As you know, my family likes to travel. In fact, it is one of my favorite things that my wonderful side kick and self proclaimed family leader, Pam, and I can provide to my kids is the ability to take really cool vacations.
Growing up we did not have many chances to go on great family vacations. We were always busy playing sports. The lack of travel might have also been that my parents had four kids and were focusing on other small things such as food, clothing, shelter, and figuring out unique ways to send all of us through college.
An exception is one summer when my dad loaded up me and my brothers into the family car and we drove from Denver to Chicago to watch baseball games. I had just turned 15 years old and it was the greatest adventure of my life. Not only was it my first time to see a professional baseball game, it was also an opportunity to hangout with my older brothers and my dad. I remember ever aspect to the trip. From the thrill of the drive, stopping and getting snacks at gas stations, eating sandwiches my mom packed on the road, and sleeping in a hotel in Omaha that was halfway on our journey.
At the time I was to young to understand the impact this would have on me in my life. I now realize that not only did it give me an amazing chance to spend time with three people who I looked up to, it made me fall in love with the open road and traveling across the country.
This years family trip was originally going to be to Chicago so the girls could meet all the great relatives we have up there. This plan fell short since Pam has a major conference at work the week we get back. So we decided that we would go somewhere that we could get back a few days early so Pam could wrap up any last minute details and take care of any issues that come up!
At first I was bummed about not going back to Chicago. I would love for my girls to meet all the unique and great people that are a part of the family, and more importantly their heritage! That trip is postponed for one more year.
After I got over my little pity party it came to me to do something that I have always dreamed of doing and something that we have not attempted to do in the past. We are going to drive across the great southwest and explore the beautiful desert. This might sound a little strange to do in the summer, however; we are a little strange, so it should all work out!
The plan is to reach a different city/town each night and stay to explore and take in the local culture. There will be a great deal of miles to travel, lots of homemade sandwiches to eat, battles over the control of the radio stations, strange noises, possibly odd smells coming from the back seat of the car, and maybe even a few from the front seat of the car. It all depends on what we feed Pam! Of course we will continue to have the always popular contests such as: Grumpiest Kid, Parent of the Year, and Coolest Family Member. We will laugh with each other, sometimes at each other, hug, smile, takes lots of pictures and even have the typical fights and arguments that come from too much time together in a tight space. But in the end, my hope is that the girls will have an adventure that they can look back on and smile just like I do when I think of the great trip I got to take to Chicago when I was 15! I hope you will enjoy reading about it as much as I hope to enjoy
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