UpTake blogger Tiffany Joyce recently wrote about great road trip destinations from Arizona and Maine. She’s a genius. And she’s inspired me to share a few of my favorite road trip destinations from my own homes. First up – all the places I could (have) traveled to by car when I lived in Iowa!

Iowa may be known for it’s butter cows and corn fields, but it’s just a short car ride away from a few very exciting cities.

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Des Moines, Iowa to Minneapolis, Minnesota – 245 miles, 4 hours

Minneapolis is a great Midwestern city with a thriving music scene (it is the home of Prince, after all) and a lot of cultural activities. You can also take in a professional sporting event during football, baseball or basketball season and participate in the champion shopping event known as Mall of America. Save a little money on hotels by staying in nearby Bloomington instead of downtown.

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How I pack for a 24 hour road trip with kids.

A friend of mine from Wisconsin recently spent a week in Orlando, Florida on a family vacation.  She and her husband drove to Orlando with two young children – from Wisconsin.

While 24 hours in a minivan with kids might not sound like your idea of a relaxing vacation, more and more families are opting to drive instead of fly in order to save a little money, especially as airlines continue finding new ways to charge travelers for flying.  Whether you’re packing up for a trip across the country, or heading to grandma’s seven hours away for a holiday weekend, check out these simple tips for keeping kids entertained on a long car ride.

5 Ways To Entertain Kids On A Long Car Ride

1. Pack surprises for your kids.

I have to admit, I actually got this idea from a commenter on a previous post about road trip planning tips.  The idea is to pack away a few goodies to be given out just when boredom and restlessness levels threaten to become dangerous.  What kind of surprises should you pack?  Beth (the original genius), says:

“I usually pack enough surprises for the kids to equal each hour we will be in the car – most are small (a bag of their favorite chips, a small toy) but sometimes a big surprise like a new game for their nintendo ds, a new cd, or a new book can deter the crabbies and buy an extra hour or two of happiness in the car.”

Genius!

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Summer is coming, people and with it — the summer vacation.  Many of us have already envisioned destinations to warmer climes or exotic locales.  We can hear the waves crashing on our sandy feet, the warmth of the sun on our faces or gulls gently rousing us from peaceful afternoon slumber.  The diligent traveler has already made reservations and paid their deposits, ensuring their visions become reality.

Road Tripping

What many travelers often overlook, however, is the journey.  We envision the destination and quite often neglect a make or break aspect of any vacation — the road trip.  A horrendous road trip can ruin even the most well thought out vacation leaving you tired and frustrated before you ever arrive.  Conversely, a well planned and organized travel agenda can make getting there almost as much fun as being there.

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Objects in mirror are dorkier than they appear.

My husband and I leave on our Epic Summer Road Trip (links to the five-part story of our planning process are at the end of this entry) in exactly 40 hours. We’ve been scurrying, and list-making, and list-checking-off, and thinking of a dozen last-minute details that need to be accomplished before we leave.

For instance, we need to buy a rat tonight to feed our snake, who eats every two to three weeks. It just wouldn’t do to leave our daughter, who is house sitting for us, at the mercy of a hungry 5 1/2 foot Ball Python, now would it?

Hard drive storage suddenly became a concern, because I plan on taking a lot of pictures. I probably won’t follow my own advice about putting the camera down, so we ended up putting the portable hard drive on the list of gear to pack. See, we rented some lenses for our Canon Rebel XTi, and I’m enjoying them so much so far that I anticipate taking many, MANY more pictures than would be my usual desire.

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