Family Vacation-Can't wait to get there, dreading the drive

[Garm Bel Iblis]

So the whole famiily, wife, daughter, wife's parents, two sisters and their better halves are loading up 4th of July weekend for lake vermillion in norhtern minnesota.

Can't wait! We honeymooned there three years ago, and it's a beautiful place and the most relaxing you can imagine.

It's the drive that I am dreading. 500 miles. the in-laws want to leave a day early and stay overnight 2\3 of the way there and get a fresh start the next day. Mainly because my daughter is 1 and they think 8 hours inthe car is too much for her, but 5 is okay.

Got any tips to make this as less Griswold as possible for a large group and little baby on the road and together for a week in 1 cabin?

 

[Mr. B]

Silence is golden. Duct tape is silver...ish.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Why the hell doesn't everybody just fly? It's far enough in advance the tickets shouldn't be too bad.

 

[Garm Bel Iblis]

Why the hell doesn't everybody just fly? It's far enough in advance the tickets shouldn't be too bad.

I checked, we'd have to fly to duluth and drive 3 hours from there...the flght and rental car would be well over the budget.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Oh, well that makes sense. Sorry you have to drive so much.

Get a power inverter and hook up some portable DVD players and laptops or something.

 

[Garm Bel Iblis]

Oh, well that makes sense. Sorry you have to drive so much.

Get a power inverter and hook up some portable DVD players and laptops or something.

That's already part of the plan. the continous loop of Curious George is already arranged.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Oh, well that makes sense. Sorry you have to drive so much.

Get a power inverter and hook up some portable DVD players and laptops or something.

That's already part of the plan. the continous loop of Curious George is already arranged.

Individual laptops/players with headphones would ensure a nice, quiet trip. And books/Kindles for the old fogeys.

 

[B.J.]

When I drove ~650 miles to Disney World with a 9, 5, and 1-year old last year, we left at about 3 or 4 in the morning so that they'd be asleep for a good portion of the trip.

 

[ByrdMan]

Vermillion is gorgeous. I'm jealous!

When we do our yearly trip to the Lake of the Woods (from the Twin Cities), we always split the drive up into two legs, staying one night in Grand Rapids, MN before doing the second half of the drive. It really makes the drive much more bearable, even though we're usually pretty hungover the rest of the way up there.

 

[Garm Bel Iblis]

Vermillion is gorgeous. I'm jealous!

When we do our yearly trip to the Lake of the Woods (from the Twin Cities), we always split the drive up into two legs, staying one night in Grand Rapids, MN before doing the second half of the drive. It really makes the drive much more bearable, even though we're usually pretty hungover the rest of the way up there.

YEah we're going to stay at Hinckley(sp) at the casino and drive two hours the 2nd day

 

[Hermiod]

Seems somewhat appropriate:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdh70xdZHK0[/yt]

 

[Bloodwhiner]

I would suggest that you make sure your car is too small for everybody and their luggage. Then volunteer to drive the luggage.

 

[Garm Bel Iblis]

I would suggest that you make sure your car is too small for everybody and their luggage. Then volunteer to drive the luggage.

Sadly we have the big SUV that everyone wants to put crap in. Can someone whip me up a transporter in the next 3 months?

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Lots of little snacks in baggies like cheerios etc for your daughter. Tapes of Barney singing that will delight the little one and make you homicidal. And a cyanide pill clenched in your back teeth just in case.

 

[Garm Bel Iblis]

Lots of little snacks in baggies like cheerios etc for your daughter. Tapes of Barney singing that will delight the little one and make you homicidal. And a cyanide pill clenched in your back teeth just in case.

Fornuately she has not bee introduced to barney (yet), right now its Curious George all the time.

 

[JiNX-01]

I suggest you stop for 15-20 minutes every 90 minutes to give everyone a chance to get away from each other and let the little one have some freedom.

And stopping for the night after 5 hours is a really good idea.

And finally, listen to Yeoman Randi. Best advice ever.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Lots of little snacks in baggies like cheerios etc for your daughter. Tapes of Barney singing that will delight the little one and make you homicidal. And a cyanide pill clenched in your back teeth just in case.

Fornuately she has not bee introduced to barney (yet), right now its Curious George all the time.

Lucky you. Hopefully she won't ever be. The Barney period was the worst period of my life!

 

[farmkid]

A DVD player is definitely a good idea, but don't rely on that alone. You should also have someone sitting next to your daughter to help keep her entertained. And really, 500 miles is a long drive, but it's certainly doable in one day. Until we moved about a year ago, I used to pack up my wife and 5 kids and drive almost 800 miles (13 hours) to visit my parents twice a year. We usually did it in one day, but we occasionally had to make it two days due to snow. It's a long day, but not family-destroying long.