From the Archives: The Road Trips Of My Childhood

On the Huffington Post today, Millie Kerr faces her impending 30th birthday with a look back on her travels over the years—and specifically on what she calls the “never-ending road trips” that she and her family would take.

Millie’s own memories got me feeling a bit nostalgic, as well as a bit sad.

When I think back to all the “never-ending road trips” that I took with my own family, I can’t help but wonder how the rise in gas prices may be depriving Americans of something they might not even have considered—the epic, memorable family road trip. While the majority of my “adult” traveling life has been engineered by boats and planes, my childhood was peppered with family road trips that included little more than the four or five of us (depending on which family it was), the car, some good books and toys and music, and the open road. We never headed too far—Boston, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and the Jersey Shore were all favorite haunts of ours. But it wasn’t even so much the destination (although don’t get me wrong, those were amazing as well) as it was the journey and the shared experiences that kept us packing it in the car for more every year.

There is something to be said about waking up at the crack of dawn and piling your bags by the trunk of the car in the driveway so that your dad or step-dad could systematically load them in, or sleeping under one blanket with your sisters as your dad or stepdad continues the drive through the night.

There is something to be said about sitting, elbow to elbow, with your sisters in the back seat of the Dodge Caravan or Subaru Outback, verbally sparring for more room, but secretly not minding too much.

There is something to be said about the miles we traveled while writing stories to ourselves in our notebooks, belting out lyrics of songs we listened to over and over again in our Walkmans, and then our Discmans, or looking out the window at the countryside rolling by.

There is something to be said about the pit stops along the way, the fast food you ate that never quite tasted the same when you weren’t on an epic family road trip, or the snacks that your mom and stepmom packed for you for the hours-long ride.

When I think about my future and having kids of my own some day, I’m saddened to wonder if I will be able to afford giving them the same kind of memories. How much money would an epic road trip like the kind we used to take cost now that gas prices are topping out over $4? What will the vacations of my children’s futures look like?

I’m saddened to think I might not be able to give them everything my parents gave me on those bumpy, windy journeys we took years ago—with the windows down and the wind blowing in our faces.

I think they gave us more than they may even know….

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From the Archives: When in Banff, Play Like the Locals

The beautiful town of Banff is completely surrounded by mountains.

About two years ago, and after I had only known him for three weeks, Chris packed up and left the U.S. to head over to Banff, Canada, for a five-month long trip to work and play.

Lucky for me, we continued to talk while he was gone, which meant that right around the two month mark after he left, we both felt it was time for a trip. I was headin’ to Banff! I wouldn’t have a lot of time off of work, since it was only one month after I returned from Hawaii, but you’d be surprised, as I was, with everything you can do in Banff in only 4 days.

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From the Archives: Australia Part II

Even though we had a great time site seeing, eating, scouting out kangaroos and soaking up the sun, my all-time favorite aspect of the trip was my never-ending Melbourne family

Back in the land of Oz we boarded an early morning plane (complete with a sad, screaming baby) on Jan. 2 for a short two-hour kangaroo hop, skip and jump from Sydney to Melbourne.
This magical place called Melbourne held special meaning for me, because we would be staying with my grandfather’s fantastic Italian family. With oodles of aunts, uncles and cousins—only about 1/8 of whom I’d actually already met—to catch up with, I knew it would be another whirlwind time for us, but well worth it. With only three full days to take it all in, that would mean more late nights and crack of dawn mornings, but we were up for the challenge. More Aussie photo memories after the jump.

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From the Archives: In the Land Down Under

When in Australia, the first (and main) thing you should concern yourself with is seeking out these magnificent creatures in their wild habitat. Then, once you find them, do your best not to disturb them, cause they can be meeeaaannnn

I’m sorry I couldn’t think of a more original way to introduce the blog entry that is actually the most recent traveling that I have done—on this, my travel blog.

But it will have to do.

In December and January Chris and I took a trip back to his homeland for Christmas and New Years, and it was even better than I ever could have imagined. I have been thinking about how to write something up about the trip since I started this blog, and friends and family who have looked at it ask me how I could have gone so long without writing something about it. The truth is, it was such a detailed, long, multiple-journeyed trip, I wasn’t sure how to go about it. I think I’ve settled on letting the photos do most of the talking (and there are lots of photos). So without further adieu, here are some of the highlights.

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From the Archives: A Throwback to Valentines Days Past

This year I spent Valentines day at my mom’s house, planning an upcoming trip to Europe with my sister. Last year, however, Chris and I were on a boat heading out to snorkel in the Bahamas.

There’s a lot to be said about this. For our first Valentines day when we were actually physically together (the first year we were dating he was in Banff), it was pretty great to be in the Bahamas. On the other hand, we learned a pretty valuable lesson on that trip—if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

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From the Archives: There’s no place like…

Hawaii with a friend.

While I await the upcoming adventures of Chris in Japan from this weekend (snowboarding with his best friend at the resort where he works -tough life!), I’ll pull some trips from my archives to post.

When a high school friend of mine decided to move to Hawaii after she graduated from college, sure, I knew I’d miss her, but also, I was friggin’ excited! Since Chris was away in Banff, Canada, at the time, I decided I’d treat myself to my own little Valentines day treat and I booked my flight to coincide with the ‘holiday of love.’

And I was in love. From the second I stepped off the plane and got “leid,” until the time I had to (unfortunately) board to go back home, I fell more and more in love with the island. We stayed on Honolulu and made a couple of treks out to Waikiki and some other touristy spots, but for the most part, the greatest thing was seeing Hawaii through the eyes of a person who lived there. Faye took me to local bars and her favorite restaurants. We went to a fancy hotel bar and saw David Beckham (not planned, just fate, I swear!), and we went on hikes and jumped off of waterfalls. Here are a few of the highlights:

Everywhere you go in Hawaii you want to take photos, but it’s so frustrating, because no photo ever turns out as beautiful as the scenery actually is. Since it’s now been a full two years since I was there (sob!!!), it’s hard for me to remember all of the tiny details of the trip, other than to look through my photos (another good reason to blog!). I think nobody really needs convincing to go to a place like Hawaii, but I have to admit, it was never really on my ‘must visit’ list until I knew I had someone to go there and visit with. Having gone now, though, I’d go back in a heartbeat. My trip with Faye was more on the adventurous side, which I loved. Next time I might spend more time on the beach, mixed in with the hiking and the waterfall jumping. Still, I love a vacation that has some sort of mix of the two.

Hopefully I’ll have an update next week or the week after from Chris’s trip to Japan. He’ll be there right during the Japanese New Year (it’s actually the night he arrives), so it should be really fun.

Until next time…bis bald…and see you soon!

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From the Archives: A Beautiful Burlington

A few months ago I found myself between a rock and a hard place. I was desperate for a little vacay time, but neither my boyfriend nor any of my friends had the extra days that I had. So I decided to take it to a higher source.

My mom had a little time on her hands, and she was still upset over the loss of our family pup and felt like she could use a get-away as well. Still, it took some coaxing on my part to get her to agree to a short trip. Then, once that was decided, it was clearly time to pick the place. I suggested California— she said too far. I suggested Chicago. She said she wasn’t too keen on the prices of flights at the time. So I did a little further digging and came up with Burlington. I had heard great things about it—like mountains, breweries, cobblestone streets and Lake Champlain. And that’s all before the amazing fall foliage you’ll find if you go at a time like we did— in mid-October.

A few highlights:

Homemade apple cider at an apple cider mill in the mountains in fall= best time ever.

Gorgeous Lake Champlain.

Drinking beer with mom from a local brewery. Priceless.

A Burlington vineyard.

It’s just a tiny taste of Burlington (not to mention the Ben & Jerry’s factory tour and the Lake Champlain chocolates factory tour and tasting), but having just been there for four days left me wanting to see more of it. My mom and I have decided to make the mother-daughter trip a yearly thing, so maybe this year we’ll hit it up again. Could I get her on the ski slopes next time? Probably not, but here’s hoping!

A few other must-hit spots if you’re in the Burlington (and surrounding) area:

The Skinny Pancake: for some really delicious crepes
Nectars: if you happen to care where the band Phish began (who doesn’t care about that?!)
Downtown Burlington (Church Street Marketplace): complete with street performers, tree-lined cobblestone streets and a street named Cherry (guess what lives on that street? You guessed it. Ben & Jerry’s. They’re everywhere in Burlington!)
The Storm Cafe: overlooking Otter creek, it’s a little creepy to go when it’s raining, but cute nonetheless

Until next time, my friends…bis bald…and see you soon!

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