road trip » and another thought

You can’t deny it, the end of summer is upon us. Although many are thinking about Back to School (even us at EverythingMom have Back to School on our mind), for our family it’s vacation time. Who can think of a better way to say goodbye to summer than a road trip to Florida.

We’re not road trip novices. We’ve actually done the drive to Florida as a family a few times, usually to visit Disney World. But this trip we’re actually visiting Florida. The purpose of this trip is to enjoy what Florida naturally offers families: sun, sand and surf. The only attraction we plan on visiting, and we’re all pretty excited about it, is the St. Augustine Pirate and Treasure Museum (my son is eager to try out the cannon). After that, our visit will consist of beach time and some fabulous family-oriented beach resorts.

Our route has us visiting the Hammock Beach Resort in St. Augustine when we first enter Florida. Along with enjoying the stretch of beach Hammock Beach Club Resort is situated on, the kids are excited to try out the resorts waterpark with a lazy river and corkscrew slide (thank goodness it’s open until 8 p.m. on the day we arrive so the kids can get some water time). We’re hoping to visit the resort’s oceanfront restaurant, Atlantic Grille, for some fresh seafood too.

From St. Augustine we drive down the coast to the Florida Keys for a visit at the luxurious family resort, Hawks Cay. I’ve never been to the Keys but I’ve heard it’s like going to the Caribbean but without leaving the country. The Hawks Cay family-sized villas, pirate pool, and saltwater lagoon are just a few of the features we can’t wait to experience.

From the Florida Keys we head back north to Clearwater and St. Pete’s Beach, visiting the Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort. I love St. Pete’s Beach; it was actually my first introduction to Florida years ago. The location and the kid’s club are just two things that attracted us to the Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort (they even have a kids pirate cruise one night which the kids are very keen on). For myself, I plan to spend a lot of time in a cabana on the beach.

After an amazing time visiting some of Florida’s beach resorts, we head back home. To make things interesting, we’re forgoing our usual road trip vehicle (our Chrysler Town and Country) for the crossover 2012 Chevrolet Traverse (thanks to the folks at GM Canada). Like many, I was a reluctant van owner, feeling like it’s a box with seats stuck into it, but I must admit I’ve become accustomed to all the van’s road trip friendly features. The Traverse promises a more car-like drive, offering 7-seats and similar conveniences as our Town and Country, so I’m eager to see how it performs, both on the drive and the family travel factor.

And the Traverse will certainly get a workout on our drive to Florida. Our trip has us covering 5,300 kms+ of total driving time; that’s almost a quarter of the mileage I put on the van in a whole year. Plus each road trip length has us in the car for almost 8 hours a day (except heading into and out of Florida where we’ll be pushing close to 15-hours in the car in one day). Having a car equipped with the right things and packing the essentials for a road trip can make a big difference between a pleasant ride versus a cranky, stressful ride (we’re working toward the later).

We’ll be sharing our thoughts on the places we visit within EverythingMom’s Everything Travel section after our trip but you can follow us along for the ride. We’ll be using the hashtag #EMTravel and #TraverseTrip, updating you on the car experience and the road trip in general.

Let the road trip begin!