I’m sure you’ve seen, or at least heard of, “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” You know, the movie where Chevy Chase loads up the family in their station wagon and shenanigans ensue while they’re on a great American adventure. Well, that just happens to be one of my dad’s favorite movies.

When I was growing up I was lucky enough to take many family roadtrips, three or four of them out west. When I say “lucky” I’m not being sarcastic. Sure, when I was a teenager I wasn’t thrilled about being cooped up in a vehicle for a 12-hour drive, but at least I had the entire third-row seat of an SUV to myself.

Looking back, the times when I was most miserable were some of the best memories I have. Like the year we started out with the intent of staying in Colorado Springs for a week, but instead decided to drive north through Wyoming, checking out Mt. Rushmore and Wall, South Dakota on the way home. Or the time we visited Tombstone, Arizona and got enough Wyatt Earp trivia to last a lifetime.

Hold it. Who am I and when did I get so old and nostalgic?

I dug out some of my favorite photos from those trips and posted them below. Unfortunately, I haven’t posted anything from my first trip out west to the Grand Canyon. I shot everything with a 35mm SLR that year and I haven’t converted them to digital yet.

Feel free to post your favorite Griswold-style family vacation memories in the comments! I’d love to read them. Enjoy! 🙂

I love this accidental shot through the clouds going up Mt. Evans.

Cathedral Rock

The boys were nice enough to hold their fire until I got this shot.

Oh, yeah. That wasn’t even the half of what we did in that Jeep.

One of my favorite scenic shots from Rocky Mountain National Park.

My all-time favorite desert shot, taken in Saguaro National Forest.

These sandstone formations were in the middle of a cow pasture somewhere in Kansas.

Yes. That is a skeleton wearing a cowboy hat driving that car.

The road going up Pike’s Peak

Yes. The Big Nose Kate’s Saloon.

Ascending Mt. Evans