Road trip with kids from New Orleans to San Diego

[cabound]

Hi, I will be traveling with two young kids to San Diego this winter. Planning on taking at least a week to drive this but would really like to know if thier are any towns to avoid or any must sees!! Any suggestions!! First Road trip ever!!

[DonnaR57]

A week from N.O to S.D is a great amount of time (as long as this is a one-way trip). As far as "if there are any towns to avoid or any must sees", well, everyone has their likes and dislikes.

First off, people live in the towns, so somebody must like it! However, if you are worried about your personal safety, take the same precautions that you would if you were around home. If it doesn't feel comfortable, that's not someplace you'll want to be, so leave the area quickly.

For "must sees", each person has their favorites. It would also depend on which route you might like to take. What most of us recommend is to take out a good map or atlas, look at the routes available to you and see if there's anything that jumps out at you. There is also a map center on this site with lots of attractions flagged. Between N.O and S.D. is a whole plethora of things to see and do, you'll soon find!

How young are your children? The really little ones (non-school aged) like to get out and stretch a lot. You can find a park along the way for this, and there are motels that have playgrounds or a park nearby with play equipment. Most restaurants have children's menus available. Still, you'll want to keep their favorite snacks and drinks in the car, in a cooler and/or snack bag, as sometimes they get persnickety about eating. Keep enough toys in the car to keep them occupied, but rotate them so that each time you bring it out, it's new again. If your kids are school-aged, it's really easier as they'll be able to tell you that they need a break. When mine were school-aged, they each packed a "car bag" of things to do and play with. Mine are old enough not to have hand-held games or a TV in the car. We simply played a lot of "I Spy", the "ABC" game, the Car License plate game, and did a LOT of singing. (Daddy got really tired of some of the tapes!)

Once you get a better idea of what route interests you, let us know and we can help you with the further planning.

BTW, if you have any questions about San Diego...I'm here and there's also a thread about San Diego things to see and do. The lovely thing is that here, most stuff is open year-round!


Donna

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

A RoadTrip with children can be the best of all adventures. The one component that is usually missing in such endeavors that keeps them from being grand adventures is one you have in mild abundance: time. You only have to cover about 300 miles a day to complete the trip in a week, so use the extra time during the day to see stuff along the way. Let your kids contribute to the itinerary. Get a decent map of the United States and show them the basic route (I-10/I-8). Then let them have first say on what to see. They'll probably gravitate to the 'big' sites like the Alamo, White Sands, maybe Carlsbad, Saguaro National Park, and the like. Then you can fill in with a few smaller stops each day including unique venues like the Creole Nature Trail, Fort Lancaster in Sheffield TX, Kartchner Caverns, Yuma Territorial Prison, City of Rocks in Jacumba CA, and Campo Train Museum. At each and every national park or monument you visit, be sure to ask about any available Junior Ranger Program, and ifyou're going to be visiting four or more national parks on your trip get an annual pass at the first one you come to. Here are some more general tips for traveling with children.

AZBuck