In a Vacation State of Mind

It's summer.  Everyone goes on some kind of vacation or trip this time of year.  Tonight (well, technically super early tomorrow morning), we are leaving for our vacation to Alaska.  I've been excited about this trip since we planned it back in February.  We've been to California as a family, and I've been to Montana for a mission trip, but we've never made it to Alaska.  Needless to say, it's going to be a brand new adventure for all of us.

Planning and packing for this trip has put me in nostalgia mode.  I'm thinking about our past vacations, and which ones I've enjoyed the most, which ones are most memorable, and which ones I would like to do again...or which trips I'd like to make for the first time.  Let's see how far back in my memory I can go, and how far ahead I can look...


My first memory of a vacation is Holden Beach, North Carolina.  My grandfather had a house there for the longest time, and my dad grew up going to this beach.  We went at least once every summer until I was 10, when my grandfather sold the house.  I spent countless hours jumping waves, building sand castles, hunting for the best sea shells--I was picky--boogie boarding, and watching for the occasional dolphin.  I've never been a fan of seafood, but one of my all-time favourite restaurants was at Holden...Betty's Waterfront Restaurant.  Best hushpuppies ever!  Holden is also about 45 minutes from North Myrtle Beach, so we would usually go down there for a day.  I always loved eating at Johnny Rockets, exploring all the little shops on the boardwalk, and feeding the giant fish in the pond.  We returned to Holden once after the house was sold, but that was when I was in middle school, and we haven't been back since.  I miss going to Holden...maybe one day I will go back, when I have my own family, and I can pass along my memories to them.

The next vacation that comes to mind is Disney World.  We made our first family trip there when I was 4, and have been back at least eight times, possibly more.  Needless to say, my family loves Disney.  When I was younger, Dad had to travel to Orlando a lot for work.  At that age, it wasn't too much of a big deal to miss school for a week, so Mom and I usually tagged along.  We love eating at Cinderella's Castle and the Crystal Palace (the place with all the Pooh characters).  My favourite ride is Space Mountain, even though I was scared of it until I was about 11.  We're also huge geeks and collect the pins.  It's not unusual for us to come home with about six new pins each trip...sometimes more than that.  While the Magic Kingdom definitely takes the cake as our favourite park, EPCOT is a very close second.  I love the world showcase.  It's as close to some of those countries as I'll ever get!  Although I've been to Disney World so many times, two trips stand out as the best.  My old middle school took the entire 8th grade music department--band, orchestra, and chorus--to Disney every year to participate in the Magic Music Days festival.  It was great fun to perform, play around at the parks, and spend time with some of my best friends.  The other best trip was our last visit we made a few years ago.  We went down over Presidents' Weekend in February, and I got to see two very dear friends who live in Florida, who I don't get to see that often.  I'm thinking it's about time for another Disney trip!

One summer when I was in middle school, we made a trip out to California.  We stayed in Palm Desert for a few days, and then finished the trip in San Diego.  In Palm Desert, we walked along the San Andreas Fault, which I thought was pretty awesome.  San Diego was a whole lot cooler than Palm Desert, and a bit rainier.  I loved Sea World...except when I got dive-bombed by seagulls when I was trying to feed the sea lions.  I've hated sea gulls ever since.  Sea lions and seals were everywhere!  We went to a place called La Jolla, more commonly known as "Seal Beach."  That description isn't too far off: hundreds of seals just lie on the beach all day.  It's amazing.

Our last beach trip was made the summer of 2008.  We flew down to Atlanta and drove down to St. Simons Island, where we met up with family friends and their three daughters, who were our next-door neighbors when we lived in Atlanta.  They also brought along one of my good friends, and we got to spend the week down at St. Simons and Savannah.  St. Simons is just beautiful, and Savannah is very historical.  The best part was waking up at 5:30 am to watch the sun rise on the beach.  It was worth the early wake-up...the sunrise was astounding.  Unfortunately, we got hit with some heavy rain for a few days and had to stay in, but it was still a lovely vacation all-around.  I would love to do that trip again, too. 

Last summer, we made our first international vacation to London and Paris!  We did three and a half days in London, and three and a half days in Paris.  We made this trip with the Disney Adventures travel group (noticing a pattern yet?), which is the same group we're doing to Alaska with this year.  We got to London pretty easily, minus the typical hour-long delay by the airline in Philly.  We visited Westminster Abbey, The Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, and got to see The Lion King stage show at the Lyceum Theatre!  The best part about London, though, was taking the train out to Cambridge to see our family friends who we had not seen in nearly five years!  We took the Eurostar train to Paris, where we got to explore the Louvre, the Champs Elysees, le Arc de Triomphe, Versailles, le Tour Eiffel, and Notre Dame!  I stayed clear of escargot, but I had my fair share of croissants and cheese.  European coffee is so good, too.  It's super strong, but delicious.  We flew back to Philly from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, which was a totally different experience from flying around in America.  Overall, our first international trip was a success, and I'm already planning to go back to London next summer for study abroad.  I seriously fell in love with London the minute we got there, and can't wait to go back.

Next on my list of places to visit:

Hawaii.  We've had plenty of friends go, and all I've heard is that it's beautiful and warm.  I really want to go back to a beach, considering we haven't been to one in about four or five years.

The entire United Kingdom.  We've done London and Cambridge...now I want to explore Scotland, Wales, and a little bit of Ireland.  Our family heritage is Scottish, and I'd love to see the land of our ancestors.  The trip I'm hoping to do next summer is based out of London, but we do day and weekend trips all around England.  I'm already excited, and I haven't even applied for it yet.

Germany/Austria/Switzerland.  I want to see the land of my favourite movie, The Sound of Music.  I want to stand at the top of that mountain and have my own Julie Andrews moment.  And fill up on Swiss chocolate.

And after this week, I will be able to cross "Alaska" off my list of places to go!