Road Trippin'

sarawifenow

H and I are heading back to his hometown a week from today. We are driving and it will be an 11 hour (each way) trip. We have made the drive a few times now, but I am wanting to make it a little more fun this time. I was thinking about making some snacks to take along the way. Any ideas?

 

What is your favorite thing about road trips?

 

Also, we will be traveling along i-80 through Nebraska headed toward Iowa from CO. Does anyone know of some fun places to stop along the way?

lovemesomemonster

I do the 12hr drive to see FI a lot, when I'm alone I take smart food white cheddar pop corn and beef jerky (and good tunes). If we are together I jump on the lap top and look up funny news stories from around the country and read them to him. I also have a book of mad libs which can pass some time.

esstee33

I loooooove road trips! FI and I are leaving for one on Saturday morning to spend a couple days in Memphis, then head to New Orleans to get married, with TBD stops on the way back from NOLA to Pittsburgh. 

We play the alphabet game ALL THE TIME. I taught it to him on our first road trip and he's so obsessed that we usually end up playing it every time we're in the car together. There are a bunch of variations to it, but the one we play is that you have to find a word that starts with each letter of the alphabet, say it out loud, and then the other person can't use that word. There are obvious bottlenecks (J, Q, X, Z) that give the other person time to catch up, and those bottlenecks can also just about rule someone out entirely, which is entertaining. Pity the person who doesn't find "quality" first! 

[Deleted User]

My grocery list for my next road trip (over Memorial Day weekend) is cheese sticks, beef jerky, granola bars, and pumpkin seeds.  We usually don't eat a lot of car food because we actually like getting out of the car for a quick meal.  Our usual stop is at Culvers when we travel, so we never eat there any other time.

We used to listen to podcasts occasionally in the car.  Now we just switch from regular radio to satellite radio to the mp3 player.  And since he won't let me drive, I end up dozing a lot in the passenger seat.

julieanne912

Not sure if you have satellite radio but they have a few stations that play comedy shows, we like to listen to those on long road trips.  Otherwise books on "tape" are nice to help pass the time.

As for interesting things to see along I-80, err, good luck.  I've done the drive from Chicago to Omaha to Denver and the Omaha to Denver stretch was brutal.  I thought Iowa was very pretty though. 

lovegood90

Ouu, I'm gonna stalk this thread. SO and I are going on a mini road trip this weekend too! It'll only be around 5-6 hours each way though, so not that brutal.

falsara

I LOVE road trips.  Me and FI drive the five hours to Michigan and back every few months.  And i drove cross country by myself when I was 19.  

Snacks - string cheese, beef jerky, gummy bears, and Pirate's Booty.  I also took sandwich makings in a cooler. Bread, cheese slices, meat. It's easy to make a quick sandwich while you're filling up the tank and then you don't have to buy the gas station ones.  I also back apples, or orange slices.

Good tunes are a must and sometimes FI will listen to his comedy pod casts/ shows. 

I don't know of any stops on the way really. I normally travel I-40. 

southernbelle0915

Twizzlers! Pull and peel, obviously. That's my go-to road trip treat. 

If you have Sirius, Classic Vinyl would be a good station. On Pandora One, I have a "Eagles" radio station that I like a lot for road trips. 

kaitlynmichelle

On our last roadtrip we hads lots of beef jerkey, cheese buns, nature valley bars, dried fruit, and trail mix.

We also loaded up our ipods with playlists we each liked.

jenna8984

My favorite thing ever is making popcorn on the stove and putting it in gallon size ziplocs.

sarawifenow

I'm getting hungry with all of these awesome suggestions! Thanks, guys! You are the best!

badbnagdway

For snacks -- I feel like a couple of apples or bananas would be good to throw in just because I tend to reach my road food maximum capacity after a while and eating a piece of fruit gives me enough of an illusion of healthiness that I can dive back into the junk food again shortly thereafter.

H and I listened to audio books on our honeymoon trip (which involved a total of about 18 hours of driving) and it made it go by super fast. Audible has trial subscriptions. Make sure you pick something with really good reviews - both in terms of the content and the reader, and something you both would like. 

hellosweetie1015

esstee33 said:

I loooooove road trips! FI and I are leaving for one on Saturday morning to spend a couple days in Memphis, then head to New Orleans to get married, with TBD stops on the way back from NOLA to Pittsburgh. 

We play the alphabet game ALL THE TIME. I taught it to him on our first road trip and he's so obsessed that we usually end up playing it every time we're in the car together. There are a bunch of variations to it, but the one we play is that you have to find a word that starts with each letter of the alphabet, say it out loud, and then the other person can't use that word. There are obvious bottlenecks (J, Q, X, Z) that give the other person time to catch up, and those bottlenecks can also just about rule someone out entirely, which is entertaining. Pity the person who doesn't find "quality" first! 

I love this game so much that I have played it by myself before. My parents and my siblings and I used to drive cross country (my youngest sister was 9 months old the last time) and we would play it for HOURS. My dad and I still occasionally play it on the way to Florida if he's awake. But we don't have to say the word, we just find the letter. 

Grown up road trips require music and snacks; I love those uncrustable pb&js. I love those things, whether homemade or storebought. And LOTS of water. And sunglasses.

ohannabelle

hellosweetie1015 said:

esstee33 said:

I loooooove road trips! FI and I are leaving for one on Saturday morning to spend a couple days in Memphis, then head to New Orleans to get married, with TBD stops on the way back from NOLA to Pittsburgh. 

We play the alphabet game ALL THE TIME. I taught it to him on our first road trip and he's so obsessed that we usually end up playing it every time we're in the car together. There are a bunch of variations to it, but the one we play is that you have to find a word that starts with each letter of the alphabet, say it out loud, and then the other person can't use that word. There are obvious bottlenecks (J, Q, X, Z) that give the other person time to catch up, and those bottlenecks can also just about rule someone out entirely, which is entertaining. Pity the person who doesn't find "quality" first! 

I love this game so much that I have played it by myself before. My parents and my siblings and I used to drive cross country (my youngest sister was 9 months old the last time) and we would play it for HOURS. My dad and I still occasionally play it on the way to Florida if he's awake. But we don't have to say the word, we just find the letter. 

Grown up road trips require music and snacks; I love those uncrustable pb&js. I love those things, whether homemade or storebought. And LOTS of water. And sunglasses.

The hilarious no effort grown up version of the alphabet game is called In My Pants. You have to be careful when you introduce the game, because, "hey, have you ever played In My Pants?" sounds funny.

Read any sign, and add "In my pants."

No Trepassing. In my pants.

Dangerous curves. In my pants.

Open all day! In my pants.

Fine Dining.  Exercise caution.  Fresh as a Flower. All you can eat. Home of The King Size Salami. (That one's on the way to Portland.)

Yes, it's juvenile. Also funny as hell. 

sarawifenow

ohannabelle said:

hellosweetie1015 said:

esstee33 said:

I loooooove road trips! FI and I are leaving for one on Saturday morning to spend a couple days in Memphis, then head to New Orleans to get married, with TBD stops on the way back from NOLA to Pittsburgh. 

We play the alphabet game ALL THE TIME. I taught it to him on our first road trip and he's so obsessed that we usually end up playing it every time we're in the car together. There are a bunch of variations to it, but the one we play is that you have to find a word that starts with each letter of the alphabet, say it out loud, and then the other person can't use that word. There are obvious bottlenecks (J, Q, X, Z) that give the other person time to catch up, and those bottlenecks can also just about rule someone out entirely, which is entertaining. Pity the person who doesn't find "quality" first! 

I love this game so much that I have played it by myself before. My parents and my siblings and I used to drive cross country (my youngest sister was 9 months old the last time) and we would play it for HOURS. My dad and I still occasionally play it on the way to Florida if he's awake. But we don't have to say the word, we just find the letter. 

Grown up road trips require music and snacks; I love those uncrustable pb&js. I love those things, whether homemade or storebought. And LOTS of water. And sunglasses.

The hilarious no effort grown up version of the alphabet game is called In My Pants. You have to be careful when you introduce the game, because, "hey, have you ever played In My Pants?" sounds funny.

Read any sign, and add "In my pants."

No Trepassing. In my pants.

Dangerous curves. In my pants.

Open all day! In my pants.

Fine Dining.  Exercise caution.  Fresh as a Flower. All you can eat. Home of The King Size Salami. (That one's on the way to Portland.)

Yes, it's juvenile. Also funny as hell. 

OMG this is so happening now!

esstee33

hellosweetie1015 said:

esstee33 said:

I loooooove road trips! FI and I are leaving for one on Saturday morning to spend a couple days in Memphis, then head to New Orleans to get married, with TBD stops on the way back from NOLA to Pittsburgh. 

We play the alphabet game ALL THE TIME. I taught it to him on our first road trip and he's so obsessed that we usually end up playing it every time we're in the car together. There are a bunch of variations to it, but the one we play is that you have to find a word that starts with each letter of the alphabet, say it out loud, and then the other person can't use that word. There are obvious bottlenecks (J, Q, X, Z) that give the other person time to catch up, and those bottlenecks can also just about rule someone out entirely, which is entertaining. Pity the person who doesn't find "quality" first! 

I love this game so much that I have played it by myself before. My parents and my siblings and I used to drive cross country (my youngest sister was 9 months old the last time) and we would play it for HOURS. My dad and I still occasionally play it on the way to Florida if he's awake. But we don't have to say the word, we just find the letter. 

Grown up road trips require music and snacks; I love those uncrustable pb&js. I love those things, whether homemade or storebought. And LOTS of water. And sunglasses.

Yes!! I play it by myself all the time, too. Before I moved to Pittsburgh, FI and I lived two hours apart, and I'd drive here every weekend to visit him. I played a TON back then. Since I always took the same route and knew where all the big letters were, it was really exciting if I'd pass an Xtra truck, or the candle company was advertising a "jar sale" on their sign out front, haha. 

When I was little, we'd play the game just finding letters. Every so often, we'd have a check and we'd each say out loud which letter we were on. It definitely made the hard letters a lot easier when you could just find them on license plates! 

wandajune6

My favorite Pandora station is "Road Trippin"- it's great for road trips and cleaning. I love podcasts as well. My current go-to's are Savage Love, Serial (or Undisclosed now), and Spilled Milk. I'm newly in love with Awesome Etiquette.

For snacks, it's all about perspective: do you pack snacks because you get hungry and don't like to make snacks or do you pack them because you eat when you're bored? We're the latter so I try for healthier snacks: homemade popcorn or Smartfood, carrot sticks, fruit, fruit leather, etc. If you're actually eating to be full, go for things like jerky, granola bars, sandwich supplies, etc.

I've done I-80 several times over the years. It's not so exciting. Sorry.

littlemushroom

I like to make ranch oyster crackers for trips. I also make them spicy by adding some red pepper flake and cayenne to the recipe. Here is the one I follow:
http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/15956/ranch-oyster-crackers/

Otherwise, I look up shows like Diners, Drive ins and Dives or one of the Food Paradise shows like Burger Paradise and see if there are any featured restaurants along the route or not too far out of the way. DH and I both love trying things so that is something we both enjoy. That is how we got to try goat tacos and had the best fried chicken ever on the road trip to our honeymoon.

larrygaga

I like having the excuse to eat out a lot.