Sprint to the Finish

{This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Sprint}

In 2005, my husband and I embarked on a holiday road trip from sunny Southern California to chilly Vancouver, Canada. We packed up the car with our warm wool coats, cozy mittens, and rainboots. We even bought a set of snow chains for the car--which luckily we never had to use considering that, as Southern Californians, we had no idea how to put them on.

We stopped at a dozen or so places along the journey--from coastal San Luis Obispo to urban Seattle, with lots of stops in between. We stayed at motels, hotels, and on friends' sofa beds. We celebrated the holiday season at a ski resort one day, in a Chinese garden the next. We stood at the top of the Space Needle, drank coffees at the first-ever Starbucks, and ate pastries in a little Bavarian village.

On New Year's Eve, we ended up in Portland, Oregon. I should mention that we had no concrete plans set when we left on the road trip--no hotels booked in advance, no definite plan of where we would be on any given day--so ending up in Portland on New Year's Eve, like everything else about the trip, was completely spontaneous.

We pulled into the city late in the evening, checked into our downtown hotel, got prettied up, and walked to Pioneer Square to join in the cities festivities, whatever they might be.

Unbeknownst to us, there was a big 5k race scheduled for the evening. A gigantic tent was set up and inside the tent were fabulous things--snacks and party favors and sparkly hats--all for the 5K runners. I hate to be left out of any merry celebration involving sparkly things and snacks, even if it does require running, so we paid the fee to join the race. It was a definite case of crashing a party, at 30 minutes to midnight, but they seemed happy enough to have us, especially since Will even sprung for a T-shirt (he couldn't run in a dress shirt, after all).

We joined the crowd in the square, the clock struck midnight, we kissed, and then it occurred to us that we had no idea where the race actually started. Where were we supposed to start the race? After cruising around the square, asking some people, and finally asking a police officer, we were directed to the start line, completely on the other side of the square.

We started the race in dead last.

It had been, like, 10 minutes since the race started. We were in even deader last when we stopped by the hotel to drop off our cozy wool jackets (the course took us right past the hotel, anyway, and wool jackets and running are simply not compatible). Racers were already coming back by the time we really even got started. We ran. I acted dramatic, of course, faux-complaining the entire route. Will, a natural athlete and probably embarrassed to be so far behind in a race, encouraged me to keep on jogging. Keep on! Keep on! Sprint to the finish! (Okay, okay, maybe he didn't exactly say "Sprint to the finish" but I am taking a little creative license here, because so clever! Right?)

I do dramatics well.

Having no idea that we would be running that New Year's Eve, I was wearing a brand new pair of Express denim slacks and a gorgeous pair of velvet and suede loafers. Y'all, I ran a 5K race in a pair of velvet and suede loafers. I almost wore a pair of heels out that night. Can you imagine which what kind of total disaster that would have been?

We finished 782 out of 930. Not bad considering the late start, the stop-off at the hotel, and the velvet loafers (now ruined). Not bad at all.

We continued on our journey, less one pair of shoes but with one more merry memory of a holiday spent on the road.

Also: I got snacks and a snazzy party hat.

I'd love to hear your holiday road trip stories! One lucky road-tripper, chosen at random, will receive a $200 Visa Gift Card from the wonderful folks at Sprint.

To enter, leave me a comment below and share your holiday road trip story. If you prefer, you may leave a link to a road trip post on your own blog in the comments below. The contest will begin at Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 9 am and will end Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 5:00 pm. Please make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.

Rules:

• No duplicate comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by linking on twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
• This giveaway is open to US Residents aged 18 and older
• Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
• Please see the official rules here: Official rules

Visit the BlogHer.com special offers page where you've got NINE chances to win a $200 Visa Gift Card!

Comments

[Debra @ A Frugal Friend]

My most memorable holiday road trip….when I was little we never spent holidays with grandparents. Just couldnt with dad’s job. But one year, we somehow could do it. We were going on road trip and we had to bring all our gifts to open on christmas morning. Dad’s truck was so full he couldn’t see! We had a camper on the back….stuffed!!! My grandparents laughed so hard when they saw us. Memorable though!!

[email protected]

[Stephanie]

My husband and I lived 7 hours away from our family for about seven years, so we spent almost every holiday traversing the East Coast. I suppose our best holiday road trip would have to be the year that he proposed. Both of our families all ended up at my parents' house and were there for him to propose to me. He and his best friend had created mini boxes out of cards. Inside of each one of them, he had written a reason he loved me. That was all in a gift bag with my ring wrapped in a box. It was so sweet and such a perfect moment that everyone got to share. It made the perfect holiday trip since I got to drive back to Tennessee with some new sparkly on my hand!

[Hope]

My most memorable holiday road trip would definitely have to be the time we broke down by the side of the road on the way to my grandparents' house. Actually, we spent most of my childhood breaking down by the side of the road on the way to my grandparents' house. But, this particular time, we managed to get the car to limp along to a (closed) service station. We spent the time waiting for my grandfather to come pick us up playing whiffle ball. I don't know why, but that afternoon has always stuck with me. It should have been horrible, but it ended up being so much fun.

[Kait]

About three months before we got married, my husband to be and I took a trek up to Michigan from our home in Missouri to see all my family. It was a comedy of errors from the start. We had a flat tire, a friend who didn't pick up his phone so we had to crash in a skeezy motel in a shady part of town, stolen wallet, and the highlight - my grandparents kindly doing our laundry, including the rather dirty lingerie I had brought to wear for my almost husband.

But we walked away more ready than before to get married - if we had survived all that, we were good.

[The Maiden Metallurgist]

Our most recent road trip- memorable to be sure!

http://www.themaidenmetallurgist.com/2009/11/ghosts-nazis-and-hotel-room-se.html

[Mami2jcn]

My most memorable holiday road trip was traveling to Houston for Christmas to meet my mom’s boyfriend’s family when I was about 12. It was incredibly awkward. First of all there were cultural differences (the family was Filipino), then it was just weird for me to watch them have their Christmas while I was the outsider. After that trip my mother broke up with the guy, because she realized she liked his family more than she liked him!

[Mami2jcn]

I blogged about this:

http://grand-giveaways.blogspot.com/2009/12/holiday-road-trip-giveaways.html

[Dawn P.]

My most memorable holiday road trip would be one that I took with my mother-in-law many years ago. My husband's birthday is right before the holidays, and she had given him an all-paid trip to the Biltmore Estate for their Candlelight Christms Tour (so it was kind of a gift for me too!). Turns out that my husband already had other plans for his birthday that involved his old high school football team being in the state playoff game, so his mother and I went on the romantic trip together instead. We had the best time - including sharing way too much wine prior to touring the house and spending way too much money in the gift shops. We still reminisce today about the fun we had. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful friend in my mother-in-law.

[Erin]

Every holiday we would drive up to 3 hours to visit family. I'm the youngest of 5, so we would usually end up taking 2 cars. Once I was unlucky enough to get stuck in the car that died on the side of the road - and the other car kept going! It didn't take us too long to get going again, but you can imagine the funny exchange we showed up frozen at the house to find the rest of our family snacking away happily, oblivious to our detour.

[Elizabeth]

The day after our wedding we drove to Memphis so we could spend our honeymoon at Graceland. After 12 or so hours in the car, we pulled up to the Peabody Hotel, the fanciest hotel in all of the South, I think, filthy, exhausted, and wearing pajama pants. No one batted an eye - and that was one of the best trips I've ever had, definitely the best road trip. I can't wait to go back. If for no other reason than to stuff myself full of barbecue all over again. And to see the Jungle Room, of course.

[Rebekah]

The best holiday road trip I've ever taken was Thanksgiving of this year - we were on our way from where we live in New Jersey to my mom's house in Connecticut, and on the way, we stopped at a state park for a hike. On that hike, my now-fiance' asked me to marry him! Best road trip EVER.

(Way, way, way better than the ones I'd have to go on from CT to Maine with my ex-boyfriend to see his family every December.)

[Alena]

The craziest holiday road trip I ever had was in college... for New Years, my friends and I rented a house at a ski resort in West Virginia. We took several cars, and unfortunately I was in the car whose driver printed out directions to the WRONG mountain! We didn't realize it until we were halfway to the wrong mountain, about 4 hours from the correct mountain, and about to run out of gas. And of course, since it was rural West Virginia, late at night, no gas stations were open for us to fill up. So the 6 of us booked a room at a nearby hotel, a very fancy and expensive hotel, and crammed into one room for the night. I'd never been so happy to arrive at the house the next day so I oculd hop right into the hot tub and catch up on my relaxing!

[megs]

Last year it dumped snow and we got stuck at my sister's an extra day. We had so much fun making waffles and playing Nintendo, I was sad when they finally plowed the roads.

[Jennifer Berthiaume]

I just got back from driving to San Antonio, Texas ALL BY MYSELF for Thanksgiving. Okay, okay. So Im' being a little dramatic. My cousins were with me, but they couldn't drive. So I drove 21 hours by myself. And we have some pretty crazy stories as to how they kept me awake. I swear I was sleeping with my eyes open. And I only closed them once, Long enough to almost cause a crash. Luckily, my cousin was there to shout me back to consciousness. I love road trips, so long as I'm not driving. :)

[Janssen]

One time my husband and I were driving from Las Vegas to Salt Lake a day or two before Christmas and we went from sunny and 70s, to blizzard. We ended up spending the night in a teeny, pretty nasty hotel on the side of the highway.

[Mindy]

My best holiday road trip story is when we went Christmas shopping, and for some reason, paid no attention to the weather forecast for the day. When we walked out of the mall later that afternoon, it had snowed several inches and counting! The problem was that we were two hours from home and when it snows here in Missouri, that's a big deal. It took us a few hours just to get out of the parking lot, and the 2 hour trip home ended up being 6 hours long. My poor Mom had to drive 30 mph on the snowy highway with my young brother and me in the backseat! Thankfully we made it home safe and sound, but it was scary at the time. Now we can look back and laugh at how clueless we were to the snow forecast that day!

[email protected]

[Nicole]

My most memorable holiday road trip actually involved the actual day after we got home. I was about five and we had been visiting my grandparents in Florida and we left early to be home on Christmas Day. We left Christmas Eve around 11 PM and got home around 4 AM. My sisters and I were so worried that Santa wouldn't be able to get our presents to the house because we were supposed to have been at nana and papa's on Christmas Day. Well, mom and dad carried us into the house (all of us were asleep) and then spent the night putting the presents out even though it was 4 AM! When we woke up the next morning, we were so excited to see that Santa knew where we were. :)

[Catrisha T]

My most memorable Christmas was the year that my mom and step-dad got married. Between the two of them there were 5 children and thus we had huge extended family Christmas. Any way, on the way to my Grandma and Grandpa’s house my step-dad decided to turn on some Christmas music in the vehicle. Of course the only station he could tune in was one playing newer songs, and so on the 2 1/2 hour trip to their house we heard the “Grandma Got Ran Over By a Reindeer” song about 3 times. Needless to say all 5 of us kids remembered those exact words from that song and only those words. So, when we finally arrived at the grandparents house we were eager to recite some “carols” for them in true Christmas fashion. Our parents were mortified to hear that the first song of our choice was the “Grandma Got Ran Over By A Reindeer” one which we sang over and over again and only that line. Thank goodness Grandma just thought that that was hilarious and laughed it off.

catrisha{underscore}tittle{at}yahoo{dot}com

[Matt]

We travel every year and stay with my in-laws for about a week after Christmas. Christmas day, we visit 2 or 4 family Christmas parties. One year, we didn't get very far...ok, we didn't get out of the driveway, before we got my wife's car buried in a 3 foot snow drift. It took an hour to dig it out. Needless to say, the rest of the day was quite stressful for me because of the way it started.

[Laurie]

We were moving from Atlanta to Pittsburgh the day after Christmas. We made it to WV, when a snow storm hit. We decided to try to find a hotel for the night and get to Pittsburgh the next day. The road signs are not the best in rural WV, so we took one that had a hotel sign. We took the exit and the sign said 7 miles and pointed a direction. By the time we found it, we discovered, the hotel was closed. It was dark and we could not figure out how to get back on the highway.

We took a wrong turn and ended up on a dead end street. We were trying to turn around (big U-haul with car attached) when my hubby drove up on someone's lawn. This guy came running out screaming at us. He called the police. We maybe a foot on his lawn with our truck. The cops came. We explained that we were lost. The entire time the guy is ranting and raving about us messing up his lawn. The cop wrote us a ticket - for driving on the guy's lawn. He helped the guy back inside. The came back out helped us get unstuck, told us how to get to the highway, and mentioned that we should ignore the ticket. The guy was a well-known over-reactor the policeman told us, legally he could not really write us a ticket for being on the guy's lawn.

We thanked him, got back on the highway and decided to go ahead and go to Pittsburgh, WV was too crazy for us!

[Kimberly/Mom in the City]

http://bit.ly/737lSH

[Annette D]

My most memorable holiday road trip was from Texas to North Carolina with our son when he was just a month old. We never imagined that you would have to take so much stuff for a baby! We had to stop every hour or so because I was breastfeeding and to feed him we had to take him out of the car seat. To top it all off it snowed and we had to drive in a blizzard! What a trip!

[Ann A]

My eventful holiday road trip was a road trip to Disney World, Florida from Louisiana with three small kids. Just know, that we stopped a lot for bathroom time. It was a long 10 hour trip that we settled for flying the next time we take a trip there.

brownatural @ gmail dot com

[Ann A]

Tweeted
http://twitter.com/unluckymrsmom/status/6579222328

[another joy]

When I was in junior high, I was in a special choir concert in the middle of the state with another friend. We were there for the whole weekend for rehearsals and everything, and our families traveled together to come see us the last day. We all headed home together and dropped off the other family. Sounds fairly uneventful because it was. ...until my mom was backing out of their driveway and landed ever so slightly in the ditch that was hidden by snow. Yep, the end of the journey was in sight, and we landed in a ditch in the snow. I was so glad to get home after that.

[Jaime]

My funniest road trip story was when I was younger my family and I lived in the Midwest and traveled to CT to visit family one summer. The family we were visiting thought it would be funny to leave seafood tucked away under the seat before we left. The whole drive home everyone was blaming everyone for the smell. We searched and searched but they hid it well. Eventually we decided it must just be in the carpet. It was a few days after we got home that it was finally discovered! Funny for them.... :)
brownfamilyfive at verizon dot net

[Melody]

My most memorable holiday trip was when I visited my friend in Idaho for thanksgiving. I lived in Utah and it was a 3-4 hour drive to get to where he was in collage. The trip up was beautiful, but the trip home was a nightmare.

I had to drive home alone, at night in a terrible snowstorm. It was so bad that the way I could see the road was to turn my headlights off. I drove about 30 mph for what seemed forever and had trucks passing me going 60-70 mph. And Idaho is pretty barren. When I decided that I had better try to find a motel, I took forever to even find a town and there were no motels. By the time I found civilization, the roads were better and I felt more confident about getting home.

Exhausting....but memorable.

[DG]

our craziest road trip was when my sister took over a car trip when she and my mom and brother were moving me up to school a week after the New Year and instead of taking us to my college accidentally drove us back home because she everyone was asleep and she was too proud to use GPS. not funny then but hilarious now! :)

dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com

[DG]

blogged!

http://the-prestigiator.xanga.com/718159313/visa-giveaway-sponsored-by-sprint-and-blogher/

dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com

[DG]

tweeted!

http://twitter.com/DeeGee13/status/6609054303

[Amy]

My most memorable holiday trip wwas one where my dad had decided to take us ice skating and sledding on the property he owned out in the middle of nowhere on the side of a mountain. We took two cars--an old minivan with no snow tires, and my dad's new Jeep. The access road is on the side of a mountain, crosses a bridge, and is frozen solid from October-March every year. We got about 50 feet down the road when the van started skidding. We were on a sheet of solid ice, and the van jacknifed. We were skidding sideways down the mountain, and we were right along the edge of an embankment. It was a straight drop down into the creek, with nothing but a few trees to break the fall. All the kids were crying, my mom was panicking and yelling at us to be quiet, and my dad was standing at the top of the road yelling for her to let off the brakes and steer. The car eventually stopped when a tire hit a rock, and my mom had everyone crawl out the front passenger door (she didn't want us below the car, in case it should begin sliding downhill again.)

We got out and stood on the ice, and my dad hooked the front of the van to his jeep and tried to striaghten it out. He got about halfway there, and the cable broke. The van ended up over the cliff and in the creek! No one was hurt, thank god, but what a day!

Trying to get down the hill in kiddie snowboats was yet another challenge. I was a chubby kid and not exactly a graceful one; I landed on my bottom every 3 steps! I eventually got frustrated and crawled down the rest of the road on my hands and knees. There are pictures of me crawling aross the ice that I still--more than 15 years later--have not lived down!

We did end up having a blast snowtubing/sledding down the mountains for a few hours while waiting for a tow truck. We even made a campfire and had hot cocoa (from melted snow!) and toasted marhsmallows. It was one of the best, scariest, and most memorable holidays of my life. Definitely one the grandkids will be hearing about someday!

[Trisha]

Our craziest trip was a vaction to Florida. My dad was in this low rider faze so we were in this long two door boat of a car low rider (so ugly) It was me my mom and dad in the front my brother sister and grandma in the back. My dad was the kind of guy that wont stop you he just keeps going.So my brother started hollering from the back that he was getting car sick and of course they told him he would be fine next thing you know he was vomiting all over my grandma and sister ohhh the smell! My dad finally pulled over and we got it as clean as we could but I had to switch spots with him and sit back where he just vomited for the next 6 hrs of the trip it was awful!

[Trisha]

I tweeted!
http://twitter.com/Haydensmommy05/statuses/6618728171

[Robin Haws]

We never had to travel much because our family lives so close. I will never forget the car rides home from church on Christmas Eve though. We always knew that Santa had come while we were at church and we'd have presents waiting for us. My brother and I would crane our necks looking out the window for his sleigh and always swore to each other that we could hear the sleigh bells. I still don't know how my Grandpa managed to get those presents set up while we were on our way home from church but, he always did it!

[lily ashley]

2 years ago, my inlaws payed for our vacation to go to be with the in new york for Christmas. since we are a family of 8, they bought us stand by tickets from a relative that works for the airline.
well we took 3 days to pack and like always a couple of hours before we had to be at the airport, everyone remembered they were missing important things that were unpacked without me knowing.
2 hr countdown begins, everyone is screaming to everyone else, looking for things, i cant find my camera that keeps dissapearing out of my purse, and coats are missing. the 9 and 7 yr old girls vote they dont need coats, "hello!!! we are going where there's snow!!!" so 2 hrs later everyone is getting last minute things to put in their carry on bags for the flight entertainment. husb decides its time to check all the fluids in the car. i scream at him and remind him were flying to new york from california, not driving!!! so we make it to the airport late, as always, not to mention that it took us an hour to find a free extended stay parking lot for military, we made it to the desk and we get lectured that since we have stand by tickets we should have been there 2 hours earlier. really!?!?! after all of the bags are weighed we shifted some items around from bag to bag because some bags were over the weight limit and some were way under.
our bags finally get through that ordeal, time to go through security check point.
i strongly believe there should be a line for mommys and kids, keep in mind i have a lot of little kids to help take shoes off and coats and empty pockets and open carry on bags for. people behind us complain loudly about how long its taking, mind u im rushing the whole time flippin kids on bottom and pulling out shoes faster than i can throw them. we finally go one by one through the metal detector thingy, then security gets called to the x ray machine. seems our 5 year old thought it was a great idea to bring his metal cap gun with him in case someone tries to steal the airplane while were on it. many many explanations and apologies later, we are allowed to go through. so obviously we missed the flight we wanted so we had to wait for the next one. omg in a packed holiday airport with a bunch of hyper kids!!!!!!!!!!
we kept making bathroom trips because they clamied to "have" to go, but i know that its because for some unknown reason my kids are fascinated with going in public bathrooms! yuk!!
people would keep staring from all angles at how many we were, and i would hear the remarks and laughs when i would count"1,2,3,4,5,6" ok were all here lets go!"
next flight was readt to take in some stand by flyers, we had choices of sending some of us ahead or waiting for another flight or seperating us all throughout the plane. who in their right mind suggests i let a 2 and 4 year old sit together without a parent near by?!??! kids would come up with new snacks constantly, and i would get answers like "that stranger gave it to me" or "a man said it was ok to have candy" or "that guy with the coat called me over and gave it to me" so more crying from me feeling like i failed as a parent because all of my kids were getting food from strangers. i could have lost 1 or 2 or 3 kids that night. i had many older couples smile and pat our kids on the heads, telling us it would be okay, and that they had been through that many years ago. i was just a ball of tears that night. we finally got a whole row for ourselves and we played hand games, patty cake, rock paper sicssors, made up jokes and stories. we had a lot of fun. after a lot of planning, a lot more praying, plenty of crying, from me, not the kids, after 6 hours, we finally all were able to board the plane, as long as daddy took half of the little ones and i took the other half on different ends of the plane. we then sat on the plane for 3 hours because we didnt have clearance to leave since new york was having snow, go figure!
so me and the kids decided to play phone games by calling daddy and the group, we were playing "guess who" and i spy back and forth with our cells phones.
finally we got the notice and we were off!

this was such a hectic and hard time, but it gave us memories for a lifetime, it has been the most adventourus and fun trip we have had, exept for the flight home where we split up into 3 flight,s but thats another one, lol
[email protected]

[Shawna Alpdemir]

I think my most memorable holiday trip is a toss up between the time my parents, little sister, and me spent Christmas in Paris (cue the Anastasia music in the background right after she exclaims "Can you imagine? Christmas in Paris!") and the time we went to Tahoe, there was a huge spontaneous blizzard, and we were forced to camp down in a small hotel in the middle of nowhere for a week or so.

I remember I got a gorgeous green taffeta dress in Paris. But then again, I got to miss school because of the snowstorm, and I got bragging rights for being in a blizzard.

So, like I said, toss up!

[Robyn]

My first holiday trip with my husband (then boyfriend) we went to my timeshare in Florida. I set the whole trip up and when we picked up the rental car he asked me, "ok, which way do I go?". I just about died! I didn't know and I never thought to print off directions. We just decided to "wing-it" and I said if I could find the big bridge I could get us there. There are a lot of big bridges in West Palm Beach but we eventually found it and made it there. He never got iritated with me and we laughed it off. That was my most memerable trip and the day I knew I wanted to marry him!

[Idaho Jill]

On our way to visit family in Texas when I was young, my dad had to drive fast to stay in front of tornadoes. We didn’t stop, we just kept driving to beat them -it worked, luckily, but I won’t ever forget it! It made the normally 16 hour drive go a bit quicker though!

[Idaho Jill]

blogged here: http://contestsandgiveaways.blogspot.com/2009/12/9-chances-to-win-200-visa-gift-card.html

thanks!

[Idaho Jill]

tweet, thanks! http://twitter.com/idahojill/status/6866366802

[Kathy K]

We dont travel a lot for the holidays as our families are close by. One year we were in Florida and went to a Jags/Patriots football game (he's a jag fan, I'm a pats fan). The Pats won and I enjoyed the win for the rest of the day. We flew home early the next morning. Everyone was so friendly traveling on christmas morning!

[Jeanette Huston]

When I graduated from Boot Camp in the USMC I was so ready to get out of Paris Island South Carolina. I was walking on egg shells. No one thought I would actually graduate. I didn't think I would make it either.

My family greeted me on graduation day with a diet coke and a snickers. It was a feast for someone who spent 3 months without anything slightly edible. Then we were gone. We stopped by Disney World on the way back home to Texas. It was just me, my parents, and Joey. Joey was my younger brother who is now in The Marine Corps.

I paid for everything seeing how I had three months of paydays saved up. We had a blast. We stopped by the beach.

We got home for Christmas. We live in a really small town. Most people are born there, grow up there, and end up spending their whole lives there. So when I came home the treated me like a hero. My whole family was there. I didn't feel like a hero but everyone seemed so proud that I made it.

It was a special Christmas. I was never so happy to see home. It is hard to believe that was 11 years ago. Now it is almost impossible to get everyone back together for the holidays. I will never forget the holiday I came back from boot camp;-)

[email protected]

Jeanette Huston

http://mommyblessingsinsmallbundles.blogspot.com/

[Jeanette Huston]

I blogged this giveaway here

http://mommyblessingsinsmallbundles.blogspot.com/2009/12/1-of-9-chances-to-win-200.html

[Jeanette Huston]

I tweeted this giveaway here

http://twitter.com/gijeanie/status/6911193636

[Anna S.]

My friends and I decided to take a road trip from OK to Dallas and since none of us ever drove there before we got a GPS system to guide us. Little did we know that when we stopped to re-fuel a car we also had to enter our destination again. Our GPS didnt reroute for us and a pleasant lady's voice instructed us to "keep going straight". After about an hour of driving straight we suspected something might be wrong. We consulted a map instead of listening to GPS and found out we were going east the whole time - instead of going south. We almost ended up by the Arkansas border and a trip that was supposed to take 5 hours took nearly 8!!! Thanks GPS!

[Carolyn G]

The most memorable holiday story was when we went to Costa Rica for Christmas. Well because of ticket prices, we decided to come back before New Years. We live in a small town and hve to fly out of Charlotte. SO we got in and we had parked out car at the airport. When we got in there was a storm. We had no idea how bad it would get so we had planned to drive home but couldn't. We found a hotel and had to spend New Years eating dinner at the hotel restaurant. It was a hodge podge of travelers and businessmen and locas who had no where else to go. It was really fun because we all celebrated together in a snow storm.

[Carolyn G]

tweeted http://twitter.com/carogonza/status/6920997757

[Carolyn G]

blogged http://theartofrandomwillynillyness.blogspot.com/2009/12/blogher-and-sprint-1231.html

[mamallama]

We map out all of the McDonalds play places ahead of time and have a system for smooth stopping with 3 kids! I need this blackberry in my life in a bad way!

http://littlellamas.blogspot.com/2009/05/happy-travels-with-kids.html

[ams]

I once was driving from Oregon to Phoenix, through death valley in my 1985 nissan sentra, and the car overheated and the engine got so hot that it actually cracked the engine. Needless to say we were stuck out there for a few hours until a motorist called the police, who called AAA and towed us to the nearest town. I got the worst sunburn of my life and had to say goodbye to the car that day. At least a friend of mine was willing to come pick us up and take us to Phoenix after all!

[Deb Anderson]

Here's a link to my blog with my entry:
http://tnshadylady.blogspot.com/2009/12/roadtrip-down-memory-lane-i-love-road.html

[Deb Anderson]

tweet
http://twitter.com/tnshadylady/status/6955811347

[Deb Anderson]

blog link
http://tnshadylady.blogspot.com/2009/12/reviews-sprint-to-finish.html

[rachel]

One year we drove to NYC to spend Thanksgiving with my in-laws. It is about 3 1/2-4 hours away. Not bad. We got there okay and had Thanksgiving then drove to Coney Island to walk the boardwalk and eat hot dogs. Fun stuff. Since the drive up was fine, we assumed it would go well driving home. No! It took us over 12 hours to get home. Most of the time was spent just sitting on the turnpike or 95. It was nightmarish and ever since we try and come up with an excuse why we can't come up for Thanksgiving.

[Cindy]

We once tried to set out for my parents' house, 300 miles away, in a big snowstorm. With my 1 year old son in the back seat. We figured if we could just make it to northern Virginia, we'd be out of the weather. That was dumb.

We didn't even make it down our driveway! We lived on top of a mountain (still do, but a different mountain) and the driveway was very long and curvy. We slid off the edge of the second curve, had to walk back up to the top of the hill lugging the little one and our suitcases. Sad Christmas, that year. Missed my folks. That was one long trip, huh? Thankfully, we are older and wiser now, and would never attempt such a thing.

[Cindy]

Tweeted: http://twitter.com/Getalonghome/status/6963429178

[Cindy]

Blogged here: http://getalonghome.com/2009/12/sprint-giveaway/

[Courtenay]

A couple years ago, me, my fiance and one of her sisters decided to take a driving trip to New York City to experience it during the Christmas season. We did a lot of the typical touristy things like ride the Staten Island Ferry, visit Central Park and go to Macy's. Plus we stood for a few hours in the very cold weather at the today Show and were on tv with our OSU Buckeye things displayed. It was definitely a fun trip.

[Courtenay]

Here is my tweet for you: http://twitter.com/courtenay27/statuses/6975835309
Thanks!

[Jessie C.]

One of my road trips story- Five years ago on the way to Germany, we ended up spending Christmas Eve at the airport thanks to severe weather. It was a chaos in the airport and totally crazy. The funny part was people (strangers) exchanged gifts on the spot to celebrate the unforgettable holiday.

[Jessie C.]

tweet.http://twitter.com/tcarolinep/status/7054025251

[Jessie C.]

Blogged. http://tcarolinep.blogspot.com/2009/12/giveaway-slice-of-pink-reviews_25.html

[TheAngelForever]

A few years ago we went to visit my brother for Chanukah. They live about 5 hours from us. The trip to them was rather uneventful. The trip home, well it was interesting to say the least. The trip took us 7 hours! We started off and almost immediately realized that we had to get gas for the car. So we stopped at the first rest area to tank it up. While there we heard a rumble coming from the back seat. My then 7 month old son filled up his diaper. Oy! I took him out and noticed he was a little wet. Sure, you betcha. . . diaper blow out. I managed to find a place to change him amid screams and protests of new clothing. We get back on the road and my newly potty trained older son proclaims that he needs to GO! So he chants this the entire way to the next stop. We get there and he refuses to go. He gets inside howls about the blowers in the bathroom and comes back out. We start back up...about 10 minutes later my son says he needs to go potty again. This time I take him in and he says he does not have to go, but is hungry. I take him back to the car for snacks. We go back on the road. Suddenly we realize a pattern. Each time my oldest sees restaurant signs on the highway = a request for a potty break. By the time we were almost home my parents called us. Hubby and I were in hysterics. We could not stop laughing because we must have made at least 6 pit stops for potty, eating, nursing and diapers.

[Shawna OBrien]

I used to live in Hawaii. My Step Brother was a surfer. He wanted to go surfing at Waipio Valley on Christms day, so off we went. To get into the valley, the road is so steep that you must have a 4 wheel drive to make it. Once you get into the valley, the road is basically nothing more than dirt roads throughout. We headed towards the beach, set up camp & were awoken at about 2am with a huge storm moving in. We decided to pack up and get out while we could. However, the dirt road that we followed to the beach was now turning into a river from the heavy rains. We pursued on any way until we got stuck in a large pool of water. We were stuck for awhile and the car was fairly submerged and we were soaked. Eventually a large tour vehicle came by and towed us out. We made it up the steep road and then we made it about 1 mile outside of Kailua and our vehicle completed shut down. I guess all that water from being stuck in the river messed with the electrical system and caused the car to just die. It is amazing that we made it as far as we did. At the time none of this was very funny, but now that I look back it is Hillarous.

[email protected]

[Shawna OBrien]

I used to live in Hawaii. My Step Brother was a surfer. He wanted to go surfing at Waipio Valley on Christms day, so off we went. To get into the valley, the road is so steep that you must have a 4 wheel drive to make it. Once you get into the valley, the road is basically nothing more than dirt roads throughout. We headed towards the beach, set up camp & were awoken at about 2am with a huge storm moving in. We decided to pack up and get out while we could. However, the dirt road that we followed to the beach was now turning into a river from the heavy rains. We pursued on any way until we got stuck in a large pool of water. We were stuck for awhile and the car was fairly submerged and we were soaked. Eventually a large tour vehicle came by and towed us out. We made it up the steep road and then we made it about 1 mile outside of Kailua and our vehicle completed shut down. I guess all that water from being stuck in the river messed with the electrical system and caused the care to just die. It is amazing that we made it as far as we did. At the time none of this was very funny, but now that I look back it is Hillarous.

[email protected]

[Shawna OBrien]

Tweeted
http://twitter.com/ShawnaMichelle2/status/7085308000

[email protected]

[Joliene D]

My best "road trip" was when I came from New Zealand and my husband-to-be picked me up in Cali. & for kicks we decided to drive through "Compton" - Ha, ha right?
There was chains over store windows, people starting fights in the street, random yelling at us (we weren't too sure why) and
every time we stopped at a red light we had people giving us 'looks' & were so worried we would be car jacked that we could not wait to get out of there! The funny thing is - I bet they were just checking out our Utah mini van license plates, and we were just being paranoid!

[Molomatic]

My most memorable holiday road trip took place about 20 years ago. I was driving back to college after spending the holidays with my family. About 8 hours into the drive we stopped in at a gas station and I accidentally left my wallet in the bathroom. It had a lot of cash from gifts and the check for next quarter's tuition!! I didn't realize what I'd done until I was back at my apartment 3 hours later. I panicked and called every gas station in the town where we'd stopped. Of course, the wallet was no where to be found. To my amazement, I got a call in the morning from someone saying they'd found my wallet (they used my drivers license to look me up in the phonebook). Even more amazing was that they were just about a mile from my apartment. When I went to pick it up, everything was still in my wallet. To this day I cannot explain how my wallet got back to me! The people that found it sure had good Xmas spirit to track me down and return it. I will never forget it!

[Anita]

Well, since this happened on Thanksgiving Day 2001, I suppose it would be considered a holiday road trip. We were actually moving from Minnesota to Tennessee for my husband's job change. Unfortunately, we didn't even make it out of our small, rural Minnesota town before having to stop and delay for several hours. The reason? Someone forgot and left the emergency brake "engaged" on our manual transmission pick-up which was being towed by the U-Haul. Had to get two new tires... after finding someone to help us on Thanksgiving day in a town of 3,000. :)
roseinthemorning [at] gmail [dot] com

[Anita]

I blogged about this...

http://anitamartin.wordpress.com/2009/12/27/sprint-joins-blogher/

roseinthemorning [at] gmail [dot] com

[Anita]

I tweeted about this...

http://twitter.com/HSBSuzanne/status/7110542763

roseinthemorning [at] gmail [dot] com

[Mrs4444]

http://www.halfpastkissintime.com/2009/12/travel-gods-are-trying-to-tell-me.html

Thanks for the chance to win!!

[Mrs4444]

I also put a link to your contest from my story:

http://www.halfpastkissintime.com/2009/12/travel-gods-are-trying-to-tell-me.html

[carmen]

For me, it was on a business trip I took that took me and my coworkers to Las Vegas. I'd just bought some new luggage, and I picked it out in a light purple color so that it'd be easily distinguishable from the mass of black luggages on the carousel. We were standing in line at the luggage carousel and I was keeping a watchful eye out for my purple suitcase. Some of my coworkers were making fun of me because it was so bright that they asked how could I possibly miss it? About that time, I saw it pop over the carousel at the other end. Relief! But I didn't see it come around the bend. I kept looking, waiting, watching. No sign. I decided to go toward the other end and as I walked down that way, I saw my luggage being pulled away...by a little girl! Evidently she had the exact same suitcase as me (in the light purple shade!) and thought this was hers. Thankfully I caught up with her and her chaperon to correct the discrepancy but could you imagine--being stuck with a 10 year old's suitcase of clothes?!

carmensechristjunk at gmail dot com

[Eric]

I took a Christmas road trip to Donner Ski Ranch, just up Highway 80. After a day of snowboarding, I headed down to my car, eager to drive home. I was stunned when I realized I'd locked my keys in the car. I called AAA, who came out and let me in, where it became clear that I had actually left me keys somewhere on the slopes that day. In dismay, I called AAA again, who came back to make a new key for my car. Finally, two hours AFTER I was ready to go home, I was able to hit the road, spent and exhausted.

I went back the following year, and the resort had found my keys on the slope during the summer, and had attached them to a HUGE ring of keys from people who had experienced similar loss!

[Adventure Mom Janna]

It all started with a bad haircut, a shirt even a circus clown would burn, and a pair of hot pink Umbro shorts. It was Christmas 1992 and...

Read More

http://theadventureofmotherhood.blogspot.com/2009/12/blog-post.html

[Anne G]

My most memorable holiday road trip was a trip back to college after Christmas break. My mother decided she didn’t want me making the 7 hour trip alone, so she would drive with me and fly back home. It sounded like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately my mom came down with food poisoning about 2 hours into the trip, and I had to drive the entire rest of the way, stopping every 30 minutes so she could vomit or use the bathroom. It took forever, and she was miserable. It has been over 20 years and we still joke about that nightmare road trip. After that she always let me drive by myself, and never offered to come “help” again.

[Anne G]

I blogged about the giveaway
http://lunaj1456.blogspot.com/2009/12/chance-to-win-200-from-sprint.html

[Anne G]

I tweeted
http://twitter.com/lunaj1456/status/7179442562

[pixie13]

The funniest thing I can think of that ever happened traveling during the holidays is the time my dad decided to move us 600 miles from PA to Virginia. We had an early Christmas at Grandma's & left Christmas Eve day. Crammed into this vehicle with boxes of stuff(and a rocking chair tied to the top, can you say Beverly Hillbillies?) was 6 people, including a newborn and a chihuahua puppy.
The truly hilarious part was the startled looks on the faces of the holiday travelers when they saw 3 little faces peering at them from the back windows of an AMBULANCE on the interstate on Christmas Eve.

[pixie13]

tweet
http://twitter.com/pixie13sweeps/status/7182641993

[pixie13]

blogged
http://pixie13-justconteststuff.blogspot.com/2009/12/200-visa-gc-from-sprint-blogher.html

[angie]

Most memorable and funny road trip was when my cat Wookiee was a kitten. He was about 3 weeks old and still being bottle fed, so we had to take him to FL when we went on vacation from WV. We stopped at rest stops to feed him and people would just surround the car and watch and ask questions. He was just a brown ball of fluff and some people did not know what he was. Their reactions were SO funny!

[angie]

I tweeted this giveaway here: http://twitter.com/FotoMacro/status/7195478080

[scott]

LOL funniest memory would be my honeymoon...we were at a waterpark and my wife lost her top...like lost it...gone...she had to run out of the pool and wrap a towel around her and go to one of the park's shops to get a new top!!! LOL

[scott]

tweeted http://twitter.com/RePurrPussed/status/7195442966

[Courtenay]

I have blogged about BlogHer and about your giveaway:
http://courtenayslife.blogspot.com/2009/12/blogher-gives-you-9-chances-to-win-200.html
Thanks!!

[Eve]

I remember that once my extended family went with us to kings dominion. There were children in the care and we stopped almost every 10 minutes because they had to pee. we were so annoyed. [email protected]

[Eve]

http://twitter.com/shopgurl/status/7222103362 tweet [email protected]

[Eve]

blogged blogged: http://sweetqt.wordpress.com/2009/12/31/sprint-giveaways/

[Eryn]

Probably the craziest was when our car caught fire outside of Grass Valley, California, in the middle of August for our big summer road trip to Disneyland. OMG the heat. When we got a tow to the service station, it was like out of a horror movie…a dozen old men on a coffee date stared at us without speaking the entire time we were there. I kept thinking we were done for lol I’m sure it’s a lovely town, but I’m not going back.

[Eryn]

Tweeted here: http://twitter.com/Leighbra/status/7227269834

[Bing]

I'd like to share our road trip to San Antonio Sea World last Independence Day. It was my baby's first long trip in a car, but to my delight, he didn't give me any hard time at all. At my husband's request, I started telling stories to keep him awake while driving. Funnily but not surprisingly, my baby fell fast asleep while hearing my stories, hahaha

[Lydia]

I have a crazy road trip story! My friend had just found out that his father was getting married the next day to a woman he had met a few weeks ago online (but never in person!). The first time the couple would see each other was at their wedding! My friend wanted desperately to try to get to his father and talk him out of what he thought was a bad idea so we drove all night to try to "stop the wedding", like they do in movies! Our trip was ridiculous, exhilarating, but serious at the same time. We got there too late though! (The woman later ran off with all of the husband's money and it wasn't her first time doing this to someone!) It was crazy!

[Lydia]

tweet: http://twitter.com/princessla66/status/7231516059

[Jennifer Berthiaume]

Alisse and I saved up and planned to take a road trip up to Berkley/San Fran to see Benji and because we had never been. In the middle of our drive, we called Benji to say that we'd be late and he said that he forgot he had a paper to write and that we couldn't stay with him after all! So we got a hotel for a night and saw San Fran in less than 24 hours before we drove all the way back and went to UCLA for the weekend instead.

The extended version of this story is here.

[Jennifer Berthiaume]

okay, so that link didn't work. But ill add it in this comment, with my tweet.
Extended super cool road trip story: http://jenniferberthiaume.blogspot.com/2006/10/these-traveling-words.html

and tweet: http://twitter.com/jennbizzle/status/7246528152

[kathleen poling]

Think they'll let you out to pee if you're stuck in the holiday traffic line at the US Canada border for hours and hours? Think again. And then plan your pregnancies accordingly.

[Sky]

My most eventful holiday road trip began December 26, 2006. We drove from our home in North Platte, 4 hrs east to Omaha where we were to catch a flight to Burbank, CA the next day. To be truthful, the action started on Christmas Eve when I had both ears hurting. I knew I had an ear infection, but all of the doctor offices were closed. I suffered through and made it to the doctor on the 26th, barely in time to get out of town at a decent hour. So anyway, the drive down was fine. The next day we get up, head to the airport and board the plane. This was the first time I had ever flown. Yeah. Sick as a dog! Turns out, I’m not a great flyer! We had a layover in Las Vegas and as soon as we get into the airport, I lost my balance and fell on my hands and knees. Then, I got up and made it (in record time) to the restroom…which I got to know real well. Everyone in our party wanted to eat…that was just about the last thing I wanted to do and my husband coaxed me into eating. Then, on to Burbank. As it turns out, the Santa Ana winds were vicious, we had an extremely rough flight…and I cried the entire time. It was horrible. We did finally make it to Burbank, and on to our destination of Disneyland…and the entire trip I had motion-sickness. Car, plane, bus. Uggghh. It sucked.

It wasn’t until we got home that I realized why I was so sick. I was pregnant. After suffering from infertility for 6 years, we were finally adding another little one to our family. While being sick like that was bad…it ended up being a blessing. My daughter Paige is now a 2 year old who lights up my life!

[email protected]