vacations!

Vacations are the shimmery gossamer threads of enchantment from which memories are woven.  After years gone by, how they shine in our hearts!  When I was  younger, it was summer vacations that I most remembered about my childhood family experiences.  To the beach we would go for a 2 week holiday.

little snippets of memories:

◊ the breeze blowing the curtains in my room as I lay in the twilight ready for sleep

◊ my Dad and I laughing as a wave we have been riding spills us upon the sand

◊ dinner at a restaurant on the boardwalk with little mints on the table 
◊  the wind blowing me off my feet 

LINKS:

Summertime....back in the day.... with photos from the past
hot fun in the summertime! with photos from the past

I still love the beach, and it makes the perfect wintertime getaway for me and my husband.  Often I get to celebrate my birthday and our wedding anniversary then.  (They are only several days apart in February.)  Once on my birthday, I was on a snorkeling trip in the Caribbean.  Nothing could be better.  To lie in the sand under the hot sun, swim in the cool water, and relax, ahh, just relax.  time to be still and just enjoy being alive.  

In the summertime, I like a more active vacation--one that involves exploring and hiking and seeing beautiful natural scenery.  When my kids were growing up we'd often take two week vacations "out West"--the western US, that is. 

some memorable times:

◊ hiking in the Grand Canyon--more than once (I have a dream to hike all the way to the bottom and back up again, of course!)  One time my husband helped rescue a guy who was struggling to make it back out.  But that's a whole other adventure!
◊ hiking in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison (Colorado) with my husband and daughter.  We lost the trail coming back up from the bottom and made our own way which was rather steep for a while.  We had to pull ourselves up by grasping onto bushes.  (We later considered this fun and an adventure!)  There was a guy who came into our very secluded campsite at dusk and talked to us while we were starting to eat dinner.  This was very strange and we reported it as soon as he left.  We later believed he was a criminal that the police were hunting.  But that's another story.
◊ standing inside a giant redwood tree  (Seeing redwoods had been a dream of mine since I was 10 and a friend visited California)
◊ the stunning, electric, living blue water of Crater Lake
◊ the devastation caused by the fires in Yellowstone, the volcano of Mt. St. Helens

◊ seeing the incredible majesty of Glacier National Park
◊ the buttes, and other strange and wonderful desert land formations in Arizona and Utah
◊  seeing wildlife up close--elk, bears, moose
◊  snowball fights in Summer!
My dream vacation is visiting any of these most wondrous places and reveling in the beauty.  I have been most blessed to have seen such marvels.
This is for the etsybloggers' team carnival. 


photos by me © 2008-2010
GUIDE TO PHOTOS:
long ago
Prickly Pear, an uninhabited island near St. Maarten (coral reefs!)
Pagosa Springs, Colorado
Glacier National Park