What I remember about family vacations is sitting in the backseat of a car, usually with vinyl seats, and not being able to see out the window. I remember fussing with Jason and playing the no touch game - and invariably losing. I remember looking at letters from road signs and trying to spell my name. It was better when we were a little older and we had the black van - it had a full size bed in the back, and a sliding side window. There was a bit more mobility and freedom there - in part because seat belt laws were merely a figment of some tortured mother's imagination. I also remember stopping at neat little spots and getting out to roam and play. We stopped in Colorado once, all of us dressed in shorts, tee shirts and flip flops, and playing in the snow and thinking that was soooo coool. My mom, to compensate for back seat bickering, usually had us all in the car at 3:00 a.m. so that we would sleep most of the journey - and awaken some 6 hours later at our destination (or at least our first stop). She was also a big fan of leaving at 8 p.m. and driving all night to accomplish the same thing.
So imagine my mother's suprise - nay consternation - when we departed for Gatlinburg with 3 children in tow at the ungodly hour of 8:00 a.m. Since it took us some 45 minutes to get from Cadiz to Clarksville (we stopped for gasoline, had a bit of tire trauma), she huddled in her front seat snorteling like some evil gnome - waiting for the first "How much further!" Remembering all the headaches that my siblings and I had caused for her, she was ready to get payback, as was her due. But I had a secret weapon .... technology. No more staring blindly out the window as cars streamed past. No more making up back seat games to alleviate boredom. In the 21st century, the backseat is the entertainment capital of the car. Everyone had access to a mini dvd player and videos. Don't like what is on the radio, well here you go, have your very own .mp3 player with songs taylored for just your tastes. And for long stretches of time, there is peace in the car.
There are some of you who would claim that such a means of travel diminishes the family time together. And to you, I say poo poo. By what definition does family travel time have to be bickering in the back seat about who's hand crossed some stitched seam. Why does family travel have to be a frustrated parent slamming on the breaks, glaring in the rear view mirror and threatening to turn this car around if you don't behave. Oh sure, those of us who have survived such events laugh about them. But we laugh about them the same way people who have survived a massive car accident laugh about it. It sucked then, but it's funny now. And when that family arrives at the hotel, bitterness and tiredness rolling of them like smoke off of dry ice -- it takes hours to find the joy of vacation again. My family, they laugh and talked about a movie that we'd saved just for the trip. Headphones were removed as someone pointed out something to see on one side of the road or the other. And Elijah still managed to wonder aloud more than 10 times, how much futher it was until we got to Gatlinburg and what would we do when we got there. But when we finally arrived, stretched our legs, unloaded the car. We still liked each other enough to want to spend a few more hours in each other's company in the car - go see the top of the mountain. No breaks were slammed, no body cried, and no one got their hair pulled. Doesn't sound like a vacation does it? (click title to view movie)
