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Are We There Yet?: The Golden Age of American Family Vacations
When TV celebrity Dinah Shore sang "See the USA in your Chevrolet," 1950s America took her to heart. Every summer, parents piled the kids in the back seat, threw the luggage in the trunk, and took to the open highway. Chronicling this innately American ritual, Susan Rugh presents a cultural history of the American middle-class family vacation from 1945 to 1973, tracing its evolution from the establishment of this summer tradition to its decline.
The first in-depth look at post-World War II family travel, Rugh's study recounts how postwar prosperity and mass consumption-abetted by paid vacation leave, car ownership, and the new interstate highway system-forged the ritual of the family road trip and how that ritual became entwined with what it meant to be an American. With each car a safe haven from the Cold War, vacations became a means of strengthening family bonds and educating children in parental values, national heritage, and citizenship.
Rugh's history looks closely at specific types of trips, from adventures in the Wild West to camping vacations in national parks to summers at Catskill resorts. It also highlights changing patterns of family life, such as the relationship between work and play, the increase in the number of working women, and the generation gap of the sixties.
Distinctively, Rugh also plumbs NAACP archives and travel guides marketed specifically to blacks to examine the racial boundaries of road trips in light of segregated public accommodations that forced many black families to sleep in cars-a humiliation that helped spark the civil rights struggle. In addition, she explains how the experience of family camping predisposed baby boomers toward a strong environmental consciousness.
Until the 1970s recession ended three decades of prosperity and the traditional nuclear family began to splinter, these family vacations were securely woven into the fabric of American life. Rugh's book allows readers to relive those wondrous wanderings across the American landscape and to better understand how they helped define an essential aspect of American culture. Notwithstanding the rueful memories of discomforts and squabbles in a crowded car, those were magical times for many of the nation's families.
The first in-depth look at post-World War II family travel, Rugh's study recounts how postwar prosperity and mass consumption-abetted by paid vacation leave, car ownership, and the new interstate highway system-forged the ritual of the family road trip and how that ritual became entwined with what it meant to be an American. With each car a safe haven from the Cold War, vacations became a means of strengthening family bonds and educating children in parental values, national heritage, and citizenship.
Rugh's history looks closely at specific types of trips, from adventures in the Wild West to camping vacations in national parks to summers at Catskill resorts. It also highlights changing patterns of family life, such as the relationship between work and play, the increase in the number of working women, and the generation gap of the sixties.
Distinctively, Rugh also plumbs NAACP archives and travel guides marketed specifically to blacks to examine the racial boundaries of road trips in light of segregated public accommodations that forced many black families to sleep in cars-a humiliation that helped spark the civil rights struggle. In addition, she explains how the experience of family camping predisposed baby boomers toward a strong environmental consciousness.
Until the 1970s recession ended three decades of prosperity and the traditional nuclear family began to splinter, these family vacations were securely woven into the fabric of American life. Rugh's book allows readers to relive those wondrous wanderings across the American landscape and to better understand how they helped define an essential aspect of American culture. Notwithstanding the rueful memories of discomforts and squabbles in a crowded car, those were magical times for many of the nation's families.
252 pages, Hardcover
First published June 12, 2008
About the author
Susan Sessions Rugh
4 books1 followerSusan Sessions Rugh is associate professor of history at Brigham Young University and author of Our Common Country: Family Farming, Culture, and Community in the Nineteenth-Century Midwest.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 4, 2016
I was born in 1955, and every summer when I was growing up we would always pack up the station wagon and the trailer and set out to explore the American West. Sometimes it was the ocean beaches or Cascade mountains nearby, but every other summer we'd take a major road trip to the Rockies, to California, to the desert Southwest. This book brought back so many memories...roadside tourist traps, National Parks, crowds in some places, solitude in others. We avoided the worst aspects of Industrial Tourism, but I can still remember the traffic jams in Yosemite, people feeding bears from their cars in Yellowstone, highway "museums" whose goal was to unload plastic crap souvenirs.
I also remember the magic places in between the overcrowded and overused attractions. I remember swimming in mountain lakes, sunset over the Pacific, the smell of sagebrush, deer in a fog shrouded meadow, the sound of car wheels on gravel roads. I remember small towns without a national chain store in sight, county fairs, historic sites and museums, hiking trails, fly fishing. I remember the nights with no light but the moon and the campfire, a time when no gadgets beep and rang and whirred for our attention, days and nights of books and board games and fun powered by imagination and muscle.
I remember it like it was yesterday because it was yesterday (or at least last Sunday). The values I gained on those trips have lasted a lifetime, and I still hike and camp and travel the West. It's easy to look back on that era and criticize the huge cars, the tourist treadmill and the futility of trying to get away from it all while taking it all with you, but it taught a lot of kids to love nature, kids who grew up to fight for the environment in the 70's and beyond. We travel more wisely now, with less impact, but we owe a lot to those old tin can tourists and station wagon pioneers that introduced us to the world beyond our town.
For any baby boomer who grew up camping, "Are We There Yet?" is a well written look at a major turning point in American culture.
I also remember the magic places in between the overcrowded and overused attractions. I remember swimming in mountain lakes, sunset over the Pacific, the smell of sagebrush, deer in a fog shrouded meadow, the sound of car wheels on gravel roads. I remember small towns without a national chain store in sight, county fairs, historic sites and museums, hiking trails, fly fishing. I remember the nights with no light but the moon and the campfire, a time when no gadgets beep and rang and whirred for our attention, days and nights of books and board games and fun powered by imagination and muscle.
I remember it like it was yesterday because it was yesterday (or at least last Sunday). The values I gained on those trips have lasted a lifetime, and I still hike and camp and travel the West. It's easy to look back on that era and criticize the huge cars, the tourist treadmill and the futility of trying to get away from it all while taking it all with you, but it taught a lot of kids to love nature, kids who grew up to fight for the environment in the 70's and beyond. We travel more wisely now, with less impact, but we owe a lot to those old tin can tourists and station wagon pioneers that introduced us to the world beyond our town.
For any baby boomer who grew up camping, "Are We There Yet?" is a well written look at a major turning point in American culture.
December 2, 2014
The author introduces the book by describing how she and her sisters sat in the back of the family camper as they headed west toward Yellowstone. Apparently the girls weren’t that keen on having their card game interrupted to catch a glimpse of the Tetons. While she was headed west I was headed south at the time. My dad tried to keep my sister and I occupied in the back seat by plugging a TV into the cigarette lighter. If you grew up in the 50’s or 60’s you’ll find a lot of this pretty nostalgic. Rugh goes into great detail about the standard family road trip: the types of travel games that could occupy restless children, the stuff Dad had to do to get the car ready and the type of food Mom would bring along for the ride.
But the book isn’t all fun and games. Rugh describes the obstacles that black Americans faced when they too wanted to be part of “The Golden Age of American Family Vacations.” For black families on a road trip through unfamiliar territory, they never knew if they would find a motel that would accept them, a restaurant that would seat them or even a restroom they could use. Rugh documents how the response and protests of black families to this discrimination played a role in the eventual passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In doing research for a series of blog posts I’ve read several texts on the history of American vacations recently. This one is the breeziest read and the one that is most likely to interest a broader audience. Not all history professors are good writers. Rugh is.
But the book isn’t all fun and games. Rugh describes the obstacles that black Americans faced when they too wanted to be part of “The Golden Age of American Family Vacations.” For black families on a road trip through unfamiliar territory, they never knew if they would find a motel that would accept them, a restaurant that would seat them or even a restroom they could use. Rugh documents how the response and protests of black families to this discrimination played a role in the eventual passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In doing research for a series of blog posts I’ve read several texts on the history of American vacations recently. This one is the breeziest read and the one that is most likely to interest a broader audience. Not all history professors are good writers. Rugh is.
January 12, 2026
A good premise but a terrible execution. Considering how many people vacation ocean-side the non-existence of such vacations here -even a mere sentence explaining that that option is being ignored - glares. The author confuses the timeline and conflates cause and effect when discussing the popularity of Yellowstone and the creation of Yogi Bear. Far to many anecdotes from biased sources are related and presented as proof. Far to much pop-psych jargon is littered through every chapter, seemingly because the author is more interested in painting the past as racist and sexist rather than merely presenting an accurate portrayal and allowing the audience to draw their own conclusions. Overall this is a C level grad school paper pretending to be a book.
February 10, 2012
This is a very good book looking at a specific time in American history: the family vacation from about the post-World War II era to about the 1970s. This was the era when families loaded up the family station wagon and went out on road trips to see the United States. It is a time that is idealized by many Baby Boomers, but their children probably differ when it comes to that idealization. It is a time that some see with nostalgia and others are glad it is over. But whether you loved or hate the station wagon road trip, this was a pivotal time for American culture and history in terms of consumerism, civil rights, and social growth. And yes, not all the travel happened on station wagons, but the basic idea was to load up the car and go.
The author does a very good job with the research. She draws on a lot of archival material, and she also notes where there are gaps in the records. One of the strengths of the book is in telling the story of the groups marginalized during this time such as Blacks (due to Jim Crow) and Jews (due to anti-semitism). The author goes on to show how these groups, while suffering humiliations and even hardships on the road, also adapted, creating their own resource networks, camp grounds, resorts, so on.
The basic story is that after the war, many vets came home. They got jobs. Got married. Had children. And they had relatively generous benefits, including good vacation. That is a contrast to today where you are lucky if your stingy employer gives you more than a week, maybe two at the most (and even then you can't take it all at once). So, loading up the family car to go to Disneyland or a resort or a National Park was relatively easy to do. Keep in mind it was relatively easy if you were White and part of the prosperous middle class (you know, the middle class that is now in danger of extinction). Now, if you were Black or Jew (or other minority), even if you were solid middle class, you might find some difficulties on the road, but that did not deter minorities from hitting the road as well.
The vacation was not just leisure however. It was also an economic engine. Oil companies gave away free maps and travel information in order to market their gasoline and products to motorists. Cities and municipalities promoted their tourists attractions. Resorts were built, and even celebrities got in by investing in amusement parks. A lot of jobs would be created from Americans vacationing.
However, time did march on, and tastes and dynamics changes. What the parents saw as thrilling-- the family vacation that brought all the family together-- their kids saw as a drag and thus avoided. Also, air travel and the Internet changed things as well. The authors does touch on this as well.
Overall, it is an interesting topic. The book can be a bit dry at time however, which is why I did not rate it higher. It is worth a look. It does include some good photos as well. Plus, like many good microhistories, you learn not only about vacations, but in this case about a time in American history that also allows us to reflect on our own time. Maybe there is the real value of the book.
The author does a very good job with the research. She draws on a lot of archival material, and she also notes where there are gaps in the records. One of the strengths of the book is in telling the story of the groups marginalized during this time such as Blacks (due to Jim Crow) and Jews (due to anti-semitism). The author goes on to show how these groups, while suffering humiliations and even hardships on the road, also adapted, creating their own resource networks, camp grounds, resorts, so on.
The basic story is that after the war, many vets came home. They got jobs. Got married. Had children. And they had relatively generous benefits, including good vacation. That is a contrast to today where you are lucky if your stingy employer gives you more than a week, maybe two at the most (and even then you can't take it all at once). So, loading up the family car to go to Disneyland or a resort or a National Park was relatively easy to do. Keep in mind it was relatively easy if you were White and part of the prosperous middle class (you know, the middle class that is now in danger of extinction). Now, if you were Black or Jew (or other minority), even if you were solid middle class, you might find some difficulties on the road, but that did not deter minorities from hitting the road as well.
The vacation was not just leisure however. It was also an economic engine. Oil companies gave away free maps and travel information in order to market their gasoline and products to motorists. Cities and municipalities promoted their tourists attractions. Resorts were built, and even celebrities got in by investing in amusement parks. A lot of jobs would be created from Americans vacationing.
However, time did march on, and tastes and dynamics changes. What the parents saw as thrilling-- the family vacation that brought all the family together-- their kids saw as a drag and thus avoided. Also, air travel and the Internet changed things as well. The authors does touch on this as well.
Overall, it is an interesting topic. The book can be a bit dry at time however, which is why I did not rate it higher. It is worth a look. It does include some good photos as well. Plus, like many good microhistories, you learn not only about vacations, but in this case about a time in American history that also allows us to reflect on our own time. Maybe there is the real value of the book.
November 8, 2025
Perfect summer vacation read which includes history and person stories from people during the "golden age" of family vacations from 1945-mid-1970's, which coincided with the increases in family size, US economy, paid vacation time (due to expanding economy), and US highway system (to support the larger families moving further from the city centers), which created a perfect storm in which families had the time and resources to go on vacation for 1-2 weeks at at time. This also led to increased services at gas stations (free maps, enhanced snack counters, clean bathrooms, etc.) to lure travelers to their stations.
The author gives several examples of various vacations (e.g., going to National parks, camping, lake retreats, Disney Land, etc.) including how Black and Jewish people created their own work-arounds to deal with discrimination, including the NY Catskills resorts, and the Green Guide (Black -friendly restaurants and hotels). I think the only type of vacation not profiled were beach vacations ("going to the shore"). While I enjoyed the various stories, I think the book would have benefited from a bit of editing (many wordy or repetitive passages) and more pictures (I loved the gas station one from the early 1960's- mom in a nice dress, pearls, and heels stopping for gas-did people really dress like that to go on a long car trip?)
The author gives several examples of various vacations (e.g., going to National parks, camping, lake retreats, Disney Land, etc.) including how Black and Jewish people created their own work-arounds to deal with discrimination, including the NY Catskills resorts, and the Green Guide (Black -friendly restaurants and hotels). I think the only type of vacation not profiled were beach vacations ("going to the shore"). While I enjoyed the various stories, I think the book would have benefited from a bit of editing (many wordy or repetitive passages) and more pictures (I loved the gas station one from the early 1960's- mom in a nice dress, pearls, and heels stopping for gas-did people really dress like that to go on a long car trip?)
April 10, 2009
"Spending money on a family vacation was a consumer choice, a way to buy experiences to promote family togetherness." pg. 5 This book reads like a master's project--opening paragraph, state thesis; middle paragraphs, support thesis; ending paragraph, restate thesis. I felt like I had read every point at least three times. Very factual and of some historical interest, the book had few 'entertaining' qualities. I had not before realized how "left out" blacks and Jews were when they were refused accomodations and food service during this racially intolerant era (post WWII until the late 60s). I'm glad that's over.
November 26, 2012
Are We There Yet? gives a historian's view of the "golden age" of family vacations and roadtrips. If you grew up in this era (1950's - 1960's) it's bound to awaken some nostalgic (and maybe not so nostalgic) memories. Written in an easy to read style, the book contains lots of anecdotes of family vacations as well as interesting discussions of the impact of anti-Semitism and racism on family travel.
November 20, 2009
i loved this book! it covers family road trips in its golden age: the 1950s - 1960s. it was a great book on tourism, and how it evolved with how american society was changing. it would have been nice if she branched out more than from her personal experience as a kid (types of places to go and what not). but every person has a bias towards their own experience.
April 28, 2011
A fairly interesting, well-researched read on what I thought was one of the most mundane topics one could possibly cover: the family vacation. I especially appreciated how Rugh exposed the difficulties African-Americans faced trying to travel during the Jim Crow era and how they and Jews created their own separate vacation networks to deal with the discrimination in larger society.
September 4, 2015
Yes, this read like the author's masters or doctorate research. As an adult looking back on my family vacations, I found it very interesting. This books talks about family vacations leading up to and including the time I was growing up, 1960's - mid 70's. The vacations, camping, road trips and visits to family formed the person I am today, someone who always wants to "go someplace".
July 10, 2008
While not a bad book, I would prefer that it be written ina more approachable way. A little too dry.
Want to Read
February 22, 20101940's-70's
February 17, 2012
This is a fun expose on American Road Trips; Family Vacation style. Some areas of the Country are covered in detail.
April 25, 2012
This is a good book about an interesting subject, and the author covers the terrain well (in a station wagon with kids fighting in the back seat, of course).
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews