Adventures in travel with your grandchildren

Want the adventure of a lifetime? Travel with your grandchild! You will get to places you never thought possible and really enjoy them.

The easiest way to do this is with intergenerational travels through Road Scholar; I was given this gem by Marcia Byington. There is a program in every state and a program for every interest. What makes these programs special is that they are geared to grandparents and grandchildren in different age groups (For example, 8 to 10 years old). Therefore, younger children are not in a group with teenagers. The programs start at about age 8, which is an age most children can bear to be away from home.
The purpose of these intergenerational programs is to encourage bonding between grandchildren and grandparents. They often live miles apart: grandparents in Florida and the grandchildren in Minnesota! When the grandchildren get to teenage years, Road Scholar offer stravel abroad in Europe, Africa and South America. The catalog of the intergenerational programs is extensive.

For those who don’t want to travel in tour groups, there are plenty of other opportunities. Seeing Yellowstone in the winter is an unbelievable experience, getting up close to bison and traveling in a snowcoach.

Thought about dogsledding? New England Dogsledding in Bethel, Maine is an easy, enjoyable ride from here. There you can feed, harness and mush the dogs and travel through the White Mountains with just the sound of the sleigh sliding over the snow.

If you’re interested in another winter experience, a must-do is to spend a night in the Hotel de Glace in Quebec. Built every winter in a different location in Quebec, it melts in the spring. Imagine sleeping on a block of ice, snuggled in a sleeping bag on top of a fur pelt. Make reservations early (August); package deals are available.

The best reward of traveling with your grandchild is that you have an opportunity to get out of your comfort zone. You too can travel down a zip line at Olympic Park in Park City, Utah, river raft the Grand Canyon, track wolves in Minnesota and fly a Katana over Salt Lake City.

Visit these websites for more information: Road Schola, roadscholar.org; New England Dogsledding, newenglanddogsledding.com; Three Bear Lodge West Yellowstone, threebearlodge.com; Hotel de Glace, hoteldeglace.com.