Bit By The Travel Bug!

I was born and raised in Arizona. I have lived here all my life. It sounds pretty boring. Right? I know. However, it has been a wonderful place to grow up and then raise my own family. No regrets there. From the earliest time I can remember, though, I have loved to travel. As a little girl I loved road trips. Still do today. Most people moan and complain when they have to drive long distances. But I enjoy this strange past time. As a little girl I loved packing my bags: what clothes to bring, what shoes, what toys can I pack? And what food and candy and snacks are we bringing? It was all very exciting for a little girl. My siblings and I would cram in the back seat. For the most part we would get along fine. But there was definitely a few “You’re taking up too much space!” or “It’s my turn to sit by the window.” or “Ohhh… You’re stinky!” Dad would give us fair warning before his great, big arm would fly over the seat and whack a few naughty kids. Don’t get wrong. Dad was very patient. We got more warnings than we probably deserved, and although his arm was big and long – he was 6’5”, he was a gentle man. But it was effective. For most of the drive we would play games and sing songs.

The big travel bug bit me in High School. As a family we spent 2 weeks in Alaska one summer and twice we went to Hawaii. Alaska was incredible. We enjoyed staying w/cousins, camped at Mt. McKinley, watched Salmon swim upstream, we’re awed and amazed at the beauty of it all, and we saw big, brown grizzly bears- up close! My brother and I had nice, new cameras and we wanted photos of the bears. We crossed the street and started crossing the meadow to get closer. Dad, a daredevil himself, was with us. Mom was screaming from the car “Jim, get back here. You’re too close. Get those kids back here!” We did get some great pictures and no one was eaten alive! Hawaii is, of course, Hawaii. Breathtaking and simply heavenly. It was on those trips that I realized I really loved to travel.

Well, many years later, married with children and raising a family one gets busy. And actually, busy is an understatement. But I love my family and we had lots of great family trips. The traditional trips were to Utah to see relatives, to Lake Tahoe to ski each winter, and every summer to California to enjoy the beach. But we have also had the opportunity to go to some really remarkable places.
These are a Few of My Favorite Places... (see additional posts)