Ah, summer. The flowers are in bloom, the kids are out of school, and the lake is exceptionally warm for the season. Oh, and everybody is planning their customary family vacation. Many of you will be planning a trip to grandma and grandpa's in Montana, or a few days in Seattle. But taking a truly amazing family vacation doesn't have to drain your bank account. Let's all make a pledge to up our road trip game this summer - I've got just the vacations to do it. These two trips can be taken for less than $1,000 by a family of four (does not include food). If you simply must see Las Vegas, or require a commercial van to fit everybody, adjust the budget accordingly.

1. Lake Louise and Glacier National Park

Remember the first article when I advised you to drop everything and get a passport? I hope you took the advice, because my favorite summer road trip leads to Canada. There is nothing that says summer vacation more to me than the majesty of the Canadian Rockies. The best part is that you've got a lot of options. Is your family more of a hotel family, or a camping family? Do you have an RV to tow? Are you adventurous enough to stay in a yurt (courtesy of AirBNB)? With $1,000 and six days you can find out! There's a ton to do both at Lake Louise and surrounding Banff National Park. Then after you've exhausted your Rockies fun just follow the road south from Calgary to drop into Glacier National Park and traverse the beautiful Going-to-the-Sun Road. Geographically, it's such an easy road trip to accomplish for stunning results that you and the kids will remember forever. Bonus points for winning wild animal bingo along the way.

2. Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore

If you'd care to stay in the U.S. for your family road trip (or put off getting your passport), there are still two major parks that are incredibly easy to reach in a leisurely week-long vacation: Yellowstone and the Badlands. Really, in North Idaho there's no excuse not to drive down to Yellowstone at least once - it's only eight hours from here! Take in the rugged scenery and multiple wild animal preserves along the way, then stop off for a few days in the park to get your fill of American Bison, hot springs and geysers, and the world-famous Old Faithful. Then set off on your merry way across Wyoming (and passing through Cody, the coolest Old West town complete with bullet-riddled saloons) toward the Badlands. I'm sure you wouldn't dream of missing Mount Rushmore, but also make time to include Jewel Cave National Park. It's about 30 miles west of Mount Rushmore and provides miles of underground caves and tunnels. My parents and I took this exact road trip, and out of all the spectacular things we saw I still loved our spur-of-the-moment jaunt to Jewel Cave the best.

3. BONUS: Disneyland and Grand Canyon

OK, OK. So this one is not possible with a strict $1,000 budget unless you're totally content to load up the tents or RV. However, this incredibly ambitious road trip covering so many must-sees: the Grand Canyon, Vermillion Cliffs, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, and DISNEYLAND, is a blast. And it can be done for just under $1,300. I recommend going before mid-August because the southwest gets hot, hot, hot. If you are like me and on a mission to visit every state, this road trip is for you - it cuts a huge swath through six states in all.

If none of these trips appeal to you, or you've done them already, go Google Maps and pick a new place! I'm not saying these trips are the be-all and end-all of summer road trips; I'm saying that planning an amazing trip that your whole family will still talk about decades from now is so easy to do on a shoestring budget. So hop in the car and go!

Note: if you would like the exact itinerary (including hotel recommendations, sight-seeing, food, and route directions) for one of these trips, let me know.

Next time: The lost art of the weekend trip

Julianna Satterly is a Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy graduate who worked as the Editor in Chief of her college newspaper at Washington and Lee University for three years. She's lived in three states, visited 28 others, and has toured 13 countries. Contact her at juliannasatterly@gmail.com, or on Facebook or Twitter at @jsattz.