I love traveling, if I can do it by car and have plenty of time for "side tours". I probably developed this love of road trips from the trips my family used to take every summer. My father owned his own business, and he could take off when he wanted. He always took one week with Mom (and they went night-clubbing) and one or two weeks with the family, on road trips. Those "side tours" are what my father called all the times we got lost.
"Let's see what's there. It's a side tour," he'd say and we'd make a right turn, go down a bumpy road, and end up at Willy's Snake Emporium, or The World's Biggest Ball of Gum, or some other roadside oddity. Our trips were never in a straight line, but rather composed of wiggles here and there, as we went from A to B with side tours at C, D, and E.
Every night we would stop at a motel and that motel had to have 2 items: a swimming pool for the kids and a real restaurant for my parents. My parents would fix cocktails and sit by the pool, watching us swim. Then we'd all go eat, then the kids would swim some more before dropping into bed for the night. The next day: more driving and more side tours.
Give me a map, a good car, and a few weeks, and I'll have a lot of fun. In fact, I'll be doing that in a month or so. I'm sure I'll find some side tours along the way.
J L
(new release out! Whee!)
4 comments:
What a great concept. I love side trips.
Such wonderful memories! Your parents knew how to make sure everyone had a good time. LOL, I love that your dad called getting list 'side trips.' :)
Sounds like you had a lot of fun. Oddities need "side trips" to survive. It's not like anyone plans to actually go to those places in advance!
Sounds like heaven. My parents always joked that I was part gypsy, sounds like you are too.
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