Making Memories on Family Vacation

Here is a great article on family memories from family holidays from Lori Linna of the Green Bay Press-Gazette‘s Community Conversation Advisory Panel.

Memories of my childhood family vacations consisted of trips to see relatives or camping — all within Wisconsin.

As an adult with kids of my own, I relish traveling outside the state and exposing not only my kids but myself to the wonders our country has to offer. Last summer I had a VISIONS conference in Washington, D.C. Since we had never been there we took our entire family to visit our nation’s capital for a vacation.

After my seminar I was eager to join the rest of the family on their sight-seeing adventures. Seeing the presidential monuments and war memorials left an impression on all of us as well as viewing the Declaration of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation at the National Archives. By accident, we stumbled upon an art museum with a beautiful garden inside the building. We stared in awe at the planes, rockets and space capsule at the Air and Space Museum, and received secret identities at the spy museum.

One amusing moment happened while we were walking the long stretch to the Lincoln Memorial. My son asked his dad, “What is that building across the lawn?” My husband glanced quickly and answered, “That is just a building.”

My daughter said, “Ah, dad, isn’t that the White House?” He looked again saying, “Oh yeah, that is the White House!”

We still joke about it a year later.

As a visually impaired person who does not drive, what impressed me about the city is the underground transportation Metro system. We never had to wait more than a few minutes for the next train and could get just about anywhere to our next destination. I was ready to move there but was vetoed by the rest of the family. Another nice feature for a family of four on a budget is most of the attractions are free.

As we were packing to leave, we each mentioned our favorite part of the trip. My husband’s was the Air and Space Museum, my daughter (an Anne Frank buff) liked the Holocaust Muse-um, and for me it was the home of our first president, Mount Vernon.

When I asked my 7-year-old son his favorite moment he thought about it before answering, “Riding the glass elevator at the hotel!”

My exasperated response was, “We have been here for eight days and your favorite part was not the zoo, the spy museum or the airplanes but the elevator?” He thought about it some more and added, “I also liked riding the Metro!”

This year we are planning on a road trip to Mount Rushmore. I can’t imagine what our favorite memories will be there (for our son, probably playing with dirt or eating lunch) but I can’t wait to find out.