Family Vacation Tips

Road Trip: 10 rules for an unforgettable fun family driving vacation

I can think of no reason to be in Texas in July and August. Which is why for the past several years, our family has taken a three- to four-week-long summer road trip.

Decadent? Insane? Affordable, even as gas prices continue to rise?

All of the above.

Although I can easily work on the road with my laptop, my husband, who grew up flying first class as a Delta kid, is no fan of the extended road trip and has grown-up job vacation. So he usually meets us in one city and flies out of another two weeks later.

Here’s a rundown of our first four trips, which started in 2009 when the boys were 9 and 12.

Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, upstate New York and Niagara Falls — 3,395 miles, 33 days, 11 states for a little less than $3,600.
To and around Florida — 3,052 miles, 23 days, five states for about $2,600.
New Mexico, Colorado to South Dakota (I promised a college friend back in the ’80s I’d someday visit him and had to make good), North Dakota, Minnesota, Chicago, St. Louis — 12 states, 23 days, 4,731 miles for about $2,500.
Up to the Northeast and Canada last year — 19 states, 6,015 miles, 31 days, 19 states and way over budget at $4,500 (things like Broadway shows and whale watching in Maine are not budget friendly, in case you were wondering).

This year, we’re headed west: San Diego, Vegas, Zion National Park, Grand Canyon and Sedona. Without random detours — and there will be random detours — Google maps puts this one at just under 3,400 miles.

My kids have been to most of the continental United States, and we plan to knock three more states off the list this year. I’ve intentionally left Nebraska and Kansas to them. Their spouses and children can thank me later.

Why, you (and most of my sane and sober friends) ask?

Because, at ages 13 and 16, my kids request it. Because driving is always cheaper than flying. And because this is a sacred time. I believe the family road trip with teens and pre-teens is a lot like the family bed of their younger days. It’s cozy and creates a family unit, regardless of whether everyone’s comfortable or not.

With those thoughts in mind, here are my 10 rules of the road trip, most learned the hard way:

1. Never eat at a chain restaurant
We broke this rule a couple of times one summer to satisfy my 10-year-old’s new love affair with Shoney’s. And we may relax the rules a bit at the end when we’re just trying to get home. But it’s a mistake.

One summer, we drove from Key West to Clearwater. After surviving an alligator tour by a sixth-generation Everglades City native, we were starving. We drove around, searching for options, and finally saw Curry Creek Cafe in Nokomis on the west coast, across from the Cheetah Flooring Outlet.

I was expecting small-town cafe, BLTs and the like. I wasn’t expecting David Arbuckle (the chef-owner who chatted us up a couple of times during our meal and has been written up in theNew York Times) and his wife, Rofi, whose Indonesian heritage inspired their menu. That’s a treat that can’t come in a bucket or an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet.

Tip: Never, ever eat at a restaurant with pictures of its food out front. That never works out well.

2. Put the kids in charge of the money
When I traveled around Europe in my 20s, I had a budget of $30 a day. I kept meticulous notes in a small notepad about what I spent each day. I have the kids do the same thing, keeping track of all expenses and averaging them out so we can see how we’re doing.

Our budget is an average of $115 a day (lower when we’re camping in Kentucky or staying at a friend’s beach house, higher when we’re seeing a Broadway show in New York City). Suddenly, the kids are fine to eat in or pitch a tent when we get close to busting budget.

It becomes a game. The highlight of this way of traveling is the $0 day, as perfected on that trip to Europe. It is pure budget traveler joy.

3. It’s always preferably to pay to do instead of paying to sleep
Rule 3b: There is no shame in Motel 6. On our Florida trip, we stayed at the Motel 6 (or just The 6, as we like to call it) twice on the way there, a boatel in Key Largo, a hostel in New Orleans and two more Motel 6s on our way home. All told, we spent $224 in lodging for our three-week vacation.

Friends in West Palm Beach were going to be out of town when we were there, so they offered their house. A friend in Key West gave us her apartment for a long weekend so we could crash there. And a family from church offered us their beach house near Clearwater.

How lucky and thankful are we that instead of spending thousands of dollars on lodging — or skipping the vacation entirely — we were able to parasail, see dolphins, snorkel and play on some of our country’s best beaches?

Now, I’m not promoting mooching. But if the opportunity arises, staying with someone or at someone’s place is a much more local way to travel. And the free aspect certainly is a bonus.

4. Always listen to the locals
Any chance you have to ask a local — a friend or the girl pumping gas next to you — where to eat, play or shop, you should listen. Our friend in Key West got us a half-price parasailing just by walking in with us and saying hi to her friend who worked at the watersport business. She also took us to the best crêperie outside of Paris.

Traveling low to the ground, as Rick Steves would say, makes for the best kind of travel.

5. You need a rest day at least once a week
This may involve a few hours of Shark Week, a trip to a bookstore, laundry, chess or general lazing about. Yes, vacation time is limited. But this will keep you sane during all the days of snorkeling, whale watching, lunch with friends and national park visiting. Rest is the idea on a vacation, right?

6. Travel days suck
This is something I learned on my six-month trip to Europe. As I told the kids on the day we drove from Key West up to Clearwater, “Any fun we have today is just bonus. But don’t expect it.” Surprisingly, it was a wonderful day. But don’t get used to it.

Travel days often have more than their fair share of yelling, pouting and grumpy attitude. They are what they are so set your expectations somewhere between root canal and moving day.

7. If you’re just eating to sustain life, eat — and drink — in
Sure, we eat some fabulous meals while on the road. But one night last summer we had an amazing meal on the porch under a rainbow for less than $20. Ribs, okra, Brussels sprouts, a nice Riesling for us, Jamaican ginger ale for the kids. You can’t get DQ for four at that price if you go out.

8. Be creative with the math
When budgeting for a trip, few people consider what they would spend if they were at home. We’d be eating, doing at least a few fun things and using gas even if we were at home. So items like that come off the top of the budget from the start. Makes the total a lot more palatable.

9. Visit friends along the way
Not only does this help with rules No. 3 and 4, it just makes the trip more fun. Some friends are obvious. But look up anyone you know and at one time in your life enjoyed spending time with.

My ex-boyfriend’s sister’s husband taught my kids to snorkel one summer. Weird? Maybe. But it was a great time. There’s little better in life than watching your old friends hang with your husband and kids — like different chapters of your book all coming together for a beautiful finale.

10. Pick a road trip theme song
In our case, the song is often chosen by my rap-loving oldest son, so it isn’t family-friendly. Past road trip theme songs have included Usher’s Yeah and Tech N9NE’s Caribou Lou (for our Florida trip, natch).

My husband will someday use this as evidence against me should we ever end up in family court. But whenever things get tense in the car, I crank it up. And the road trip memories brought up by a good beat and inappropriate lyrics continue long after the trip odometer stops.

I can’t tell you how many bad moods have ended by playing these songs on a grumpy Tuesday in mid-February and the laughs they bring when we randomly catch them on the radio.

Their spouses and children can thank me later.

On an 18-hour drive from Niagara Falls, the boys entertained themselves for hours with a string and a small bottle of maple syrup. Replicate that on an airplane.

Photo by Dawn McMullan

On an 18-hour drive from Niagara Falls, the boys entertained themselves for hours with a string and a small bottle of maple syrup. Replicate that on an airplane.

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Houstonians welcome

First look at new boutique hotel now welcoming guests in Montrose

Photo by Julie Soefer

The Hotel Saint Augustine has opened its doors.

Montrose has gained a new saint. Long associated with luxuriously quaint boutique properties, the anxiously awaited expansion of Austin-based Bunkhouse Hotels to Houston has finally arrived. The undeniably chic Hotel Saint Augustine may be sparkly and new, but with the succinct efforts that went into the seamless introduction of its presence in the neighborhood, it’s purposefully difficult to notice.

Thankfully, Hotel Saint Augustine lacks what all Bunkhouse properties lack — the gaudiness and unapproachability typically associated with high profile luxury hotels. It’s comfy. Located near what is arguably one of the most serene and lauded museum parks in the country, The Menil Collection, Hotel Saint Augustine’s buildout is so successfully unassuming that the line of which property is an amenity to the other begins to blur — and that’s the goal.

"In the design of Hotel Saint Augustine, we were inspired by both the adjacent Menil Collection and the surrounding neighborhood. The architecture of the hotel references the gray palette of the Menil Collection and the low-rise, residential scale of Montrose,” Lake|Flato partner Chris Krajcer tells CultureMap. “Drawing inspiration from the early modernist houses of Louis Khan and Rudolph Schindler, the architecture is very quiet in spirit, balancing a composition of solids and voids. We crafted the site as a succession of buildings ordered around a series of courtyards, so that the guest experience is one of being immersed in an inviting garden."

Spread out over two acres, five buildings, and expertly curated green spaces, the utilization of muted brick, raw wood, and black steel, catwalk-style elevated walkways allows Hotel Saint Augustine to feel like an extension of its neighbors: The Menil Collection and The University of Saint Thomas.

Upon passing through the main entrance into the courtyard, visitors will notice fragrant Douglas Fir clads the underside of all overhead structures, permeating the air during any time spent on the property.

Notably, the courtyard and Augustine Lounge are open and accessible to the public — you don’t have to be a guest to show up and hang out. The aforementioned Augustine Lounge is comprised of a multitude of seated gathering areas, including an elongated common table with seating to match. This space, along with all others within the lounge, has been designed with an intention for actual utility—it is not for show.

Once engrossed in the space, one can feel the intention. Comfortably-upholstered vintage lounge furniture populates areas around work spaces, one-on-one seated table nooks, a walk-up lounge bar, and 70s-era seating beneath an ambiance-setting, reel-to-reel tape deck confirm that the Augustine Lounge is a legitimate “third place” for the neighborhood. The vibe is decidedly a good, old-fashioned throwback to the original Montrose mantra: show-up, get comfortable, stay awhile.

“For us, Hotel Saint Augustine offers a chance to become part of a neighborhood that deeply aligns with the Bunkhouse ethos,” Bunkhouse senior VP of design and development Tenaya Hills says. “Montrose, and by extension, the Museum District and Houston at large, foster an incredible sense of community, of creativity, of old world and new. We wanted to create a place where everyone could come and feel as welcome and inspired. As the next iteration of our Saint hotels, we aim to provide the same unique feeling of seclusion, of permission to be indulgent, and, most of all, completely at ease.”

Bunkhouse enlisted architectural firm Lake|Flato for this project, accompanied by New York and Wyoming-based Post Company for interior design, with Ten Eyck taking charge of the landscaping. Award-winning Houston chef Aaron Bludorn is at the helm of the highly anticipated Perseid restaurant, which will be open all day, seven days a week beginning in January and also accommodate Augustine Lounge and in-room dining. While the hotel is mainly named in honor of the patron saint of printing and sits across the street from the Menil Drawing Institute, Perseid is aptly named after the annual meteor shower that peaks during — you guessed it — the month of August.

The architecture of Hotel Saint Augustine reflects principles of famed Houston architect Philip Johnson, who was the architect for The University of Saint Thomas, as well as the personal architect to John and Dominique De Menil, while the hotel’s interior is a very intentional nod to the De Menil’s personal interior designer Charles James. James and Johnson were famously as fond of one another as Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Yet, here they are, paired once again.

Guests of the 71 room hotel may be delighted to learn that over 50 percent of the mostly courtyard-facing rooms and suites have either balcony or terrace spaces, complete with ceiling fans for Houston’s oftentimes stagnant summer days. Speaking of summer days, the quaint circular pool can be heated as well as cooled. Those who opt for a a dip in the pool will find it refreshingly cool.

Rooms and suites (starting at $429 per night) offer opulently-upholstered velvet beds with crisply-pressed and embroidered white linens. Whimsically-upholstered furnishings solidify the cozy atmosphere throughout the rest of the property. Bathrooms turn moody with the introduction of shiny, deep-green tiles, bullnosed marble, and glistening chrome hardware fixtures. Marquee-style vanity lighting intentionally mimics that of the primary bathroom of Dominique de Menil, while thoughtfully wall-hung shelving is provided for storing personal items. Elegantly subtle in scent, in-room spa products are by Los Angeles-based, woman-owned Klur. Aside from the furnishings and the seamlessly integrated minibar and fridge, guest rooms are noticeably stark in hopes of engaging a guest’s subconscious — go explore.

Perched above the future Perseid sits the treehouse-like ballroom. In addition to its 1,850 square feet, there is a 1,200-square-foot pre-event space as well as a 260-square-foot balcony. In total, the ballroom can accommodate 130 seated or 250 standing guests. The mostly glassed-in space offers courtyard views.

Landscape architects at Ten Eyck worked alongside Hempstead’s The John Fairey Garden for years cultivating mostly native plants that will provide lush views year round. No one should worry about the large pecan tree that vastly predates the hotel; it remains in what is now the courtyard and is poised to collect an entirely new generation of fans.

The well-curated retail and check-in space of Hotel Saint Augustine’s lobby is designed in juxtaposition to the other public-facing spaces. Bright red, high-gloss, cubist shelving encapsulates the expertly-mitered Calacatta Viola marble desk that is central to the room. Alongside the somewhat expected offerings of coffee table books and branded accoutrements lie gilded boxes of jewelry, interesting accessories and objets, as well as branded, bright blue tennis balls for any very-welcome four-legged hotel guests to enjoy.

Hotel Saint Augustine chose Louisville-based Miscellaneous Goods Company to provide “Grayhaven,” which will be the signature scent for the hotel. The incense is a combination of moss, pine, and saltwater scents that lend themselves to a decidedly “rich guy library” vibe. The best part about this very singular scent is that when greeting friends for a meal at Perseid, one won’t need to share that they’ve just strolled over from pre-drinks at Augustine Lounge — they’ll already know.

Photo by Julie Soefer

The Hotel Saint Augustine has opened its doors.