The Summer of Road Trips

Brittany Johnson
Aug 22, 2017
6 min read

I grew up with parents who loved to travel, and because we had 8 kids in our family, most of our traveling consisted of road trips. I remember wanting to see, well, everything, from quite a young age. I remember traveling to New Mexico with my family, and visiting family friends. I remember sleeping on the floor of the car as we traveled from Missouri to Idaho. One particular road trip to Colorado involved a Ford Ranger, and four people...I'll let you imagine what a tight squeeze that was. When I was older, I had the chance to travel to Wyoming, Louisiana, and Washington D.C., which only fueled my love for traveling. I love to see new places, and try new foods, and the inside jokes that start on a trip. What can I say? I love a good road trip.

When I moved to the Chicago suburbs, I left behind my parents, siblings, grandparents, and uncle in Wyoming; a mere 13 hour drive. At least twice a year, I would pack up the girls and head home to visit the family. Have you ever driven in Nebraska? If you haven't, I'll spare you the details, but just think prairie, nothing, and long stretches of wanting to punch yourself in the face. This summer was no different, I planned to spend a few weeks in Wyoming with the family. But then I had the urge to travel to the Grand Canyon. I have always wanted to see the Grand Canyon, but this year, I HAD to see the Grand Canyon. I have no idea why, but I couldn't get the idea out of my head.

Slowly, plans started to take shape as I planned my summer out. I was going to take the usual road trip from Illinois to Wyoming to spend time with my family, but then I decided, not only was I going to see the Grand Canyon, but why not add the White Sands National Monument to the list? Lamar, Missouri, my hometown, was an easy addition to the list to visit family members and show my kiddos where I grew up. Nashville, Tennessee seemed to be the perfect place to stop on our way to Spotsylvania, Virginia to see my parents new place. So after spending three weeks with my fabulous family, and visiting beautiful Colorado, part two of the road trip began. Two of my sisters were able to came along for the ride, and off we went, 5 traveling girls in an over-packed Buick Enclave.

Despite our brother making fun of us, my sisters and I decided to take as many pictures as we could in front of state signs; the more ridiculous the pose, the better. We stopped in Arches National Monument in Utah, and felt like we had stepped inside a western movie. The Grand Canyon was absolutely worth the drive, words cannot describe what it felt like when you first catch a glimpse of the canyon. And to top it off, my two girls, ages 5 &8, walked the entire time during our hike at the Grand Canyon, an impressive feat for my kiddos who usually collapse after 20 steps. From there, we drove through Arizona to New Mexico, and stopped by the famous Wigwam Village Hotel in Holbrook, Arizona for a few photos.

My favorite part of the road trip turned out to be New Mexico which surprised me as I did not think I would like seeing the desert landscape, being the tree-lover that I am. We passed through a town called Pie Town where we had to stop and get some, you guessed it, pie! The owners of Pie-O-Neer Cafe were absolutely lovely, and we just managed to catch them before they closed for the day. Our choices were limited as they were almost sold out for the day, but most memorable was the peach pie with green chilies! I was skeptical, but it actually wasn't bad, and it seemed appropriate for a pie shop in New Mexico to add chilies! White Sands National Monument ended up being closed for missile testing by the time we made it. We all sat there in silence for a few minutes as I contemplated how much jail time I would get for running through the gate. We left in silence as the realization hit us, we had driven over 8 hours to see nothing, as it turned out. We quickly recovered as we scarfed down McDonald's in a cheap hotel though.

We passed through Roswell, New Mexico, and visited the International UFO Museum & Research Center, where we quickly became believers. The museum was small, but full of facts regarding 'the incident' that occurred on July 8, 1947, and it was interesting to get a more in-depth history than usually presented in textbooks. My youngest daughter picked up a stuffed alien named Jeremy, and he quickly became one of the family. One of my favorite memories is listening to my sisters, and daughters write stories about Jeremy's family as we drove across the wide open spaces of New Mexico. We saw a double rainbow once, we drove through a rainstorm so heavy we could barely see out the window, and when we finally did see, noticed a man walking down the road with a basket of laundry. We passed by deserted towns, and strange roadside tables in the middle of nowhere that looked like the perfect place to get murdered. We stopped to get authentic tacos, and tried fried pickles with a New Mexico twist. New Mexico was fun, and I will never forget the deserted roads and stunning landscape.

Lamar, Missouri will always hold a special place in my heart, and we had the best time catching up with family. I enjoyed showing my girls where I grew up, and we were able to take lots of photographs. It was a little surreal to take my girls to my childhood haunts, but really awesome at the same time. I had the opportunity to spend the day with my aunt, and her family, which was fun and chaotic as we had lots of kiddos running around. I was even able to squeeze in a senior session my cousin! After Lamar, we traveled to Nashville, Tennessee where we almost died from the humidity! Our hotel was a few blocks from the infamous Honky Tonk Row, and we had a fun time exploring the streets and taking a few photos of my lovely sister Camille who will be graduating high school in 2018. We had a fantastic dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory, and the BEST ice cream we had ever tasted!

Finally, we made it to my parents house in Virginia, a beautiful house off of Lake Anna. Virginia is absolutely beautiful, there are trees everywhere! My Dad stuffed me full of good food, and I think I must have gained 20 pounds because of all the fried food he served! We visited battlefields, and the Holocaust Museum in Richmond. The girls saw the ocean for the first time at Virginia Beach! We even traveled to Washington D.C., and were able to visit the Smithsonian National Zoo, and take photos of the cuddly pandas, The Lincoln Memorial, The Washington Monument, and the White House from afar as no one wanted to walk all the way there because the humidity was TERRIBLE. I must admit I felt pretty proud of myself for driving in D.C. as I had promised myself when I visited at the wise old age of 18 that I would never drive in this crazy city with confusing roundabouts and the traffic...but hey, I did it, and no one died!

At the beginning of August, it was time to head home. The girls and I packed up our bags, and headed out in the middle of the night; the third and final part of our road trip. We drove 793 miles, and passed through five states before we pulled into our driveway. Our summer of travel had ended, and the Johnson girls were back home again. In total, we traveled 4,213 miles, visited 18 states & Washington D.C, and were gone for 55 days! As fun as it was to travel, there really is no place like home!