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But the Grand Canyon was the best

When my Dad came back stateside from Taiwan, my Mom flew to McDill with my baby sister and my Dad bravely undertook to show my brothers and sisters and me (the six of us, ranging in age from 7-14) the US. We landed in Oregon and he bought a station wagon. It was 1968.

We traveled down the Pacific Coast Highway. We stopped at places along the way and picked our own corn and fruit, and ate ourselves sick, literally. It only took one day of driving in a car with six spewing kids to reinforce to Dad the importance of washing produce before eating it. We discovered Kentucky Fried Chicken.

We learned our family history. We visited relatives along the way, including a great aunt in San Francisco and my great uncle in Burbank, a movie star, and my Dad's brother Pick, who worked for JPL on a contract for NASA. We saw television in color and in english- great shows like Rat Patrol, Mission Impossible and Star Trek.

We saw giant redwoods and went to Disneyland and yes, Tiajuana, and then started west to Florida, stopping at the Grand Canyon and sleeping under the stars in the desert.

We had left a land of starving people, open sewers and bomb shelters. We knew we were in paradise. At the height of the Viet Nam war, we were the proudest, most patriotic family you've ever seen. I'd like to give the same experience to my kids, but without them enduring life in a third world country, they just don't get it.

The Pacific Coast highway make ALL backseat riders sick: Too many hours and hours of constant and irregular swaying around curves and turns.

The front seat people can "see" the curves ahead - so their mind and internal ear balance anticipates the forces. Also, they can "see" more and so don't get a dizzy.

The ones in the back seat can't see up, have limited side views, and keep getting forced into left and right turns.

(Speaking from one who has clean food "urped" up all the back seat (and passenger laps!) from babies and teenagers in the back seat!

Not a pleasant topic, I'm afraid.

But a very, very beautiful road as well.

Not too many exists: So even if you feel ill, you can't "exit" the road and go some place else. Until you've driven more hours around more curves for more and more hours!