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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-pa...

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...

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 ...

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 ...

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 unti...

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, ...