If I’m honest, I haven’t always had a love for travel. When I was a kid, my family kept our trips pretty simple. We often spent long weekends tent camping at a nearby lake. My dad had a yellow speedboat that we always took with us. I enjoyed when he would drive us around the lake, but frankly, I was NOT an outdoorsy child. I appreciate nature much more now.
Camping: It’s In-Tents
Tent camping was an adventure (though not one I usually wanted), and my mom tried to make it as fun as possible for us. I slept on an inflatable pool float with my sleeping bag, which was bright green and contained all the Kellogg’s cereal mascots. Of course, Mom used pool floats because they had built-in pillows. My mom is nothing if not practical.
Here Comes Disaster
I will never forget our last camping trip; it was an absolute disaster!
We hadn’t taken out our gear in awhile, and when my dad packed everything up he found holes in the tent, compliments of a very ambitious mouse in our garage. So, we needed to patch the tent before leaving. Once we arrived at the campground, my mom and dad started setting up camp, but the plastic spikes we had to secure the tent wouldn’t go into the ground. We then purchased very expensive metal tent spikes at the campground store and set everything to rights. Well, sort of.
The Universe is Calling, Maybe We Should Listen
If we hadn’t noticed that the universe wanted us to call it quits, we probably should have, but we kept going. My dad tried to get the lantern to light and the camp stove to work so we could have dinner. However, hours later, we were surrounded by a pile of used matches, eating cheese and crackers by flashlight in the dark.
We woke the next morning to cloudy skies, but my dad was finally able to get the stove started. Mom made a hot breakfast and we had just finished cleaning up our campsite when it started to rain. 🌧️ My family ended up inside the tent playing card games while my parents constantly reminded my brother and me not to touch the sides of the tent to keep water from getting in. As you could imagine, it was not a fun day.
When the rain finally stopped, my parents decided to take us for a walk along the lake. We were only a few minutes into our walk when park rangers arrived and warned us of flash floods for the rest of the afternoon and evening. So, my dad raced us back to the campsite, threw everything in the back of our pickup truck, and drove us home. When we arrived, he promptly tossed all our camping equipment. But don’t worry, a short time later, my family bought a new 24-foot travel trailer. It felt like a palace in comparison to that four-person tent. 😀
Keeping it Simple
We rarely traveled out of state. My dad doesn’t like flying, so I only flew on a plane once before I turned 18. We went to Washington to visit family when I was three, but I don’t remember. Outside of the occasional trip to Las Vegas or my uncle’s house at the river in Arizona, most of my travel involved a tent or travel trailer. Even with the trailer, we rarely traveled more than four hours from home. We did do “staycations,” long before they were popular, and did get to stay in hotels sometimes, but as I said, travel was simple.
The Travel Bug Bites
The travel bug didn’t really catch me until the summer I turned 19. My grandmother was taking all of her grandkids on an all-expense-paid trip, so she invited my mother, younger brother, and me to fly back East with her and my aunt to see the historical sites in Washington D.C., New York, and Philadelphia. We also traveled to Amish Country in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and to Michigan to visit family. It was the biggest, most extravagant trip I had taken. We traveled via plane, train, and automobile ✈️🚆🚗 From then on, I was hooked!
Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to travel to London, Paris, Victoria, and Vancouver, and I’ve been on several cruises to the Caribbean, Bermuda, Mexico, and Alaska. I travel to Hawaii, one of my favorites, whenever I can. Road trips along the California Coast with my best friend are frequent. Tennessee is a new favorite, and I hope to move there someday. There are still many places I want to visit, but recent circumstances have limited my travel plans. I do have a huge bucket list, which I will share in a future post.
Random Travels of a Gal Reinventing
For now, I am planning a cruise to Alaska, which includes an interior land tour that I’ve never done before. I also recently went on a Disney cruise. Yes, I’m a Disney adult, and I won’t apologize for it. When one of the world’s most famous theme parks is in your backyard, it just becomes a part of your life 🎡
So, don’t be surprised if future random musings focus on Random Travels of a Gal Reinventing. It’s a passion of mine. I am also hoping to improve my photography skills. Future posts will include terrible pictures that I am trying to make look stylish, but the only way to improve is to practice. What are some of your favorite travel memories? Do you have a favorite place to visit? A disastrous vacation adventure? I hope you’ll share them.
