When I was growing up, we tried to take a family vacation just about every year. Sometimes it was a big trip, other times not, but always w/in driving distance. (HandyGramps doesn't fly!) We got to see a lot growing up...including HandyGramps driving temper (LOL!)
Nowadays, we try to take vacations w/ the munchkins, but it can be tough financially w/ gas prices, hotel stays, six mouths to feed, admission prices to various places, etc.
Here are ten vacations I've taken in my life (in no particular order)...
1) Pittsburgh, PA - One spring in the mid 80s, my dad's cousin was graduating from high school. He is also her godfather, so we took a trip to Pittsburgh. I made a new friend w/ a little girl in their neighborhood & we were pen-pals for a while afterwards. (This was in the days before Facebook & other social networking sites!) The one thing that really stands out to me is that there was a tornado warning while we were there...which was not a usual occurrence due to all their hills.
2) Trip out west to Colorado, California, Arizona, & other states we drove through - After I graduated from high school, we took our last family vacation...three weeks in a minivan out west. We spent the first week at a condo in Colorado where my sister & I liked to pretend to play tennis, but actually watch some cute guys playing on another court! From there we went to California to visit relatives & Disneyland (where we ran into a couple from our church & also had arrangements to meet up w/ a former associate pastor). Also on this trip, we saw snow in the mountains (the 1st time we'd seen snow in summer), got rained on my 1st time driving through the desert, stood at Four Corners where four states come together, & much more. It wasn't always pleasant (a-hem...sibling bickering, Universal Studios!) but I've taken many good memories from that trip.
3) Las Vegas NV & Disneyworld, FL (back-to-back familiarization trips) I used to be a travel agent & we would get to go on trips to help us sell them to our clients. At the end of April, I left for Vegas where it was about 104 degrees. The day after I got home, I flew to Florida where it was in the upper 60s/low 70s. What a difference in temperatures! This was when I was about eight weeks pregnant w/ The Prophet. Thankfully, I never had any morning sickness w/ his pregnancy, otherwise these two trips would have been extremely tough!
4) Niagara Falls & Stella Niagara - Another family trip when I was younger...my dad's cousin was taking her vows to become a Franciscan sister at Stella Niagara in NY. While there, we took a couple trips across the border to Niagara Falls in Canada, each time getting the same grumpy border guard!
5) Wisconsin - Over the years, I've been to Wisconsin numerous times to visit family & friends. I've also gone to beautiful Door County a couple of times. One place we visited is Peshtigo Fire Museum, dedicated to a fire that happened at the same time as the Great Chicago Fire. This fire took more lives than Chicago's but didn't get as much attention because it was such a small town. One belief is that both fires were caused by asteroids hitting the earth...not Mrs. Murphy's cow in Chicago as many believe.
6) Mackinac Island, MI - One of my most favorite movies is Somewhere in Time w/ Christopher Reeve & Jane Seymour. It takes place on this beautiful, automobile-free island in northern Michigan. Casinodad & I went before we had children. We toured the Grand Hotel, took a horse drawn carriage ride, had an antique wedding photo made, visited Fort Mackinac, & ate lots of delicious fudge. We're hoping to go back for our 15th or 20th anniversary to stay in the Grand Hotel.
7) Bahamas - This was where we spent our honeymoon & where Casinodad got bitten by the great casino bug! Our resort had a casino where we spent a couple of our evenings. The first time he played one of the dollar slot machines, he put in a dollar & won $100. A waitress told him if he'd put in $3, he would have won $300! Besides the casino, we also took a dolphin excursion where we could get in the water w/ them & pet them. I still remember how silky their skin felt.
8) Washington DC - One of our choir trips in college was to Washington DC. Here, we had the opportunity to sing in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. We were told that we'd have a chance to come back later in our trip to tour the shrine, however, time ran out. I was very disappointed & look forward to the day I can go back.
9) Myrtle Beach, SC - Our church youth group took a couple of trips here, renting a condo a couple of blocks from the beach. We would hold lip-syncing contests, swim in the ocean & condo pool, walk to the Boardwalk, & just have lots of fun. One of my favorite parts of the trip was going to those recording studios to make our own audio tape recordings. As a big group, we also made our own video singing to We Are the World.
10) Salzburg, Austria - I spent three months of my college senior year studying music in Hungary. Over Thanksgiving weekend, a friend & I went to Salzburg. Highlights of this trip include: PB&J on the train for our Thanksgiving dinner, shopping in the Christmas market (dipping my own candles, listening to traveling musicians, looking for an affordable cuckoo clock, & more), taking the Sound of Music movie tour (a bus tour that takes you through places the movie was filmed, even up into the mountains to the church they were married in), & visiting all the beautiful cathedrals. Salzburg is one of my most favorite places!
