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Spending more time on the highway than the average American family, we’d like to think we’ve reached a MacGyver-like state for whatever vacation curve ball inevitably comes our way. Whether we’re making our itineraries, packing …

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Today’s satellite-based GPS devices, smart phones, and even automobile navigation systems have given us more ways to get our bearings than the days when state highway maps and Rand McNally were the next best thing …

Audiobooks For Your Kids is an iPhone app designed to keep your kids engaged in high-quality classic literature. Perfect for road trips, waiting rooms, and even quiet moments at home. A no-frills app for 99 cents, the app is co-created by traveling mom (and bookworm) Elizabeth Rodgers from Boise, Idaho.

How do you teach your kids to enjoy hiking? Jeff Alt is passionate about hiking. His son was taken on his first hike at eight weeks and Jeff speaks and writes about hiking every day. We asked him for tips on getting our kids off the couch.

We’ve all been there. It’s late. Everyone’s tired. Everyone is cranky. And that is the night you pick the restaurant that takes 30 minutes to get drinks and bread to the table. We’re normally all about not taking screens on vacation. But, sometimes, well it’s just an emergency.

A road trip can offer its own particular brand of difficulties for families traveling with babies and those on the cusp of toddler-hood. Babies require their own diaper bags, clean bottles, food, and entertainment. Our editors are always keeping an eye out for products that will make our trips easier. Here are a few that have crossed our desk recently that we think you might appreciate as well.

Road trip season is just around the corner! We asked the experts at GetJar, the world’s largest open apps store, to give us their picks for road trip apps this year.

Road Trips for Families returned to Florida to geocache by kayak along the Great Calusa Blueway near Ft. Myers Beach. On the adventure, we used two GPS devices, a Earthmate PN-40 by DeLorme and a eTrex Venture HC by Garmin, to find hidden treasure along the beach.

Driven by the need for accurate GPS coordinates, Road Trips for Families uses the entry-level Geomate.jr GPS device by Geocache GPS to hide new geocaching containers.

Here’s a short list of some great gear for your family camping adventures. Some of it’s for kids; some for adults. Our only guideline was to find great gifts that would fit in a jumbo holiday sock.

Recently presented with the opportunity to review the Kodak Play Sport camera, we tossed it in our suitcase for a wild and wet weekend in The Wisconsin Dells. From underwater stills to footage down the water slide, a waterproof camera is a fun way to capture new family memories, water and all!

Thoroughly tested by Dave Ruocco, a tech-savvy stay-at-home dad, Road Trips for Families offers an on-line review of the Bento personal database app by FileMaker.

Created to entertain even the most “bored” kid, Road Trips for Families suggest five road-trip friendly iPhone apps for your next family vacation. Be gone, “Are we there yet?” Behold the iPhone!

A new trend in family vacation planning is iPhone travel apps, or virtual travel guide books. Authored by area gurus, travel apps offer an in-depth look at a particular region or vacation destination. Apps are more content rich and interactive than traditional guide books, and bring the itinerary planning right along in the car with you.

Our road tripping family gets asked all the time for suggestions on destinations, attractions and restaurants. And, honestly, it can be hard to remember details about each road trip. Family Rambling has solved that with their handy Travel Journal.

Back in the day, parents handed fussy toddlers their keys, a teething toy or maybe a rattle. Now, we hand over the iPhone. The most common question asked by parents who look for travel advice isn’t about what highway to travel or even about kid-friendly luggage. It’s about iPhone apps. So, we decided to do some research and let our fingers do the downloading as we tried out some of the top contenders and a few more obscure apps. Here are our recommendations for the apps worth downloading. Let the happy road trips begin!

The new Olympus FE-4020 ($149.99) and FE-47 ($119.99) models must have been designed with road trips in mind. They come with 14 megapixels and up to 5x optical zoom as well as a host of on-camera features to make taking pictures simple — no matter what.

One of the top questions I’m asked when I do an interview goes something like: “How do I keep the kids entertained in the car?” So, for expert advice on the gadgets, I talked to Jody Halsted at Have Kid Will Travel.