Our Family’s Annual Summer Trip in the United States

By Raizel Heppenheimer

Every summer, my family takes a trip around the United States. We go to national parks, memorials, monuments, battlefields, and we hike and explore them. At each of them, we also do the Junior Ranger program, where you’re given some kid-friendly activities through which to learn about the site and its resources, and then you get an official badge or patch. It’s also a way for my family to learn history, math and science, and to have fun.

Along the way, we also look for other fun and cool (and, generally, free or low-cost) things to see, such as a lot of the ones listed in places like Roadside America. In general, we want to take in everything that America has to offer!

This summer, we did the Northwest. We started out in Las Vegas, where we picked up my sister and her kids, and headed up north to the middle-to-top of California, followed by Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho and Utah.

As we travel, we always get questions such as “How do you do it?” “How do you plan it?” “Where do you sleep?” and “What do you do for food?”

Well, we like to keep things simple, and I know this doesn’t work for everyone, but it works for our family.

My husband and I plan the trips – the places we want to see (for example, the world’s largest spoon. Corny, but cool!), the parks, and the time we want to speak at each place.

For lodging, we like to go to campsites and set up a tent – there’s nothing like sleeping under the stars and roasting food over a campfire!

For food, we bring along a cooler with things such as deli meats and cheese, and restock those when in the larger cities. The rest we buy as we go (in addition to fruits and vegetables, there are a surprising number of kosher products in almost any grocery store or supermarket in the United States).

As we traveled around the United States, we met some interesting people. Some of them knew nothing about Jews. They ask questions and we try to teach them to the best of our abilities. At one place, a young man approached my husband with questions about religion and the meanings of certain verses in the Torah. My husband told him about the Sheva Mitzvos Bnei Noach and share – without even having to get into “comparative religion” – what the Torah actually tells us.

And we met fellow Jews as well. We had 2 particular encounters this summer:

1. We were setting up the tent and getting ready for dinner when the ranger came by to see if everything was okay (which is a normal thing – so if you camp out and see a ranger, don’t get nervous and think it’s because he saw something wrong!) He saw all of my boys in their uniforms of kippos and tzitzis, and he was like, “Wow, Jews! That’s kinda cool!” and said he was Jewish too.

He told us his aunt and uncle live in Los Angeles and are religious, but he hasn’t been by them since his bar mitzvah. My boys immediately jumped at the chance and asked him if he would mind putting on tefillin. At first, he was hesitant and said he didn’t do it anymore. With some gentle persuading, he agreed and put on tefillin for the first time since he was 13. He ended up staying with us for a couple of minutes more to say a brocha and have some food and conversation.

2. Another Jewish encounter happened when we visited the Lava Beds National Monument in northeastern California. We ran into another Jew who said that he was on vacation with his family. Since he doesn’t own a pair of his own, he usually goes to his local Shliach for that. With non in the immediate area, he asked if we had one. Of course, my boys were more than happy to help him out!

Both Jews and non-Jews are fascinated by us, and we love to take the opportunity to teach. Wherever we go, we know that it’s our job to make a kiddush Hashem. Hats and jackets make a big difference too – there was one fellow who complimented us warmly about being “in uniform” even on vacation!