CONTEST: We want your family vacation stories!
It’s that time again. Planning for this summer’s getaway brings back memories of vacations past. The memorable moments weren’t always the best parts of the vacation, but they usually make the best stories.
We want those stories. And we have prizes.
Ever slept on a luggage carousel? Do you think you have the best vacation from hell story?
How about a family roadtrip saga that would put the Griswolds’ expeditions to shame?
A summer camp story you’ve repressed for 20 years (or that your kids wish you would stop repeating)?
A wild and crazy weekend in Vegas, Miami, Cancun or where the names still need disguising to protect the guilty?
Or maybe a strangers in a strange land story from travels abroad (Well, I thought they would cook the octopus before they brought it to the table….)
June 1 marks the starting line for our summer vacation story contest. Every two weeks, we’ll focus on a different category of vacation memories. You share your stories. We’ll pick three and during the second week we’ll let readers decide whose is best.
The topics are below. You can post your family vacation story to this blog in the comments section below. If you want to email your stories instead, send them to Travelajc@gmail.com. (If you have vacation stories that just can’t be categorized but are totally worth sharing, just send us. We’ll find a place for it.)
And the prizes?
Each bi-weekly winner will get to see his or her story published in Sunday’s AJC travel pages and become a finalist for a grand prize getaway. The prize?
Our first topic is family vacations. We want to hear about the special joys of a family vacation, with your kids, or when you were kids, with your parents. Or about that family reunion with relatives you would rather not claim.
Friday is the deadline. Next Monday, we’ll select the three finalist submissions, one of which will become the best Family Vacation tale at ajc.com/travel. We will contact the finalists by email.
Other upcoming topics:
• Vacation horrors!
• Romantic getaways
• What should have stayed in “Vegas”…
• Summer camp / Childhood vacation
Have a great summer!
- Atlanta, be here now. Check out ajc.com/travel
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21 comments Add your comment
Katherine Conlon
June 1st, 2009
5:15 pm
When I was in 4th grade, my family rented a motor home and drove out to a dude ranch in Wyoming to meet some friends for a two week vacation. The drive was only supposed to take three days, but it ended up taking about eight because the motor home broke down four times. We stayed in more Holidomes than RV parks. The highlight of the trip was watching my dad get into someone’s car we had flagged down because the motor home had broken down half way up a giant hill and about 40 miles from the nearest town. We tried to write down every detail about that person and their car and hoped that my dad would actually come back unharmed in those pre-cell phone days! He did return, and we did eventually make it to Wyoming and back, but, needless to say, our RVing days were over.
Glovesave29
June 1st, 2009
5:27 pm
I went on a cruise to Alaska with my 4 siblings and their significant others and my parents. After a long flight with spirited trivia games and adult beverages, we spent 2 days exploring Vancouver. The cruise goes up the inward passage so it is always smooth sailing. The sun is up about 20 hours a day, and when it is down it’s just barely over the horizon so its never really that dark. Some of the best photos I took were at 3 in the morning where the mist is red from the rising sun. We did the adventure junkets off of the ship…we rode zip lines through the trees in Ketchican – riding along 150 feet off the ground. Took a seaplane ride over the glaciers and landed on a lake in northern BC. Rode a small dinghy up a fjord to the base of a glacier while dodging icebergs, sealions, whales and seals to watch the ice calve into the sea. In Juneau we took a helicoper ride up onto the Mendenhall Glacier and drank the pure run off rivers that run across it. In Skagway a train ride up the very canyons the gold rush had run up 150 years earlier dropped us off at the Chilkoot Trail in the Yukon where we hiked a few miles along a prisine glacier lake. One morning was spent sea kayaking in a little bay that was shared by hundreds of otters and a few bears and bald eagles. The afternoon was spent whale watching, where we also saw eagle nests and the salmon spawning. The final day was spent driving up the Kenai peninsula (near the site of the notorious bridge to nowhere) and exploring Anchorage. We were fortunate that our flight home was delayed by 4 hours, so we took the bonus time to make a small plane excursion off to explore McKinley and were able to see not only a group of hikers scaling the mountain, but witnessed an avalanche on the other slope. Back in Anchorage we enjoyed some of the many microbreweries…then boarded the plane and headed home. A remarkable vacation!
MIchelle
June 2nd, 2009
7:58 pm
Vacation Horror…Ok..my family and I went with my parents on vacation to the DR..my mom wanted to save money and booked us on a no name brand airline with retired planes that are no longer used in the USA..just great..on the way back I felt something was wrong when we arrived at the tiki airport to a airline terminal where when you checked in there were two sticks in the ground to hang your AIRLINE sign in for check in! We boarded the plane and was 1/2 way back home..when the pilot came on and told everyone to turn off their electronic devices..my son who was playing gameboy continued playing..suddenly we looked over and heard a pop pop..outside the window the engine had caught on fire. My son said, “Mom looked what I did to the plane take my gameboy!” Behind us a lady yelled, “Media..the plane is on fire and preceded to faint in the isles! Panic hits like the wave at a football game! The flight attendent jumped over her and head to the front of the plane..my mother starts screaming she has killed the whole family, my father whose English isn’t so great asks for a drink!!..the plane is then ordered to turn around and go back to Punta Cana..we arrive to rescue vehicles on the runway and the slide gig!..we finally get off the plane to a spokesperson who states we can go back on the 3 am flight or the 9 am flight. I ask him, how many planes do you have with your airline..he says two including the one we were on and that they are sending over the part to fix the plane that just came back for the 9 am flight! I took the 3 am..THANK YOU!..well with no place to go we stayed in the open airport with 3 young kids and the rest of the people wanting to go back at 3. Well the mosquitos realized it was a buffet and proceeded to eat us alive! Nice! We are standing for 3 hours smacking ourselves! Finally the plane arrives..we cheer and rush forward to get home..ONLY to find that one of the passengers, had a immigration issue! NICE..45 min later..finally…The spokesperson announces that those that had previous assigned seat numbers could go first and the rest would board after. As soon as he said that my sleeping son proceeded to PEE ON ME!! Nice! I grabbed the spokesperson and said, “My son just pee on me..I want to go first!” I guess after looking into my eyes, he grabbed the speaker and said, “Women and children first.. and this lady is first!” I was never so happy to get home, take a shower and put on itch creme!
Howell Sanders
June 2nd, 2009
11:26 pm
Family Vacation each year is always special as we spend a week on the beach with our two children and three grandchildren. This year was ever more special as my wife during her 30 years as supervisor for the Department of Family and Children Services dreamed of spending a month on the beach after she retired. She was able to get away from the abused Children situation three years ago and this year we were able to fullfill her dream. We spent a month on the beach with our children and grandchildren able to be there for a week and the last week her sister and brother in law was able to come down for for 5 days. This was great as she and her sister are very close and to us everything is about family. As of this July 4th, we have had 39 vacations together. P.S. the reason we were married on Independance Day is it was the only week of vacation I had in my old job, (I WOULD GIVE UP MY INDEPENDANCE ALL OVER AGAIN)
Amy
June 3rd, 2009
2:37 pm
We are a family of four and we love to travel. We were going on a trip to Ireland and my brother, who has a friend from Ireland, decided to join us. His friend offered to let us stay in their cottage while we were there. This was an extremely gracious offer and considering the positive impact on our travel budget, we accepted.
We visited Cork for a few days and did some sightseeing prior to heading north to the cottage. First, I would like to note that it was winter, and I’ll leave it at that. Second, the cottage was located exactly in the middle of nowhere. We stopped twice for directions while driving in sleet. The second stop was one of my favorite experiences of the whole vacation because of the authenticity of it. It was late at night and we were on a country road looking for our turn. We pulled into a pub and walked in to a room that looked very much like someone’s living room with a fire place and a bar in the middle of the room. The bar was lined with little old men who were only able to give us directions once they figured out the family tree of the person who owned the cottage. They pointed us in the right direction and when we pulled into the driveway of the cottage, it looked like something out of a fairy tale (from the outside).
My husband and brother went in to get a fire started and to turn some lights on. We got inside and found a lot of bugs, a single wood burning stove that had not been used in quite some time, and no way to wash/dry our bedsheets in order to go to bed. We were tired, hungry, and a little scared to turn the lights out. We made some macaroni and cheese and played UNO in the kitchen/living room while we waited for the stove to heat up the room. Since this was the only room that was warm, we pulled the chairs together and decided to sleep as best we could. I drew the short straw and slept straight up in a chair with my 7 year old daughter draped across me.
About an hour after we had all fallen asleep, we noticed the room started to smell smokey and the pipe coming out of the top of the wood burning stove was glowing bright orange. I quickly gathered the kids and our bags and headed to the car. On the way to the car, I noticed dozens of blinking eyes reflecting at me from the dark. Apparently, we were surrounded by a field of sheep, which I wish I could have seen in the daylight. My brother and husband put the fire out and returned everything to the way we found it.
We got in the car and drove to Galway to find a hotel room. There was a sporting event going on in the city, so after stopping at several hotels, we started to get a little discouraged. Finally, I remembered the hotel we had originally booked, which was just outside of town. We showed up at 2 am, bedraggled and wreaking of smoke. The gentleman at the desk, who obviously felt sorry for me, told us that he did not have a room to sleep 5, but we could take a double room and drag the cushions in from the couch in the hallway for one of the kids to sleep on the floor. We gladly took it and enjoyed the rest of our trip.
To this day, if you ask my kids about their trip to Ireland, they will first tell you about the night we ‘burned down’ the cottage!
Julie Heinisch
June 4th, 2009
6:52 am
My story happened when I was about 13.. My mom, stepdad, sister, brother and myself decided to go camping. We bought a tent, supplies, etc.. We had absolutly no experience with tents, camping, etc whatsoever.. We brought out dog camping with us, in a tent, to Lake Lanier campgrounds.. It was absolutly awful.. It rained the WHOLE time, the dog had diarrhea and we spend the whole time fighting since we were all so stressed out… I think we got rid of that tent as soon as we got back! LOL And I have not been anywhere near a tent since!
TnT's Mom
June 4th, 2009
2:13 pm
I too, have camping memories. One trip to Florida we were evacuated from the State park due to the impending arrival of a hurricane. They told us on the Sunday afternoon of Labor Day weekend. We weren’t due to go home until Tuesday. So, rather than drive back to Atlanta that afternoon, we looked at the map, picked an inland Florida State park and headed there. Got there and it turned out to be in the middle of swampland. High humidity, hot, gator warning signs, very large mosquitoes. We spend most of the time inside the camper, it was too miserable to be outside for more than 20 or 30 minutes. The bright spot that in the park was an underground cavern. We took the tour and were sad when it was over. It was very cool underground compared to the heat above.
We went to Amicalola Falls last February. Rainy, cloudy and foggy the whole weekend. But then again the campground is on top of the mountain. The Falls were beautiful and my two boys did manage to get some hiking in. We had extreme trouble starting and keeping a campfire. That made it difficult to get out food cooked. In the middle of the night on Saturday, we ran out of propane and the heater shut off. My husband drove for an hour, thanks to the GPS, to find propane. Finally Sunday just before we left, the sky cleared and the sun came out, so we were able to get some great pictures.
Memorial Day this year we went camping with 2 other families at a campground near Hiwassee, Georgia. Great time despite the rain. But thankfully our friends brought tarps and we strung them up between the trees and stayed dry. We had 10 kids and 6 adults and had a wonderful time. That is until we went to pack up and leave. We could not find the keys to our pickup truck. We looked for over an hour, turning everything inside out. We never did find them, but finally found the spare key, so we did manage to get home.
So our motto is, every trip must contain memories. Some funny and some not, but we will always be able to recall the trip.
LT
June 4th, 2009
2:36 pm
I love my family and last year I decided to make my normal family of 6 (two adults four kids) an extended family vacation. I invited my aunts and cousins to go along. They all agreed and thought it was a great idea and I was excited! We were all headed to the beach. The trip started out smooth enough a little complaining here and there about the 6 hour drive but I just ignored it and kept moving since were were in three cars I really didn’t have to hear that crap anyway. We got to the beach and to our designated rooms and just relaxed the first day. On the second day it was one of my cousins birthday so we had a little gathering in one of the rooms with all 15 of us. We left my neice in charge of the children and all the adults took a stroll on the beach. We all needed to get out anyway because we were all feeling rather grand from the party beverages. After strolling for about an hour hoping to come down a little we headed back into the hotel but not before I took a cool dip in the pool – fully dressed shoes and all. The problem with that was I can’t swim. I guess that told me that the walk did me no justice. I did have a designated driver that goodness. We left the hotel and headed back to our hotel. As soon as I walked in the door one of my other cousins was calling me telling me I was not going to believe what she had just seen. It seems that my aunt and cousin decided to have their own WWF show in the room that they were sharing. It must have started with some words but I know it ended in a cage match. The kids were horrified my cousin was horrified and my husband and I were tickled. He said only your family. He was in awe. The rest of the trip was pretty much ruined because there were too many attitudes from that point on. Later on I heard that the match was over a twinkie. My cousin was made someone ate the last twinkie. LOL. I said never again…well I lied we are headed out in two weeks. I can’t wait but I did send out a memo – NO WRESTLING, FIGHTING, OR BOXING MATCHES ALLOWED.
Nicholas Porzio
June 5th, 2009
7:19 am
When I was a kid, we used to take a lot of road trips in the family station wagon. It was great for building the bonds with my two brothers and 2 sisters. We played ‘I spy’ and other roadtrip games. We sang ‘Puff the Majic Dragon’ and other popular songs. Of course every now and then, Dad would have to use the Daddy voice when we started getting on each other’s nerves . Something that happened on just about every trip that stood out: Dad would ask Mom, “did you get the …?” I remember she would say ‘Oh no…” It would be something different each time and we would already be a couple of hours out-of-town so we couldn’t turn around. It’s so funny…it happens to us now…but I always try to go over the list while we are still in the driveway.
Deana
June 5th, 2009
8:01 am
The best family vacation me and my kids ever had was when they were 11 and 13 years old. My parents live in Tampa, Florida, but they were here in Atlanta that weekend so we stayed in their apartment while they were up here. It was the first time that I was able to provide a vacation that money within reason was not option. My dad had got us discounted tickets to Busch Garden. Saturday we got to the park a little early because we had to wait for the parking lot to open. We enjoyed the park so much. My youngest son didn’t like to ride roller coasters so he had to hold all our things. While me and oldest so rode every rollercoaster at Busch Garden that summer. You know how high the food is in the park, but we were able to eat and drink what and when we wanted without having to think about the cost. After we left the park they wanted to go back to the apartment and get in the pool where they spent another two hours in the water. We later went to CiCi’s where they ate until their stomachs were full and slept that night like babies. The next day we started out on our journey early again. We beached hopped that day. We went to every beach from Clearwater/St. Pete to De Soto Park. I am not a big fan of bridges over a lot of water and my kid knew this. So on the way back home I miss my turn to get on the Gandy bridge which I could handle and I look up I was headed for the interstate 275 bridge. I pull over to the side of the rode and started to panic slightly. There was nowhere for me to turn around so I had to hold my breath, grip the stirring wheel, and ride the middle of the road. My oldest son was sitting up front he turned off the radio, told my youngest son to be quiet and we crossed that bridge in silence. When I got off the bridge my heart was racing but we made it and of course you know they turn the radio back on. When we got back to the apartment they head back to the pool again for another two hours. THIS WAS OUR BEST VACATION EVER.