Remembering Travels...and making memories with my family.

I grew up in a family that loved to travel. Every few summers we would load up in the van and drive to Spokane, Washington stopping at all sorts of attractions, popular and lesser known, along the way. One of the things I liked was getting to see the progress done on Crazy Horse Monument each time. We camped at different campgrounds, spent days exploring Yellowstone, watched fireworks on the 4th of July at Mt. Rushmore. I've seen the Great Corn Palace, Dinosaur bones being dug in Utah, hiked up Devil's Tower, and narrowly missed falling off a horse into an abandoned swimming hole. I've walked numerous times the wooden walkways through the "smelly pots", Hiked in the Badlands, gotten trapped in an old wooden outhouse with my sister. I could spend all day listing the experiences from those trips alone.
We went to stay for a week in Washington D.C. with my Aunt Betty who spent her years after my Uncle Tilly died doing volunteer work for different organizations. She had "connections" so on a tour of the capitol we got to ride in the special senator's trams that run under the buildings, that trip Amy and I had to memorize all of the presidents in order, we were there when the cherry blossoms were in bloom. It was wonderful. We made side trips to Gettysburg, Williamsburg, and got to see my great, great ( Great?) uncle's grave in Arlington Cemetary.
My dad was the first person to use the new ATM at his bank when I was in 5th grade and he won a trip to California. We spent the freebie days in San Francisco doing the touristy things - Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf, etc. and then went on to Sacramento to stay with my dad's sister and her husband. We camped on Mt. Shasta, saw the Giant Redwoods, and ate frog legs.
Every summer from elementary school on through Junior High we drove countless hours to Canada to stay at a cottage on the Ottawa River. We had a private beach that saw tremendous sand castles built, a rowboat to use and we brought along 2 canoes. My great aunt Ruth went with us each time to stay with her friend Nina Linn at her cabin down the beach. We fished every night, paddled to an island we named Blueberry Island - to pick blueberries for homemade pie, and swam as much as we could. At the end of the week our favorite thing was going to the dump. It was one where you pulled up to the edge of a drop off and threw your bags over the side. We thought it was so cool.
The summer before I started High School we took a month long trip to Europe. We spent a few weeks touring different countries and then stayed for a week with our cousins who had transferred to England for 3 years for business. My dad unintentionally recreated the scene from Nat. Lampoon's European Vacation where Chevy Chase got stuck in a round-a-bout; during our drive into Scotland. It was that trip into Scotland where we HAD to go to the famous St. Andrews golf course and my dad played and bought a putter there that then was left on the train. It became legend in our family and the story was told at my dad's funeral. We went to Abbergaveny to see where my dad's family came from. The town was nothing but a few falling down old castles and a giant stone cess pool that we all stood in (it was not used anymore) and got a group picture taken. We rode gondolas in Italy, hiked in Austria, rode a terribly scary lift to the top of Mt. Titlis in Switzerland. We saw museums, toured castles, went to the Anne Frank house, rode trains through the Scottish Countryside. We saw an orchestra perform in Belgium, walked the streets until we were blistered in Paris, saw my mom almost get run over by a taxi in England. Ate french fries with Mayonnaise in Amsterdam (they were sold on every street corner), made friends from Pakistan that we wrote to for years on a boat across the English Channel, and so much more. It was a month of memories.
In Girl Scouts I did a bus trip with my some of my best friends (Kellie and Victoria!) to Savannah, Georgia and also went to NYC. We camped in the great outdoors (in a cabin of course), went to horseback riding camp and lots of weekend adventures. The trip to Georgia was where Kellie and I really got to know each other and formed a friendship that has endured 22 years so far! I spent a week with my youth group (Kellie was there too!) in Chicago working with Habitat for Humanity, backpacked countless miles of the Alleghany Mountains over a week and ended with a white water rafting trip. I did a hellish week of bicycling through Hilly Ohio (but would not take it back for anything!) Thanks to being a band geek I got a fun trip to Toronto with friends like Kellie and Lura.
I was supposed to spend a summer traveling in Europe with my Aunt Pat, but she was diagnosed with brain and lung cancer and died before we got there. So I flew to Washington and then to CA to see my Grandmother one more time and to spend time with my Aunt Colleen. Not the best trip I have ever taken but one I am glad I did!
My parents went on more adventures after we graduated. A bike tour through Denmark, Hawaii, New England, an Alaskan Cruise, The Bahamas, New Orleans, Hilton Head, Pasedena, CA to go to the Rose Bowl... Heck, their Honeymoon was a 6 week camping trip across Canada!

I regret that my children have not gotten to experience the fun of a family vacation yet. It has made me want to work even harder to get done with my schooling so that we can start planning some adventures. I have had amazing experiences and I want to give my kids that to. We were not anywhere near wealthy growing up - I had a math teacher father who knew how to budget!
I want to show my kids Crazy Horse, hike in the mountains, play in snow in July. I want them to know the joy of camping under the stars, seeing bison just feet from the car window, watching the awesome power of Niagra Falls. I have been bit by the traveling bug again and so has Sean.

I loved growing up in the family that I did. I had parents that saw opportunities for adventures and took them. I learned so much about America and it's history - and not just from the educational tapes that we had to listen to! My parents were/are amazing and I can honestly say that I want to be more like them.