I've been everywhere..

     I love traveling! It's so refreshing to step out of your own house, get in the car and drive for hours or even days, in our case, to a destination. I was born traveling, almost literally. My first family vacation was a trip to Yellowstone National Park when I was a whole 6 months old. It was a bit colder than anticipated and my mom had to bundle me up and even zip me into her jacket with her during some cold nights so I would be warm. But most of my wonderful family memories through the years are from our trips across the country!

     I've been to all the continental states, sitting in the back seat of our ugly Ford van with my siblings around me, asking "are we almost there yet?" My parents thought it an important part of our education to expose us to different areas of our country. We've spent time on the coasts, around the Great Lakes, and in huge metropolitan areas like Boston and Washington D.C. but our absolute favorite part of the United States is "out west." Big sky country, where you get to breathe and get away from the hustle and bustle of a city. Where the air is fresh. Where seeing a moose run across the road in front of your car or a bear ambling in a distant field is normal. This is my kind of place.

     My family likes to take things off the beaten path. We've seen the stuff that other people have seen...same old. We'd rather see the stuff that other people don't always get a chance at. We do this through many long miles and tiring hours of hiking. Once we nearly had first-hand experience with a grizzly! Way back in the woods, we were hiking along a narrow path through a wooded, hilly area when we suddenly smelled the most disgusting combination of dead fish and rotting animal. With no lakes nearby, the fish smell obviously had to come from some other source. The smell left and we hiked on, only to meet another hiker with a bell around his walking staff. We stopped for a friendly chat and it's a good thing we did because he had a lot of experience and knowledge about being out there. Apparently he'd just seen a grizzly bear not to long before, off in the distance and it had been heading this way. He told us that, when motivated, they can move over long distances with amazing speed. He'd seen the bear in rather a hurry and had wondered what it could be after, but since it had moved out of his sight he kept on walking. The hiker then proceeded to tell us that "you can almost always smell a bear before you can see it. They stink like dead fish!" We knew instantly that the thing we had smelled was probably the bear that he had described. Since it was autumn at this time, the bear was probably fattening up for his winter hibernation, waiting for anything small enough to come by so he could eat it. Thankfully, 5 adults was too large! 

      

     There are so many stories and memories that I could probably go on and on. Family vacations, or, like we enjoy lovingly calling them "family adventures" (because they are often more work then relaxation,) have played a huge part in my life. I've grown closer to my family through them. After a long day of hiking, getting tired, dehydrated and exhausted we always sit around our campfire, roasting marshmallows and sharing fun times together! To me, traveling means true enjoyment and quality time with ones that really matter!