Vacations!

ACH! I missed the topic for Wordful Wednesday, and now that it's late in the day, I don't know what I'll do! I love to mull these things over for a while, but this ones coming straight off the top of my head...

Well, the topic turned out to be a favorite family vacation. My siblings were all spread out in age, so I don't remember a whole lot of vacations together as a WHOLE family, but there were plenty of times we went places with who ever was available. One summer when I was 14 we took two major trips. One was to Philmont, New Mexico. This is a decked out scout camp, where my dad would be taking some leadership training. Or maybe he was giving it. I don't know. What I do know, is that our car broke down in Chama on our way up a hill and we had to spend the night in a little cabin. The next day it all came together like a miracle to get our car fixed, then we made it to the evening program at Philmont. When we walked in the room everyone cheered and clapped to celebrate our safe arrival! It was very fun!

Later on, my parents, my sister, Betsey, and I piled into my uncle's van we had borrowed, and set off on a cross country journey. The very first thing we did was spill the cowboy mix (all kinds of candy) all over the van! We made our way through flat country, hill country, Amish country, Church History country, rain, sun, and wind. We visited family and friends and talked to all kinds of strangers. I know it won't mean much to all of you, but here's a list of highlights and inside jokes for my posterities sake... (in no particular order...)
* eating babyfood for a snack
* fireflies and "The City of Joseph"
* Six Flags and Wendy's on an overpass in Chicago
* Betsey and I sharing the fold down bed in the back of the van
*My parents setting up their little tent every night, then packing up and leaving early in the morning so we could sleep
* Sleeping on the Erie Canal
* Betsey and I singing the songs we learned at scout camp, mostly just to drive our mom crazy!
*Little frogs jumping up and hitting the bottom of the van ALL NIGHT LONG as we slept just outside of the little cabin where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was organized
* My nail ring, made in Nauvoo
* Figuring out YEARS later why people would laugh when they heard we went to Intercourse, Pennsylvania.
* My first funnel cake
* A rainstorm to beat the band
* Visiting my sister, and her little family in Massachussets
* Going to the Kentucky Derby, well, the track anyway, at Churchill Downs
* Washing dishes at a friends in Kentucky, my mom commenting on how cute they were, and the giving of the plates from the friend to my mom. Generosity, Charity, Joy!
* My mom covering her head and SCREAMING all the way up the St. Louis Arch
* Visiting Washington D.C.
* Trying to think of all the lyrics to the national anthem so some Japanese ladies could write them down as we stood in line to go up the Washington Monument (I don't think my mom screamed riding to the top of that one...)
* Seeing Lincoln, at his memorial
* Riding in the back of the van with my cousin Rachel in Virginia
* Trains in Colorado
* The laughing, laughing, laughing in the van. We got along really well as travelers on so long a journey
* The Sacred Grove, the Hill Cumorah

I may have to come back and add to this list. I just thought, how funny that I immediately thought back to when I was the kid to write about a favorite family vacation. We have had many of our OWN family vacations and maybe I'll write about one of them sometime. But I've come to learn, that vacations are funner when you're the kid and don't have to plan and worry and wonder what to do when your kid is literally dropping poop pellets on the way into the gas station (Jane, when she was 2). Yup, times have changed!