On family trips we keep a travel journal. We've been doing this since 2001 and now have a stack of notebooks we treasure. There's no right or wrong way to do it, and our journals have changed some since we started.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXD-fW7L4qgJxB1jdC2LOgLZmAuXc2yxk5fcrVQK0VUE8Pab-6ldd1WWkCoo6zAGetUNAbir6nt8_iWSppabdBqmTOiVT-e2JiL38rLuFm-clCiWE5oXTBUtkY61tQGaKbW34vOw/s400/Etsy0530-1.jpg)
Our basic format is to do a page for each day of our trip, with drawings, quotes, observations, or ephemera from the day's activities. And we always write down the day's mileage, whether it's an 800-mile marathon out West, or 15 miles moseying around a national park.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhtkeg4X_Qg93EI1VOP0oK4urjWuEZ1d4QNsrY-8j2SxxEl3MK9BPzgGpCbMijKq1KCBzWucDNPWOUBfIz6jQopj-6wYimq9us_qZUF0TeV-JIHKnL2dExCJaHKx5N2VzUyllF4A/s400/Etsy0530-2.jpg)
The trip book is where you put the postcards you just had to buy in the Redwoods--who could resist that slug?
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixEtKK1zfjqJxlO8L6DIB1Jq8qGfEhVApyQrgU8nX9FYglNIRad5s1jpGa5LSBObSaJx7XSBdrTnx3AjLE92j2k2qWjNjaygra602FzYIxxr_oq3T5VU9t1oCmfgPKDrd_BwBWEw/s400/Etsy0530-4.jpg)
It's a place to record the most awesome things, the things you might want to come back to with your own children. It's great to have a set of rubber alphabet stamps with you in the car, to make things look better.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjChvp8uIGZNTaWrLZeTkKniktLOaqql7ic7P5vaDEtOQgycCy3GtVkws-apdiDSohkZXWytKphhXAEvRbuteTwH60BIbNfwzq_NeROni_7HG9us9Vnqlc5o8IzgVwSG-9x2cnR_w/s400/Etsy0530-5.jpg)
Everyone is welcome to contribute, and I love to see what they think is important:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizUr9X1oS1iIT7JfT3wziyEBHhi8L7TMQgTDrWtPS-w_wn4SeTIzYlnAcdlSCfmEx6E6rccVMQN7P7FBTzKxYNy91La_6I0J-pQsGnKGVMF-Ijw9NYVo-YQZu-1DY_JVoYQVE0DQ/s400/Etsy0530-3.jpg)
Practical considerations:
• Choose heavy paper. Spiral lies flat; bound is sturdier. A little bit of a trade-off. We found a notebook that alternates heavy watercolor paper with bond paper for written notes. Perfect!
• Pack Prismacolors with a sharpener, black pens, watercolors and a brush, scissors, tape, and a glue stick for souvenirs.
• Alphabet stamps and an ink pad.
• A running list of birds and animals is a great page to include.
• Loosen up. Let the kids at it however they want. It will be priceless.