My family has always loved just “going for a ride” in the car.  I have no tolerance for the kids of nowadays that must have videogames, DVD players or their own music source in the car in order to be content.  I just don’t get it.  Every Sunday morning, our family would go to breakfast, and afterward we would take a ride through a lakefront town about 10 miles down the road.  We’d just drive.  It was the same drive every Sunday. No destination, no variation, no complaints from any of we three children.  It was routine and expected and we loved it. My father picked up the Sunday paper along the way, and we’d divide the comics in the back seat for part of the trip.  But, for the most part, we’d just look out the window and enjoy the drive.  The drive took about an hour every Sunday, and sometime we extended it by continuing to a local nature park about another 30 minutes away, where we’d drive through a wooded area and catch glimpses of chipmunks and deer.  A quick stop at a local market for ice cream sundaes on a credit card would round out the trip home, and our family Sunday drives were some of my fondest childhood memories. 

As an adult, I still love to drive.  I just go for rides to relax.  Every job I’ve had, as an adult, has been over 30 minutes from my home.  The drive in the morning gives me a chance to plan my day, and gradually wind into the frame of mind to tackle the office.  The drive home is relaxing, and allows me to wind down and release the stresses of the day before I return to home and family.  During my lunch break, I hit a drive-thru, and drive around while I eat.  Just looking around, exploring.   Now, as the price of gas has proven to have possible elevations to over $4.00 a gallon, you can’t get very far without a credit card, but it is still worth it to me, and I find myself taking the long way even on required trips, just to “look around”. 

I’m trying to work my children into my fondness for daily road trips.  But they just aren’t quite there yet.  They have to have something to do in the car, and then the trip seems to invariably degenerate into arguing over the things they brought with them to do.  But we’re working on it.