I'd never imagined something like that, so I thought it was a very excellent thing at the time as the clerk skillfully explained how to use it. My dad was more reluctant to deal with this kind of help.
We only ever used it once, since my dad felt that he was sufficiently expert at reading maps that he didn't need Triptics.
Unfortunately, he expected everyone else around him to be as expert with maps as he was, and he was the one who was doing the driving.
Usually, this combined to mean that family vacations were syncopated with the car being angrily slung onto the shoulder of the freeway in the space between an exit ramp and the driving lanes, where words were exchanged between the driver and the navigator.
And if handled right, good GPS nav almost completely resolves that situation.
But you're right: It does lead to bland road trips. I find the routes to be pretty unmemorable and fatiguing at times. This is a bummer because travelling can take up so much time in a vacation -- it'd be nice if there were something more memorable than an endless ribbon of uninterrupted pavement.
(And one solution for that is the "Avoid Highways" function in the navigation software. When the boredom and fatigue begin to set in, use this button to just get the hell off of the freeway and see what the area is about.
It takes time, but I think it is worth making time to do this occasionally.)