Keeping kids occupied on long road trips

Are we there yet?

Are we there yet?

Are we…OK, you’ve probably heard that, oh, a hundred times before – sometimes within a ten-minute time period – if you’ve ever taken a kid on a road trip. Or said it, if you were ever a kid yourself.

The attention span of the under-18 set seems to be directly proportionate to the ability of anyone over, say, the age of 30 to come up with ways to occupy them. And our capacity for understanding what’s interesting to young people also seems to diminish in that same ratio, as well.

I’ve developed a complex system for discerning what will distract kids on road trips: making them do different things, and then seeing how long they shut up during each one. The most effective turns out to be a game we call “wear this duct tape,” but it turns out that it has a low approval rating from various parenting groups.

And so here are some that are more politically correct and fun.

Bananagrams

Age range: 7 and up

Basic concept: One to eight people can play this fast-paced game that’s sort of like Scrabble without a board. Tiles are dumped into the center of the table, and everyone has to come up with vertical and horizontal words on their own personal grid. They add and subtract tiles as everyone yells “peel” and “dump” until finally someone is “bananas” when all but a few tiles are used. It sneakily teaches spelling and fast-thinking and is fun. It’s ideal for RV travel because it requires a flat surface, but can also be taken along on a camping trip for down time at a campsite or a rainy day, because it is carried in a small, zippered pouch. The same company also makes a cool word game called ZIP-IT.

Shut-up time: It can go for a good hour, depending on how many people are playing.

Cost: $15

Find it: bananagrams.com

Travel Auto Roadtrip Bingo I Spy

Age range: 4-9

Basic concept: As everyone is tooling along, call out the things you see, and the tykes can slide the little plastic windows over the items on their cards. You can keep little trinkets or treats handy as prizes. You’ll need to keep them a bit engaged, as it might take a while to find enough things to get five in a row for “bingo,” depending on where you’re driving.

Shut-up time: This is more interactive, but it does keep everyone talking for a bit about something besides how long the drive is taking.

Cost: $14 for three cards.

Find it: amazon.com

Radica’s 20Q

Age range: 4 and up

Basic concept: Remember the game 20 questions? This amazing little electronic ball will astound you with how good it is at playing, and you may find yourself stealing the ball away from your kids to try to stump it. The game also trash talks you when it thinks it has outsmarted you, which it does, infuriatingly, most of the time. Kids with tiny fingers may need help with the buttons, but they’ll figure it out fairly fast – you’re the one who may be asking for help.

Shut-up time: Varies, but hands-down one of the most distracting items we’ve had over the years. We’ve purchased several versions of it, gotten updated ones, and given it as gifts many times.

Cost: $10

Find it: Target, amazon.com

The roadtripster is the handle of a longtime Coloradan who travels the country by any means possible, sometimes in an RV, sometimes car camping or in the backcountry, with kids and without.

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RV-friendly breakfast recipe

Successful meals on an RV trip are dependent on a few things: simple dishes that use a few ingredients found easily on the road, quick cooking times that use up few resources, and easy clean-up.

I’m always on the lookout for recipes that meet these demands, and when I find one that’s especially versatile, it becomes a family mainstay. Bonus: when it’s something that everyone likes. 

Yum! These contain provolone and zucchini.

This fast, flexible, forgiving egg muffin recipe completely fits the bill. These things are delicious, and the best part is, you can put whatever you want in them, taking your favorites when you hit the road, gathering ingredients along the way or using up leftovers whenever possible. Even better, pretty much anyone in the family can put it all together and throw it in the oven.

Toast or quick breads, some fruit on the side – and these are good to go. Two of these are actually what my daughters pack in their bags on the way to school some mornings, with a water bottle of juice and a bran muffin. It’s the way to get kids a fast, nutritious hot meal as they head out the door, and that translates well for a trail breakfast or eating en route.

You can use pretty much anything for the meats, cheeses and vegetables, although you want to be careful with some of the more watery veggies, such as tomatoes or zucchini, because they might need a minute more of cooking to keep the result from being too watery, as well.

Some favorite combinations we have used successfully for the meat/cheese/vegetables: smoked salmon and cream cheese; goat cheese and asparagus (chives sprinkled on top is nice); zucchini and mozzarella; cheddar and onions; chicken and herbed boursin.

RV Eggy Oven Muffins

Makes 6 muffins.

8 eggs

¼ cup chopped vegetables or shredded, cooked meats

¼ cup shredded cheese

Salt and pepper (optional, and about a dash of each)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place six aluminum foil muffin liners in muffin pan (if it's a 12-muffin pan, be sure to put a little water in the rest of the cups so they won't scorch). Beat eggs together well. Add rest of ingredients and combine. Bake for 20 minutes, or until egg is set through to center.

The roadtripster is the handle of a longtime Coloradan who travels the country by any means possible, sometimes in an RV, sometimes car camping or in the backcountry, with kids and without.

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Consider a camping trip to celebrate the Civil War Sesquicentennial

As the multi-cannon salutes fire up to commemorate the 150^th anniversary of the first shots fired on Apr. 12, 1861 – I know, it’s easier to say that than “sesquicentennial” once, let alone ten times fast – it’s tempting to start putting together some itineraries that cluster around some of the major sites.

Because so much of the lodging is already sold out or will go quickly as more events get under way, folks with some flexibility in timing or mobility may be able to more easily get in to visit the battlefields and check out the festivities. The key is to plan ahead, work around the bigger brouhahas and be able to let go of some things if the crowds are too cumbersome.

Another option is to wait until after the party is over. Many of the special exhibits will still be up, and there will still be a festive air lingering around the places. In addition, many of the sites offer re-enactments year-round or at specific times that don’t coincide with the anniversary, so you can still catch cool activities later this year or early next.

A foggy morning at Antietam.

One of the most impressive kick-offs is in Gettysburg, not surprisingly, the weekend of Apr. 29-30. Nearby Fairfield, Pa., and other parts of Pennsylvania will follow suit. In Virginia, activities and events – including several important battle re-enactments – have been planned throughout the year across the state, including a huge celebration at Manassas National Battlefield park July 21.

And, of course, just because some of the sites, such as Antietam in Maryland, aren’t planning anything special doesn’t mean it’s not worth stopping by to commemorate in your own way. It also means that these places might be a little less crowded some days, especially during the week, but don’t count on it too much – a lot of Civil War buffs are planning to tour all of the major battlefields anyway.

Don’t forget that the Civil War was waged out West, too, in places such as Arizona and New Mexico. Swing by the Glorieta Battlefield near Pecos or Fort Stanton in New Mexico. Picacho Peak State Park (5520 Picacho Peak Road, Picacho, Ariz., 520-466-3183) is closed in the hot summer months, but does battle re-enactments in March and is a great place to visit in the cooler seasons, and Fort Bowie National Historic Site (3203 S. Old Fort Bowie Road, Bowie, Ariz.; 520-847-2500 showcases the fort established as a result of the battle between the Union and the Chiricahua Apache.

The roadtripster is the handle of a longtime Coloradan who travels the country by any means possible, sometimes in an RV, sometimes car camping or in the backcountry, with kids and without.

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Packing for a camping trip? Make a list, check it twice

Packing for a camping trip often feels like a no-win situation.

Half the time it feels like you’re hauling along everything you own – it seems as though it would make more sense to watch a video of a fire on the TV and save the gas money, because at least then you could reach into the fridge and all the beers would always be cold. And then there are those trips where you wonder what you were thinking about when you loaded up, because every ten minutes you remember something you forgot.

What to do? Well, the best thing is to make a pack list.

I know, it sounds so…organized. But think about it: Wouldn’t it be nice if every time you went on a camping trip, all you had to do was print out a tidy little list of all the things you needed to take, so that you could check them off as you pack?

There are several websites that offer pre-assembled pack lists, and those are great starting points (Go Camping America has a printable PDF that works nicely). You will probably find, as I did, that these lists require a bit of customizing for your own situation. Over the years, I’ve also found that we need pack lists for different types of trips – we have separate rosters for RV trips, car camping trips, back-country trips, trips where we’ll be mountain biking, river rafting, etc.

The easiest thing to do is start the lists on a computer, naming them according to the type of trip – which  for us means we can then cut-and-paste lists for larger trips, such as when we’ll be mountain biking on a car camping trip.  

We put two lines next to each item, so that we can make a check mark if it’s an item that we’ll need to take, and then mark it off when it’s been packed. It looks something like this:

Cooking

___ ___ propane stove

___ ___ coffee pot

___ ___ Dutch oven

___ ___ utensils

What’s also helpful about the pack list system is that you can print out separate lists for every member of the family, so that kids can pack their own clothes, games and other items. For younger kids, you can always check up on them, but older kids will appreciate some autonomy – they know the basic types of items they need to bring, but they can make decisions about the exact ones. Don’t forget the things you’ll need for the pets, vehicle maintenance and first aid.

At the end of each trip, maybe on the drive home, you can make notes about things you wish you had brought – one of the kids can have a notebook out to jot them down – and then you can add those items to the lists later.

The roadtripster is the handle of a longtime Coloradan who travels the country by any means possible, sometimes in an RV, sometimes car camping or in the backcountry, with kids and without.

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Camping with kids: Tips on keeping it fun

Camping with the family brings to mind a better, simpler time. You know, a time when adults were forever in danger of setting fire to entire forests because everyone smoked like a chimney and flicked the butts – “They decompose,” my dad used to say, and since that was in the ’70s, it’s safe to assume they finally have – and moms always brought along 25 Tupperware containers filled with Jell-O salads and deviled eggs in varying stages of watery deconstruction.


Nowadays, we can take our laptops with us and hardly disconnect from our everyday worlds, which is a shame, because camping is good for the technologically saturated soul.

But camping is especially good for kids, so if you can get them to take their earbuds out for five minutes to listen to a bullfrog calling out at dusk, or convince them that hiking to the top of a peak is not just character-building, but lets you see three states from the summit, they usually will think it’s kind of cool. They absolutely will not admit this until they are 35 and want to sell off their own children, however. You must be patient.

There are four areas where paying special attention will increase the chances of a successful trip. The definition of which is: One in which everyone is still speaking to each other at the end – or at least the adults. If you have teens, you know there just are no guarantees.

Food
Hungry kids are unhappy, uncooperative kids. There seems to be no such thing as too many snacks on a camping trip. If you’re concerned about sugar and salt intake, pack favorite nuts or trail mix, protein-packed granola bars, cut-up fruit and vegetables with healthy dips and just a few treasured “bad for you” tidbits that can be saved for when you can’t get the grill fired up and dinner takes three hours.

If you’re headed away from the camp on an activity, be sure to pack as much non-perishable food for the group that will hold everyone in case you get held up. The bottom line: You always want to have something to hand out if things take longer than you intend…and things always take longer.

Activities
Adults have a tendency to over-plan, and then when kids get involved in something that truly absorbs them the big people get cranky about not sticking to the schedule. Be flexible. Attempt no more than one event per day, and if possible, have at least one day on a trip that has nothing planned. That way, if the group discovers something appealing along the way, you have a slot for it and everyone feels involved. In addition, kids on camping trips often become completely enthralled by the most mundane things – skipping stones, chasing bugs, collecting leaves.

Also, be OK with letting go of things that are important to you to maintain a willing and cheerful group dynamic. If an attraction or activity is that important to you, initiate negotiations that let each person on the trip be heard. For example, if there’s only one day left and you’ve spent your whole life dreaming of one day visiting the Unmatched Sock Museum, but everybody else would rather go swimming in the lake, discuss separating, working out time to do both or some other mutually agreeable plan. The important thing, though, is that everyone has a say.

Distractions
Drive time is usually whine time. For small children, pack an individual bucket, backpack or container filled with games, snacks and toys, and it’s a bonus if one or two inexpensive items can be new. Older kids appreciate their own snacks and magazines, hand-held electronics (Target sells $10 versions of Hangman, ConnectFour and other popular games) and disposable cameras. Secretly stash a back-up bag of old favorite games, toys and magazines, because they will run through the first set in, oh, about fifteen minutes.

Most importantly, as soon as you arrive, let everyone unwind, stretch their legs and shake it off as much as possible. Most kids resist going right from the car or RV to a tour of “some stupid monument.”

Sleep
By day three of a multi-day camping trip, the thing that usually causes the most trouble is a lack of sleep – on everyone’s part. The adults get just as cranky as the kids, and then no one is having any fun. It’s tough to get everyone to go to bed when there are so many exciting nighttime things happening: fire, s’mores, weird bug and other critter noises, and just the unfamiliar surroundings. Younger kids especially can be subject to a second – and maybe even third – wind right before you want them to settle down.

The best approach is to stick as close to the usual (summer, non-school-time) bedtimes as possible. They probably won’t fall asleep right away, but going through the routines of teeth-brushing, face-washing and putting on pajamas often starts to trigger sleep responses. Give everybody their own flashlight so they feel safe about going to sleep in the dark, and so they have one to grab in the middle of the night if nature calls. Insist that everyone get into sleeping bags or bed, and encourage quiet talking.

If by the third or fourth day, everyone is ragged, it’s time to reassess – and definitely consider scaling back. Otherwise, it would have been less stressful to stay home! And p.s., no one ever looks like the family in the clip art. Ever. And that's OK.

The roadtripster is the handle of a longtime Coloradan who travels the country by any means possible, sometimes in an RV, sometimes car camping or in the backcountry, with kids and without.

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So you say you've never seen the Grand Canyon...

It’s surprising, really, the number of Americans who haven’t visited the Grand Canyon.  There are those who have visited all manner of man-made fluffery in France and swear by the all-you-can-consume, all-inclusive resorts of Mexico, but have yet to get to the biggest, most beautiful pothole in their own country.

I know, I know – it’s sometimes easier to hop on a plane and fly across the Atlantic than it is to drive or fly clear across the country and then drive again to a remote location. But still. 

The views at the North Rim, while harder to get to, can't be beat.

The even sadder truth is that of the ones who do actually make it there, 90 percent never even leave their cars. They drive along the South Rim, the most accessible part of the park, stopping for a Kodak moment at the Grand Canyon Village, Hermits Rest, and Desert View overlooks. Even fewer make the long trek in to the North Rim, maybe easing out of their rigs just long enough to snap a shot from the lodge patio, take a potty break and then hop back in to trek to the next big thing.

The rewards, though, of spending some time at this glorious, one-mile-deep canyon can go far beyond getting that national park ticket punched and moving along.

First of all, it’s ideal for kids, particularly those over about age 7 or 8. Remember, though, that if they’ve been patient for the long drive there, they’re going to need some running around, letting-loose time when they arrive, so sticking them at a table at one of the nice lodge eateries is a terrible idea. Better to get them a snack and let them blow off some steam first.

Second, there are gorgeous, shady spots for camping (no hookups at the campgrounds inside the park, but there are places on the way, check here for details. Third, there are many options for getting exercise, including hiking and biking, and other outdoor adventures, such as whitewater rafting and riding a mule along the rims or down into the canyon.

Here are some highlights:

Bikers at the South Rim can take it easy along the three-mile greenway in the village – especially welcome for kids who don’t want to walk everywhere – or stretch your legs along Hermit Road, which gets you views of the Colorado River and big panoramas of the canyon itself. Private vehicles are limited here, so there’s less traffic. Didn’t bring a bike? Rent one at Bright Angel Bicycles, which can also arrange for a guide.

Don’t feel like doing any work? They’ll do it for you via shuttle, which will haul you along Hermit Road in a free bus (March-November). You can also take a tour bus ($25 per person, kids under 16 free).

Near the South Rim – about a five-hour drive – a half- or full-day whitewater river rafting trip or a smooth-water raft trip is a great way to beat the heat. Prices vary according to the length and type of trip. You can also plan ahead for a commercial trip down the Colorado River inside the canyon, for trips that can start at three days long.

If you’re taking the kids to the North Rim, a one-hour mule trip along the rim is ideal. They have to be age 7 or older, and the cost is $40. They also offer half-day trips, but those are better for adults; it’s usually stinking hot there, and attention spans don’t often last that long.

The Bright Angel Trail is an easy one for kids.

Also at the North Rim, there are several hikes worth checking out. The Bright Angel Trail is only a half-mile round-trip and very easy for kids; it gets you terrific views of the canyon and starts from just beyond the lodge. The trail is paved and only slightly sloped. Other easy, kid-friendly hikes with canyon views include the .6-mile, round-trip Cape Royal trail and the .2-mile, round-trip Roosevelt Trail. For older kids and adults, there are about another half-dozen other trails to check out, from three to ten miles long, as well as the 28-mile (round-trip) overnight trek down to the river on the North Kaibab Trail.

For mountain bikers, the singletrack along the Rainbow Rim is some of the best riding in the country. Not only are the views spectacular and unparalleled, but the trail itself is pretty sweet. The bad news: There’s a 30-mile dirt road drive to get to the trailhead, and you need to set up a shuttle or do both ways of the 18-mile point-to-point as an out-and-back. Ouch. Still, it’s so beautiful, it’s worth it, and it’s not a technical ride – mostly smooth, with the occasional tree root or ruts and rocks, but all avoidable.

For more information about visiting either the North or South Rim at Grand Canyon National Park, visit the official website.

The roadtripster is the handle of a longtime Coloradan who travels the country by any means possible, sometimes in an RV, sometimes car camping or in the backcountry, with kids and without.

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