My extended family is gathering this weekend in Maine, and I am off to join them in a few days. Thinking of making the now short, but previously long annual trip to Maine brings memories of traveling in the big family station wagon to visit our grandparents. That trip was something we prepared for for weeks. My mom would seal all open packages of food in the cupboards and clean the house. My dad was in charge of making sure the car was ready for a long trip - washing it inside and out, checking the 'fluids' and so on. My brothers and I would carefully consider and reconsider what we would be sure to take, since we each had only one small suitcase that we could take. The best part of the preparation was going to the bookstore and selecting one book each for the trip - we were gone the whole summer so library books were not an option. We tended towards collections of comics: BC, Peanuts, Pogo. My mother would get a few magazines. My dad didn't get any since he drove the whole way, of course. We weren't allowed to look at the books or magazines until we were actually in the car and on the road. I can remember sitting in the dark car (in the middle of the back seat on the hump of course) waiting until it got light enough to see the pages. We set out as soon after 4 AM as possible, so it was quite a wait. Of course the book was read in the first couple of hours, leaving the next 6 - 8 to travel games like trying to find all the license plates for all the states (no trucks allowed) or racing to do the alphabet from signs along the road (you can do the whole alphabet driving through Worcester either way).

When I started traveling with my own children, then driving the even longer trip from Pittsburgh, PA to Maine to visit the next generation of grandparents, I followed the family tradition - but thought about the voracious appetites my kids had. We went to the bookstore (didn't want to risk forgetting the library books in Maine) and got stacks of books - 5-6 each kid at minimum. The books had to last the whole trip there plus the few days before we could hit the local library. We would leave the books in Maine and get another batch to travel home with. It resulted in a nice library of books there in the cottage in Maine, waiting for our annual visit, inviting us to revisit books we had enjoyed a year or two before, these new books joining old favorites from my childhood - (I read An Old-fashioned Girl the very first night every year). Books are a big part of travel reading still for me, but I acquired my mother's habit of always taking magazines.

There is nothing more comforting than traditions. We embrace them, build on them, and hand them down to the next generation. I am sure my kids will just assume that they need to stock up on books for a trip with their future families - my son stopped on his trip north and had a bunch. This time of year, I see many families coming onto the library to stock up for their trips. More movies than books nowadays, but maybe that is part of that family's traditions. As long as they continue to think of including the library as part of their tradition, I won't quibble.

Book: The book of new family traditions, by Meg Cox
Book: Travel with children: 101 games and ideas to make family travel fun for everyone, by Mary Rodgers Bundren
Movie: Fiddler on the roof