Tag: trips

family

Precious Ornaments

Andi

I have these ornaments, and they’ve been on every tree I can remember. They are a pair of figure skaters, and they were made by my Grandma Fern.

Well, she wasn’t really my grandma. She was my dad’s brother’s wife’s mom. So she was my cousins grandma, but not mine. But she lived down the street from my aunt and uncle and we visited every December.

She did a lot of bead crafting. I can remember her craft room with an entire wall of drawers filled with every color bead you can imagine. She gave me several ornaments over the years and I still have most of them. This pair was one of the first.

She had rheumatoid arthritis, and gradually her hands became more and more stiff. Eventually she became unable to handle the small beads. The last ornament she gave me is a little elf that my son now thinks is his.

Her last few years she developed alzheimer’s and she passed this last year. I’d not thought about it until I pulled all these beaded ornaments out of their boxes and it rushed over me. I hadn’t seen her in the final stages, but in a way, I don’t regret that. In my mind, I still see the smiling face cheerfully showing me how to craft. That’s the face I want to hold onto. That’s the face I remember when I hang this skating couple on my tree.

family, My Story

Notebook

Andi

I was digging around in the closet, looking for decorations when I came across a notebook, an old steno pad. I thought it was something my husband had been using for work notes, so I just set it aside and kept looking for my decorations. But when I did open it, work notes is not what I found. Instead I found one of my grandmother’s iterneraries for a trip we took to Texas and her daily journal. It was of course all hand written and very detailed. She wrote down everything from what I got at a Walmart stop to the miles we travelled in a day and what campground we stayed at.

It was an instant jump back in time for me. I could hear her voice as I read her handwritten notes. It brought up warm and happy memories and made me smile.

It’s always the little things that end up meaning the most isn’t it? I have bigger, nicer things from my grandparents, but they don’t warm my heart quite like a notebook full of Grandma’s thoughts. Those handwritten captions on the back of photographs, that random doll Grandpa bought for me in New Mexico. Those are the little things I hold closest to my heart.

Also that steno pad contained these masterworks of my approximately 5 year old skill.

What is that? Is that a giraffe? Maybe a baby and mama. But that doesnt explain the other ones with dark necks. Were those beards? Why does one look like it has a butt for a face? I couldn’t tell you! I have no recollection of drawing these, and 5 year old me was a special kind of imaginative. But to the world’s delight, my grandma preserved them for everyone. Thank goodness because the longer I look at them, the funnier they get.

family, My Story

Vacations with Kids

Andi

My vacations have changed in adulthood. For one, I now have bills to pay, and responsibilities. After we had kids, planning a trip got much more complex, and more costly. Some might think our trips got boring, or I’ve stopped travelling, but I find neither to be true. They may be farther apart, but they still happen. In some cases I’ve been forced to find unique places near home, but that’s also shown us some absolute gems. Some of them may be focused around visiting family, but they’re still full of adventure. And as the kids grow, we’ll be able to make the same exciting memories with them that my grandparents made with me.

Did you know Arkansas had mountains? Because I didn’t. I guess I didn’t pay close enough attention in Geography class. For my Grandpa’s 90th birthday we took him camping on Mt. Magazine which is in AR. I was shocked by how beautiful it was. We went in the Fall, right as the trees were starting to change. It was all outdoors and the kids could run and run and keep running. The park staff was wonderful, and the park itself was clean and cared for. I love mountains and find them majestic. Mt. Magazine was no exception.

I could show you a picture of the main street of Eureka Springs, or the haunted Crescent Hotel. But I’m sure most people have already seen those. The Crescent Hotel is famous, even being featured on ghost hunter shows. I do reccomend the ghost tour if you are ever in the area. It was so creepy! Which equates to a good ghost tour. No, I’m going to show you a picture from Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, a big cat animal rescue located just outside Eureka Springs. The huge majority of big cats in captivity are NOT in zoos or refuges. They are in people’s homes attempting to be kept as pets. As with any wild animal, it is not a pet, and is very dangerous to try to keep it as one. All of the cats and bears at this refuge have beven rescued from roadside zoos (not the same as a legitimate zoo, never pet a wild animal or animal cub, places who allow this are not caring for their animals) circuses, or private homes. The cat pictured I chose because I love love black cats. My cat is black. When I get another, it will also be black. Black cats are very rare, and that makes them even more special. I could not recommend supportng and visiting this place more. Another wildlife refuge I recommend visiting is PAWS (performing animals wildlife sanctuary) in California. They specifically take in animals from circuses, most of which are elephants.

This is also Eureka Springs, but a different quirky place I loved. Really, if you like oddball things, Eureka Springs is the place for you! This is at a place called Quigley Castle and it caught my eye because I wasn’t aware of any castles in Arkansas. And it’s not in a traditional sense. It is a house built entirely by a woman and her husband with rocks they collected from the river. The walls of the house looked like these benches pictured. The wife decorated her garden with glass her husband found and liked. 3 of the 4 interior walls were bare dirt so plants could grow up the walls. On the ground level, the wife had an aquarium built into the floor. The top level had her butterfly collection covering the walls instead of paint or wallpaper. The family still lives in the home and despite my thinking that the rock would wash away in storms, the home still stands firm a couple generations later. This house screamed eccentric at me and I loved the sound it made.

Want to visit a random, hole in wall place? Got you covered. This is Brown Mansion in Coffeyville, KS. This is one of the most interesting eccentric mansions I’ve ever toured. (Aside from Quigley Castle in Eureka Springs. I just like odd homes) The Brown Mansion is fitted with almost exclusively Tiffany glass. Plants displayed everywhere, a working elevator, and a full ballroom. The original owners operated a spa and some of those pieces are also featured, such as a vibrating chair to help relieve constipation. All the light fixtures are fitted with electric and gas, as the house was built right at the rise of electric lights. President Taft even visited this home on his campaign trail. If built today, it would cost over 4 million dollars to build. Definitely worth a stop and a gander.

Some of our best vacations have been the peaceful, quiet ones. The ones where I’m able to sit in nature with my feet in the water. Its calming to just sit in nature. Life can get to flustered and hectic. Your mind going 90 different directions at once. It’s good to have a few moments of simple silence and peace. This is rural Oklahoma, close to my Grandpa’s lake house, where I was able to slip away from the family and have few serene moments of silence.

I have family in Missouri, so driving through Kansas City is not a rare occurance for me. Despite that, I’ve never been to a lot of places in and around MO. This is the World War I Museum and Monument in Kansas City, MO. Unintentionally, we went on Memorial Day weekend, which meant the place was more crowded than usual. It was still a well designed musem, simply full of information and artifacts. I don’t think my kids were quite old enough to appreciate what the museum was about. They were mostly interested in the cars and airplanes. I’d suggest waiting until late elemtary, middle school age before taking a child to this museum.

I understand having small kids can limit vacation possibilities. But really, the the importance is not necessarily the extravagance of a trip. What is important is that you are with the ones you love and building life long memories with them.

family, My Story

Adolescent Travel

Andi

All of the road trips I took with my grandparents were when I was fairly young, 10 and under. As I got older, and consequently they did as well, health complications and more frequent doctor appointments kept them from travelling like they had before. They would still go, as much as they could, but it was never quite as far or for as long. But as I got older, I started being able to go on my own, sometimes with a group of other teens. My first job was to pay for a vacation. These were the travels of my youth. Each one of these could probably make up an entire post all by themselves, and maybe I’ll go into more detail later.

To anyone who lives in America who can, I strongly suggest travelling outside of the U.S. Being able to immerse yourself in other cultures and lifestyles gives you a unique persepactive on the world. It’s good to know there are many different people who live rich and full lives that don’t look or live like we do in the States. We are but one peice of the bigger world puzzle.

The first time I travelled outside the United States, I visited London. I loved it there, and absolutely would love to go back. I don’t think I could live in such a big city, but the magnificence of the history drew me there. There is so much to tell, I could probably fill a book. I do remember this huge difference in people. The people who lived there I suppose are accustomed to tourists and were overly kind to us. But the other tourists were slightly rude and unkind. One of my favorite stops though had to be Westminster Abbey. This photo is unedited and was entirely accidental, but it is perfect. Th Abbey is the final resting place of quit a few people, but also still holds regular services. It was almost haunting to stand in. The place is beautiful and striking and serene.

I also was fortunate to visit Spain. My biggest take away from that visit was food. I came home with manchego (cheese made from sheep milk), nutella, and churros. All of which I now see all over the US. They were probaby here before but I hadn’t taken notice of them. I remember there being an entire museum about the Spanish Inquisition, I got one room in and had to turn around and leave. Some of the church buildings still have chains and cages hanging from the walls. This photo is the town of Toledo. This is where I bought my sword that I do still have. There were also quite a few castles in Spain, more than I remember being in England. And let me tell you, the Spanish knew how to glam it up. There was one room that had a ceiling covered entirely in gold pineapples.

For Christmas one year my older brother promised to take me to a concert. So, of course, I picked a concert in a totally different state. He told me ok, but this was now like 5 years of Christmas gifts. He and I went to Pensacola, FL in November, when noboy else was there. This was also the year after the big BP oil spill. The beaches were empty but it was Florida, so it was still pretty warm despite being winter. The white sand was flecked with hardened black oil. We also went to the Naval Aviation Museum, which of course was full of airplanes. Beautiful and big and filling the entire building. This was also the city in which I had my first glass of champagne and the absolute best corned beef sandwhich I have ever put in my mouth. It was huge, so big, I could barely get my mouth around it. Layer upon layer of thinly sliced melt in your mouth beef. My mouth is watering thinking about it again. That was a good sandwhich.

In 2010 I went to Romania. This was a youth group trip, so I wasn’t alone. Sadly, this put limits on what I could do. For instance, I saw Draculas castle! Well, I saw Bram Stokers home. On top of a massive hill, overlooking a small town. But nobody else wanted to go up to it, so I never got to go inside! However, we did visit some Roman ruins. It makes me feel kind of dumb that the country I was in is called ROMANia and I didn’t put together that it had anything to do with Rome. The country was a common summer destination for wealthy Romans and many had palaces and summr homes there. It was one of these vacation palaces that we were able to see. It was surreal to stand there in a crumbled home someone lived in a couple thousand years ago.

Budapest was next. This was the same youth group trip since Hungary and Romania are right next to each other. We didn’t spend as much time here, so there’s not as much to tell. What I remember most is the breathtaking architecture. Every building was ornate. This is their parliament building, but it wasn’t the only beautiful work in the city.

In 2011, 2012, and 2013 I attended OshKosh AirVenture. For those who don’t know, this is the biggest airshow in the US that takes place every year. It takes over the whole town for a week. The event is massive. I’ve been 3 times and I absolutely want to go again. When I went, I was in school for Aviation Maintenance Technology and would go with my school. I can still smell it, that crisp, sharp, airplane smell mixed with grrass and tent vinyl. I want to be in the air again so badly. It’s been too long. These trips were some of the most purely joyous.

Do you remember I said I loved old churches? This is the organ in Trinity Churh in NYC, and yes, I loved it. Look at those pipes! In comparison, these aren’t the biggest organ pipes I’ve seen, not even the oldest, but there is still something special about them. Maybe because this church is part of my own nation’s history? I also tried to go to St. Patrick’s Cathedral but at the time it was under renovation and all I got was scaffolding. The intricacy of these old places of worship astounds me. They are works of art.

Close to NY is New Jersey, which is the home of the Cake Boss. No, he was not there when we visited, sadly. Nonetheless this place was so crowded, but good gracious was it worth it. His cakes really are that good. He has a reputation for a reason. It was light and sweet, but not so sweet it makes you sick. My mouth is watering again.

I have had a strong fascination with the Civil War for years. The politics of it, the fuzzy grey areas people tend to look over. Even now, we still have people fighting over it. “It was actually about states rights!” Some yell. Others respond, “it was about slavery!” The debates over whether or not to tear down Confederate statues or leave them be. One of the most prominent battles of that war was at Gettysburg, and of course Lincoln’s most well known speech. We visited both sites. The battlefield is now speckled with statues and monuments of both Confederate and Union soldiers. This one is in honor of Pennsylvania soldiers from both sides. By far the biggest, most likely because Gettysburg is in PA. The location of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address also has a monument but is in a graveyard. White stone after white stone marking the final testing places of many young soldiers.

Just a few of the snapshots from my youth adventures. As a teen and young college student I travelled far and wide. I was incredibly fortunate to be able to make such trips. These were a peice of the mold that shaped my mind, and I am eternally grateful I had the chance to experience them.

family, My Story

Young Travel

Andi

This tidbit of my life story is going to be a little more lighthearted than the last one. That one was kind of heavy, so let’s lighten up a moment shall we?

I said before I traveled a lot with my grandparents when I was young. My most fond memories are from the trips I took with them. Really, I’ve been a lot of places in my lifetime, and I realize how fortunate I am to have had such experiences. I got down the photo box and dug out some of the photos. There are so many trips we took, I can’t fit everything into one post. These are all from when I was very young, most with my grandma and grandpa, sometimes also a sibling. It also reminded me I really need to digitize my photo albums and probably organize them better. 😬

If you remember, I told you my Grandma loved flowers, particularly wildflowers. I have myriads of these photographs of just wildflowers. She would spot some and make us pull off the road so she could get out and snap a photo. I have no idea where this was taken, or how old I was. But even now, her passion lives on everytime one of us pulls out one of these and smiles remembering how much she enjoyed the flowers.

Someone recently asked me if wanted to go with them out to the sand dunes and I laughed. It immediately brought me back to this trip. I was probably about 5, maybe 6. For whatever reason they let my older brother (approx 13) drive the sand buggy, and he crashed it into a giant hill of sand. Kid couldn’t drive straight to save his life in that thing. My strongest memory, having to shower several times to get all the sand out of every crevice. And I was a scrawny little kid back then! Now I’m pudgy and have a lot more crevices for sand to get stuck in! So no, I don’t enjoy having sand in between my buttcheeks, but thanks for the invite.

I was probably 7 years old when my grand parents took me to Yellowstone National Park. Remarkably what I remember most weren’t the buffalo, or the waterfalls. It was the Park Ranger. They had an activity book you could do about the park, and if you finished it, you got to be a Jr. Park Ranger. I did it, very proudly, and gave my workbook to the ranger. It was a woman and I can recall the way she looked, her facial features, her hair, the sound of her voice. I don’t know why I can so vividly recall a person who’s name I never knew and who I won’t ever see again, but I do. I still have the Patch she gave me that says Official Junior Park Ranger. I also have a visual imprint of myself and Grandma sitting at a table behind a huge panoramic glass window watching Old Faithful. I’m not sure where Grandpa was in this memory. Maybe outside trying to take this picture.

At 8, I went to Mount Rushmore. I thought my brother was with us, but he says he’s never been, so I guess it was just me and the grands. I don’t actually remember much about the carving. We obviously saw it or this picture wouldn’t exist, but it’s not what I have in my memory banks. I remember the walking and the trees. We walked so much that day. Ducking into the shade because it was summertime. And I remember the gift shop. There was a museum about the making of the mount and it had a little gift shop. I was allowed to pick one thing and I couldn’t decide on what. I eventually got a sticker book. A sticker book. A shop full of options and I got stickers. Because 8 year old me was a genius.

One thing I find kind of humorous now is my Grandparents just did not have the same concerns my parents did, and it exposed me to different beliefs. I’ll explain. My parents being the religious way they are, insisted we go to church if we were gone over a sunday. So we did, but as Grandma and Grandpa werent like my parents, they didn’t really care what kind of chuch it was. About their only requirement was is it Christian? And is it on our way? Its Sunday, the town were in has a Methodist church, let’s go. Next Sunday, it was a Baptist church, also good. I don’t really remember any of these churches excpet for one. When we visited my great great aunt, we would always go to church with her because she was devoutly Lutheran and would not miss a service. I remember it because the organ pipes covered the entire back wall of the sanctuary and the side walls were solid stained glass. The place was beautiful. I remember walking in and being in awe of the beauty. The church I grew up in was boring and mundane compared to that. Old churches and cathedrals still leave me in awe.

This was at a beach, obviously, but I am uncertain as to which one. It could easily be Padre Island or Pensecola, FL. We went to both. I’m kind of leaning towards Texas though, because we went there more often. I love the beach. Unlike the sand dunes, there’s tons of water right there to wash the sand off. My great great aunt collected sea shells, so when we went to the beach, I’d search for shells to take back to her. Which is most likely what I’m doing in this photograph. The last time I got to see her, she gave me several of her favorite pieces. A bear made if sea shells. A shell necklacehe she had made. I still have these, and I cherish them.

When I was 12, my parents took my Aunt and Uncle on a cruise. As I was still at home, I got to go too. We went to Alaska. Seriously, one of the most beautiful places on earth. I couldn’t find the pictures I took there, all I could find was this tramway ticket. I suppose I will simply have to take another vacation and go back to retake the photographs. I always kind of liked moose, but after I went to Alaska, it was my goal to see one in person. I still haven’t accomplished that goal yet, but I did see a watch for moose sign up in the mountains, so my chances to see one are rising!

I severely love to travel. This of course does not cover every trip we took, but these are some of the strongest memories. I think my grandparents are the ones who first instilled the love of adventure in me. They were my biggest influencers. They are my fondest memories.