The SwitchYard Story: Family-Friendly Travel Plazas For the Future of Road Trips
The idea for SwitchYard began in October 2022, when I realized that families deserved something better than the traditional road trip stop.
Searching for Family-Friendly Stops
As the designated navigator on countless family road trips, I spent years doing “search along route” on my phone, hoping to find restaurants or gas stations with a playground. Even when brands let you filter locations by play areas, the data was usually wrong or outdated.
When the pandemic hit, my search shifted. Instead of looking for playgrounds, I hunted for covered outdoor dining patios — a safe place for my kids to eat without catching a cold or worse. The process was exhausting, time-consuming, and unreliable. What I wished for was a brand I could trust to always have what families need at every stop.
The EV Road Trip Problem
In the summer of 2022, my husband — an electrical engineer — announced, “I sold my car and put us on the waitlist for a Mach-E!” Once I learned it was an electric vehicle (EV), my first question was: How do we recharge it on a road trip?
Back then, most public charging stations were slow, taking 45 minutes to 90 minutes to recharge. Worse, the chargers were often in inconvenient locations: Walmart parking lots, car dealerships, and even behind a Super 8 motel.
Naturally, I asked: “What am I supposed to do with two little kids behind a Super 8 for over an hour?”
That was the moment I realized EV charging and family-friendly amenities needed to be reimagined.
Families + EV Charging = A Better Stop
Parents already spend 45 minutes or more at every stop on a road trip with kids. Between unbuckling car seats, bathroom breaks, negotiating snacks (somewhere between candy and carrot sticks), and saying no to $10 toy mermaids, the time adds up.
What if, instead of wasting time, families could get everything done in one convenient stop — while the EV recharged in the background?
That’s when the idea for SwitchYard was born:
- Ultra-fast EV charging stations
- Safe, modern playgrounds for kids
- Covered, climatized outdoor dining patios
- Nursing mothers’ rooms
- “Crawling Corral” soft play area for infants & toddlers
- Reliably clean, spacious restrooms (including multiple family restrooms)
- Healthier food and snack options parents actually want (and also some candy & chips too!)
By combining what EV drivers need with what families need, a charging stop becomes just another part of the trip — not a burden.
A New Kind of Travel Plaza
Traditional gas stations can’t offer playgrounds or outdoor dining because of who wants to play or eat lunch in a fog of benzene fumes? But a travel plaza based on EV charging can. SwitchYard is designed for families in ALL vehicle types — not just EVs. After all, parents already stop at McDonald’s for play areas, and they don’t sell gas either.
At SwitchYard, you’ll find snacks like hummus & pretzels instead of just candy, clean bathrooms parents can count on, and safe play spaces that help kids burn energy before getting back in the car.
The Future of Family Road Trips
What I realized is simple: if parents can get everything they need in one stop, that stop becomes incredibly valuable. Families save time, kids are happier, and parents are less stressed.
And that’s why SwitchYard exists — to transform road trips with kids into something enjoyable, not dreaded.
We can’t wait to bring a SwitchYard to a highway near you.