Melody728 Posted February 23, 2008 #1 Share Posted February 23, 2008 My teens and I will be driving 8-10 hours (over two days) to get to the ship. I would like the make this pre-cruise time seem like fun vacation time rather than just driving a boring stretch of highway. Any ideas as to how to make a pre-cruise road trip really fun? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Charlie Posted February 23, 2008 #2 Share Posted February 23, 2008 My teens and I will be driving 8-10 hours (over two days) to get to the ship. I would like the make this pre-cruise time seem like fun vacation time rather than just driving a boring stretch of highway. Any ideas as to how to make a pre-cruise road trip really fun? First of all: you are driving from NC to where for your cruise? Dianne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody728 Posted February 23, 2008 Author #3 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Sacramento to LA - straight down I5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Charlie Posted February 23, 2008 #4 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Sacramento to LA - straight down I5. Can you give us any info on what your teen's interests are? Do you have any idea of stops on the way that might coordinate with the cruise they are about to experience? perhaps you could combine a stop along the way with an intersting swim/cruise shop where they could pick out an item of clothing/swim suit/etc. to wear on the cruise. Dianne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody728 Posted February 23, 2008 Author #5 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Unfortunately there is very little of interest along that stretch of highway (unless you count the stinky cattle yards). Not even decent radio stations. My son likes his gameboy and my daughter likes to read. We have made the trip down I5 several times and it is usually pretty quiet and we sometimes get a book on tape from the library to listen to. Would like to have some fun, possibly cruise related, things to entertain ourselves with along the way. My kids aren't too proud to play goofy travel games with mom, we've even been known to sing (badly) camp songs on our way to camping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Charlie Posted February 23, 2008 #6 Share Posted February 23, 2008 How 'bout have your kids do an internet search mapping the trip from Sacramento to LA to see what kind of local points of interest might be along the way. You never know what they will find that just make your driving trip as much fun as theirs. Could end up as fun as the John Trivolta movie where he was hoping to see the world's largest ball of string. DH & I traveled from Columbus, Ohio to Bradenton, Fla each year for about 2 decades with kids on spring break. For about a decade of that time Mom & Dad made the decisions of where we would stop and what we would do. As the kids grew into teenage years we gave them a copy of our AAA trip tick to read while we drove as well as a map. We found some amazing stops along the way that were fun for all of us but wouldn't have been stops if Mom & Dad had been in charge of the entire itinerary. Dianne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Charlie Posted February 23, 2008 #7 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Unfortunately there is very little of interest along that stretch of highway (unless you count the stinky cattle yards). Not even decent radio stations. My son likes his gameboy and my daughter likes to read. We have made the trip down I5 several times and it is usually pretty quiet and we sometimes get a book on tape from the library to listen to. Would like to have some fun, possibly cruise related, things to entertain ourselves with along the way. My kids aren't too proud to play goofy travel games with mom, we've even been known to sing (badly) camp songs on our way to camping. Know this situation well, now. Although we have never driven your highway, we have driven the looooong stretch of I75 from home to FL many times with kids. Years ago when the kids were younger I would start a mental game with them a few weeks before vacation. Started with me telling the kids: ``I'm going on a vacation to FL and I'm going to pack -" each kid had to repeat what I said and add something to pack. Game would continue each day until we left for vacation. On the long vacation trip the kids would repeat the game and ask each other if they had packed that item and then start adding something stupid. Other times we played a complete mental game based on the kids' favorite movies. The game first started with the ``Wizard of Oz'' but moved on to more adult :D movies like ``Rainman'' and ``Forrest Gump'' as they grew older at that time. (Remember, I'm talking about several years ago.:) ) One person in the car would repeat a line from the movie and another person would try to remember the next line. It really did test our memories and made us laugh alot while the miles seemed to zoom by. Dianne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare karatemom2 Posted February 23, 2008 #8 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Since you are allowing two days for the drive you might want to consider taking the 101 instead. I know it's a slightly longer drive, but it's much more scenic and you'll go through some great towns like San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara. And you won't have to wait until you pull up to the port to catch sight of the ocean. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whimseysgirl Posted February 23, 2008 #9 Share Posted February 23, 2008 My 8 year old and I have made the trek from Victoria, BC to LA (well, Anaheim) for 3 years running now - its 25 hours each way and we squeeze it into 3 1/2 days max. That stretch is far less than 8 to 10 hours - mapquest puts it at 5 3/4, and I'd say even if traffic is heavy, you're looking at maybe 7, plus time for stops. You have plenty of time, and I agree with other posters, that is the most boring section of the drive bar none. Take the 101. You've left yourself lots of travel time, and there's more to see. There's lots of places to pull over and stretch your legs on the beaches. If you went over towards San Jose, you'd miss most of the traffic around San Francisco, and still come out above Monterey, then straight down the coast. As for the car ride, we swear by books on tape or CD. We get them from the library. I don't know the ages of your kids, but we've done lots of YA material - most recently all the Harry Potter books, and a fabulous series about Greek gods in modern times by Rick Riordan (the first book is The Lightening Thief). We try to find things we'll both like. We also bring the Gameboy, a TON of lego, since that's DS's favorite activity, and other things to keep his hands busy. We chat a ton, too, and plan our activities, play word games, and stop whenever we need to stretch our legs or if something tickles our fancy. We have a cooler full of munchies and I bring my laptop with GPS, so we can track our route, and not get too lost if we decide to explore off the beaten track. Our road trips are some of our best vacations, and are as memorable as the destinations. Sorry for the lengthy reply - I can't seem to ever write anything short!!! :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SelectSys Posted February 23, 2008 #10 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Sacramento to LA - straight down I5. Magic Mountain... My kids love it. Get up real early and drive to the park in about 5 hours. Spend the afternoon and evening in the park and then get up the next morning to head to your cruise. It will be an easy drive to the port - about 1.5 - 2 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody728 Posted February 24, 2008 Author #11 Share Posted February 24, 2008 Thanks for the ideas. I'll talk things over with the kiddos and see what ideas they like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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