Taking a look at family road trips through 'the ages'

My family is not traditionally a last-minute packing group, but at 8 o'clock on the night before we were supposed to leave on a 15-hour driving trip, we were busy watching the NCAA tournament, tidying up the kitchen, sorting CDs by artist name and color - anything to put off getting ready for an impending 900-mile journey.

One son's need to be in town for two successive Saturday sports events had ensured that the trip would be a quick one. One endless day on the road, followed by three and a half days of family time in Colorado wrapped up with two day-long drives broken up by a planned stay somewhere near Idaho Falls. (Official city motto: "Where great adventure begins … ")

So with a forecast for grim weather, we were having doubts about the advisability of the whole trip, despite the lure of a night in Idaho Falls, a city which, by the way, its Chamber of Commerce claims is "The place to be."

But one son was understandably insistent that staying in town for spring break was not an option, so we considered alternatives that required less driving and fewer days. A mini-holiday to break up the long week.

And then we realized, traveling with our children had become an exercise in meeting expectations that were rising with each passing birthday.

Suggestions that would have flown years ago were greeted with a lack of enthusiasm that we never saw when the children were young and bright-eyed.

A few days in Spokane or Calgary?

For children who grew up in a semi-rural environment and a city with no buildings taller than three stories, there was a time when either would suffice. Any big city was loaded with new and often cheap thrills.

Consider a walk in a typical downtown. Free entertainment everywhere. Skyscrapers! Forty-story elevator rides! Escalators! Public transportation! Hours of amusement and fascination for small children from small-town Montana.

We once spent an evening in Calgary at a botanical garden/art gallery/playground located on the top floor of an office building. It was an unexpected discovery, there was no charge for admission, it was nearly devoid of other people and offered two small boys unlimited running space in a completely new, and thus stimulating, environment. A visit to the same spot would probably consume approximately five torturous minutes of foot-dragging martyrdom today.

On that Calgary trip, we stayed in a posh downtown motel that offered a low family weekend rate, made even lower by the bygone days of an extremely favorable exchange rate for Americans.

Motels used to be a thrill in themselves. Two large beds, side by side, perfect for bed-hopping! A television with, joy upon joys for the cable deprived, the Cartoon Network! And the real bonus - a swimming pool just down the hall! And in the case of the Calgary hotel, the pool was on the top floor of the building, in a room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city, and - what bliss - a long elevator ride to get there!

These days, hotel rooms are nothing but a place to watch ESPN and, within minutes of arriving, scatter every article of clothing in your suitcase.

Remembering how a motel swimming pool the size of one's bedroom used to captivate the boys for hours, it then seemed entirely reasonable to suggest a quick spring-break trip to the hot springs - either Fairmont, U.S.A., or Fairmont, Canada. The water slide at the Montana Fairmont Springs alone used to be a day-long time-filler.

It took one disgusted glance to discard that suggestion. It turns out the thought of visiting either location has become too boring to contemplate.

So by 9 p.m., packing for Colorado was in process. Uninterrupted hours of ESPN at the grandparents' is, at least, free of charge.

Reporter Heidi Gaiser may be reached at 758-4431 or by e-mail at hgaiser@dailyinterlake.com