Heartwarming Country Family Road Trip Tips
If you’re planning a family road trip, don’t miss my heartwarming country family road trip tips sponsored by Country Inn and Suites for the best ways to stay happy, comfortable, and having fun while on the road with your family!
This post is sponsored by Country Inn and Suites by Carlson – all opinions are my own.
If you’re planning your own family vacation, you can save 15% off your own #heartwarmingcountry experience when you book 2 nights or more by clicking here!
A lot of my favorite memories growing up involves long rides in the car – which sounds kind of funny, right?
Family road trips bring out one of two notions in everyone’s mind – it’s either a fun, rewarding, and adventurous time – or it can be an absolute nightmare of crying and screaming with little kids.
My kids are 5 and 7, and we’ve been road-tripping with them since the very beginning. While we’ve certainly had our ups and downs, we’ve really started to enjoy the family road trip more than ever – and it’s become my kids own favorite memories, too!
There is something about all being in the car together, seeing places you’ve never been (or seeing places through your kids eyes), that makes everything seem so fun and new. But road trips can certainly go bad quick – so I’m sharing my top family trip tips to keep everyone happy, and keep your trip heartwarming!
Keep Everyone Entertained
While I love family vacations for all of the together time, it’s no surprise kids get bored fast. I get it – being in a small space, locked in a seat for hours on end can be boring!! While I love to look out at the scenery, I know as a kid that’s hardly fun,
We keep our kids ipads charged with lots of fun games loaded on them, and hit Redbox movie stands as we drive along the road for fun, fresh movies at a huge discount (my van has a built-in DVD player, which is honestly such a luxury on long trips!!).
We like to pack bags with crayons, pencils, notebooks, stickers, books, and anything we know will keep our kids happy – it saves a TON of time and frustration asking for stops to do stuff.
When we stop and the kids want toys, we set a strict budget – if they want to buy something, they get $10, and that is it for the drive. Books, mad libs, toys – they have only $10, and have to pick something they truly love! This helps us cut back on questions for more things to buy, and keeps us a little more sane – while they get to have something fun.
Plan Fun and Quirky Stops
While there are tons of attractions my kids beg to visit, I love to hit up free-to-cheap roadside attractions that are a little quirky and interesting to get their imaginations going.
As we headed to my parents house in Florida from Colorado for Christmas, we stopped at Cadillac Ranch outside Amarillo, Texas to let the kids run around, explore the bright colorful graffiti cars, and talk about art.
They talk about that stop more than anything else because it was so unique and interesting – and I loved that it was free, easy, and not just another boring park.
Find fun and unique stops to make your own fun at, and everyone will be happy!
Get Kids Moving
When not on the road, it’s imperative to keep them moving and get out all that pent up energy.
We love the pools at Country Inn and Suites – they aren’t huge or intimidating for my kids, and they always have a safe and fun family feel to them so the kids can get out some of their energy, without it becoming a huge ordeal for mom and dad (we like to sit and read or work as they play, and I really love how the smaller area allows us to watch them while not being right in the pool with them, so we can get some downtime, too!)
Don’t Stress Your Stay
A huge part of road trip success is a good nights sleep – which can sometimes be worrisome with kids, especially little ones like mine. It can be tricky getting the right configuration for sleeping (my daughter and I are light sleepers, my husband and son could sleep through a monster truck rally…) and we often have squabbles about who sleeps in the bed with someone else.
Country Inn and Suites makes it really easy for our family of four with rooms of either two queen beds or a king with a pull out couch – so we never have to worry about whether or not we will all fit or have to call up for another bed. There is nothing like getting to a hotel after a long day on the road to find out they only have small beds or rooms with one bed left – I am so thankful with Country Inn and Suites we don’t have to stress the setup!
We also know when staying with Country Inn and Suites we’re not in a loud, crazy, or party hotel. Country Inn and Suites prides themselves on being truly family friendly, and provides a safe, clean, and quiet atmosphere you can feel comfortable in with your kids, and get a truly restful sleep!
Country Inn and Suites have comfortable beds, and great pillows. I am a total hotel pillow snob – they need to be firm enough to support my head, but nice and squishy too – and I LOVE the pillows at Country Inn and Suites. I also love the soft sheets and plain white linens that you can see are totally and completely clean (I am a total germaphobe in hotels and I do not like non-washable duvets, give me sterile sheet sets everywhere, please!!!)
Keep bellies full and happy
A great day always starts off with a great breakfast- and we love how easy it is to fill up our kids at Country Inn and Suites, at no extra charge. They all feature generous breakfast buffets stocked full of breakfast essentials to get you going in the morning – and are always complimentary with your stay.
Oh – and who could forget – the WAFFLES!
A big, hearty, warm breakfast is always my #1 road trip survival MUST to keep whining, fidgeting, and requests for extra stops at bay – and we love the easy and fun waffles in Country Inns!
My kids even get to help make them, and always request extras for the road. Paired with delicious fluffy eggs and bacon? We’re in heaven!
What are YOUR favorite trip tips? Where was your favorite family vacation to?
Leave a Reply