Tell me about your classic road trips, vacations etc.

[Mikey]

Back in the 70's the whole family would load up and trek from NJ to Florida to visit my aunt and uncle.

Along the way we would ......

Stay at Holiday Inn's ---- Best Western as second choice

Gotta hit South of the Border --- what's up with North and South Carolina being compared to the Mexican border ?

Stuckies !!! ------- If you went on a roadtrip and didn't hit Stuckies you didn't experience the greatness of an overpriced breakfast and to-go salted nuts

Stopping at Pigglie Wigglie --- to us Yanks, just the name cracked us up

Entering Georgia and seeing what we thought were palm trees ... Have no idea what they were but looked like giant Yucca plants.

Pecan art ------ back in the day people made and sold sculptors out of pecan shells to tourists... Also weaved baskets.

Entering Florida --- get ready for a very long boring ride.

Jacksonville ? ............ na, nothing to see there.

Kennedy Space Center ? .......... we'll hit it on the way home.

Thomas Edison Museum (also Fountain of Youth) .... most boring stop ever

Finally arrived at Aunt Mary's

All I can think about is the boring ride back.

Tell me about YOUR classic road trips

[Duncan]

Mine weren't too exciting. From Philly we'd either go downtheshore which was a straight shot, or to Harrisburg which was also a straight shot. Our main long trip with stops was to Rochester NY to see family. I remember stopping at a diner near Scranton or Binghamton...and not much else. My dad's goal was always just to get there. I read a lot of comics in the back seat.

That's why I now pile the fam into our minivan and go exploring on our vacas. A few years ago we did Erie, Bufflo, Niagaga Falls, Rochester & Syracuse. Last year we did Lexington, Nashville, Little Rock, St. Louis & Santa Claus, Indina. This year we did Lansing & East Lansing, Ann Arbor, Windsor & Put In Bay, and while visiting fam out west we did San Fran, Sacramento, South Lake Tahoe and Carson City. We usually plan only a day ahead and make hotel reservations on the fly. It's amazing how much interesting stuff is out there if you just take your time and explore.

[Marvelmania]

Every year during the summer we would make our annual trip to Tweetsie Railroad and to Ghost Town in Maggie Valley NC. It was a staple of our summer time and still brings back great memories. I remember after the "good guy/bad guy shoot out all the kids would go racing into the gravel to find the blank sell casings. Also the fake train robbery was classic and so much fun even though you knew it was coming.

[Nostalgiabuff]

there were 5 of us so mom and dad would load up the 9 passenger station wagon, hitch up the pop up camper and off we would go. usually to a campground within 2 hours of home. funny thing is, even with five kids, and a cat in the car, one of us usually got to bring a friend along too. not sure how we all fit with everything else loaded into the car, LOL
those kind of vacations were pretty much all my folks could afford on one income and with 5 kids. thing is, as a kid we did not know different or care, we just had fun with it.

[Mikey]

I remember going to Canada (we used to go often)

One time we stayed in this super fleabag motel because it was late and all the name brands were no vacancies.

Anyway, the motel room was like the size of the bed plus 1 foot all around --- but the bed was a vibrator (25 cents for 5 minutes).

I begged to try it out.

After about 5 minutes of non-stop begging my ma relented and coughed up the quarter.

Man, what a let down........

It was worse than sitting on a washing machine

[Apositive]

We'd go to the New Jersey shore, the beaches there were better in early 1980s than they are now. I started to seriously collect comic books after reading them on one vacation- I purchased titles like Micronauts, Star Wars, Avengers in boardwalk stores. We'd rent cottages with our extended family.....spend hours on the beach.

[Mikey]

Loved the Jersey shore ... used to always play them ticket arcade games

[Duncan]

I started to seriously collect comic books after reading them on one vacation- I purchased titles like Micronauts, Star Wars, Avengers in boardwalk stores.

Same for me, but it was a store in upstate NY. I was bored and desperate for something new to read, so I bought the Hercules mini series. It was fine, so I moved on to other titles. That wouldn't happen to a kid today unless there was no internet access.

[Spawn67]

We'd go to the New Jersey shore, the beaches there were better in early 1980s than they are now. I started to seriously collect comic books after reading them on one vacation- I purchased titles like Micronauts, Star Wars, Avengers in boardwalk stores. We'd rent cottages with our extended family.....spend hours on the beach.

Me as well! Me and my family would go to Ocean City, Maryland then go to Rehoboth Beach, Delware every year. There were little bookstores on the boardwalks there that would sell obscure books and one had piles of comic books. I bought lot's of comics for dirt cheap there and I still have all of them (except one which I got ALOT of money for a couple years ago which I got for .25 cents). I also bought a Blade Runner and Jaws book at one of the book stores and to this day I have never seen another of each book.
But of course my teen years gave way to countless Heavy Metal shirts, buttons, and posters that I got at those boardwalk stores. (Im a big collector of that stuff).
To this day the boardwalks look exactly the same as they did when I was a kid. Most of the stores are still there but the bookstores are gone to be replaced by tattoo shops and one of the main "rock shops" closed down about 10 years ago.

[HardyGirl]

Well, my family only took 2 road trips that I can recall.

The first was when we went to Canada, for a business trip my dad had there. It was my mom, dad, my older sister Drenette, and me. My brother Darryl didn't go 'cos he had mid-terms or something. I brought my Winnie the Pooh along, and somewhere along the way, Mom bought me a "Habits for Health" book that I liked reading a lot. My sister and I sang songs, ate junk food and had a good time goofing around in the back seat. I was a thumbsucker, mostly when I was tired or bored, but never out in public. My dad had convinced me that on the way to Canada, I had to watch out , b/c there was a little man, who peeked in cars and if he saw any kids sucking their thumbs, he'd cut them off! This was a really rotten trick to play on a 6 year old, and it didn't work anyway, 'cos after a few times of getting away w/ it, I knew he wouldn't come.

The other time was when we moved from NY to CA and we drove; me, mom, dad and my older brother Barry who helped drive. It was pretty fun. We stopped at campsites and rest stops, and Reno too, (but Circus Circus was closed for renavations). But the most memorable part of the trip was when we stopped at a gas station (and I can't remember what state this was), and the station manager wouldn't let me use the bathroom 'cos I was black! My dad, (who was rather large and intimidating), got outta the van and proceeded to give the guy hell for telling me that. While they were yelling at each other, I used the bathroom anyway, (and that guy wasn't about to stop me!). I'm happy to say that was the only time something like that ever happened to me.

[EmergencyIan]

This past weekend, we took a spontaneous road trip to Bethel, NY. It's the home of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival. We has great company of the trip and while we were there. On top of that, the weather was beautiful.

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- Ian