I'm jealous of people who travel (for fun) on a regular basis. We make plans for vacations that just never seem to happen. Our last "big" vacation (i.e. out-of-state and lasting for more than a day) was back in 2004, when we went to Utah for a week. Since then it seems that we've had some huge, major expense that has eaten up any extra $$$ we might have had that could have gone towards seeing a little more of our state/country/continent/hemisphere/world.
2005: Bought and new(ish) car, moved, had a car accident completely destroying new(ish) car, bought another new(ish) car
2006: Bought a house, had gall bladder surgery, Isabella broke her arm and had major allergy testing
2007: Put any extra money into new house, had plans made and hotels booked for Spring Break but had to cancel when a very close family friend died, started paying for one set of braces
2008: Continued putting extra money into house, began paying for second set of braces
We realize that these are conscious choices we are making to pay for one thing instead of another, and I am grateful that we at least have the money to pay for (most) of this stuff. So we try to stay content with daytrips in-state visiting friends, taking advantage of the state park systems and programs they offer. But it's not the same as looking forward to something you really, really want to do!
James and I talked about and we decided that we wanted 2009 to be different. So we went ahead and made plans. Paid the money. Ironed out the details. And now we have TWO things to look forward to!
1- My good friend Adriana is coming to visit in April. She's visited once before, and we *adore* her. She's three weeks older than me, and is the yin to my yang. Twin souls seperated at birth. She's James' second wife. I can't wait for her to get here!
2- In June, we are doing a combination camping/staying in a cabin trip to St. Joseph Peninsula State Park. This beach is just beautful, and the campsite and cabin are right on the beach. The cabin was only available for one night, so we decided to camp out a night or two before our cabin reservation so we could extend our vacation.
It's not a lot, I know, and we're not even going anywhere new or far away. But it's given us something to look forward to and that's priceless.
5 comments:
Sounds like life to me! Hopefully nothing comes up that you would have to cancel your camping trip. Have fun!
I LOVE the Gulf of Mexico. It is so shallow and warm. Heavenly really. I grew up about an hour away from Port St. Joe. I love that whole area. Have you been to St. George Island State Park? It is not far from there and it is really nice too.
Katheryn-
That picture of the girls was actually taken at St. George Island SP Beach back in 2007! That was one of our day trips. Sadly, it started raining (heavily! With lightning!) about two hours after we got there so we had to cut the trip short.
We really like St. George, and since it's 30 miles closer than St. Joe it's more "convenient" too. ;)
I love getting away too! Your trip sounds like fun. Be very thankful that you are close enough to the beach for a day trip. I miss the beach very much.
You are truly always welcome to come to Memphis. (I know, it's not that much of a tourist pull, but you have a place to stay here, if you ever want to.)
I have to admit that traveling is mine and Nick's weakness. Before Thomas, we would sink money we didn't necessarily have into vacations. Now we try to have vacations, but I wish we could do alot more.
Post a Comment