For our first roadtrip with an 18-months-old T, we naively thought we’d do a 15-hour overnight drive to New Brunswick.
After a day at work, we headed off at 8 pm.
That was how the hubby and I used to roll. We did the long drive to his parents’ cottage overnight, taking turns, drinking lots of Coke.
For the first three hours, it was smooth sailing. T fell asleep. Then at 11, near the Ontario-Quebec border, he woke up screaming.
He cried throughout the night drive through Quebec – my shift – and I thought about driving into a ditch to end the torture. Then when the sun was rising, he passed out for the final 5 hours.
It was painful to live through but it was also a great bonding moment.
Now that T is 6, we’ve since learned to leave during the day for our long drives!
There are so many fun summer roadtrip memories and I’ve been thinking about them as the days get longer and the weather teases us with hints of Spring.
I’ve been dreaming about roadtrips, because there’s only so much of “Which window am I going to look out at today?” that I can take.
The hubby and I are feeling optimistic we’ll get to venture out this summer. But we know it’ll be different again. We’re likely not able to visit his parents again until we’re all vaccinated.
So our plan is to stay within Ontario and we’ve already mapped out an itinerary.
We think local travel will be popular this summer, so we will reserve our accommodations soon – with free cancellation, in case there’s another lockdown.
It felt fun and hopeful to look back at roadtrip memories.
That joyful feeling of anticipation in the days leading up to departure. That moment of logging off work. That excitement of picking T up from daycare and he knows that adventure awaits.
We always start our roadtrips with a family selfie in the car. I love looking back at them, because they capture the raw happiness we all felt.
Summer roadtrips are usually about visiting T’s Grammy and Grandad at their cottage in a small Acadian town in New Brunswick.
T absolutely loves it there because there are vast areas of sandy beach for him to run on.
He loves getting wet and muddy.
Our entire family always sleeps so well at the cottage with the windows open; the cool salt water breeze calms us down.
The summer after our first roadtrip with T, we started to add a second destination on our way to New Brunswick.
In 2017, we did a 3-day detour in beautiful Nova Scotia, taking in the stunning views at Peggy’s Cove…
… and historic Lunenberg, visiting a retired colleague at her century-old home.
In 2018, we did a 3-day detour at Quebec and our wonderful memories included a day hike at stunning Canyon Sainte-Anne…
… and visiting Old Quebec City.
Last summer, we had planned to visit New Hamsphire in the United States on our way to the hubby’s parents, but alas, it was not meant to be because of the pandemic.
But we ended up exploring Northern Ontario for the first time. We were so blown away that we look forward to visiting favourite spots this summer, while venturing into new spots that we missed last year, like Bruce Peninsula.
Reminiscing while planning this summer’s roadtrip has made us all excited. It gives us something to look forward to with optimism.
Thanks for a beautiful trip down memory lane. We visited Quebec one Summer, my son as old as your son now. Wonderful city, delicious foods, great family memories. Staying local for Summer too. For Spring break it’s Monterey, Carmel & Big Sur, just next to each other. We keep revisiting the ones that gives us the happiest times & most adventures. Life is short & every opportunity counts. Not brave yet to travel outside Bay Area with 2 new California variants & others. Wife hopefully gets vaccinated soon. Wishing you a fun week. Regards to your family.
Those photos are beautiful! And I love the idea of taking a selfie before the trip 🙂 It all looks like good memories indeed, and I hope you all get to travel again soon (and safely vaccinated!) 🙂
Thank you, Yari! We can’t wait to travel again. A change of scenery will be so nice. 😊And yes, vaccination would be good too! Hope for the same for you all in the US too!
It’s always nice to reminisce about past trips. I love that you’ve taken a few different routes in the past, but always end up in New Brunswick to visit T’s grammy and grandad. That’s so exciting that you’ve mapped out your itinerary for a road trip for this summer. It’s always nice to have something to look forward to. I’m curious as to which areas in Ontario you’re planning on visiting.
Thanks L! 🙂 We’re considering Northern Ontario again as the Lake Superior drive was so beautiful. But we won’t be going all the way to Thunder Bay. And we want to spend a few days at Bruce Peninsula. Killarney will be on the list again as we loved it so much. 🙂 want to visit Neys and Old Woman Bay as we missed it last time. Look forward to hearing yours!
I am such a Northern Ontario fan girl. The route along Lake Superior is one of the nicest drives ever. I’m so excited for you. Seems like you’re hitting up some of my favourite parks. We’re planning on doing a 2 week Northern Ontario road trip, driving up through Timmins and back along Lake Superior. We’re planning on spending more time around the Thunder Bay area this time.
And likewise, I’m very excited for you! We stayed up late last night and booked all our accommodations. 🙂 In one of the small towns, only one room was left near the park we wanted to visit. So we’re glad we got it done! As much as we love camping, we’re not gonna camp this year. I just feel kinda icky sharing washroom facilities until we’re vaccinated and I can’t go a week without showering. 🤣 And Timmins is also among our stops this time! 😊
Good luck with your own trip planning. It certainly gives us something to look forward to!
That’s awesome that you were able to book everything. It all seems so much more real once the accommodations are locked down. I hear yah, the washroom situation is a bit worrisome, especially since most (probably all) of the campgrounds will be booked solid. Yikes.
We’ve also just started thinking about a summer getaway. It has been so long! I laughed at which window to look out today? I can really relate to that one! I agree – your trips always look like so much fun! Here’s hoping for a great summer season ahead filled with trips, new memories, and tons of relaxation!
Thanks Robyn. It gives us excitement and hope to be able to think about going somewhere fun this summer. I look forward to hearing your summer plans!
Your trips always look like so much fun! Are they zip lining under the bridge?
Thanks Diane! I miss these moments. And yes, it’s a zip line kinda. Two people sit on a chair and are pulled up backwards to get this stunning view of the canyon and then are released all the way down. We didn’t do if cuz we had T with us but one day when he’s older and tall enough to go on, I know he’d be all over it!
That sounds amazing! I have always wanted to do a zip line. One of these days I will.
It’s never too late to try! Enjoy it!!!