Worn by tedium. Refreshed by travel
Worn. We’ve all felt it at some point in our lives. Worn down by the weight of our obligations, and the mental strain they bring.
Whether it’s a test you’ve got to pass, the stress of looming deadlines at work, or the tedium of taking care of the kids day after day, we can sometimes feel overwhelmed by all of the expectations. All the things we have to accomplish.
I tend to overcommit. And I can get so busy running from one obligation to the next that I wear myself thin. Church is the place where I find rest and nourishment. It’s where I see my friends who are on a similar journey – a journey of raising kids with faith in a world increasingly antagonistic to it.
Like many parents, my life in recent years has to some degree taken on the cadence of the school year. Each summer we’re looking for activities to keep our children occupied. And each Fall Break and Spring Break, we’re looking for a getaway that can educate, inspire and refresh us as a family.
So each school year my wife Michelle and I spend a great deal of time researching new travel destinations and evaluating them in terms of:
Historical significance
Cultural interest
Family friendly activities
This can involve online research and talking to relatives and school families about where they’ve been and what they did there. We keep an ongoing list of places we’d like to visit in time; as our 8- and 9-year-olds grow older, we’d like them to visit the different regions of our country and eventually take them overseas, as well.
Once we’ve selected a destination, we secure our accommodations. Then we create a spreadsheet of the attractions we want to visit, including the website, address, hours and costs.
Freedom, faith and fun in Pennsylvania
A recent example of a trip that combined aspects of faith, history and family activities was a fall break trip we took to Pennsylvania.
If possible, we try to tie our trips into what our daughters are studying in school. Our second grader chose Independence Hall for a school project on U.S. historical landmarks; imagine her delight when she got to visit Independence Hall in Boston a few weeks after completing her project!
We spent months researching our Fall Break trip to Pennsylvania, and ended up breaking it into three segments: Philadelphia, Lancaster and Hershey. Philly would be the historical focus of our trip; Lancaster was a faith-building segment; and Hershey was all about fun.
An important educational aspect is to include all the senses: sight, sound, touch, taste and smell.
In Philly, we walked, saw, and listened to a historical narrative of our county’s birthplace. We visited Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the U.S. Mint, the Betsy Ross House (she was commissioned by General Washington to sew the first U.S. flag), the Franklin Institute (Children’s Health Museum), and rode a double decker bus, ate Philly cheesesteaks at Reading Terminal Market, ran the Rocky steps at the Art Museum, and felt the fresh air on top of the spire of City Hall with the statue of Pennsylvania’s founder, William Penn.
In Lancaster, we rode the steam engine train of the Strasburg Railroad while seeing and watching the Amish farm and harvest their crops. Then we tasted the fruits of God’s bounty in the delicious Amish restaurants. Lancaster is home to the Sight and Sound Theatre, Biblical Broadway, if you will. We saw the live production of “Jesus,” a spectacular show and our single reason for visiting Lancaster. Our accommodations there were at the Red Caboose Motel. You guessed it, we stayed in an old train caboose. Not the most glamorous accommodations, but unique and memorable, especially considering the spectacular sunset along the railroad tracks and the rolling hills of Pennsylvania. A day trip took us to Lititz, a small town 45 minutes away where we visited the Sturgess Pretzel Factory, the first pretzel makers in America. We all rolled pretzels and learned the history behind the reason they are shaped the way they are: to represent folded hands in prayer.
Our last stop was Hershey, home of America’s favorite chocolate. We enjoyed a tasting where we learning to be a chocolate paleteer, designed and formulated our own individual chocolate bar, took an historical trolley tour and learned all about the life of the company’s namesake, Milton S. Hershey. The following day we spent at Hersheypark®, the Hershey-themed amusement park that at the time was all decked out for Halloween – staying from when it opened until nearly closing time.
When we asked my 8-year-old what she liked best about the trip, she said “everything.” So for us this vacation was the perfect getaway from the demands of work and a hectic semester of school. In a matter of months, we’d go on our next family adventure – another break from the stress that seemed to come just in time.
Written by D.S.