There are certain trips that just stick with you, especially when you’re a kid. For me, it was a trip out West during which we visited stayed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming to hike the Grand Tetons, drove to Yellowstone and ended up on a ranch in Montana. I’m a city kid, and I’d never seen landscape like that. It was epic — plus we saw a moose or two. It’s a trip I want to recreate with my kids one summer hopefully in the not-too-distant future.
So Scary Mommy asked our audience for their most memorable childhood trips and they did not disappoint. Here’s what they had to say.
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The one big vacation I went on as a child was a road trip out west to South Dakota and Yellowstone. We were in a tornado, visited all of the tourist traps, parks and hiked all over Yellowstone. My brothers and I still reminisce about our big adventures on that trip. This summer my husband and I are taking our kids to South Dakota, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons! I’m excited to recreate that memorable trip sans the tornado. — Amanda Arrowood
Drive up the West Coast with my parents including Monterey, San Simeon. Listening to Neil Diamond and Kenny Rogers on repeat. — Angela Eilers
We recreate it every summer. Family trip to Maine. Dad recreated his summer with us and we’re doing the same with my kids. — Rachel Yaggy
Cape Cod every summer with multiple families of extended relatives renting a bunch of places. A week of huge group meals, long days in the beach, playing with cousins and running in packs, game nights, and relaxed rules with more freedom than at home. Four generations this has been happening, from the time my mom was a kid, my childhood, doing it with my kids and now that generation is having families and it still continues!!! — Lauren Bukowski
Houseboat Trip on Lake Powell. One entire week “on the water” — Melissa Pace
Mackinaw Island… with an overnight stay, after all the ferries are done for the day. — Heather McDonald Chapp
Western national park camping trip: Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Arches, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Joshua Tree and Zion too — Heather Schuh Huston
Washington, D.C. when I was 9. We visited ALL the monuments and the White House. But the Smithsonian and Monticello blew me away, and I tried my first Ethiopian food YUM! Then I got a stomach bug and puked my way through Arlington Cemetery and Mt Vernon because my parents were gonna keep that trip going NO MATTER WHAT. Then my sister caught the bug and wound up in the ER. Somehow this is forever my favorite trip EVER. I can’t wait to take my daughter once the orange one is out of office and gets his claws and influence out of the Smithsonian. — Rebecca Shepherd Swaine
New York State, including the St. Lawrence Seaway with a trip to Heart Island/ Bolt Castle and beautiful western New York lake district and Niagara Falls. — Charla Flynn
We did recreate a trip. My 4 kids ages span 15 years between the oldest and youngest. When the third was little (2) we drove to Dearborn, Michigan and visited the Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. Part of the story includes having to change hotels because my allergies were having a huge and horrible reaction to the “remodeling” and the pool was the size of a king-sized bed. We decided to go to a fancier hotel and not worry about the cost. By the time we got settled in the new hotel and had gone swimming in the nice, large pool, my kids were exhausted and just wanted to put their jammies on. My husband and I thought it would be fun for them to wear their pajamas to the restaurant to have dessert for dinner. The kids loved it. They felt very decadent. We kept talking about this vacation for years, including after #4 was born. When #2 was in summer school for university, we had to drive to pick her up and go to a convention. I decided to take 1,3 &4 to recreate the vacation to the Ford museum, Greenfield Village and the same fancy hotel, complete with dessert in jammies. Now #4 feels included. — Katie F Fitch
It was the summer my step dad drove my mom & my sister & I to Duluth, Minnesota for my Uncle Mark’s wedding. All 4 in his green Ford pick up truck. We fished, we walked, we saw a “Great Lake”, we played hours of The Dark Tower with extended family, my Grandmother wore JEANs and rowed a canoe, we saw “Gremlins” movie in theaters, I ate an entire peanut buster parfait all myself, I learned how to two step country dance at the reception. It was 1984. Thanks for the prompt. What a treasure those memories are. – Shawna Rachele
Road trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. My parents created a lot of good memories for us on those trips. — Michelle Di Paola
Deep sea fishing with my grandpa. I took my husband and all of my boys this summer. — Sandy Lord
Summer getaways to the Oregon coast: tide pools, fairy forests, sandcastles, clam chowder, crabbing and sun — Stephanie Lucas
For the last four generations, my family has gone to the same area of Northern Michigan. When I had my own children, we continued the tradition. My kids are 15 and 8 and we look forward to it every year! — Annie Maxine
Staying at a little Swedish-owned cabin resort in Canada when I was 13. They had a sauna right on a river where you could down the dock and jump in. The owners invited all the kids into their big A-frame cabin so we could watch Miss America. I got the worst sunburn of my life and my dad accidentally ran over my toe with the car, but it was still one of my most favorite childhood trips.— Angela Cosgrove
Eganville, Canada. Every summer we went a bare bones fishing cabin with my family and had the time of our lives fishing and playing games together as a family. — The Chandler Crew
Great Smoky Mountains. We stayed at the Tennessee Mountain Lodge….and the whole family came….cousins, grandparents and all!! We used to walk down that strip and watch all the people clogging and playing bluegrass music. I got a pair of real Native American made moccasins every year and my souvenir was always the same….a piece of turquoise jewelry. I love the mountains — Kristy Anderson
Florence, Italy. The gelato, the artisan markets, the art… the entire city is magical! — Lisa Moctezuma
There’s at least two, and I’ve recreated parts of them for my kids: We flew out to Salt Lake City where we had family members I’d never met before, did some genealogy research in the giant library (on microfiche!), drove down to Zion National Park for a few days, followed by the Grand Canyon where we saw the sunrise and hiked part of the Angel Bright trail, then continued south to Phoenix and stayed with more family, then drove further south, stopped at Chiricahua national monument and hiked between the stone spires, then drove to the border and walked over into Mexico to see the shops. Another trip was two weeks of camping: we drove to Shenandoah National Park, stopped at Luray Caverns, then drove down to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and also visited Gatlinburg, TN and finally drove down to Myrtle Beach. Our campground in Myrtle Beach was next to a racetrack so we moved to another one after that the first night. Smokey Mountains was probably my favorite part of that trip, so blue and so beautiful. — Jennifer A Lucas Culver
It was at camp Golden Bell, and I did recreate it with my kids. We sang Ooples and Bononos! — Nichole Jelaco
Lake Superior Circle Tour. Someday with my boys again! — Caree Crosby Kovacevich
Yellowstone and backpack in nearby Wind River. — Joy Palomo-Clark
Answers have been lightly edited for clarity.
