Saturday, July 17, 2010

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

27 comments:

  1. Wow, you've done a lot! I'm not much of a nature gal, but some of what you've done sounds wonderful. :)

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  2. that's it! you have completely motivated me to go get a couple of beach umbrellas and new beach chairs and hit the beach ASAP! We're having a little heat wave in California which means it's probably "almost" warm enough to be at the beach now!
    lovely whimsical post!

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  3. Your vacations sound wonderful! I hope you get to take one soon after all this work you've been doing!

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  4. I enjoyed reading some of your vacation memories! I was also reminded of why I don't camp! :D

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  5. I love the beach, and the water. Your blowing curtains paint such a nice picture!

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  6. My Mom is definitely a sun worshiper but my hubby and I like nature trails, etc.

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  7. Wow, your vacations sound fantastic. Relaxing vacations - love those. Hiking trips, would like to try a little bit of.

    Tried camping with my kids and realized it's not for us - I've camped without them, and I think I like that better. You've been to all the places in the U.S. that I'd like to go to one day - all the rest seem to be shopping malls and fast food and that turns me off to main-stream traveling.

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  8. hi, i just came back from my highlands vacation.. will keep posting pictures up in my blog.. hope u drop by.. thanks!

    reanaclaire.com

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  9. Wow. What wonderful vacations and photos! You make me want to do several of those things!

    RYC: As far as I know curry plant is unrelated to yarrow. The Latin name is Helichrysum italicum. It's a cool, and unusual plant. More here:
    http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/heltalicum.htm

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  10. I loved tagging along on this trip down memory lane with you, Margaret. You've visited some places on my wish list. :)

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  11. Great post about traveling and vacations... I never took them much when my children were growing up (I regret that very much). We'd go and visit family most of the time --in lieu of seeing the country/world.

    As I've gotten older, I have a HUGE desire to travel more. But--since I had my knee surgery, I am stopped dead in my tracks right now....

    My advice to anyone: Travel while you are young and can travel.... I still hope to travel --but have almost waited too long...

    You have been to some great places--and I hope you get to visit MANY more.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  12. You certainly have some great memories and vacation photos! The beach and the one with the woods look so inviting!

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  13. Your vacations all sound splendid to me. Our visit to Cedar Breaks was Amazing. Will post some soon. When do you plan to visit the SW parks, specifically the North Rim where I work? Let me know. Hope to see you here.

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  14. Keep me posted about coming to the North Rim. I usually have Sun, Mon & Tues off.

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  15. I love that photo with the beach umbrella! What a very inspiring post.

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  16. You have a lot of good memories and have been many places.
    Thanks for the visit!

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  17. What a lovely post - you are right in that we are made up of our memories - they help make who we are and how we understand the world. Lovely writing and artful photography! Cheers!

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  18. I love this post. Making memories, that's what life is all about! Many of your places rang a bell in my memory bank. Crater Lake stands out. We went to see it again a couple of years ago after many many years. (We go to Oregon, where we used to live, every yeaar, but just not that part of it). So spectacular -- and this time I took a zillion pictures, now owning a digital camera! I made a blog post using about half of them ;>).

    You've had some great travels.

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  19. I love your words about vacation memories. Mine include the sound of mourning doves and the warm sun on our backs as we finished a morning of shelling on the beach. Good times.

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  20. What a beautiful post and gorgeous pictures. I'd love to be in the mountains right now...enjoying the cool breezes. We certainly don't have anything cool in NC hot hot hot.
    Madi and Mom

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  21. You've captured the true essence of vacations! Glacier Park is one of my favs, too!

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  22. Hi there - I'm glad you came to visit us at the Three Muses to see all the wonderful artwork there. I am also glad that your comment brought me to your blog which is fabulous. I so enjoyed the stories of your times out in the great outdoors.

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  23. Sounds like very nice vacations! I grew up in Colorado so I can relate to Black Canyon very nice, Blue Mesa too. Ouray is beautiful too.

    I'm now a follower and it was nice reading about your vacation dreams. I hope they come true!

    Lisa

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  24. I love the picture of the hiking trail. I just want to pop right in and explore it!

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  25. The Redwoods of Northern CA and Carter Lake are two of my favorite vacation spots but the coast of Oregon and NorCal is number one.

    You have some great vacation memories with many more to come.

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  26. You have intersting vacations! I think that I'd like to hear some of those "other stories".

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