing Places to go in North America
• 1000 Places to See (USA/Canada) Before You Die
• Roadside Attractions
• Watch it Made in the USA
• America’s Best Zoos
• National Geographic Scenic Highways and Byways
• Road Trip USA
• Greetings from the Lincoln Highway (if the old road is part of our trip)
• Campgrounds in the USA

Local Guidebooks: Because many of our trips are right here in Minnesota, I’ve amassed a good collection of local guides.  If we’re traveling elsewhere, I don’t hesitate to buy an Off the Beaten Path or other helpful family guidebook for our destination.  My Minnesota guides include:

• Tales of the Road
• Family Fun Great Lakes guide
• Oddball Minnesota
• Minnesota Curiosities
• Minnesota Family Weekends
• Minnesota’s State Parks
• Minnesota State Parks: A Camper’s Guide
• County Parks of Minnesota
• Minnesota Day Trips by Theme
• Minnesota: Land of 10,000 Lakes
• Minnesota Museums
• Minnesota History Along the Highways
• Hiking Minnesota with Kids

When we get home, we put a pin in our family map for each place that we stopped and did something interesting along the way.  We still have a lot of ground to cover, don’t we?

Note: Links to books above are Amazon affiliate links.  Some books are no longer available for purchase; check your local library for availability.

What are your favorite vacation-planning tools?

At that time, my kids were ages 1-6.  We traveled with four harnessed carseats, two strollers (a single and a double), a big diaper bag, Epi-pens and kid-friendly snacks, life jackets and swimming diapers, and multiple changes of clothes.

Today, things have changed a bit.  The kids can buckle their own booster seats, we no longer need a stroller, and the Epi-pens slip into my purse.  The clothes are bigger now, but we (usually) don’t need an extra set, and we don’t find Cheerios under the seat cushions any more.

The kids now have ideas of where they want to go and what they want to see, but they still do pretty well when Mom plans a day full of surprises for a family outing.

No matter their ages, it’s still a joy to travel with my family, whether just down the road or across the country.  Some of my favorite times are watching their wonder at seeing something new or doing something they haven’t done before.

My best days are the ones spent with my family exploring this beautiful land of ours.  When we’re out together, spending time together and making memories, it doesn’t matter what the calendar says.  That’s Mother’s Day for me.

Sioux Falls is one of our family’s favorite weekend getaway spots.  Not much more of a drive than the Twin Cities, there’s a lot packed into a small space.  There are plenty of restaurants, a better-than-decent mall for running a few errands, and lots of family-friendly things to do.  We have yet to visit Sioux Falls in the summer, when there are even more things open, so my list is based on winter and spring activities.

1. Kirby Science Discovery Center.  Located in Washington Pavilion, a repurposed school building, this is one of our family’s top 5 hands-on museums, and we’ve been to a lot.  Each family member has a favorite at this museum: the rock-climbing wall, the earthquake simulator, the water area, the Mars rover.  This was our fourth visit to the museum, and the kids to go back for a second day before we left for home.  There’s something for all ages here.
2. Sertoma Butterfly House.  Where better to escape from a cold winter day than a butterfly garden?  If the sun is shining, the butterflies are especially active.  Maybe you’ll get lucky and see one come out of its chrysalis.
3. Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum.  Our January walk through the zoo was brisk, but seeing the stuffed animals in the museum indoors was a good alternative method of learning about habitats.
4. Falls of the Big Sioux River.  The green grass and roaring falls belied the near-freezing temperatures, so we pulled our hoods up to wander around Falls Park.  The waterfalls that give the city their name are beautiful and plentiful, and seeing the Queen Bee Mill Ruins and mill race give an interesting perspective to the history of the area.
5. Falls Park Viewing Tower.  After seeing the waterfalls up close, we climbed the tower to see a panoramic view of the area.  The women manning the visitor center were friendly and welcoming.
6. Sculptures and Fountains.  Downtown and in Falls Park, as well as other parts of the city, sculptures are featured.  Sculpture tour information can be found in Sioux Falls visitor information.  There are also a number of waterfall-like fountains throughout town.  Our kids loved being the first to spot a new fountain.
7. Vintage signs.  Driving down 12th Street especially, but in other areas of town as well, time seems forgotten as signs from days gone by are still advertising businesses that are local fixtures.  It’s refreshing to see signs like this that haven’t been updated every few years.  We played a game of “spot the old signs” while driving around Sioux Falls.
8. Splashtacular Waterpark.  The Ramkota Hotel has a waterpark that’s just right for families with young children.
9. Visual Arts Center at Washington Pavilion.  On your way out of the science museum, head to the other end of the building to see the Visual Arts Center.  Check out the artwork, and then let the kids have some time in the children’s workshop area.
10. USS South Dakota Memorial.  No, it’s not an entire battleship, but there’s enough of an outline and a few pieces from the ship that you can get a good idea of the scope of this historical ship.
11. Downtown.  Stop for a cup of coffee at Michelle’s, where there are games and children’s books available to keep them busy while you relax.  Chedd’s, a gourmet grilled-cheese shop, looked mighty tasty.  There are enough unique shops downtown that I told my husband that my next trip to Sioux Falls will be a girlfriends shopping trip.

There’s more to see and do in Sioux Falls. On our to-see list next time we’re in the area are the Outdoor Campus and the Museum of Visual Materials, and maybe a stop at the EROS center just outside of town.  In the summertime, even more activities and attractions are open.  For a great Midwest getaway, I highly recommend Sioux Falls, South Dakota.