It's that time of the year again for a summer road trip. The car is packed, the kids are buckled in and Mom and Dad are excited to start making some new beach summer memories with the family.

The kids can't wait to make sand castles and swim in the hotel pool and Mom and Dad are looking forward to eating at their favorite seafood restaurant and relaxing in the lounge chairs under a large brightly colored umbrella on the sandy beach and forget about life for a week.

In the south we have many choices of beaches to visit. You can head to Gulf shores, Alabama or Florida to visit sandy white beaches. 

Heading to the beach has always been a tradition in our family. You get up at the crack of dawn, get in a already over packed car and hit the road in hopes of seeing lots of sunshine on your trip.  It does rain sometimes at the beach, but most of the time it's just short showers, that come in quickly and leave just as fast.  There are times when the rain sets in and the weathermen start huddling together and start talking about hurricanes, but here in the south when vacation arrives rain is usually the last thing on our minds and deep down we hope the week we have picked for the family vacation will be sunny.

Heading south to beach is in itself an adventure.You never know what small town will open up a specialty gift shop or place  to eat, that you can visit and then add to your places to always stop at in the future on the way to the beach.

Basically that is how most trip traditions get started, someone in the family has stopped at place of business and was deeply impressed by its array of things to buy or eat, that once back home someone told someone about it and now we all have to stop there.  Funny it may not really be that good, but its "tradition" to stop by on the way to the beach!

Going to the beach is really a family affair in the south. You have to make your summer pilgrimage at least once a year in order to have something to talk about with far away family members, when they come to visit in the winter months.

Driving back home isn't as always as exciting, then the going down trip.The kids have sunburns and Mom and Dad are sad that another vacation has come to the end and now they have to return back to the every day life of work again. Once you get back home and wash what seems like tons of clothes and try to clean out the sand out of the car seats and floors, you have to smile because as you walk back to the house you hear your husband talking to a neighbor over the fence discussing the latest trip to the beach with the family. He has a exictement in his voice as he describes how wonderful the seafood tasted and the sand this time was so white and you couldn't ask for better weather.

You smile to yourself as you head in the house and think you can't till the next beach trip! This next time you will  have to stop and try out the new doughnut place for breakfast. The memories of beach vacations are indeed priceless.

https://www.gulfshores.com/#sm.0000hgiv43hd9cyjqg027np4s8i3s

http://www.visitflorida.com/en-us/florida-beaches.html