As I recently had a momentary 'ugh', feeling rather 'stuck at home' and the thought that I 'never do anything'... I was reminded.... one season of my life, I spent traveling the world! Literally! I hope to be able to also do travels with my new family, but for today, I'm thankful for memories of travels!
This is the beginning of what I hope to have multiple sequels. A post illustrating some of the amazing places I've been, and experiences I have had.
Growing up impoverished, we never had the fancy family vacation some have had; Disney, cruises, coast to coast, out of country, ocean, or even fancy hotels along the way. Instead, our family "vacation" was typically travel to and fro Michigan, (where 99% of our family resides) visiting every possible person we could, running every day to a different location, non-stop-on-the-go. We also did tent-camping, graduating to an o.l.d. pop-up-camper (60's model with snap on canvas top and sides), and truck-top camper, then an o.l.d. RV. Needless to say, these trips were quite the experiences. I mostly recall the times we broke down along the highway, and when it seemed to down-pour every weekend we tried to go camping, lol, go figure. For an optimistic person, these were the events that seem to stand out the most as I type this.
I remember thinking that o.l.d. pop-up camper was the coolest thing ever, because we got to pack everything inside the camper, and merely had to 'pop-up' the top and viola!, our dwelling. That, and we had beds! Woohoo! No more pokey rocks and twigs, and wet sleeping bags! The RV had the most beautiful old wood cabinets. The truck-top camper was the coolest because we could ride in the above-cab bed, or sit at the table and play cards or games, WHILE WE TRAVELED (ohmigosh, as a parent I now think: I'm sure this was not very safe.... but outside of driving two vehicles- which we could not afford to do, remember i.m.p.o.v.e.r.i.s.h.e.d. - it was the best we could do just to go on an outing)!
I will have to keep an eye out for some photos of these travel vessels so I can post them.
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| Miner's Castle, U.P |
Taking the truck-top camper (through Chicago and Green Bay, all riding in the cool camper, knocking on the thru-window to the truck when needing to communicate with parents) to the U.P. for a family reunion. How many of you know, without Googling it, what the U.P. is? Hehehehh. Munising, Lake Superior, and a "dahg-wok" at the campground. Translation: dog walk according to the Upper's. Pronouced- yooper. Another one ya might have to Google ;-).
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| Red River Gorge Slade, KY |
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| Natural Bridge Slade, KY |
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| Mackinac Bridge |
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| Mackinac Island |
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| MI Adventure |
The first non-Michigan family trip we took was to Washington D.C. 'Tis the trip in which I confirmed I suffer from motion sickness, driving at night, in the rain, through the mountains, plegh! In D.C. we stood at the Lincoln Memorial and decided that the Washington Monument looked rather cool and we could walk over and see it (!). For those who have done this, it is incredibly deceiving. It is a rather long, long, long walk! Whew! I remember the walk. And the Hope diamond. It was gianormous. Also during that trip, we visited my first ever Aquarium in Baltimore. Impressive.
When I was 15, at the *perfect* age, I had an opportunity to travel with a boyfriend's family to Disney World!! A for-real vacation! We stayed at the Dolphin Resort, a for-real fancy hotel! We visited Disney for 5 days. Epcot was by far my favorite, which explains my later love for country-to-country travels.
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| Walt Disney World, Dolphin Resort |
... ... to be continued ...
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