Alamo Then & Now: Family Travel from Years Gone By ~ Give Away

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In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I LOVE to travel. It likely has to do with the fact that before I could even walk or talk, I was on the go. Being the child of immigrants, much of our family lived overseas, and that included my grandparents. Every few years, we’d make that jump across the ocean and spend holidays with them. In between those travels we’d squish in the car and head south to Florida or west to the Mountains. Before the days of compulsory seatbelt laws…you’d find us sprawled across the back seat, on the floor, between my parents (those old Buicks were HUGE, they didn’t call them ‘boats’ for nothing)….

We’d play License Plate Bingo, memory games like “I’m going on a trip, and I’m bringing along a…” and then each succeeding person would have to repeat all the items proceeding their turn, we’d read books (and admitedly get a little nauseous doing so), and train like NASCAR Pit Stop personnel when my Dad stopped for gas in order to get in and out of the bathroom and buy some licorice before he peeled away from the station. I have so many fond memories of the travels we took.

One of my favorite memories though is from the summer I was 12. My grandparents were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and we flew over to Germany for the summer to celebrate with them. My parents rented a car and for two weeks, drove us all around the surrounding countries.

We went to Austria, France, and Switzerland. We threw snowballs on St. Christoph Glacier, saw the Eiffel Tower and pretended we were Hansel & Gretel in the Black Forest (which wasn’t too far off, this was before GPS and we were considering dropping breadcrumbs since my dad wasn’t much of a map reader…).

Because of that car rental we got to go see and do so many cool things. I was blessed enough to be able to see Europe, but here in the U.S. there is so much to see too!

Using Alamo for your car rental is affordable and hassle-free (which is so great, because the last thing you want when you’re traveling is hassle, am I right?!). You can find them in a lot of places, including throughout the U.S. (there are 171 kiosks at 63 U.S. locations!), my old stomping grounds of Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Latin America and even in Asia!

It probably won’t surprise you to know that we’ve rented an Alamo car when we’ve gone to Disney World…and guess what? Alamo is the official rent-a-car of Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts. Mice are not included with the cars….but a value-oriented and hassle-free rental is like pixie dust!

Wow have times changed! I look at the picture above from that trip taken in 1985 with a Kodak Disc camera (remember those?!). It’s hard to even Photoshop it to look good. My dad pulled over at the side of the highway and we scrambled up to make some snowballs in the middle of July! I realize we travel MUCH differently now 🙂 Come back in a week and see how my family’s travel is different now as opposed to then and see if you were the lucky prize pack winner!

Alamo provided me with a prize pack of my own as a thank you for writing this post. However, the views and opinions expressed here are purely my own. Published by Tammy Litke.

GIVEAWAY

One (1) winner will receive an Alamo Then and Now Prize Pack ($206.96 ARV), which includes:

  • $100 AMEX gift card, Nikon Cool Pix Camera, “1000 Places To see Before You Die” by Patricia Schultz, 16oz Wake-up Coffee Mug and a Relaxed Old Cap

a Rafflecopter giveaway

300 thoughts on “Alamo Then & Now: Family Travel from Years Gone By ~ Give Away

  1. Hi, Tammy! My favorite childhood road trip…wait, we didn't really do any when I was a child. So does it count if I tell you my favorite one in my whole life? 😉 Our family trip this summer up to the Dakotas was the best ever! 🙂

  2. I remember a road trip to Amish Country in PA that was interesting when I was a kid.

  3. My favorite road trip was when my parents would drive me and my sisters down to FL to visit my uncle who flew planes. He would take us up in the air and we loved visiting him!

  4. My favorite road trip was when my parents took my brother and I on a lengthy road trip from NJ to Florida. We visited many attractions on the way to and from and had such a fun and wonderful time.

  5. My favorite road trip memory is traveling to Walt Disney world with my grandparents and camping in Fort Wilderness when I was 7 years old.

  6. We never really went on road trips. We did used to go camping once in awhile when we were very young.

  7. We took one family road trip to Montana to see an uncle.
    Oh gosh first time I was out of state & it was so exciting!
    Thank you.

  8. We didn't take road trips growing up but I did like going one state over from where we lived to visit another city

  9. My favorite road trip growing up was the 5 day 4 night road trip with my grandparents from Arizona to Wisconsin picking up all of my cousins along the way ending at our family farm for our summer vacation. I miss those days and my grandparents dearly. 🙂

  10. My favorite trip was one to Skegness when I was 7, it rained the whole way there and out tent blew away when we got there but it was fun.

  11. We only went on one family road trip, and it was to Yellowstone! It was amazing, from what I can remember. But I do recall stepping in moose poop in my new shoes!

    coriwestphal at msn dot com

  12. Wasn't my favorite but my most memorable trip was from Virginia to South Dakota sittng in the back of a packed Honda Civic holding a parakeet cage.

  13. Road trip to the mountains of North Carolina, especially to Grandfathers Mt. and the scary swinging bridge

  14. We didn't travel much when I was a kid. I remember taking a road trip from California, where we lived, to Yellowstone and back. I don't remember Yellowstone so much, but I do remember stopping in Idaho to visit relatives.

  15. going from Pittsburgh through Amish Country to Washington DC with my Dad singing Home on the Range the entire time

  16. Mine was like yours. When I was 11, my dad was working in Italy for 6 months and we all flew over to spend a month in Europe. We toured around and saw amazing sites.

  17. We would always go to visit our cousins in Ohio. We even piled grandma and grandpa in the car too. One time the engine overheated and our dad used our koolaid to cool it off!

  18. traveling from SC to Arizona, when I was little to see family seemed like it took forever but it was so fun!

  19. going to myrtle beach, sc with my parents and siblings when we were kids and we went with other family members and we always stopped at south of the border

  20. My favorite childhood road trip was driving from PA to FL to go to Disney World. We made several stops along the way to visit friends and relatives.

  21. My favorite road trip was our recent trip with my 2 boys to go visit my Mom up North for Thanksgiving. It was a fun trip all around!

  22. We took a trip to the Outer Banks of NC when I was younger and had the beach practically to ourselves. I remember it being really pretty.

  23. When I was 7 my family drove from VA to CA, which was awesome! Thanks for the chance to win!
    mrsmchappell at gmail dot com

  24. My favorite road trip was too Kansas City for The Get Up Kids final show when I was 17

  25. We went to Montana and then up into Canada. 2 of us slept in the tent and the rest in the pick up camper. One night we woke up to the ground shaking and tremendous noise— we thought it was an earthquake til we realized we had parked close to a train track and a train was rumbling on by.

  26. I remember one year we drove to Canada and went sledding on broken down potato chip boxes 🙂

  27. We never took long road trips, but I do remember going to Kennywood Park, an amusement park.

  28. My favorite road trip was one I took from Portland to LA with two friends in college.

    Thanks for the chance to win!

  29. Honestly, since we went on long road trips almost every summer when I was small, they all kind of run together. But the one I remember most was when we visited El Paso and San Antonio.

    wolverina401 at gmail dot com

  30. When I was a kid we went on several family road trips, but the one that stands out most was in my own state — Colorado at the time. I was fascinated by the Indian ruins and being able to climb around in them (not sure you can do that anymore), and by what seemed like endless rows of sand dunes.

  31. My first family road trip was back in the late 60's… 3 adults, 3 children. A station wagon headed from Texas to California to visit relatives. My Mom drove staright thru with no hotel stays for sleep (Yikes, it's a wonder we arrived alive) Best memory was going to Disneyland so the horrible drive was worth it!

  32. My favorite Holiday road trip was the year we went to visit our aunt out of town for the first time on Christmas Eve. Even though we got directions off Google, we forgot to ask our aunt for directions and we got lost! We ended up at the party 2 hours late.

  33. I think my favorite wasn't a true roadtrip but a move for the whole family from the west coast to the east coast. Because the whole family was along, we took our time and visited whatever looked interesting along the way. I dug for fossils!

  34. Never traveled far as a kid, but I have a lot of fond memories of weekend holidays at a local lake

  35. Driving to Devil's Hole Death Valley which the Manson family considered crucial to surviving the desert during "Helter Skelter".

  36. I remeber my mom bought a new car and said lets go and we hopped in and went to Niagra Falls. So much fun!

  37. We used to travel a lot too when I was a kid, but then I was an Air Force brat, so it was to be expected.

  38. Driving with my friend from LA to SF and back. We had so much fun taking pictures and finding pit stops 🙂

  39. We would take a road trip almost every summer from California to Colorado to visit family – I loved it!

  40. When I was 5, we drove from Louisville, KY to Orlando, FL and went to Walt Disney World. I think we might have gone down to Miami too, but that might have been on another trip. Disney World was all that really mattered at the time.

  41. I loved to travel from my hometown to the Black Sea by car. It was such a picturesque trip!

  42. We went on a road trip to Mississippi one year when I was young. We got lost for a long time and it took like 3 times the amount of time to get there that it should have. We had a blast though.

  43. Leave a comment telling me where your favorite childhood road trip was.

    moving from ca to la…what a trip

  44. I remember lots of trips up to Spokane, WA where my Grandma lived. It was an 8-10 hour trip, but always felt like such a fun adventure!

  45. We didn't take a lot of trips, but I do recall a nice trip to the Florida beach in Winter.

  46. My favorite road trip was when we were little kids. We drove for about 8 hours to go camping. My mom hated it so bad after the first night. My dad drove us to a hotel the next morning. We loved it! We had a pool and room service. Much better then camping. 🙂

  47. I loved when we would visit my grandparent's farm in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains. Being on the farm was some of my best memories.

  48. Crystal Lake, in Wisconsin, driving up from Chicago, Illinois (the island we were on, in a cottage, was so different than city life for me as a child of ten)!

  49. My favorite childhood roadtrip was to North Carolina to see a friend of the family graduate from boot camp! It was so fun, minus getting stuck in West Virginia on the way back due to a really bad storm!

  50. My favorite was a trip through Europe, from France to Naples, Italy, with my parents and cousins.

  51. My favorite memory was we traveled with my grandparents and cousins in Europe. It was fun to meet up with family from different cities and then headed to the final destination-Provence.

  52. My parents announced we were going to Mt. Lemon to do some sightseeing. After hours in the car they discovered we'd driven to the wrong side of the mountain…and we turned around and went home without ever getting out.

  53. We travelled from Glasgow, Montana to Cocoa Beach, Fl. in 1965. We were a family of six, in a wood-paneled station wagon embarking on new, non-military life. We laughed, we fought, we screamed in terror when my dad barreled around hairpin turns in the switchbacks of the Great Smokey Mountains. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

  54. My favorite family road trip was to Washington D.C., because we stopped in Gettysburg on the way home. As a direct descendant of Robert E. Lee, it was very cool to see.

  55. We drove from the midwest to Arizona every year to see family – I think we have seen every tourist attraction between here and there we could possibly see!

  56. My dad was a cross country truck driver whom delivered huge yachts to marinas across the country. My favorite place to visit with him, even though I couldn't gamble, was Las Vegas. My first trip was back when each casino had its own signature coin cup. I made my Dad walk to almost every casino so that I could get a cup from each. Its a shame I don't remember what happened to those cups but I do remember the times I spent with my Dad on the road.

  57. One summer when we were visiting our grandparents in Ohio, they took us to the Canadian side of Niagra Falls.

  58. My favorite road trip as a child was going with my aunt and uncle to the grand canyon. I flew to Colorado where they lived, but we drove everywhere (pike's peak, mining towns) to see the sites of Colorado.

  59. We drove from Chicago to Florida one year when I was 12 and my sister was 4. She played "Santa Claus is coming to town" over and over and over again on her Fischer Price player and about drove us nuts.

  60. My favorite childhood roadtrip, had to be when I would go visit with my best friend, who moved away while we were in middle school! My parents would take me and meet her parents half way, or visa versa, so we could spend the weekend together! :0)

  61. My favorite road trips as a kid were just packing up all of our stuff and going camping.

  62. When I was six my family told me we were driving the 13 hour drive down to Southern California to see a family friend. It was a wretchedly boring trip, and by the time we got there I was restlessly spent. We were driving through the city when my grandfather told me to read the signs we passed. I was reluctant but began to. The third sign I read said "Disneyland." It was the best road trip of my childhood!

  63. New Mexico was my favorite…but I remember lots of great road trips, like Colorado, Texas, California…we traveled at least once a year.

  64. My favorite childhood roadtrip was our yearly summer in Michigan week. We would drive from Chicago to Michigan over Fourth of July Weekend, leaving in the evening and watching the fireworks from each town, through the car windows as we drove along Lake Michigan.

  65. my favorite road trip was when we went to florida to visit my grandparents and went deep sea fishibg and I caught a sailfish.

  66. Will never forget our trip to Disneyland in California!

    ardy22 at earthlink dot net

  67. my favorite was going to see my auntie in massachusettes as a kid..all but the fact that I got car sick

  68. My favorite roadtrip was actually with my grandparents from TX to Arkansas – we went to a theme park, a family reunion and I felt really excited when we drove down a road between the 2 states and my brother was in Arkansas whilst I was in TX and we were in the same car. Fun memories.

  69. We used to go to a place called Lion's Lake. I was only 6, so the name brought all sorts of images to mind. Since we lived in Philadelphia, it was quite a treat to go to this cedar water lake out in the middle of the Pine Barrens. I can still remember the smell of the pine needles in the sand!

  70. A favorite road trip covered all the national parks in the southwest U.S.A. We accidently left my younger brother at a gas station — which is a fun story told at family parties decades later.

  71. We went to the Yellowstone and it was the most amazing sights I have ever seen as a child.

  72. my mom, sister, aunts and grandma road tripped up and down the oregon coast when i was 13. it was amazing.

  73. We used to drive up to Maine to visit my aunt, who lived in a log cabin up there! That was always so much fun…like a big camping out trip!

  74. My favorite road trip happened when I was ten. We drove cross county to Yellowstone Park and I still remember everything about it.

  75. When I was about 10 my older siblings were too old to go on family vacation so I got to decide a lot of what we did. It was a lot of fun for me, haha!

  76. That picture of you and your siblings is so beautiful and cute! My favorite trip was either when my aunt took me to San Francisco and we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge or when my grandparents took me to New Orleans for [an innocent] Mardi Gras! I would love to travel outside the country. I haven't really traveled as an adult. Anyways, Merry Christmas!

  77. We traveled from Pennsylvania to Florida in a camper – lots of fun!
    cjnedrow at gmail dot com

  78. across Germany from the mountains to the Baltic Sea
    Thank you for hosting this giveaway

    Louis
    pumuckler {at} gmail {dot} com

  79. We didn't take any when I was a kid. My favorite as an adult was going to mount rushmore.

  80. We went to 6 Flags in St. Louis. While we were spending the day in the theme park our car was being stolen. We had to take a bus home. About 120 miles back.

  81. I remember driving to Orlanda Florida, I was so excited to see Disney Worldand to see the ocean for the first time.

  82. When we used to rent a cottage by the beach in michigan every year.Just loved it cause we made some great friends there

  83. We didn't travel much growing up but my favorite trip was when we would go to southern Indiana to see the caves and go to Santa Claus and Holiday World.

    boylaneely at hotmail dot com

  84. we never took road trips, but i hope to make some road trip memories with my kids!

  85. My favorite roadtrip was when my family of 6 (plus cat) drove cross country from FL to CA in 1971 when I was 11 years old.

  86. We took a trip through Gettysburg and Lancaster and stayed at a Mennonite B &B where I got to pick corn and eggs and feed the animals. I loved it.

  87. My favorite trip was to Chaco Canyon about 12 years ago. Along the way, my family and I stopped at Canyon de Chelly, which was by its self a great place as well. But Chaco Canyon was so beautiful, and the trip so memorable that I try to revisit whenever I drive to my parents in Albuquerque, NM.

  88. Syracuse, NY to Johnson City, NY – to visit family, we went all of the time and I loved it 🙂

  89. We drove from Los Angeles to Costa Rica when I was little and it was a trip of a lifetime

  90. My favorite trip was driving back home from my grandparents house with my aunt and uncle in their convertible. That was a great 300 mile road trip. Thanks

  91. I can only remember one family road trip when I was young (except to go to nearby locations to see relatives) –it was to Louisiana and east Texas, and the entire family enjoyed it–except that my father really didn't like being 'hemmed in' by trees!

  92. I grew up on a farm, and we never took trips. But, I would say my favorite times in the car with our family was to go to my aunt and uncle's house for Thanksgiving.

  93. we could never afford to go on road trips when I was growing up. We would seldom go to the beach, so that was always fun for us kids. 🙂

  94. My favorite road trip was to Daytona Beach where we met a friend of mine and her parents for a week on the beach. It was a surprise cooked up by the parents.

  95. My favorite road trip was when my dad took us to Disney World and then Tennessee.

  96. Every year we'd take a road trip from our home to my aunt's who lived about three hours away. It was always a big deal and a lot of fun.

  97. Hello beautiful Tammy, how are you this Christmas Day? Tammy my favorite childhood vacation location was 'Sea-World.' Tammy may you and your loved ones have a very "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ." Thank you always for these opportunities Tammy.

  98. back in the day we traveled from Austin to Galveston, TX. It was awesome because we were in the back of a little campered pick up. It would never happen these days, but we had lots of fun back then.

  99. We didn't take vacations when I was a kid, so my first, and favorite road trip was to Washington DC with my new husband!

  100. My favorite road trip as a child was driving across Idaho with my parents and stopping along the way at places like Never NeverLand and Point Defiance. I tell my kids about it all of the time.

    @cancer_free_me

  101. My favorite trips were always to Brazil. My favorite town to visit there was Tiradentes.

  102. We only went on one trip when I was growing up and that was to Colorado. It was a lot of fun!

  103. Road trip to Seattle and port Townsend wa to visit family. We stopped along the coast on the way up and rose bikes on the sand.

  104. There wasn't many road trips when I was a child. It was shortly after the depression and there wasn't much money for gas. I lived on a farm in a rural area and it was a treat when we could go visit my grandparents in the city, especially during the holidays when the storefronts were all decorated for Christmas.

  105. My favorite childhood road trip was a drive we took from California to Minnesota!
    Rafflecopter: Heidi TextbookMommy

  106. When i was 8 we went to Colorado to see my Brother in the military. It was such a fun trip, my mother and I went down on a train.

  107. My favorite trip was one with my mom and sister to a resort in San Diego. I went to Sea World and the Zoo.

  108. My favorite road trip was the one we took all the way to North Dakota when I was a child
    annabella @ centurytel dot net

  109. Thanks for the giveaway…loved summertime road trips to New Hampshire to visit my Mom's aunt.

  110. My favorite Childhood road trip was to the Oiter Banks in North Carolina! We would go every summer and spend a week! It was AWESOME!

  111. My favorite trip was when my grandpa would take all of us road tripping around Duluth and the the beautiful parks in his fancy van.I sure miss the good old days

  112. Every Sunday my dad would take all of us on a road trip. He always found so many new and interesting places and we would always end the trip with a picnic dinner,

  113. I used to love when my parents took us boys to the beach during the summer when we were little.

  114. My parents hated to travel so we did it only out of necessity. When I was 14 we went with my cousin and his family to visit our grandparents. We stopped to visit several relatives in different states and we had a blast.

  115. My favorite childhood road trip was when we went to Vancouver, B.C. My parents took a wrong turn and we ended up driving all throughout the Rocky Mountains! It was beautiful, and I loved spending that extra time with my family and staring into the gorgeous mountains. My parents said they were about out of gas when we finally got on the right highway, but I sure had fun!

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