Last August I went on a road trip with my family - my parents, two brothers and my sister-in-law. Six adults in a van traveling from Minnesota to Colorado and back. We made the 14 hour trip in one day (each way), leaving at 6 a.m.
Shortly after the trip started I took a photo and posted it on Instagram with the hashtag #familyroadtrip and the idea came to me that it would be fun to document the entire trip in that way. I took pictures, wrote captions and posted them. At some point along the way I thought it would be fun to make a mini album using all of those posts, which kept me motivated to continue documenting the journey.
Once we got home I ordered photos using Persnickety Prints. Since it was fall and Christmas shopping was on my mind I decided it would be fun to make an album for myself and also for my family members that were with on the trip (a total of four albums). While I waited for the photos to arrive I went through my Instagram feed and wrote down the captions I had used. Then I printed each caption along with the hashtag on a piece of white card stock, rounded the corners and added a piece of washi tape for some added interest.
The albums were a hit at Christmas and were really fun to make. Here's a look at some of the pages from the album:
We had an unfortunate incident involving the police in South Dakota that resulted in a traffic ticket. While he was talking to the driver (who shall remain nameless but may have been my older brother) I snapped a quick photo and hoped that my iPhone wouldn't be confiscated. The caption for this photo reads, "Rut Row. A little snag in our journey".
Several hours into the trip I was a bit restless and . . . bored. The company was grand, but a person can only spend so many hours in a vehicle before they just want to get out. The caption for this photo was, "I. AM. SO. BORED." But it was sunny, so there's that.
We talked for quite a while about the proper hand-on-wheel position. It's the kind of conversation that may last just a few minutes on a regular day, but when you have hours + hours together in a vehicle you tend to go a little bit deeper into the conversation. That is the blessing of road trips, and also the curse. The caption on this photo was, "Quite the 10 & 2 debate going on in this car".
Eventually I reached the end of my rope and just want to BE THERE. I used a napkin to write out my plea, HELP ME! The caption on this photo was, "Another 1.5 hours?"
At one point my parents were in the far back seat and I was in the middle seat. I looked back and they were both intently looking at their iPhones. Oh, technology. The caption on this photo was, "I wish they would quit playing on their phones and talk to me".
The last photo I posted was of the rearview mirror to signify the end of our trip. The caption on this photo was, "The sun is setting behind us as we finish the final leg of our journey".
The albums I used were 4" x 4" We R Memory Keepers mini albums purchased online, white Bazzill card stock and the Calibri font. I typed the captions in Word and used the drawing tool to add the lines above and below each caption. I created the first caption page and then used it as a template for the rest of the pages so that they were all the same. I like consistency and I don't like to recreate the wheel, so this approach worked well for me.
Having this little album is a great way to remember our road trip, and it made a quick but meaningful gift.
NOTE: The captions pages are very clear in person but a little blurry in these photos since they were in page protectors.