Erin Akin Carroll

My favorite thing about this summer, so far, is all the time we’ve spent together. Family dinners, days at the pool (all day, every day), road trips, days on the beach, eating watermelon on the porch. We’ve had a lot of time together, and at the beginning of the summer, I was honestly dreading it a little bit.How do I keep a 5-year-old and 3-year-old entertained all day, every day without the help of preschool and other activities? But the simplicity has been amazing. We’ve played outside and gone swimming more than we’ve watched television and played with toys. And being together has been a blessing and not the thing we were dreading.

When I was growing up, we spent a lot of our time in the summer the same way. My parents worked full time, but we took a couple of vacations every summer to the beach or to visit grandparents, and we were always in the car for a good, old-fashioned family road trip.

My parents, my brother and I would load up with our dogs and hit the road. One year we even hooked up a small television to the cigarette lighter in the car and watched movies on our VCR on the way. I can remember hearing and memorizing the entire soundtrack for The Big Chill, and so many of those songs are still favorites. We drove to Orange Beach, Alabama, and to Snowmass/Aspen, Colorado, one summer. That was a lot of time spent in the car. My favorite memories are of stopping at the prairie dog farm in Kansas on the way to Colorado. We got out and played with baby goats.

We’d stop and take pictures in front of the state line markers each time we reached a new state. Those memories are so strong in my mind, and I’m excited about doing some of the same things with my kids. We’ve taken our fair share of road trips with Hudson and Hayes. We drive to Indiana to see my parents, and we drive to the Gulf Coast to go to the beach. We’ve driven to Louisiana and Texas to visit family and friends. And we love making memories along the way.

I love letting our kids listen to our favorite music, and someday they may say it’s their favorite music, too, because it reminds them of those long trips in the car, singing with their Dad and me. I’m so excited because Hudson just returned from a 2-week road trip with my parents where they drove out to Colorado to visit my brother. They hiked and bowled and fished and did zip lines and ropes courses. And they also stopped along the way at fun, kid-friendly stops. I love that they got to have that special time together in the car and make those memories that he’ll keep with him forever.

There’s no better vehicle to bring the family together than the Chevy Traverse. With seating for up to 8^1., everyone in the family can join in on the fun. A 5-Star Overall Vehicle Score for safety^2. helps keep everyone safe on your journey to find new roads, no matter where, or how far, it takes you. And best-in-class maximum cargo space makes packing for family road trips, or hauling around children’s sporting equipment, a breeze. With all these great features and more, there’s no question the Chevy Traverse is the ultimate family vehicle. Learn more at http://www.chevrolet.com/traverse-mid-size-suv.html.

 

1. Standard on LS and 1LT.  Available on 2LT. LTZ seats 7.
2. Government 5-Star Safety Ratings are part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s New Car Assessment Program (www.SaferCar.gov).