Did you and your parents sometimes just "ride around" when bored?

Posted by Craig1974@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 447 comments

Back in the day, before there was information overload in all its forms and the many other things that distract us today, as kids back in the late 70's and early 80's did you and your folks pile up in the car during good weather (back when ordinary families had one car) and your dad would put $5.00 regular in the gas tank and just ride around? Especially in rural areas due to general boredom.

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Make_the_music_stop@reddit

Yes. "Let's go for a drive"

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genxindifferance@reddit

And it always included a stop for ice cream. I miss that.

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Little_birds_mommy@reddit

We had a local ice cream shop that did old fashion custard. It was THE PLACE to be on Friday or Saturday warm spring or summer nights. The cool teens got to work there... a stereotype so pervasive it's in every 80s-90s "slice of life" movie. I miss it too.

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Zombiiesque@reddit

In our little town, it was called Tastee Freeze. Those little shops were all over WNY, and some variation of that name - sometimes it was Tastee Treat, for example. Ours had the BEST deep fried mushrooms. That reminds me, when I was married to my ex husband, we briefly lived up there, before moving back down to North Carolina. He'd never been out of the south and was absolutely amazed how much we loved our ice cream, even when it was the deepest part of winter. He just found that so weird. Western NY had so many dairy farms. I really miss going for a fresh chocolate milk in a glass bottle.

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DoubleDrummer@reddit

I'm Australian and have never had or heard of a deep fried mushroom. Are they crumbed, battered or what? Just your standard portabello? Curious mushroom lover asks.

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Zombiiesque@reddit

I'm sorry this is so late! Yeah, deep fried mushrooms are delicious. [Here's a recipe with photos ](https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/fried-mushrooms-recipe/) so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. The little ice cream shop I'm talking about used a very similar batter, with whole button mushrooms. I've never had any that were done with portobello, but I'm sure those would be great, too!

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DoubleDrummer@reddit

Thankyou, these look delicious. Will be trying.

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BingoSpong@reddit

Jack? Dianne? 😜

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Zombiiesque@reddit

[Damn skippy! ](https://youtu.be/h04CH9YZcpI?si=v56RliNOMdV7VMj-)

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Appropriate_Answer_2@reddit

Californian, our chain is fosters freeze and the mushrooms were the best thing on the menu. They don't do them anymore, at least near me. Plenty of dairy in my area, the small community grocery carried glass bottle plain, chocolate, banana, and root beer milk. So freaking good!!

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Zombiiesque@reddit

Right? That's the best!

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JahlstBer@reddit

Rosa Brothers chocolate milk is to die for

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WhiteyDude@reddit

You pull in the parking lot with the radio on, everyone is tuned to same station, song is playing everywhere. That's something I miss...

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382Whistles@reddit

That's harder to do digitally too. They don't always sync well enough. We found playback with a good few seconds delay in processing times everywhere. I have two tv's like that too. They are like two words apart in timing. And a friends stuff has a 30 to 40 second delay if we have the tv on the same station. I was freaking them out on the phone with baseball calls, and crap once I noticed, lol.

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382Whistles@reddit

*Real* frozen custard too; not just ice cream! 🧐 One of my favorite signs of all times vanished from our local stand in the late 90s early 00s though. "We use a whole stick of butter in every large cone* 🍦 I think they changed what they sold when that sign vanished. The people working there either avoided questions about it or were clueless that the last time it vanished in the 70s they put it back up due to comments from patrons. Everybody pointed to and talked about that dumb sign lol. It was only like 8x10" to 11x15" cardstock. A large cone was a challenge even as a young adult. Some folk don't get that soft served or even hard scooped, *real* custard is *not* regular ice cream. It's even richer. I did't get that same richness the last times I drove all the way there though. Culver's seems richer than my old local last I was there, and I didn't feel that way long ago. Now I have found another good one, but I only get there once a year at best for a huge car cruise... The line is usually a good twenty minutes long with all hands on deck open 'till close, but worth it.

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writergal75@reddit

We had a custard shop too, and it’s still going strong!

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lenaahmed@reddit

Yes! (Late 70s, early 80s) My late father would say “let’s go for a drive” and we’d always stop and get Thrifty Ive Cream with the “eat it all” on the cones…magical time. ❤️

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Beccaelf7881@reddit

The ice cream just tasted better from those Thrifty ice cream scoops.

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kmahj@reddit

Yes! Our family used to go for pajama rides before bed and find ourselves at DQ or another ice cream place. So fun!

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Make_the_music_stop@reddit

Pajama rides! My sick father told us we're going to be dropped off at boarding school. But we ended up at the drive-in. He had a bad sense of humour.

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Sleeplessmi@reddit

Wearing pajamas to the drive-in. We had a big station wagon and we would lay on the hood and on the top.

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kmahj@reddit

😂😂 omg that’s funny!

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flintorious@reddit

Wouldn't that be going to get ice cream though? That's not "just a drive".

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countesspetofi@reddit

The ice cream part was supposed to be a surprise to us kids.

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SKMonkyDeathCar@reddit

Did this last night with my grandkids. I just wanted to get out of the house. Went for a drive and stopped and got ice cream.

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Pink_Floyd_Chunes@reddit

They will always love that about you!

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Zombiiesque@reddit

Agreed, it will be such a great memory for them to have. 🥰

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Nvrmnde@reddit

Yes definitely. Then "hey let's go and see if aunt x is at home"

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Make_the_music_stop@reddit

Those are now call unannounced (and rude) visits. They used to be called surprise visits.

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Retinoid634@reddit

Company!

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Pink_Floyd_Chunes@reddit

Which is why our moms kept the front room immaculate! The living room that nobody lived in, as Joni Mitchell wrote.

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Pink_Floyd_Chunes@reddit

Oh yeah, AND the Avon lady would drop by unannounced, too!

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382Whistles@reddit

Mom was the Avon lady off and on for years. Tupperware too, but she was a better Avon lady. Tupperware took more sales savvy and better cooking I think. She had her style selling things for her, not any real sales ability.

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Tracylpn@reddit

My parents!!

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StonedGhoster@reddit

I loved surprise visits when I was a kid. My parents random friends would bring their kids. Now I'm not really into people showing up unannounced unless it's my parents. My mother would never do that, but my old man does all the time.

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CharmingDagger@reddit

We had a lot of small towns and back roads in the area I grew up. Spent many summer afternoons just cruising around taking it in. Dad loved going for drives.

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Font_Snob@reddit

One of our group had a gas card his parents paid for. We'd get in his Monte Carlo and drive from one 7-Eleven to the next, buying chili dogs and Big Gulps and playing the video games they had in each one. Sometimes we'd stop at an elementary school and goof off on the playground until the neighbors called the cops.

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_Kit_Tyler_@reddit

![gif](giphy|bnHuhCsJ5kzuw) “Whoooah, Big Gulps huh?….Welp. See ya later!”

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Life-Unit-4118@reddit

What year was the Monte?

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Font_Snob@reddit

A '74, I think. Avocado green inside and out with a white vinyl half roof.

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Life-Unit-4118@reddit

Love that. Class of ‘85 here and about half of us had some form of the so-called “colonnade” GM cars: Pontiac Grand Prix, Olds Cutlass, Buick Regal, Or Chevy MOnte Carlo

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8-bitFloozy@reddit

Younger at '93, but this brought back memories of my 1st car...a Buick LeSabre that was copper like my hair. Mom bought it in 81.

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AnotherRandomDFF@reddit

Let's go for a drive and look at houses was our version

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countesspetofi@reddit

In the winter, it was going to look at the Christmas lights. We'd cruise the rich neighborhoods and ogle their decorations.

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oopswhat1974@reddit

Ha! My mother was a realtor and had a lockbox key so we'd get to go inside too. Lol

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CatapultemHabeo@reddit

omg same!

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AnotherRandomDFF@reddit

The worst part is now I look at houses when I drive places and feel like my mother.

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Pink_Floyd_Chunes@reddit

My Mom, "And EVERYONE over-planted!" :D

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mylocker15@reddit

We lived by a big gated community and if you said we are gonna look at open houses on a Sunday you could go drive around inside it. We did that sometimes.

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Kit3399@reddit

On Sundays after church and lunch. We had to actually go in and tour the Open Houses that were for sale in our neighborhood.

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brezhnervous@reddit

On a Sunday afternoon, always

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stargazer263@reddit

I love that this generation has so many of the same experiences:)

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Zombiiesque@reddit

Me too. It's such a cool and honestly super interesting thing - before social media, but somehow we were all connected like that.

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Zombiiesque@reddit

Me too. It's such a cool and honestly super interesting thing - before social media, but somehow we were all connected like that.

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SunshineAlways@reddit

If we asked where we were going, my dad always said, “Crazy!”

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cocococlash@reddit

We still do it, and it's a blast!

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BeeSlumLord@reddit

Sunday drives. We’d usually stop at a car dealership so my dad could look without hassle (closed on Sundays in ND back in the day).

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impiousdrifter@reddit

Especially during summer break. Most times, we didn't have a destination. We just drove until we found something to do.

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surfacing_husky@reddit

I did this with my kids during covid, we live in the mountains, so we would pack a lunch and "get lost" in the wilderness and have a picnic. Sometimes, when i have extra time before picking up a kid from something, we go drive around looking at the rich people's houses, lol. My mom used to do the same with us as kids.

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QuietParsnip@reddit

My grandparents would come over to visit and then take my sister and I out for a drive. If we were lucky, we got ice cream. But usually just drive around.

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bluudclut@reddit

Almost every weekend in the summer. Just get up and you would hear 'shall we go for a drive?'. The adventure would then begin.

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WildColonialGirl@reddit

Yes, we regularly made trips to Amish country (I’m in Northeast Ohio).

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SnooFloofs7384@reddit

Yes! My Dad would always say “let’s go for a drive.” We would pile into the green station wagon and end up at the Old Barn Milk Bar (northern NJ) for some delicious ice cream.

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updatedprior@reddit

Absolutely. My little brother and I would sometimes drive out into the county (we lived in a big suburb) and try to intentionally get lost. It was awesome.

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updatedprior@reddit

Absolutely. My little brother and I would sometimes drive out into the county (we lived in a big suburb) and try to intentionally get lost. It was awesome.

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redquailer@reddit

No. Gas was too expensive. Three kids, couldn’t afford extras like that.

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Hefty_Knowledge2761@reddit

1970's gasoline prices weren't bad.

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redquailer@reddit

Maybe for some. My dad worked and my mom was at home, raising us kids.

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Hefty_Knowledge2761@reddit

That's the way it was at our house as well. But, unlike others, we didn't also stop for ice cream or McD's or something. It was just out and about driving.

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redquailer@reddit

Yep, we very rarely had the Golden Arches. Sizzler was a BIG dinner out and extremely rare. Aww. I like that you kids got to go with him, even if it meant staying in the car. Ehat fun memories.

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Hefty_Knowledge2761@reddit

My dad would do this, and a common end-goal would be to show up at the local little airport to see anything taking off or landing. Tiny little one-strip airport outside a small 10,000 people town (if that, might have been 8,000).

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Avid_Bookworm7@reddit

My parents would do this, too. What a fun memory! In Atlanta, before the current ATL airport which was built in the early 80s, we would go for Saturday afternoon drives & have lunch at the original Dwarf House Chick-fil-A (IYNYK 🤣) go across the main road & sit at the airport fence & watch the planes.

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jatemple@reddit

Not with parents, with best friend in HS. And as soon as I got my license I was out the door on long rides!

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Nonsenseinabag@reddit

Same here, the moment I could drive it was like the entire city was unlocked for the first time. I'd spent most of my youth only getting to go to like four places.

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Hefty_Knowledge2761@reddit

When I got my license, sometimes I'd just head in the opposite direction from high school. So instead of 18 miles to the high school, it was 26 miles to the big city. We'd go to the museums and learn stuff that way.

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Prudent-Proof7898@reddit

Me too.

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TackYouCack@reddit

We used to drive around, smoke cigarettes, maybe go see a movie, carwash battles, then end the night just bullshitting in a parking lot.

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The_Outsider27@reddit

Not sure this counts. We could not afford a car. When my mom was depressed or angry, sometimes we would ride the subway lines back and forth. It was pretty cool and I would note how the passengers changed depending on the neighborhood the train was in. Maybe this explains why the sound of subway trains are soothing to my ears and I don't find mass transportation commutes to be stressful.

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PurpleLee@reddit

My mom's best friend used to do this with us kids back in the day. We would end up all over NYC. It was a lot of fun, and like you say, people watching is so exciting, especially as a kid in NYC.

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missblissful70@reddit

This kind of makes me sad I grew up in a small town! Subways are definitely not part of my experience as a kid or an adult.

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Hefty_Knowledge2761@reddit

As if subways are a good thing, lol.

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countesspetofi@reddit

That is such wholesome story.

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garden__gate@reddit

My friends and I used to do this in high school. There was a trolly that went through my neighborhood and if we had nothing to do on a Friday night, we’d just ride it back and forth. Really fond memories.

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bexy11@reddit

I’ve done this as an adult when I first moved to New cities… Subway, train, bus… kind of fun!

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ParsleyMostly@reddit

That counts!

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sunqueen73@reddit

Yep. Even did it with friends as we each got our licenses. It was a rite of passage to drive around on hilly twisty roads in the rich folk mansions side of town. Even in the late 80s those were million dollar homes.... we would just drive and....back then gas here was about .95 a gallon.

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italiano78@reddit

I still do this with wife and kids

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Hips_and_Haws@reddit

OMG, my parents used to drive to a coastal or country pub. Back in the early to mid 1970s, (UK) pubs didn't have child friendly gardens. We'd be drinking coke out of glass bottles with paper straws & eating crisps (potato chips) with those little blue bags of salt. We'd be trapped in the car, whilst our parents escaped us into the pub.

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Huckleberry-hound50@reddit

Things were different then. No cell phones, computers, cable Tv. How I miss those days.

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qwerty17201@reddit

Yes! I especially loved going for a ride when we could get my dad to let us listen to a few songs on the Kasey Kasums countdown. I still like going for a ride, but dang gas costs so much.

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MareOfDalmatia@reddit

Yes, Kasey Kasem! There’s a local radio station that replays his full countdown shows from the 70’s and 80’s on Saturday and Sunday mornings here. Hearing his voice, and him reading the “Long Distance Dedication” letters brings me right back to my childhood and teenage years.

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Tracylpn@reddit

My late husband Adam would document all of the Casey Kasem's "American Top 40" every week when he was younger. He would list the artist, the title of the song, and what position the song was in that particular week. He had binders full of those lists. He even had some "official" "American Top 40" paper that he would use to document every week. He was meticulous about those binders. I still have them in storage. Adam was a good man. I miss him everyday

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MareOfDalmatia@reddit

I’m sorry for your loss. I love that he found so much joy in those countdowns. It’s nice that you still have those binders too. May fond memories of him remain with you always.

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Tracylpn@reddit

Thank you! ❤️❤️

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kibblet@reddit

Never.

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jakestertx@reddit

Yes, and without cell phones, we'd go ride around to find out where everyone was. Bored? Go hit the park or hit Main Street to find everyone. Each time was a surprise.

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PinkMini72@reddit

Yep, my dad would take us for a drive. It was usually late afternoon on weekend. Sometimes if there was a bit of money, there would be a Pizza Hut meal too!

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PuzzledRaise1401@reddit

Sunday drivers.

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VioletaBlueberry@reddit

Sometimes my mom and I went to real estate open houses. We weren't in the market. It was just fun.

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MissssVanjie@reddit

Oh Gawd yes, and I loathed it!!!!

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pvthudson79@reddit

Are you kidding. I rode around when bored. Car was freedom.

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Tracylpn@reddit

And always will be!!

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8-bitFloozy@reddit

I still do

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Cowboy_Buddha@reddit

My dad and I would drive the countryside gravel roads and shoot gophers from the seat of the 1979 Mercury Zephyr. Those were the days. I was about 14 to 17.

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Pleasant_Studio9690@reddit

We bought a second car for the first time around 1980 when I was 5 years old. It was a Corvair convertible. We had it 3 or 4 years and used to go on Sunday drives on scenic roads through the countryside on nice weekends. I remember them fondly.

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rwphx2016@reddit

Yes! And my parents still did that after they retired. We would also go on day-long excursions using the Chicago Transit Authority Supertransfer. For one fare you could ride anywhere on a Sunday. We would ride the Culture Buses, check out fun neighborhoods, go to street fares. It was fun.

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Daphno@reddit

Nope, did that with friends

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FyreSign@reddit

Yes! It was always just my mom and I, and she would tell me to pick a direction, and that’s how we’d start. Every so often, she’d ask “left, right, or straight” and I’d shout out a direction. I LOVED every minute of those drives. I continued this with my own kids too…we all do it now

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sassyassy23@reddit

Ya went for drives lol

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downtuning@reddit

Definitely did this growing up... Did it again during the height of COVID lockdown. Would get in the car, go for a drive and come back, wouldn't get out of the car or anything, just get a change of scenery. Was great for my sanity!

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Early-Tumbleweed-563@reddit

We did that in high school.

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Mermaid_Lily@reddit

Yep.. Actually I did this the other day with a friend. It was Sunday morning. We went to the local flea market. Afterwards, we weren't ready to go home, but I live in a small Bible-belt city where everything is closed on Sunday mornings because - Jesus. So we just rode around for a while.

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Fit-Distribution2303@reddit

Omg yes. Usually, we'd ride around out in the country, but sometimes, we'd get ice cream and go park by the air base and watch the planes take off.

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thetinkerbelle44@reddit

Yes! My stepdad would fix up antique cars and loved to take us all out for rides!

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linuxnh@reddit

I still do this.

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GenXDad76@reddit

Um…still do this

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Prudent-Proof7898@reddit

Yes. My dad also loved driving to the beach in a rainstorm when all the roads were flooded.

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MJblowsBubbles@reddit

My grandpa and I would do this a couple times a month. Most trips were up to 50 miles from home, usually in the middle of nowhere but always ended up at McDonalds or Long John Silver's before heading home. I would do the same thing once I got my license, just drive to a city an hour or two away just to go to their mall or some dumb thing like that. That's how my earlier cars ended up with 17K miles/year. Also did the same thing when I moved to Milwaukee 20 years ago. On a Sunday I'd just get in the car and ride around for a few hours to learn my (then) new home. It helped me find landmarks in the city and short-cuts or alternate routes from A to B if needed.

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NormaNomad@reddit

I still do this

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No-Rush-1174@reddit

Yup..we did that a few times. I was very young at the time but I recall "let's go for a drive tonight"

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ScienceMomCO@reddit

Before I had kids I would go for a drive and go exploring. Where does this road go?

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EelTeamTen@reddit

I'm 34 and do this. Not even just about boredom. It's relaxing.

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RogerClyneIsAGod2@reddit

Yep,[Sunday Driving](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I9UTFhcw8c) was a real thing with us.

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izall4@reddit

Not with my parents, but my high school friends and I would ride around out of boredom all the time.

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Fine_Comparison9812@reddit

Any time we got the treat to eat out we’d ride around afterwards usually to a car lot.

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psiprez@reddit

Always went on a Sunday drive with my whole family. We would drice the slow way (no highways) to some destination 2-3 hours away, jump out to see the sights, have dinner, drive home. Could be a drive to the beach, or a shopping center, od festival, or to a specific restaurant.

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Zealousideal_Ad_2600@reddit

Yes and I did this with my kids too.

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ExcipioLux@reddit

My mom would take me and my sister on these spontaneous car rides where we would only make right turns, next time left turns. Most times we ended up on dead end forest roads meant for logging.

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ThePicassoGiraffe@reddit

We didn’t do this a lot but it’s how we went to see Christmas lights. Totally free none of this zoolight $40 a person shit

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PoopyInDaGums@reddit

No. But my mom grew up in the 1930s and it was a big thing for them to go on a Sunday Drive. She’s 95 now, and when I visit her and we end up driving in certain areas, she recalls story after story of who lived where, little places they went, etc. They would bring a bag of apples to eat as it was the depression.

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LostinLies1@reddit

I remember summer evenings, it was hot. We didn't have air. We'd pile into my mom's Grand Torino and drive with the windows down. We'd wind up at White Castle where we'd have a couple cheese burgers sitting outside at a table. The comment about everyone having the same station on in their car really resonates. I loved those evenings. "Let's go for a drive."

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Craig1974@reddit (OP)

My parents had a dark green gran torino station wagon.

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my_lucid_nightmare@reddit

My mom was too busy in college in her 30s and 40s for that. But once I got my license I did go driving aimlessly quite a lot. In the midwest just going for an hour or more, finding something to do (or not), then attempting to navigate back by alternative roads. Geomapping out the region. Since everything was basically a big mile county road grid, being back home was never that tough at all. I surprised my spouse driving in the midwest recently on a visit, we were visiting about 3 towns over and on the drive back, I just instinctively started "square corner navigating" on county roads if they looked interesting. She was annoyed and certain we'd be lost even with GPS. I said nope watch. And we ended up feeding right into the edge of my old hometown.

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unobitchesbetripping@reddit

Back then it was leaded or unleaded. And yes on a nice afternoon we would drive around and just look at stuff. My parents would make sure to hit hills and railroad tracks just right so it felt like the car went flying and you would bounce around the back seat a little. My mother would hang on kids, then holler wheeee doggies as we launched into the air. No seat belts.

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Craig1974@reddit (OP)

We called it regular and unleaded.

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vwibrasivat@reddit

Anyone here heard the phrase "Sunday sightseers"?

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elizajaneredux@reddit

Yes!!!!! Sunday drives, hated them then but now they sound kind of nice.

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SummerBirdsong@reddit

My daughter and I still do this every once in a while.

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busybox42@reddit

We went to the Mall.

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Thumper13@reddit

Yes. In our yellow 1980 Toyota Corolla with vinyl seats that felt like they'd take my skin off. Of course I wore no seat belt in the back. Don't know what we were thinking back then. But it was fun. My dad would swerve back and forth to make me slide around the back seat.

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Reverend_Tommy@reddit

Yes. And I still occasionally do it.

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LyingInPonds@reddit

Dude, I *still* do this with my parents. They're both retired, both are currently disabled, I'm their caregiver. When they get restless, I pile us all in the car and we hit Starbucks or the drive-thru ice cream place, then drive around looking at new construction, exploring roads we haven't been down before, commenting on ugly McMansions or cool old houses, or just cranking up the oldies station and sailing fast down the interstate.

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LostinLies1@reddit

Yes. I did this with my Mom when she was in assisted living. I'd wheel her out to my mustang, but her wheel chair in the trunk, and I would take her on the back roads driving for hours. There was this one road where I would drive fast and her stomach would drop. She'd give a shriek and act scared. Every time I'd pick her up she'd ask, "Are we going to that road where the road dips?" I'd say, "What do you think?" and she'd laugh with delight. I miss her every day.

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FiveOneAte@reddit

Not so much with my rents, but once my friends and I reached driving age it was nonstop burn cruises.

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Appropriate_Answer_2@reddit

I still go for drives

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Baxtir@reddit

Yep, sometimes we'd even stop in the downtown area and just check out the local shops. It's what sparked my love for window shopping which is such a rarity to do these days. That actually was something I sort of miss from the lockdown period. We'd just go for a car ride and just enjoy the natural beauty of the areas within an hour to an hour and a half, and we'd only get out if there was no one nearby so we didn't break any violations.

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jwkelly404@reddit

We went “for a ride” every Sunday afternoon.

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sailorelf@reddit

Yes we would go downtown. Or drive anywhere really. But I wanted to always go downtown.

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Grafakos@reddit

Can't remember my parents ever doing this, but my friends and I did it all the time as teenagers.

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notade50@reddit

My friends mom took us “hooker hunting”. Her and her boyfriend drove us around and we laughed at hookers and pimps on the street. In retrospect this was terrible parenting and I’d forgotten about it until just now

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One_Barnacle2699@reddit

Yes.

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redtesta@reddit

Yep sure did. Dad woukd also take us to john Wayne Airport in uts early years to watch the planes take off. They were close to the fence when you could hang out and when the jet turned tge engines woukd blow in you and that amazing fuel smell. Great memories.

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Tabitheriel@reddit

Right, just go for a drive in the country.

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robertwadehall@reddit

Sunday drives. Would take one of the vintage cars and go for a ride about the area (rural Ohio), stop for a burger and milkshake or ice cream.

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Seven_bushes@reddit

Fun story my mom told me about when she was young - she was born in 1932. Her family would walk a few blocks downtown for fun. Grandpa would go in the pool hall while grandma would pick a car parked on the street and sit inside it with the kids. If the owner of the car came back, they’d just move to another car. This was acceptable back then. Makes me chuckle every time I think of it.

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Seven_bushes@reddit

We’d go on drives just to see the countryside. Or, if it was the right time of year, we’d load up the lawn chairs and head to one of the local baseball/softball parks. We’d survey the 3 diamonds and pick a game that looked interesting. Then we’d set up our chairs and pick a team to root for. If we were lucky, dad would stop for ice cream on the way home. I loved those times with my family.

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Suntzu_AU@reddit

Yep. Usually to the beach.

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Medical_Hall_5537@reddit

OMG YES !! With my dad, not my mum.

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Sheila_Monarch@reddit

No, they made themselves drinks and “walked around the yard”. Literally just strolled around the outside of the house discussing the shrubbery and talking about their day…without us kids, which was the key to this activity LOL. We were in the house, they were outside, and we knew better than to interrupt the very important shrubbery audit unless there was fire or blood.

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AntheaBrainhooke@reddit

Look up "Sunday driving"

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no_shut_your_face@reddit

Gas was 50 cents

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JoeMagnifico@reddit

Still do it on the regular.

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CharlieAlright@reddit

Yes, back when gas was 99 cents per gallon! It was actually cheap entertainment back then.

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casualLogic@reddit

OMG it was always "Let's go for a ride" and I'd get dragged into open houses....we weren't thinking of moving, we loved our home! I think they'd just go to confirm that where we lived was the home for us

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PrincipalBlackman@reddit

Oh for sure. It was a chance to listen to some music, talk and maybe get an ice cream or a soda. Definitely a lost art.

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Flwrvintage@reddit

Totally. I remember my parents sometimes just saying, "Let's go for a drive." It was nice.

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jumpinoutofmyflesh@reddit

My mind instantly went to this song. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YgnnrZfoZS0 My kids grew up with their mom and me taking them on weekend drives. Sometimes with a destination, sometimes we just picked a dirt road to see where it went.

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Mantly@reddit

Nice pick. This one was mine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFjrWPLAx4c&t=120s

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LutiPicoPico@reddit

Back in the 80s grampa used to say "Let's go to the city!" The "city" was downtown. I remember granma used to wear an old mink. Then we just used to park anywhere, walk around and get some icecream. It was fun. I miss it.

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kinislo@reddit

Yes! I kept that up well into my 20’s. Nothing like blasting your favorite music while riding around with the windows down on a beautiful day. 💕💕💕

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Machinebuzz@reddit

Yep. Except it was a pick up truck and us kids all rode in the bed. Good times. In high school everyone would cruise the main drag in our small small town for awhile each night. Eventually everyone would decide on a party spot we were going to head to.

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MannyMoSTL@reddit

My BIL still does

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DontTakePeopleSrsly@reddit

Didn’t watch American Graffiti, did you?

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Craig1974@reddit (OP)

I did. But I'm talking before adolescence.

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AltruisticExit2366@reddit

Sunday drives. Sometimes out to the grandparents farm, sometimes just ‘around’ but always out on country roads that had lots of dips, it was our poor familys Midwest roller coaster ride experience and it was a blast!

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Craig1974@reddit (OP)

Yes, the dips would cause a momentary feeling of weightlessness. It was a pleasing sensation (that's what she said).

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holidayiceman@reddit

Yes, We used to go driving for hours and then if we went by a cemetery, we would stop and try and find the oldest headstones.

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Acceptable-Arugula69@reddit

I love just going for a drive, music up, and singing my head off. It started when I first got my DL, and it never ended. We went on a lot of drives with our parents too, although I now know it was because they didn’t have any money when we were young. That makes it more whimsical sounding now though.

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tsabell@reddit

Sunday drives.

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KaitB2020@reddit

My parents & grandparents did not do this. Although occasionally my grandmother would take me to visit her cousin “up the road”. A place roughly an hour & a half from where we live. I miss those trips. Just MomMom & me & “Aunt Nada”. (I never did learn that cousin’s real name now that I think about it, lol) When I was in my late teens & 20s (so late 90s/early 00s) I would grab my dog & just drive. I’d get lost & have to figure out how to get home. Didn’t have much money & didn’t spend a lot of time in the places I found because I didn’t want my dog left in the car or messed with by strangers. Yes, we found some nice parks for her to enjoy. Just hours spent in the road with my girl. Those were the days. You know… I’ve been sick lately, when I recover I might take myself on a “dog ride”. Even though she passed a number of years ago, it might still be fun to just go & get out for awhile.

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jimbopalooza@reddit

All the time. And I did it with my kids and now my wife and I go on random drives on the weekends looking for yard sales and stuff.

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LesPolsfuss@reddit

yeah ... i think so! when parents visit me now we tend to do that.

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Big_Double_8357@reddit

Yep. Four kids crammed in the back seat, with no air conditioner. One kid usually puked. I now like to only drive to places I actually need to go!

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Craig1974@reddit (OP)

Ha ha. Yes!

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Commercial-Push-9066@reddit

Not much when I was a kid but later. Several years ago, I had to take a few weeks off from work because of a flare of my autoimmune disease. I stayed with my folks because my husband was working out of town. I couldn’t drive and I had bad cabin fever. My dad packed me and mom in the car and took a long drive along a river in my town. It was cathartic and I always loved my father for doing that. He died a few years later but I’ll never forget that ride.

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Normal-Philosopher-8@reddit

My husband and I did it when we were broke students, and gas was as low as 79 cents. (Can’t even quickly find the cent sign anymore.)

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Craig1974@reddit (OP)

That's what I'm talking about. Broke and bored. But at least could put $5.00 in the tank and ride around aimlessly.

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kevbayer@reddit

Yep. Out for a Sunday drive. Funny/sad story: we took my (way) older sister and her young son with us one day. Ended up driving past a regional theme park. My sister got visibly excited, then visibly crushed as my dad just kept driving and didn't clock to what had happened at all. Like a three hour round trip drive just to get out and drive. In highschool my buddy and I, after we got our licenses and our own cars, would go exploring on drives just to get out and talk about life and generally be idiots while we drove around.

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YogurtPanda74@reddit

I did. I was thinking about it just yesterday. I was driving home from something and I thought, maybe I'll just head up the coast for 15 min to kill some time and enjoy the view. And then I thought, "nah, I should save electricity, and do my other busy work." I made the wrong choice.

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Plug_5@reddit

We did this several times with our kids during the pandemic.

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chaosmanager@reddit

We called them Mammoth Rides.

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anda3rd@reddit

We'd go for a drive (usually about an hour out from town and stop a random little town for a bite to eat) then drive back "the scenic route" if it was nice weather. Sometimes the whole plan for a Saturday was to go out to a few areas in our area (within city limits but still wild/undeveloped) and pick wild berries. Then get them home and make a fresh cobbler with them. It was free entertainment and we had homemade dessert after! We'd also go drive around the wealthy areas and look at gardens/homes, play car games like Punch Bug or the License Plate game, and have a constant mix of music coming from the speakers. Folks got first dibs on a station then us kids were allowed to pick something. We also all took naps in the car - just pulled over on the side of a road and snoozed for an hour. Honestly feels like a faraway time when we felt so safe to do that. My folks (my mom and my grandma in particular) had tons of "let's go do something" ideas. I learned later it was also solid poorcrafting stuff from their past that they were passing down knowledge to us kids about. Dad usually worked Saturdays for extra money at his day job so a lot of these memories were built with my mother and grandmother (she lived with us). I still do this stuff these days. When someone tells me they are bored I'm like "We have gas money? Let's go drive around."

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SC_Scuba@reddit

I still do it.

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Ill_Pressure3893@reddit

Backseat turf wars with the siblings. Youngest of three had to sit in that small middle area.

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Big_Double_8357@reddit

They do their vacations like this in the tv show Speechless. Just throw some clothes in bags, and go to a random place.

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TheRealJim57@reddit

Still do.

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BrownNote_Forcepower@reddit

Sure did. I do it now too, albeit less often. My wife's father always wanted to "go check the crops." Not theirs mind you, they weren't farmers.

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urstillatroll@reddit

I still do.

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flintorious@reddit

Not as a kid. We always had a place to actually go like driving around looking at Christmas lights or going to a friend's house. Don't worry though, as a teenager and young adult I made up for it. I grew up in a place that most people might consider rural (not really but city folk definitely would) and we used to ride back roads drinking beer, smoking weed and doing all sorts of other illegal shit 😂.

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ZacInStl@reddit

Yes, and we still do

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TekaLynn212@reddit

Not with my parents, but my husband and I used to do that all the time.

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Givememy2dollars@reddit

Yes, the good ‘ol “Sunday drive”.

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earnest_shenanigans@reddit

This was the exact comment I was going to type

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jeepgirl42@reddit

Yes! We did that a lot as a kid. My dad always seemed to know where the $.25 hotdogs and pop stands were at. When I had kids, my daughter got anxious at night so her and I would go for drives.

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certifiablegeek@reddit

Damn! Almost forgot driving around aimlessly in a new town when I PCS'd to another base was awesome! Back when gas was less than a dollar a gallon... Well, I guess I can take a virtual tour. 😂🤣

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CommonBubba@reddit

Still do…

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Dead_Dispositioner@reddit

Yep. $10 worth of petrol would get you around 30lt of fuel. So off to Sydney to get a Hydrofoil and go see Manly, or up the mountains to see the trees. Maybe a trip to the Rotolactor to watch Cows shit while getting milked, and get a fresh Chocolate Milk. (Yes, it was a treat to do this, I ain't making this up). Rarely did we stay at home on the weekends. On the pushies or in the car. We travelled hundreds of thousands of kilometres over the years, just to do it. The adventure and discovery was so much better than brain rotting Computer games and TV.

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Outside-Attention-53@reddit

Yes! My dad loved taking us on rides , he would always tell us stories from his childhood of the town and how it was different and I loved the country road rides

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Valley_Squirrels@reddit

My mom and I would go for a drive just to get out of the house because my father was annoying af.

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80sForeva@reddit

My parents never did it but i do it sometimes. I will pick a place that takes 30 mins to get to and take side roads, windows down, and then take a different route back.

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RaeAhNa@reddit

Absolutely! My job was to hold the boombox in my lap, change cassettes, and fast forward through the songs we didn't like, or reverse to play a song again. Mom drove, and we both sang.

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Embarrassed-Pepper-5@reddit

Sure did. We were poor and gas was pretty cheap back then. Hop in the car, stop for a soda, and see where we end up.

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DeadStringScrolls@reddit

We did. And I did this all the time when I got my license, and still do it to this day every time I go out on my motorcycle... there's never any utility factor to it, just getting out, clearing my head and enjoying a nice day.

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LV-42whatnow@reddit

Yes, usually framed around a home show or store they/we wanted to check out which ended up being a cruise around the prettiest parts of town. Unless football was on. The lack of a mobile broadcast and the fact that you used to have to wait until commercial to see the score, really limited the time my dad would spend away from the house.

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low_flying_aircraft@reddit

No, but me and my kids do now. Sometime we just drive around a bit, listening to music, maybe get drive through.

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ResinJones76@reddit

My dad would put a sixer or more in the cooler and tell me, "Let's go get lost." Then we'd just drive around random backroads in his '77 F-150 while he kept an open beer between his legs. He'd always pretend like he never knew where he was, but I think he did and just wanted to scare me.

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candlelightandcocoa@reddit

Yes. I still do it! A drive around the countryside with music on- it always de-stresses me and puts me in a good mood.

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Nearby_Translator_55@reddit

We did. We'd hop in dad's van and cruise for hours. I still do this with my kids from time to time.

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Apprehensive_Row_807@reddit

Before our house had A/C, we would do this quite often when it was hot. It was fun to explore new places. I miss doing that. Seems like driving was a lot more relaxing then too.

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ManiacMansionNES@reddit

I live in a rural area and still just ride around sometimes out of boredom

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BigConstruction4247@reddit

I did that once I got my driver's license, but not really with my parents. We always had a specific destination with them.

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KingRob29@reddit

My father loved to drive. He taught me several alternative routes to get to places, some short some scenic. He past 10 years ago. I miss him.

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southernmamallama@reddit

Yassssss

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Katerinaxoxo@reddit

Yes. If it was a special drive we’d get a bucket of KFC. Which rarely happened. But the drives were common

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jonvonfunk@reddit

I still do this.

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JeffAlbertson93@reddit

I do remember the few times that it happened, my grandparents raised me and were largely home bodies but on occasion when they decided to go for a ride I was always one of the first ones to go and lying in the backseat looking at the reflection of the dash and lights in the lights from the other cars through the window for some reason just puts me in a state of ease.

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Rich-Air-5287@reddit

Still one of my favorite activities. $20 in gas, a dog hanging out each back window and where we end up, no-one knows.

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the_other_50_percent@reddit

Same, but there's a dog in each lap, and no gas is involved!

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Temporary_Second3290@reddit

Yep same here.

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the_other_50_percent@reddit

No, but Dad would sometimes wind a long way, or go past some of his favorite spots. I still do this, not minding some extra driving if we have time. One of my teens will ask for a nighttime random drive around. I'll treasure that as long as I can!

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mjh8212@reddit

Where I lived someone always had a motor cycle my block well dead end horseshoe had a lot of parties and there were a lot of bikers. Even started getting put on the gas tank and taken for a ride. My dad put me on the gas tank and did wheelies and sped around the block but because it was a dead end he came up this grassy hill back into the horseshoe. I never learned to ride by myself but I have been a passenger a lot and I used to love just going for a ride with a friend when we were bored. No helmet going down the highway at 90 on a Harley.

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DisastrousPair6160@reddit

We had plenty of "let's go for a drive" experiences but we always had a destination in mind. "Let's drive out to the shore and walk around", "let's drive over to the mall and walk around", "let's drive over to the park and do park things". Driving around aimlessly, though, maybe

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Pups2012@reddit

Yep, and I still do this. Great way to clear my head.

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mltrout715@reddit

Yes, we would go on family drives. Where I lived, it was a common things to do

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jagerwick@reddit

Every sunday afternoon we did, yes. "You want to go for a drive?" was code for 'maybe i'll get ice cream and a toy'

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greentangent@reddit

Cruising and rafting. Rafting is when a group congregated at a parking lot to chat.

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MissMurderpants@reddit

I still do. Sometimes I go 4 hours in one direction then grab a bite and head back.

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Cronus6@reddit

Yeah, and so did my friends and I *every weekend* from 16 on. Well to be fair were were driving around drinking beer and smoking pot, so it was basically a rolling party.

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internallybombastic@reddit

my dad loved a good “drive around and look at big houses”. and the annual viewing of other people’s christmas lights.

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Bitter_Mongoose@reddit

I still do. All the time 😂

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Green-Size-7475@reddit

Some of the best memories.

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pinktwigz@reddit

Never with parents. Didn’t want to spend time with them as a kid [still holds for my mother]. I used to just drive around with friends all the time just for shits and giggles.

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IdeasofWizards@reddit

Yes.. called go for a 'Run out'.. usually ended up at a pub!

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Hollayo@reddit

I still do this. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy it.

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ddmeld@reddit

I still do, often alone.

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actuallychrisgillen@reddit

Yup, Sunday afternoon leaf peeping. To be honest, in the fall in Gatineau it was pretty beautiful.

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Nanyea@reddit

Cruising Gratiot

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ChrisNYC70@reddit

No. 1) we lived in Queens NY. When you got a parking space, you did everything in power to keep it. 2) my parents decided to have 5 kids on an income that could maybe support 2 kids and maybe a small dog. So dad worked as much overtime as possible and then relaxed and slept when home.

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dressed2kill75@reddit

💯. When I encounter a slow vehicle I say “must be out for a Sunday drive”.

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shiner_bock@reddit

Lol, I always complain, "It's not even fucking Sunday!" Then, on Sundays, I'll say, "It's not even fucking Sun... oh, never mind."

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slightlyused@reddit

I say what my grandpa would say, "Step on it, Mildrige!"

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Temporary_Second3290@reddit

I do this too lol. Stuck behind a Sunday driver.

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3010664@reddit

Yes. My parents always said this.

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smalltownveggiemom@reddit

Yep, although I usually took along a book to read because looking around was “boring”. Then adult me started taking drives to look around and that’s not as fun when you have to look at the road 🤣😂

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madlyhattering@reddit

Yes, but not due to boredom. My dad loved to drive, especially on back roads, and he seemed to know them all. Even if he hadn’t been on a road in 20 years! Sometimes we’d even go far enough to spend the night in a motel. It was especially nice because I had the spacious back seat to myself - I only had much older half siblings, and they didn’t live with us, so it was like I was the only child. (I was also the baby - double goodness!) Thanks for this question, OP - it’s bringing back happy memories.

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deltadawn6@reddit

Yup

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jasperandjuniper@reddit

Yes going for a drive was a thing

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mandraofgeorge@reddit

All the time! Random drives in the mountains were the norm.

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Pink_Floyd_Chunes@reddit

We called it a Sunday Drive! Before the energy crisis (remember that!), we used to do that to do see some of the flower fields just outside of our suburb. I think we had a 66 Ford Fairlane, and Dad would put on the (AM) radio with oldies from the Hit Parade (his favorite, Mom liked the Beatles and some of the pop music of the time). My parents were early seatbelt adopters, but they bought us harnesses so we could move around more and sit up on our feet to see out the windows better. We definitely went for a drive on occasion. We would usually stop at a drive in for a "pop" or to have a hamburger. That was fun and special, since it was not the norm back then to go out to eat all the time. Even when McDonalds came to our suburb, it was kind of a big deal.

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Estdamnbo@reddit

Yes. We would "go for a drive and visiting". Back when you could drive up to a friend's house and just visit

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toooldforlove@reddit

Yes. We used to go to malls an hour or two away just to do something. I loved doing that.

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ron_post@reddit

I mean I still just ride around

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ThatLooksLikeItHurts@reddit

We used to play a fantastic game during those rides. I grew up in rural Maine (born in '71). We would often 'go for a drive' just to get lost and find roads that we had never been down before. We had a stick shift car (as most did) and one of my best memories was a game my dad used to play when we were on those rides. He would get going at a pretty good speed and then throw in the clutch to put the car in neutral. We would just coast for as long as we could until he car came to a complete stop. We would count up and try to break our record. Finding the roads with just the right downhill slopes at just the right time was the key. God, I miss the days of timple pleasures. Yeah, I know - "You can still do that!" but there is always the looming thought that you are missing something else or that there is work to be done since computers, email, and otherwise are omnipresent. Flying was the last bastion of freedom (before laptops and inflight WiFi). All you had was a book or your thoughts. Simpler times.

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notjawn@reddit

Yep, we'd drive around country roads and try to find fishing holes.

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MrsCryptblitzer@reddit

Honestly I did this til the gas was $3 and my check engine light came on. It's still on btw

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kathatter75@reddit

Yes! We lived for our drives…and I still love hitting the road to air my head out when it’s a beautiful day. We didn’t have a lot, so it was an adventure when my dad would just point the car in a direction and we’d go for a couple of hours…We’d always find something neat to look at, get some ice cream, and head home :)

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texan01@reddit

yup. still do sometimes.

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Mr-Snarky@reddit

Still do. Lots of fire roads and other backroads to explore here in Northern Wisconsin.

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onpointjoints@reddit

Sunday drives

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sullivan80@reddit

I loved those days although my sister thought they were boring as heck. Often on Sundays after church. We'd go for a drive. Sometimes with a random destination, sometimes not. Just wander around mostly rural countryside. Maybe stop in a rando cafe in a small town and get a snack or ice cream. Sometimes check out a park or hike a trail.

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doknfs@reddit

My dad and I would always ride the country roads outside of my small town.

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GirlULove2Love@reddit

Okay. Yeah, but I still do this with my dogs when it's really nice outside so they can get all kinds of new smells from the country. 😜 Just me and my girls and some bad ass music

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tossitintheroundfile@reddit

Most Sundays and some evenings :)

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themarta1@reddit

Let's go for a tour...was the thing to do

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Agent7619@reddit

I still do!

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Training-Ad-3706@reddit

We still do that.

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dcamnc4143@reddit

Sure did.

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kiwihoney@reddit

Yep

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hateriffic@reddit

Did. Still do

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blove135@reddit

"Sunday drives" was a thing for many decades.

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Extension_Case3722@reddit

I remember being little and asking my dad if we could go for a Sunday drive. So it was a fairly common thing.The one time I went to Disneyland as a kid - my dad woke me up at the crack of dawn and said that we were going on a Sunday drive and I said but it’s Saturday! We got on a plane and surprise ended up at Disney.

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Gypsytravel1182@reddit

Yep!

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LegalScientist3@reddit

Yes! Drive on the country. There was always a stop at a roadside ice cream shop.

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sutter333@reddit

That is what my friends and I did Friday and Saturday nights. Well we also had drugs so maybe that makes it slightly different…? But there was no where to go- ever. Lol we just drove and drove.

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quantumguy@reddit

Still do.

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reluctantly_me@reddit

I've done that twice in the last week. Rolled down the windows, turned up the music and hit the country roads.

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Definitive_confusion@reddit

I still do. My gf and I take trips whenever we have time off together. Anything within 3 hours is game on. I'd rather be driving than most anything else

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lazytiger40@reddit

Yes we did. I still do it today

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jgiacobbe@reddit

I still do it. More often on my scooter or motorcycle but sometimes in the car with my partner.

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herodotus69@reddit

We didn't go for a drive. My dad would take us to the supermarket and we would just wander around. This was not just groceries, they sold all kinds of things. Lots of times he would find something on the clearance rack that he would bring home. My brother and I still recall these trips fondly.

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Low-Rooster4171@reddit

We did that often! In fact, I still do. I took a lengthy drive just yesterday!

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witchstrm@reddit

We called it galavanting

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lulabelles99@reddit

Yes and as soon as I could afford a car I’d drive by myself whenever possible. There was a ring road around my town that went up in mountains and down into valley. Loop took 45 mins to 1 hour and was perfect to decompress before going home…esp at night. I remember doing the loop in my prom dress sobbing after the dance because I didn’t have a boyfriend. I’m sure I was playing journey or foreigner in the tape deck and singing my lungs out too. “Faithfully” probably.

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Open-Sky-1499@reddit

Yes some of my best memories are me and dad riding around the backroads listening to oldies!

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Bear_Salary6976@reddit

No, and as a kid, I always hated road trips. It wasn't until I got my license that I started to enjoy just driving. During school breaks, I would often go for a long drive just to get away. It was very relaxing. During the COVID shutdowns, my then 12 year old daughter and I would go for long drives to kill time. She actually wanted to do something other than play video games or stare at her phone.

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Dazzling-Astronaut88@reddit

Yea, the old going for a drive. I do still do this somewhat frequently, but it’s always off-road type driving.

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plnnyOfallOFit@reddit

"let's go speeding'" me& 4 siblings (unter 10) would cram into a VW & we'd catch air going over rollers, timing ourselves to "make" hairpin turns.

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SecretMiddle1234@reddit

Sometimes we did that with my mom after gas prices were back to normal. I did that with my kids when they were young. I would take them to the places I grew up. Drive around the country roads to see farms.

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anosmia1974@reddit

It definitely happened when I was growing up, sometimes with my parents and sometimes with my grandparents, but it wasn’t super consistent/common. Always a treat, though! I loved doing it with friends in HS and on summer breaks from college, too. Those back-country Pennsylvania Dutch country roads were a joy. Getting lost—so easy to do in those days—felt like an adventure! It all but disappeared when I moved to the DC metro area after graduating from college. The gridlock, the tension from my always-crappy commute, the lack of super easy access to country roads…they all killed my love of meandering drives.

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rrhogger@reddit

Parents no, but as a teen I sure did.

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_MrFade_@reddit

Yep. And get drunk while doing so.

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LeoMarius@reddit

Yep, my dad liked to pack us in the car for a drive. My mom said that her dad did that even more. They'd get into the car and regularly drive to his mom's house, which was 4 hours away. They'd stay a few hours and drive home, or stay overnight and drive back the next morning. As the youngest, she'd get stuck in the middle between her brother and sister.

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BKtoDuval@reddit

lol yup and I was actually thinking of doing the same thing with my family, just go for a ride for fun. Everything seems so regimented with the kids' schedules. This at this time, this other thing, this playdate between these hours. Let's just go for a ride and get pizza.

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Mookeebrain@reddit

Yes

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bexy11@reddit

Yup. And I by myself at like 17-18. After that, never again with no desire to.

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Voltron1993@reddit

Yes! Still do it. Wife and I will hop in the car and go for rides all the time.

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VeryLowIQIndividual@reddit

Yes, and without parents but now when you get bored and want to drive around, all you do is sit in a bunch of red lights in traffic. Used like to ride around in the summer with the top down or the windows down after a hot day. Those days are over with there’s nothing but red lights and cops everywhere looking to pull you over for every little fucking thing is it’s not relaxing at all

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Salty_Ad_3350@reddit

Yes! When I first moved to Florida in 94 I had no friends and would do the same. Now I avoid the roads because driving is so stressful.

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ancientastronaut2@reddit

Not without a goal no. But my mother hated freeways and we'd definitely go on long drives getting somewhere we could have gotten to in 1/3 the time. And we took plenty of road trips as a family where we'd pile like 8 people into the car somehow, with some of us on laps and none of is with seatbelts on and no air conditioning for like 6-8 hours.

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EvilDan69@reddit

Yes my parents and I did do this. I still do this with my family too. just bought a new vehicle recently. massive sunroof. Very comfortable drive.

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BigMoFuggah@reddit

I grew up just east of Cleveland Ohio and many times when my parents were bored we would drive about 90 minutes or so to Pennsylvania. Just past the border there was a dairy farm that had an ice cream shop and little country store. Their ice cream was great, but their chocolate milk still to this day was the best I've ever had. So, basically we would drive roughly 90 minutes each way to get ice cream cones and a couple gallons of chocolate milk.

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brencoop@reddit

I still do this and so do my 20-something kids, often to look at houses like my folks did with me.

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HurtsCauseItMatters@reddit

Did we? I did that yesterday.....

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Longjumping-Poem-226@reddit

We still do that...we have even included our cats & get a drink or frozen custard

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pkpeace1@reddit

My Aunt always asked “you wanna go for a ride?” She would drive around the Jersey Shore (60s - 70s) playing Elvis and Johnny Cash on the radio. Great times ✌🏼

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denzien@reddit

My kids hate this, but a nice long drive through the hill country with the top down in a MINI Cooper is sometimes the cure for whatever is going on

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Full_Mission7183@reddit

Good heavens I used to feel sick riding in the back seat of the Country Squire.

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Bladley@reddit

We’d go for a drive frequently. RIP to the old man, he’d love a good drive.

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slightlyused@reddit

Totally. My friend Richard was the first to get a car and it was a '69 "Oldsmobuick" because the badging was game and we didn't really know which one it was. It was white with a red pimp interior and you could fit 8 people in it. We'd elect someone to go into a store late night and buy some porn... then stuff it our least favorite people's mailbox. We called it the overnight delivery.

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Turbulent_Tale6497@reddit

Parents, no. Friends? Totally

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WinterMedical@reddit

This is where the term Sunday driver comes from. People would aimlessly go for a drive on Sunday. Everything closed, nothing else to do.

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tjarg@reddit

My wife and I still do this, but we look for thrift stores to check out and someplace to get something to eat, bakery, deli, or cafe. It helps us learn the area since we're still kind of new.

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lonelyronin1@reddit

Yes - every sunday afternoon. We would just explore random farmland and woods for hours.

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FangioDuReverdy@reddit

‘Going for a Sunday drive’ is what we called it. Of course any other day of the week it was used when someone was driving too slow in front of you 😆 As in, ‘hey buddy, this isn’t a Sunday drive!’

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BigNastyQ1994@reddit

Thats how we got the term, "Sunday drivers."

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2doggosathome@reddit

We never just drive around aimlessly but we would go camping - 2-3 hour road trip camping and firewood was free so only gas was the expense. (Canada in the 70/80’s)

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jefx2007@reddit

My parents always took us out for ride. Never told us where we were going.

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Electrical_Beyond998@reddit

My mom didn’t do this. She was all about sucking the fun out of daily life when possible.

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AmazonHotWax@reddit

For me, it wasn’t so much my family, but with friends just driving around looking at houses and boring stuff like that. I do remember a friends family would always take a Sunday drive pack a picnic driving around the scenic roads of Arkansas.

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Teacher-Investor@reddit

Yes, we'd look at Christmas lights or just ride around with the windows open to get some fresh air and see places, like my dad's high school, or the houses where our parents grew up.

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GaRGa77@reddit

I used to but not as much anymore

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toddweaver@reddit

Yes, bar to bar where each had a “family room” where I could sit and wait for my dad to get juiced..

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legumex3@reddit

The bar was in the car for me. 🙄 My daughter mentioned that it was a cool skill that I knew so many ways to get places and I did that thing where you say something and then realize by the reactions of the people around you that you've just said something weird. I'm 45, I've known for a long time that it was stupid for my parents to do the things they did, I just don't think about it in those terms when I'm recalling said things. When you're 3 and 4 it's just another thing that your family does. You lay in the backseat guessing where you are based on the turns and road noise and occasionally you get a sip or two of beer because you're thirsty. Also, in hindsight, my ADHD should have been more obvious to my parents. Yes, it's cool that your daughter can hang until 2 am but that's actually not normal.

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toddweaver@reddit

“[…] shut back there! And hand me a beer […]”.

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RRTAmy@reddit

I still do it!

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RedditSkippy@reddit

My parents STILL “go for a drive.” I know that they survived the Covid isolation and boredom by doing Sunday drives in Western Massachusetts. They said they went through a few areas that they hadn’t seen in decades, but after a while they ran out of new roads, LOL!

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Full-Steam@reddit

Absolutely. I still do it often.

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missblissful70@reddit

I don’t really like to drive as much as I used to. It used to be something I looked forward to.

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Full-Steam@reddit

I totally get this. Auto dimming rearview mirrors are a must for me now.

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drainbead78@reddit

No, but I did this with my friends in high school all the time. We'd all just pile in someone's car and just drive for a while. Rarely ended up stopping anywhere.

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funnyandnot@reddit

Yes! Take random turns trying to get lost or see knew things.

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Any-Attitude-1477@reddit

Nope

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jcmacon@reddit

My closest friend's dad had a 1958 Ford convertible. Before he leased it to a movie production company and it was totaled by a bus accident that wasn't supposed to happen, we would drive around East Texas on Sundays all the time. It was amazing. We'd sometimes stop at a random junkyard and dig around in old cars for a few hours. We found all manner of cool stuff like wasp nests, rattlesnakes, copperheads, and random things like random license plates, cool pieces of trim from mid 50s cars, things like that. We also grew into teens that drove old cars, so then we started going out for parts to our 72 nova, 66 GTO, 65 Comet Caliente, 65 Mustang, 72 El Camino, and a 70 Chevelle. Our friend group drove some amazing muscle cars back then.

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texicali74@reddit

When I was little, sometimes my dad would randomly say “let’s go for a cruise,” and my parents and I and our dog would pile into whatever shitty car we had at the time and just ride around town for an hour or whatever. One of the few fond memories I have of my dad.

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Consistent-Pair2951@reddit

I love that the dog was included

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Temporary_Second3290@reddit

And occasionally stopping for ice cream.

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texicali74@reddit

McDonald’s or Church’s for us.

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lilbearpie@reddit

A drive in the country after church, then a stop at the root beer stand

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Korlexico@reddit

I still yearn for this but can't cause guess what. Gas is sooooo expensive now that aspect of my old life I've just givin up on now.

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architeuthiswfng@reddit

I love the "$5.00 regular" comment. I used to call gas stations "A dollar's worth of regular" when I was little.

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Ok-Impression-9540@reddit

Still do.

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keltsbeard@reddit

I still do.

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ExtraAd7611@reddit

No. My parents didn't like to drive any further than necessary.

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redquailer@reddit

Same. My mom still has. 5 mile radius.

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ExtraAd7611@reddit

There were places I thought were 1.5 hours away growing up that I realized were actually 20 minutes away once I started driving.

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redquailer@reddit

Same!!! Once I started driving and saw that a place where we used to go camping was quite close, and not like you say- 1.5 hours away, I couldn’t believe it.😳 Why did it seem to take foreverrr to get there. Are you secretly my sibling? 😂

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ExtraAd7611@reddit

Most likely

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blameitonthe80s@reddit

Taking a Sunday drive

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ritchie70@reddit

Our daughter (11) likes to go out for drives. Personally I don’t want to drive for the sake of driving but it makes her happy. And I hand her my phone and let her DJ, so we “Do It Like the Zombies Do.”

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doghouse2001@reddit

Yes... the Sunday drive. Dad had a favorite country road that was like a roller coaster and he could make us bump our heads on the car roof. I lost a baby tooth while eating an apple on one of those rides. Seatbelts came along and ruined everything.

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Von_Quixote@reddit

Yes, “Cruisin’” - usually at dusk.

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Strong-Way-4416@reddit

Yes. My Silent Gen Mum still loves to just drive around.

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hippiestitcher@reddit

We did this a lot with our own kids in the early 2000s, when we lived in Indiana. It was soothing to see all the beautiful farmland and the kids would usually doze off.

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nancy_drew_98@reddit

Every blessed Sunday. It’s how I know all the words to every song they played on the “oldies” station.

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cbatta2025@reddit

Yes but I usually didn’t like it so much. Lol. My parents would drive from Chicago to Indiana along the country backroads and stop every time they thought they saw some asparagus growing or berries.

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OwanOwan@reddit

I used to do this when my kids were young because they would fall asleep and it would give me a little break. Now, going cruising with my husband is still my favorite thing to do!

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classicsat@reddit

We id road trips for a purpose, to see family, to see equipment fo sale, never just for the sake of it, for the most part anyways

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SnowblindAlbino@reddit

We would "go for a drive" pretty often on weekends, often in late evening in the mountains to look for wildlife. My wife and I did that a fair bit in the 1990s as well, when we were too poor for much else but gas was $1/gallon and we were living in a new-to-us region-- we'd just pick a spot on the map and go see what was there.

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likelystonedagain@reddit

Not as much anymore due to rising gas prices

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beermaker@reddit

When we lived near the Canadian border in northern MN, Dad would take us for drives in the country to see moose, beaver dams, bear sign, bobcat tracks, *huge* flocks of migrating Canadian and snow geese that would gather in the corn and sunflower fields after harvest... He'd let off a 12ga in the air & the entire field would rise as a whole. Acres of birds taking off and forming flocks. Me and my brother packed onto the bench seat of our International Harvester pickup next to Dad, always a cigarette between the first two fingers of his shifting hand. Smells like motor oil, old spilled coffee, a touch of gasoline, fresh smoke from a Camel, and axle grease mixed with the hot air from the heater. Three one year old lab mix pups in the bed, driving gravel roads a handful of miles from the Canadian border.

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SaltyDogBill@reddit

Hell no. We would leave fireworks displays early to beat the traffic.

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vivsom@reddit

Yup we'd go for a drive. I still do this when I need drive therapy.

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tombacca1@reddit

Still do it now. We like to go driving in Milwaukee to look at the houses in different neighborhoods.

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typhoidmarry@reddit

Never. My father didn’t have a drivers license and mom didn’t drive unless she had to. I do it now all the time.

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ApartHunt9692@reddit

Loved driving around with my dad to slyly get away from the step monster

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Life_Sheepherder4755@reddit

I wish I could go for a leisurely drive. The roads are like participating in thunderdome around here!!!

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KSims1868@reddit

Still do but now it’s “go for a ride” and we fire up the Harleys to cruise around town. Ride down to Kemah for lunch, or just cruise around enjoying the day.

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Dr_Girlfriend_81@reddit

We were super rural and had what we called "roller coaster hills" south of us. Dad would load us all up and fly over those hills juuuust right so we got that weightless, rollercoaster-y feeling. We'd all be squealing and yelling "wheeee!" in the back seat. Then he'd turn around and do it again. We'd do that 3 or 4 times before going back home.

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5udrive@reddit

In my super small hometown, there was nothing else to do, but to “cruise around“… I miss those days… All of us did it so that’s the way we would see all our friends out on the street lol

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TesseractToo@reddit

Sometimes, my stepdad really liked being in the car When Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy came on the Radio on Thursday Nights sometime around 1980-ish we had to get in the car to listen to it. When I was a kid I never questioned why, but looking back it's going to be one of those mysteries, but I don't mind it was strange and maybe I wouldn't remember it as clearly

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yugfoo@reddit

With my parents, no. Cruising with my friends yes

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Unable-Arm-448@reddit

Yes, we called it "going on a Sunday drive" :-)

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DJ40andOVER@reddit

Still do

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bcbodie1978@reddit

We called it checking the crops

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thedatagolem@reddit

Yes. But it was never characterized that way. We were going antiquing, running errands, or checking out the sights of the Maine coast where I grew up.

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catrules618@reddit

Route 1! I'm a bit jealous you got to grow up there. My mama did. And I spent most of my childhood summers there being shuffled around from one relative to the next. But there really is nothing else like it

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thedatagolem@reddit

When I was in high school, I washed dishes at Billy's Chowder House in Wells Beach. I tell you right now, it was a magical time.

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Windholm@reddit

Yep. We‘d drive to an intersection, Mum would let us choose which way to go, we’d drive to the next intersection and repeat. If you’re out in the country, and you have a good map, it’s fun to explore that way.

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atyhey86@reddit

We used to play this too, except we didn't have intersections in Ireland, we have crossroads and there's no map in the world that had all the little laneways and hidden places on it. We saw some great places playing this

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MoeBlacksBack@reddit

My parents had 6 kids . We never took a family vacation. Day trips to the White mountains in NH or the Mohawk Trail in Western Mass ( grew up north of Boston ) was as close as I got . So yeah.

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H_M_N_i_InigoMontoya@reddit

What do you mean back in the day? I still do this

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Maison1984@reddit

Yep and they would always play “Bolero”

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Ok-Spend7268@reddit

Yes definitely

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Christopherfromtheuk@reddit

Kind of but usually with a dumb destination in mind. We were out pretty much every weekend possible doing something - walking, sailing, accompanying dad doing something or other. Fixing the car. Doing a project on the boat or garden etc. etc. On the rare occasions we weren't we would maybe drive to the coast about 50 miles away and sit with a flask of tea, cup steaming the front windscreen from the dashboard, and watch the waves for half an hour then drive back, or go look at a view somewhere with a flask of tea, cup steaming the front windscreen from the dashboard...

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FlizzyFluff@reddit

Oh yea Sunday’s we definitely did before Mom got sick

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Taskerst@reddit

For sure! One of the benefits of a time of cheap gas even if fuel efficiency wasn't equal. It was usually a nice day, sometimes we'd run random errands, maybe end up at a relatives, if we were lucky we'd end up at McDonalds. Looking back, there was no internet or streaming services and there was absolutely nothing on tv on weekend afternoons so it makes sense to pile the kids in and see where the day takes you.

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keepcalmdude@reddit

I did it all the time with friend from when I got my license at 16 until my early 20’s

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FormicaDinette33@reddit

We took drives sometimes to look at the scenery. And teenagers driving around listening to rock. It was fun

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Why-did-i-reas-this@reddit

Where we lived gas stations were closed on Sunday but we did find a gas "depot" that taxis would use to get gas on Sundays and would fill up and go for drives to all the quaint little towns in our region. As a side note... My parents were from Europe and it was normal for us to go for walks all over the place and at the time, at least among the people we knew, we were looked at as odd for doing this.

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elspotto@reddit

Yep. Lived in the Bay Area. We would ride up Mt Hamilton just for kicks. Also longer trips down the back side of the hills into wildflower country during spring. Mom would pack lunch in a cooler while dad filled up the tank and off we went.

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AstridOnReddit@reddit

My family went on driving trips but not just on a drive. But I used to do it all the time – I’d drive out somewhere in the mountains or countryside without looking at a map, and just explore. Kinda did it yesterday with my youngest; not as aimlessly but wandering from one place to another, deciding exactly where we were heading as we went. https://preview.redd.it/0b9b3a0l73rc1.jpeg?width=3429&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d11dc2e5b590d0ce3410c58191a59eca384c5fb A fun day!

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Nica73@reddit

Yes! We would go look for deer. Or drive up the big hill outside of town for a wide open view of the sunset. As a teen I would ride around all the time! It helped clear my brain. It was an escape from painful things at home and in my life. I still will hop in the truck and cruise to clear my mind and just think.

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craftyrunner@reddit

Never, parents would call this wasting money. Throwing money down the drain. Money doesn’t grow on trees. Go outside and play. Only boring people are bored. We lived in the suburbs.

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EloquentBacon@reddit

Yes. My mom and I did that often when I was growing up and my kids, husband and I often still do that now. My kids regularly do that with their friends, too. We live very close to the beach in NJ so we’ll often take a drive along there. There are some great local spots to drive to where we can see amazing views of the NYC skyline.

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frontporchmemories@reddit

Yes!! This is when our dad would let us drive on the backroads, or we would find an abandon house to roam, or a hole in the wall bar with a bowling alley to throw a game, or a random pond to hunt frogs....good times.

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sharkycharming@reddit

Yeah, pretty often! We moved to North Carolina from when I was 4, and my dad would drive us around to see what there was to see. And then we'd go to Red Lobster.

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slpybeartx@reddit

Yep. My parents would take us for a drive sometimes. As I teen I would go cruising in our town. Or as we called it, “making laps” I still go on drives today.

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Ellabee57@reddit

Not exactly, but my parents would take us to open houses after church on Sundays sometimes, even though they were definitely not in the market for a new house. Just something to kill time.

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catrules618@reddit

Omg. I forgot about my dad dragging me to open houses he fully he knew he was never gonna buy.

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fridayimatwork@reddit

Yes

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koine2004@reddit

Absolutely. I still do it. We live in a picturesque area. So a drive out along bluffs over the water or a drive out into the mountains is some thing I do for self-care.

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RattledMind@reddit

Yeah, we would do it, especially during the Christmas season, we'd drive around to see all the Christmas lights.

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MissDisplaced@reddit

Yes, my dad was fond of just getting in the station wagon and going for drives to places. Usually like outdoor stuff: lakes, rivers, hiking trails and such. Sometimes it was fun, but other times it felt like FOrEVer! Especially when it was cold.

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MayoIsMyFave@reddit

Not with my parents, but in the little town where I grew up, there was a "drag" where everyone went. We basically drove in a big loop. The street had parking in the center where you could stop and hang out with friends. Those were such great memories!

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AlienMoodBoard@reddit

“Sunday Drivers”. Anyone else remember that term? My parents would like to do their “Sunday” drives on Saturdays because we usually went to church Sunday mornings. Sometimes there was a destination, like an antiques shop that my mom wanted to see or a general store that had a counter for ice cream, which gave my dad an excuse to have some (because he’d say it was about bringing me there)… but usually it was just about spending a few hours taking in the scenery. Every few weeks when the weather is good, they still take a drive and find new places to stop.

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RealtorRVACity@reddit

Yes! We would "take a ride" and kinda get lost and see where we ended up. It usually involved shopping, lunch, ice cream etc. We lived in small town New England.

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BMisterGenX@reddit

lots of great random small mom & pop ice cream establishments to stumble upon in New England. Like every town has at least one non-chain ice cream shop!

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PurpleLee@reddit

Oh man, I just mentioned the tiny ice cream spots in my post. Yea, I think my stepdad knew about them all.

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rocklockandsock@reddit

Yes, weekend drives. Stopping off at a park and getting ice cream. The destination was wherever we ended up.

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limbodog@reddit

I still do. I like to see if I can get lost in some neighborhood. If I get to the point where I actually don't know where I am, that's a win.

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LadySiren@reddit

My mom and I would do our best to get lost. Just drive randomly and see what we could find. We damn near drove outta state a couple of times, heh.

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FitConstruction453@reddit

Left turns only! Wonkatonkwa!!

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PurpleLee@reddit

My family was super lucky, my grandma had a car too. She would pop up to take us to Coney Island on random summer nights. My stepdad would yell "who wants ice cream" around 10pm, then we would pile in the car drive out to some tiny spot he knew about. It was always the best ice cream.

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catrules618@reddit

Yep. We moved from Indiana to New Hampshire for a year when I was a freshman in high school. The teaching job my dad took was apparently awful, so he quit and took a job that was like 3 hours from us. He'd come back Friday nights and leave Sunday afternoon. After he left Sunday, my mama, brother and I would get into the little Nissan pickup we had, pick a direction to drive in, and go for an hour. See what we could see. I dont really remember seeing much of anything special on those trips. Cuz everywhere was so beautiful. But I do suppose it was good distraction to how weird things were that year

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generationextra@reddit

Yes, and that is how I was introduced to the best music the world has ever known.

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life-is-thunder@reddit

Absolutely. We lived in a small town in the woods of Northern California. Every so often the family would pile in dad's truck, (kids in the back naturall) and drive around in the woods. We called it "Boony Rompin'".

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Catforprez@reddit

My aunt used to take the kids to Kmart in super hot weather for the air conditioning. My own parents would sometimes take us on kind of empty car rides to places we didn’t absolutely need to go just as a leisure activity. I don’t think car rides in a busy metro area was necessarily a relaxing event.

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liefieblue@reddit

We (parents and five kids) used to go for Sunday drives around our small town and my parents would comment on whose bushes were flowering early or how much it sold for twenty years previously. It was honestly one of my favourite things to do each week.

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z44212@reddit

We lived in northern Ohio. One time we ended up in West Virginia for lunch. Had fried clams for the first time. Such a simple pleasure.

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drink-beer-and-fight@reddit

That’s literally all we did on Saturday nights.

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Make_the_music_stop@reddit

"Where were you, in '62" American Graffiti

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equal_poop@reddit

Yes, and as a teen there's one street in my city we'd cruise. Lots of teens and 20 somethings would cruise. I wonder if they still do these days with gas prices as they are. I don't drive and in this city the buses stop running at 6pm, so I don't know.

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MyriVerse2@reddit

Mom always liked to drive around to look at other people's houses. Basically, she was sight seeing in her own damn city. She'd also stop to pick up furniture and stuff that other people were throwing out, if she liked it. Also, there were times we drove to help me sleep during asthma attacks.

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The_Silvermoon@reddit

Not with my parents. But as a high school and college student, did this all the time with my friends.

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UncleFlip@reddit

I don't remember my parents ever doing it but I certainly did when I was younger and my wife and I do it occasionally now, just pick a direction and drive till we find somewhere to stop and explore. And my mom has told me her dad would take them all on drives sometimes.

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thisgirlnamedbree@reddit

I lived with my grandparents (but mom was in the same town and I saw her all the time) and we'd go for a ride, usually on Friday nights or weekends, down to the park and drive around town, or we'd end up at a little place called The Big Cone and get ice cream. It was nice to just get out of the house, especially if it was summer and the weather was nice.

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bilmou80@reddit

yes back in the days where cars are used to drive around aimlessly with the cassette radio on. The car glove box was invnted to store the cassettes

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Aggravating-Alarm-16@reddit

Yes. I used to do the same thing. That's how I learned to get around town.

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salty-sheep-bah@reddit

"A ride to the country" they called it

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phydeauxfromubuntu@reddit

I still do (by myself usually).

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Gorillaseatingmayo@reddit

Yup

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earthgarden@reddit

Yep! Just go for a drive. Sometimes we’d take day trips to here or there. Sometimes just drive around the city

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skinisblackmetallic@reddit

Always family to visit or a job or boat for my Dad to go look at so, not exactly.

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zoot_boy@reddit

Shit I do that now, as an adult. Lol.

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Neat-Composer4619@reddit

It was not just riding around. It was considered an activity in it's own right. Even as a 16 years old. Mom, can I have the car? Why? For a car ride. Ah! Ok! The keys are on my dresser.

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Muggi@reddit

Still do

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monstermack1977@reddit

parents didn't do this when I was a kid. I do it now all the time. I live 7 blocks from my office and still manage to put 20k miles a year on my car.

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