Vacation and road trip planning has changed over time. Back in the day, the Rand McNally Road Atlas was the number one travel planning tool to bring on your roadtrip. Of course, that was before Google Maps and internet search engines. Our family spent hours looking over the atlas before a trip. We discovered the most scenic route to drive, measured distances with the handy distance guide in the back of the book and look closely for highlighted state parks (hoping they had cabins). We sought out accommodations near water (a lake, river or beach) with scenic overlooks for overnight accommodations.
I remember a particular road trip back from our annual family camp in Arkansas. We could have driven the entire 12-hour trip home, but instead my sweet husband said “pull out the atlas and let’s find somewhere along the way home on the water”. So we drove to DeGray Lake, outside Hot Springs. The lakeside, family-friendly DeGray Lake State Park was the perfect stay for a hot July 4th weekend. In subsequent years, we would also explore Greers Ferry Lake and Lake Ouachita. The latter quickly became the family-camp-way-home weekend stay tradition (a vacation after the vacation).
This blog is dedicated to get you READY for your trip through research. Get SET for your trip by executing every aspect of your vacation before you leave (most of the time); and, get inspired to GO on scenic getaways ANYWHERE!