It's been more than 20 years since Marilyn Lobert has traveled to the Delaware shore or a historic site like Gettysburg or Fort Knox in Kentucky with all five of her children. Even so, she remembers those fun-filled summer vacations as if they happened last week.

	Stacy Innersty, Post-Gazette illustration Click photo for larger image. Related articles New products to take along on the trip Overstuffed pleasures: Sandwiches rule as roadfood

"Oh, it was great!" says the Richland grandmother, who works as a registered nurse case manager at Highmark. "We took them to all different kinds of places."

Yet if those final destinations bring a smile to her face, so do the lengthy car trips that got them there. No matter that three of the kids always ended up getting carsick or that a baby inevitably would be teething -- Mrs. Lobert and her husband, Adam, would load the kids into their three-seat station wagon, strap bicycles and coolers filled with frozen meat on top, stuff suitcases and sacks of cloth diapers between their feet and -- heads counted and picnic basket packed -- take off.

"If you wanted to go somewhere, that's what you did," she recalls with a chuckle.

Little has changed in the years since the Loberts vacationed as a family. According to the American Automobile Association, some 38 million American are traveling 50 miles or more from home this Memorial Day weekend, with the vast majority -- 84 percent -- taking those trips by car. And many of us will go a whole lot farther later on this summer: the top driving destinations for Western Pennsylvania include Ocean City, Md. (734 miles roundtrip); Myrtle Beach, S.C. (1,375 miles); and North Carolina's Outer Banks (1,028 miles).

With gas prices fast approaching record-breaking levels, you'd think families might scrap any plans for taking to the highway. But even at $3-plus a gallon, cars are still the cheapest way of traveling, notes Bevi Norris, spokeswoman for the AAA office that serves Western Pennsylvania. As a result, the family road trip remains one of the most quintessential rites of childhood and parenthood.

To lessen the pain on the pocketbook, says Ms. Norris, many travelers are not expected to go as far or to stay as long as they would have. They're also using more online tools to estimate costs and to budget, such as AAA's fuel cost calculator. This nifty device (www.fuelcostcalculator.com) can tell you how much you'll spend on gas going from Point A to Point B, based on your car's make, year and model.

	Tips for your trip Make sure you stop every so often, even if it's just for a few minutes. Take jump rope, a Frisbee or a soccer ball for exercise at rest stops. Or let them run around the playroom at McDonald's. Pack a bag or backpack for each child with stickers, cards, books, hand-held games and activity books. Pack some special "surprises" for the little kids, and dole them out every so often. It'll give them something to look forward to. A tired kid is a cranky kid. So take pillows and a blanket so kids can snooze when they've had enough. If everyone will be watching the video player (except, of course, the driver), you might consider buying a car cassette adapter that allows for "surround sound"; if not, individual headphones are a good idea. And don't rule out books on tape -- here's your chance to catch up on Harry Potter. (To cut costs, don't forget that libraries provide books on tapes, and many have improved their selections.) Don't forget the snacks, but avoid anything too salty or sugary. And don't forget paper towels or wipes for easy cleanup. The last thing you want to do with kids in the car is to have the car break down. So make sure your car is road-ready. Check the air in the tires, add wiper fluid, and throw a flashlight and a first-aid kit in with the luggage. -- Gretchen McKay

But what about the pain inside the car? You know, of the "tell him to stop touching me" or "I gotta go to the bathroom" or "are we there yet?" variety. What can be done to alleviate that?

Much depends on the age of the children and how many of them are squeezed into the back seat -- and how comfortably. (Bucket seats make for less complaining than bench seats.) But generally, the more things kids have to do to pass the time while driving, the easier it'll be for everyone to survive it.

Today, portable DVD players and MP3 players help relieve the inevitable boredom of travel, along with handheld video games and electronic versions of solitaire and poker. But old-fashioned games and activities can work, too.

One of Mrs. Lobert's favorite ways to keep the peace, for instance, was give the older children a roll of quarters or dimes and then demand a coin whenever they misbehaved; whatever money was left when they got to the beach was theirs to spend. She also brought jump ropes for exercise at rest stops, chalk boards and erasers for drawing and individual boxes of animal crackers so no one had to share at snack time.

The kids so enjoyed these activities, she says, that even the "Pittsburgh Pukers," who in those days before Ziploc bags had to relieve themselves in a portable potty, always managed each trip without too much of a fuss -- even when Grandma or their two American boxers came along for the ride.

Not that every excursion was completely stress-free. Mrs. Lobert recalls one particular ride to the shore during which the children were so wound up that she ended up crawling into the playpen they'd set up in the back of the station wagon to catch a break.

"It was certainly an adventure," she says, laughing. "I wouldn't have missed it for all the world."

Amy Devenzio of Mars is another who wouldn't dream of going on a family car trip without making sure her children had something fun to keep them occupied. Each summer, she and husband Dave run basketball camps in nine cities across the United States, and they always take their two youngest daughters with them.

When they were toddlers, says Mrs. Devenzio, who teaches fifth grade at Hosack Elementary, she would make the girls paper crowns and take along a bag of fake jewels. If they behaved, every 100 miles or so she would give them a jewel to paste on; when the crown was filled, they'd get a prize. Or, she would do as her own parents did and travel at night. As they got older, she turned to coloring and connect-the-dot books and videos (always new, so they wouldn't get bored), along with old favorites like the license plate game.

"But that doesn't last for long if you're not on a busy road," she says with a laugh.

Now teenagers, her daughters settle in with iPods and a DVD player, while Mrs. Devenzio opts for books on tape.

John and Tracy Knabb of Wexford, who will spend the entire summer traveling cross-country in a 40-foot Winnebago with their five children, prefer their children to use their imaginations. Each of the children, who range in age from 10 to 4, is getting a digital camera so they can take pictures of whatever they find interesting throughout the day. Once parked for the night, their parents will print out the photos, which will then be pasted into a scrapbook along with ticket stubs and other pieces of memorabilia.

"That will keep their minds going during the day, on what they want to photograph," says Mr. Knabb.

Some parents try to make the trip go quicker by giving their children a map and having them follow the route with a magic marker. Or, they allow the kids to choose at least one activity per day. When Jim and Lorraine Berner of Bethel Park travel with their three sons, for example, they always make sure the trip includes a stop at an amusement park and miniature golf course.

But even with a set itinerary, they always allow for a little flexibility. On a trip to Mount Rushmore in 2001, for instance, they added a factory tour of the General Motors plant in Janesville, Wis., that they didn't know about until they drove by it.

In addition, they always make sure their sons have some input into the planning since not everyone likes the same things. That 10-day trip to South Dakota, for instance, was born out of son Justin's love of geography. (Their scheduled stop at the Jolly Green Giant statue in Blue Earth, Minn., conversely, was hers.)

Mary Anne Kilburg of McCandless, who will travel with her husband, Eric, and their four children by minivan to see his family later this summer, keeps the kids focused with sticker books, hidden picture books and Brain Quest books. She also swears by card games, such as Discovery Toys' "Wiz Kidz" game, and special treats like mini Toostie Rolls and licorice twists, which she passes back to the kids via a small basket attached to a folding yard stick (it fits under the front seat when it's not in use).

"It's amazing how many times someone will start to whine about being tired or bored, and I offer a Tootsie Roll, and they forget what they were complaining about!" she says.

Most parents agreed that kids will go along more happily when they feel they have a voice in the process, and as a result, everyone will have a better time.