Great Road Trips – Share Your Ideas!
I want to hear your favorite road trip ideas on this post! Inspire us in the comments!
As a child, I remember my grandmama telling me about the road trips they used to take as children. Her mama would cook up some chicken, pack it in a basket, and mix up a gallon of tea in a big old glass pickle jar to pack in the trunk, wrapped in blankets to keep it chilled and prevent the glass from breaking. They’d get in the car and head off to visit family, stopping along the way for picnics on the side of the road. There were no drive through restaurants back then and even roadside diners were a new concept so bringing your own food was a necessity. Sometimes, though, Grandmama said they’d stop at a local gas station that had a deli counter and buy some fresh sliced bologna and a loaf of “light bread” as they called it. This was considered a huge treat for them and made the road trips even more special.
My family has always loved impromptu road trip adventures. We hop in the car on a sunny day and head out to parts unknown just to see what we can get into. Early in our married life, Ricky and I tired of fast food on long road trips and I stopped at a local deli, picked up some roast beef, cheddar slices, and Hawaiian sweet rolls and our little family road trip sandwich was born. Some of our happiest memories and best conversations have taken place sitting beside each other while I make little sandwiches in my lap to hand him and now just the thought of a road trip sandwich brings all of those precious memories to mind. We sure have been blessed these past twenty years!
Another fun addition to our road trip menu is Southern Breeze Sweet Tea. I keep the little cold brew packets of it in my purse, all different flavors, and we can have guilt free Sweet Tea on the road anytime.
In fact, did you know:
- Southern Breeze is calorie free and guilt free so it can be enjoyed glass after glass.
- Cold brew Southern Breeze is single serve-take it on the go or enjoy at home.
- Southern Breeze cold brew is easy to make: pour 8oz of water over 1 tea bag, let steep for 5 minutes, toss out the tea bag and pour over ice!
- All of the zero calorie Southern Breeze products (cold brew and family size tea bags) are available by clicking here.
Southern Breeze Sweet Tea is just one of the things that make our road trips even more fun and don’t have to be planned or thought about earlier.
There is still plenty of time for more summer road trips so today I wanted to share some of my ideas with you but most importantly – I WANT YOUR IDEAS!
Be as general or as specific as you like but please chime in and know that your answer will help inspire friends and family to spend more time together.
Some ideas from the Jordan camp:
- Road trips don’t have to involve a lot of time on the road! Check out local attractions first – budget friendly memories are just as sweet.
- Pretend you are a tourist in your hometown:
- Check out the visitor’s bureaus of nearby towns and see what their most popular attractions are.
- Festivals are an easy find! This time of year there are so many fun festivals all around. You can also find these at visitor’s sites and all that is needed is saving the date on your calendar!
- Feed the ducks
- Watch the sunset
- Free outdoor concerts and movies
- Hikes at state and local parks (or national if you’re close to one!)
- Tailgate picnic! There are some gorgeous spots with amazing views of the valley where we live so some evenings we grab the fixings for our road trip sandwiches at a local deli and head on up to a pretty spot, sit on the tailgate, and enjoy the view.
- And one of my absolute favorites: Take a glass of iced tea out to your back porch.
What are some of your favorite ideas for summer road trips both near and far? Let’s talk about them in the comments!
While you’re here, you can head on over and see all of the zero calorie Southern Breeze products (cold brew and family size tea bags) by clicking here. It’s perfectly sweetened sweet tea with no calories and no carbs and if you place an order online by June 30th using code CHRISTYJORDAN you’ll get free shipping. But you can also get in on a chance to get a free sample sent directly to your home by clicking here.
Special thanks to my friends at Southern Breeze Sweet Tea for sponsoring this post and for making the tea that I drink all day long! All opinions contained in this post are my own. #ShareTheSweetness & #guiltfreesweettea
I just made your apple dapple cake. I will be honest,I have been seeing that recipe for a while. I fought long and hard about making it. I knew it would be delicious and I would eat more than I should. I have it cooling, ok I broke off a small piece and ate it,! It’s wonderful. My Russellville neighbors will get some apple dapple cake when it’s cool. Thank you,Christy, you are the best!
I am so glad you made it Linda!! I hope you enjoy it. That is so sweet of you to share with your neighbors, I imagine you will be the new favorite!!
Growing up, many of our road trips were moving from one base to another as we followed my father’s USMC career – I have fond memories of sitting in the “way back” of the station wagon with the dog and watching the scenery change. My mother’s “go to” road trip meal was Hormel’s deviled ham on white bread with mustard. To this day, the taste brings me right back to a picnic table in the shade.
🙂 I can’t help but smile as I imagine the scene.
My husband and I are planning our first vacation (just the two of us) since we have been married 32 years! Our kids are all grown and we have friends who live in Virginia, so we are leaving for the week and going to do as many of the tourists sites that we can fit in around Washington, DC! First up is driving through the Shenandoah National Park on our way up there from Mississippi. Growing up, my family always spent a week at JP Coleman State Park, where we camped in a cabin, fished, swam, and just enjoyed each other with no televisions, no telephones and as my Mom put it, “No tell the kids ‘NO’ but one time!” Very fond memories of that particular park!
I hope that y’all have a wonderful trip Teresa!!!
My family used to rent a cabin at Tishamingo State Park – not too far from J.P.Coleman. I loved those trips. The cabins seemed so big. The flagstone floors were beautiful. We swam, rode bikes and toasted marshmallows.
I’m trying to come up with a good road trip idea (day or 1 night) for 4th of July! My favorite memories of road trips as a kid are my Grandparents taking me to St George Island, FL. First stop was for seafood!
On July 4th you could head out to the local flea market with a thermos of hot coffee and sausage biscuits for breakfast. I love to find vintage dishes but ours promises something for everyone, young or old.
As a child I remember road trips to to the mountains in western North Carolina where we ate at picnic tables by the roadside after a quick trip to IGA for loaf bead, bologna, sandwich spread with relish, and ripe tomatoes. My daddy cut them with his pocket knife. Good memories!
Have you been to any of the National Parks? My husband and I used to love to take our kids to Yellowstone.
I loved our day trips to Yellowstone, Jackson, etc growing up in that area. My favorite place to be. Still try to go home once a year to go…but don’t think it will happen again anytime soon. Taking care of inlaws that live with us.
That sounds like so much fun! I hope you get to go back soon Norma, I will keep your in-laws as well as you and your husband in y prayers.
We have been to a few, but not many. We do plan to look into visiting more of them though!
We haven’t been able to go on any road trips this summer as my mother hasn’t been well but we do take time to sit and enjoy one another’s company on the front porch at the end of the day! We traveled a lot when our kids were younger and those are still precious memories for the entire family. Now that our kids are grown I love seeing them travel with their own children. This looks like delicious tea, I will have to look for it in my area.
I hope your mother gets to feeling better. It sounds like you set a wonderful example for your children and they are passing the wisdom and joy along to theirs!
What a fun article! I found some of that tea at WalMart when I first saw you mention it a few months ago and we just love it. For our road trips we usually visit family as we are a military family so my husband and I have relatives spread all over the place. The great thing is we don’t have to pay for hotels and we get to spend lots of time with people we love!
Hey Rachel! I have found it at a couple of walmarts as well, but not all of them. There are two near me that has it and one that doesn’t. Visiting family is one of my favorite trips, too! What a blessing!