This article was originally published in the June 2015 Issue of VRAI Magazine. 

As you begin to plan out road trips and embark on new adventures this summer, don’t forget to pack a journal! Sure, you can document plenty of sights on your smartphone or digital camera, but writing down the details of the day helps you capture even more. Some of my favorite childhood memories come from our annual family vacations. We criss-crossed this country, stopping at all sorts of landmarks and sights, from The National Mall in Washington D.C. to the St. Louis Arch to the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings in Colorado. Along with the rolls of film used to capture our stops (because this was long before smartphones existed!), I always kept a journal, taking time each day to record how many miles we’d driven, the sights we’d seen and the stories we’d heard. Though I never evolved into much of a scrapbooker, I kept brochures, ticket stubs, and maps of all the places we toured and visited.

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