Family Road Trips, a Surprise Anniversary, and Lost-Time Entertainment
Living far from relatives means our children have grown up on long family road trips. From the moment our boys were young, we’d pack the car and drive for hours across provinces, islands and ferries to visit loved ones. These trips became part adventure, part routine—and always full of snacks and ways to pass the time.
When the kids were small, our “entertainment system” was a homemade solution: an inverter, a bargain TV and our own VCR. Long before portable DVD players were common, cartoons on that setup helped melt the miles away. As the boys got older, the snacks stayed the same, while the gadgets evolved—this trip we even brought a Wii to keep everyone occupied.
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Early one Tuesday, long before sunrise, we caught the first ferry off our island and headed to Calgary, Alberta for a very special family celebration. The weather couldn’t have been better—clear blue skies and brilliant sunshine—and for once I managed to take a single travel photo: my husband between our two sons who still live at home. We missed a family member who couldn’t join us, but it was a joyful trip nonetheless.
My in-laws were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year. While the calendar date of the anniversary was still ahead, the family had already begun celebrating—some relatives even started with a cruise. The rest of us wanted to mark the milestone, too, and decided on a personalized evening: a special surprise dinner put together just for Mom and Dad.
For weeks the siblings coordinated by phone, quietly arranging every detail so the evening would be a true surprise. When the day arrived, we gathered at my brother and sister-in-law’s home and waited. Mom and Dad thought they were being taken out for dinner. When they walked through the door and saw the room filled with family, the look on their faces made all the planning worthwhile.
Surprise! It was one of the rare surprises I’ve taken part in, and it was so much fun. My mother-in-law later joked that she thought she was seeing a vision when she realized the whole family was there.
The evening included congratulations, hugs and lots of photos. The joy of being together to mark a milestone for loved ones was the real gift.
Happy, happy anniversary, Mom and Dad!
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After a delightful three days with family, we began the long drive home on Sunday—a 16-hour trip. To help stay awake, my husband brought a copy of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. As an experiment, I read aloud while he drove. The effect was immediate: the back seat fell silent, the television we’d set up went off, and the kids listened. We ended up reading more than half the book together over the course of the day.
Reading aloud turned out to be one of the trip’s best entertainment choices. It sparked conversation—questions about success, talent, parenting styles and the factors that shape people’s lives. Those discussions made the miles feel shorter and created a different kind of shared memory than screens or games do.
When daylight faded, so did our ability to read aloud safely, and the storytime paused until the next stretch of travel. Still, it was a memorable way to spend hours in the car—engaging, thought-provoking and unexpectedly quiet in the best possible way.
Road trips with family evolve as children grow. What starts as screens and snacks often becomes conversation, books and shared experiences. Whether your go-to entertainment is a TV and a Wii or a beloved book you take turns reading out loud, the important part is being together and making memories.
What do you pack for entertainment on your family road trips? No judgment here—TV, Wii and a stack of snacks all earn their place in our travel kit.
