My children are counting down to the last day of school! Last I knew, we have six days to go! Like my kiddos, I love summer and all the fun it offers. Campfires, gardening, bicycling, canoeing, fishing, hiking, stargazing, swimming, camping, and so much more! Rarely do we find time to squeeze it all in, but we sure do try! Of all the fun summer has to offer, summer vacation is top priority in our house.

Traveling must be in my DNA, because I have always loved to travel. One of the very first trips I can remember taking was traveling to Minnesota when I was not much older than five. My father loves to fish, and I remember going out on the boat with him. I also remember the weather being rainy and Mom, my sister, and I hanging out in the cabin making Care Bear suncatchers – the first time Care Bears were popular.

When I was seven, I remember going to Colorado Springs with all my cousins and grandparents. We went to the hot springs, hiked, and I fell in love with collecting rocks. After that trip to Colorado, my family went back many times. We visited the Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Estes Park, and more. I look back on those times with such fond memories. My family was able to explore new places because my father was, to put it nicely, thrifty. Rarely did we stay at a hotel; instead, we mostly camped in tents. We ate picnic lunches to the point that I can barely stand the sight of ham-and-Monterey-Jack cheese sandwiches, once a favorite. We often went to parks and natural areas, and occasionally splurged on more touristy, expensive experiences. These adventures gave me the confidence to explore new places and be okay with feeling out of place.

The travel bug never wore off, and I convinced Joe that he loves traveling too! We waited 10 years after getting married to have children because we enjoyed traveling. Honestly, not being able to travel was a fear I had when we decided to have children. So, when my daughter was born, it wasn’t optional for her to miss the adventure.

I still have very vivid memories of our first family vacation with Nina to South Dakota when she was just one year old. Naps were skipped, summer days stretched late, and mornings came too soon. It was 105 degrees in the Badlands: Nina and I cried, Joe looked terrified. We were all thrust into a new situation and realized we needed to set new expectations for our family vacations. Traveling with children can be hard and expensive, maybe easier to stay home, I get it, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are a few things I’ve learned along the way. Take it or leave it.

First, toss out that detailed itinerary. Plan the basics, accommodations, transportation, and a list of activities, but avoid scheduling down to the minute; things will go awry. If the weather’s rainy or too hot, don’t force yourself to stick to the plan. Adjust as needed: 105 degrees? Head to the pool or caves. The best moments often happen unexpectedly, and you may not want to leave. Give yourself time to be present. It’s hard, but those are the memories that last.

The thing I remember most about our South Dakota Trip? A white dish tub. Yes, you read that right, a simple one-dollar dish tub from Walmart. The very tub that we used to wash our dishes, while car camping. It became a staple on the toasty-hot summer days for Nina to have a good time, and my fondest memory of that trip is her climbing in and out of the tub, over and over again, in parks across South Dakota and Wyoming. Her own personal mini pool of happiness.

Second, vacations do not have to be expensive, last a week, or be far away. One of the nice things about living in Iowa is that our cost of living is relatively low. Going out to eat every meal adds up quickly. Plan ahead and create a meal plan. Buying your staple groceries before you go on an out-of-state road trip will save you significant dough. Pack things that are easy to cook, food that the kids love, and foods that will not spoil. Stock up on snacks! Do not go into the gas station every time you stop, because you will be asked to buy something. Along those lines, when taking bathroom breaks, stop at rest stops, not gas stations. A third of the time, rest stops don’t have vending machines; 1/3 of the time, they don’t work; and the other third of the time, they don’t have their favorite candy or treat! This doesn’t mean that you can’t go out to eat, but it does set a standard that you do not have to eat at McDonald’s every time you get hungry and gain 20 pounds on your vacation!

Camping, if you are up for it, is a very affordable way to stay overnight at a new location, usually at half the price or more of a hotel. We usually stay at a hotel every few days, so we are guaranteed a warm bath, a soft bed, a good night’s sleep, and, for the kids, a pool. If you’re not up for camping, then vacations don’t have to be long! We live in a very busy world, and finding a week to escape with your family may be impossible! Adding a Friday or Monday to a weekend can make your trip last three or four days. With our kiddos, we’ve found that when windshield time is longer than out-of-the-car time, folks get edgy. You do not have to travel far to have an amazing experience! There are many amazing places in Iowa to explore. Heck, even closer to home, Marshall County has lots of great spots to discover.

Take advantage of the “Every Kid Outdoors” program, which gives youth and their family free access to national parks from Sept. 1 of their 4th-grade year through Aug. 31 the following year. The student simply completes a short online activity on the program’s website. When Nina was in 4th grade, we used this pass for a road trip through South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. When every national park has a $20 entrance fee, the savings add up quickly. We are already planning another large road trip when Leo reaches 4th grade. Remember, many state, county, and city parks also offer free admission, smaller crowds, great outdoor experiences, and equally impressive views, so explore those as well.

Finally, make sure you adapt! On our first family vacation, we had planned to camp in the Badlands, where the bison roam free, prairie dogs carry the plague, signs constantly warn you to look for rattlesnakes, and daytime temps easily climb into the hundreds. But also one of the most amazing night skies in all of the United States. Joe and I could have easily hacked it, but with a baby, what were we thinking? One look at the “campground”, really just wide-open grassland scattered with Bison poop, and we knew this wasn’t going to work. Okay, actually, we debated it for way too long because we really wanted to see those stars, but reality kicked in, and we adapted. A quick search for a hotel, ice cream in our bellies (because this is also a key to happy vacations), and we were back on track for a great vacation. Just because you plan on doing something doesn’t mean you have to. Have some ideas for rainy-day adventures, have alternative lodging plans if the campground is full, and be okay with knowing you are still with your loved ones, no matter how the day has gone. And for goodness sake, give everyone one grace! You’ll be tired, maybe hungry, pushed outside your comfort zone, but your memories will last a lifetime.

One last story to end on. The night before my grandpa passed, our family gathered around him to say our goodbyes. As he slipped in and out of consciousness, stories of the past happy times bubbled to the surface. That night, I will always remember my mom and uncles recounting their one and only family vacation. Her parents, her three brothers, and she went on a family vacation the year her oldest brother graduated from high school and started college. The whole family loaded up into one car and set off on a road trip across the United States to see the Pacific Ocean. Adventures were had, chased by a bear in Yellowstone, hives when jumping in the ocean, and grandpa accidentally driving through wet concrete at a construction site. And in some of his last moments, grandpa chuckled softly to himself on those memories that had truly lasted a lifetime.

As the warm days of summer sneak up on us, make sure you take the time to create those memories. Not every trip will go as planned. Someone will probably get cranky, a storm may roll in, you might spend too much time in the car, and at some point, someone will ask, “Are we there yet?” But years later, those are often the stories we laugh about the hardest.

Life is busy, and family time can easily slip away while we wait for the “perfect” time, the “perfect” trip, or a little more money in the bank account. But the truth is, children rarely remember whether the hotel was fancy or whether every plan worked out perfectly. They remember catching frogs at a campground, splashing in a dish tub at a park, eating ice cream after a long day, and falling asleep exhausted after an adventure.

The older I get, the more I realize vacations are not really about the destination at all. They are about time together. They are about shared stories that get told around campfires, at holiday gatherings, and even beside hospital beds decades later.

So pack the snacks, take the weekend trip, stay up late looking at the stars, and go make the memories. Even the imperfect moments may someday become the stories your family treasures most.

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Emily Herring is the director of the

Marshall County Conservation Board.