Planning a vacation with two generations — parents and kids — can be tricky. Planning a vacation with three generations — grandparents, parents and kids — can be daunting.
Here are three first-person stories about multigeneration vacations, as recounted by Associated Press reporters.
Road trip
Some of my happiest childhood memories are of the road trips I took with my grandparents, mother and brother in the 1960s.
One year we made a loop through the Pacific Northwest; another year we visited national parks including Yellowstone and Grand Teton.
I remember the unreal blue of Crater Lake and the well-thumbed AAA guide that steered us to inexpensive motels.
After my daughter was born, it seemed natural to return to three-generation vacationing. In the past five years my mother, my daughter and I have crisscrossed much of the United States.
We’ve been to Colonial Williamsburg, Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone — again. We’ve been to the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.
My mother, a historian as well as the captain of our expeditions, has aimed to balance kid-friendly activities with the historical and cultural attractions she craves.
A museum one day, a trail ride the next. It hasn’t always gone smoothly, but it’s been fun.
Williamsburg’s 18th-century re-enactments were right up my mother’s cobblestone alley. My daughter was 8 that year and her attention wavered, but a promise that the following day would be spent at a water park kept grumbling in check.
We went to Mount Rushmore in 2008. I had not seen it and was suitably awestruck. My daughter thought it was cool.
Earlier this year, we visited Tennessee and the Civil War battlefields of Stones River and Shiloh. Exhibits and ranger talks brought wartime heroism to life, though my daughter’s attention, once again, flagged.
But she liked the zipline course at Ruby Falls, near Chattanooga, and all of us enjoyed the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway, which has a 72.7 percent grade.
We stayed at the Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel, where the lobby is the city’s lovingly restored historic train station and you can eat dinner in a repurposed dining car.
Karen Matthews
House rental
As an American, I’m used to the “If it’s Tuesday, this must be Belgium” style of travel, running frenetically from place to place.
But when the British side of the family proposed spending two weeks relaxing on a rustic property outside a small town in Tuscany, it sounded idyllic.
We were 20-odd family members and partners, from an 18-month-old to an 87-year-old.
We stayed in three stone houses atop those lovely Tuscan hills, 45 minutes from the nearest big tourist attraction, the medieval city of Siena.
We had no plans, other than swimming, reading, cooking, eating and spur-of-the-moment excursions if we felt like it.
Days were spent mostly around the pool, which occupied a gorgeous spot overlooking only fields and more hills. There were occasional trips into town to shop for food, get a morning coffee or an afternoon gelato, or to hook up to the Internet (no Wi-Fi at the house).
We divided into teams, each team responsible for meal duty one day each week. The team would do all shopping, cooking, serving and cleanup. And everyone else would relax, knowing they soon would have a turn.
We cooked all our meals in an outdoor kitchen that boasted a wood-fired grill and ate on a stone deck. Dinners were long and leisurely, always with a few bottles of nice Tuscan wine.
Nobody watched television. We talked, played cards and read books, though I have to admit my young kids did hog the iPad.
We brought the kids into Siena for an afternoon stroll one day, then came back ourselves — just parents — to see the art and amazing mosaic floor of the cathedral.
Our young daughter enjoyed seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which has been shored up, but still leans. And they all loved Bomarzo, a 16th-century “Park of Monsters,” full of scary stone sculptures.
We held an evening talent show. Nobody got a pass; everyone had to have an act. We had three judges, “American Idol”-style, and cream pies to throw at the judges at the end.
But the biggest surprise for me was the time to read. I actually read an entire book: “Life,” by Keith Richards. Cover to cover.
Jocelyn Noveck
Cruise
My brothers and I had not shared a vacation since we were kids. Now we were grown, with eight children from 12 to 27 between us, all standing on the deck of a cruise ship as it pulled away from Seattle, headed toward Alaska.
The weeklong trip had something for every generation, starting with the spectacular scenery.
My mother paced herself, going ashore to visit a glacier and a bald eagle habitat but skipping other excursions to rest aboard the ship.
My brothers and our wives tried different things from whale-watching to sea kayaking to visiting the art galleries and gift shops in port towns.
On the ship, diversions ranged from photography classes to a talent show to an Elton John tribute act. My younger brother even won the ship’s blackjack tournament.
The seven grandchildren went on many of the same trips, but what they enjoyed most was the freedom to roam the ship, eating what they wanted when they wanted it. Prepaid all-you-can-drink pop cards made the younger ones feel like big shots, and they’re a bargain compared with paying by the glass.
My daughter, then 17, said there could have been more activities for teens. The club and game room on the Holland America ship were aimed at younger kids.
The cruise lines are trying to fight the image that they appeal mostly to older people by adding new entertainment acts (Norwegian brags about the Blue Man Group), amusement areas complete with a carousel (Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas), rock climbing walls, 3-D movies and other attractions.
A cruise is a good option if there are family members who have limited mobility. It also eliminates the need to pack and unpack every day, yet the scenery changes with every destination.
Big ships tend to have more activities, and they have a range of room sizes and prices, an important consideration for many multigeneration family trips.
We gathered as a family for dinner, just as we did years ago at home. It’s those memories of spending time together that will endure long after the excursions have ended.
David Koenig
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