That 70's Vacation - Intro

A few months ago, my parents had to figure out what to do for Labor Day Weekend. We knew that my pre-school would start the following week. This trip was going to be the last time (for the next 18 years) where we could get away before I had a state mandated academic calendar that would restrict our family trips.

So my father randomly picked Niagara Falls, given that we didn't want to fly anywhere.

As we started to look at the map, it was going to be a pretty long drive each way, so we decided to break up the road trip by stopping along the way in Pennsylvania and New York.

Of note, a few places on the route were the Poconos and the Finger Lakes before making it to Niagara Falls. Since my father loves finding "themes" for our multi-location trips (Japan/Korea, Germany/France and Italy/Greece come to mind), we dubbed this weekend trip as That 70's Vacation.

Apparently, these handful of US tourist destinations (along with Lake George) hit their peak in popularity during 1970's when East Coast American families would frequent these drive-able destinations and stay in motels. Think Mad Men meets the Simpsons.

These popular 70's vacation destinations even had some pretty amazing kitschy amenities such as heart-shaped Jacuzzi bathtubs for the couples along with their catchy television/radio jingles.

This little city girl was going back in time and into the country!