Create Memories With Your People

Summer is here! Time to relax, go camping, have BBQ’s and go on vacation.  Vacation is traditionally defined as, “an extended period of recreation, especially one spent away from home or traveling.” When I dream of vacation I dream about sitting poolside or on a quiet beach with froufrou drinks and a good book. I dream of hikes to remote places and enjoying God’s creation in places I have never seen before.

Mr. Wonderful and I have taken two vacations in our married life. One was our honeymoon which was spent in St. Martin, we were gifted a timeshare condominium stay and it was magical. The second vacation was on our 10th wedding anniversary (we will celebrate 17 years this year). We took our kids to Phoenix to stay with grandparents and then we borrowed their car and went up to Vegas and then on to Bryson and Zion National Parks. I loved that we did Vegas 1st because it was great to go from the big lights and the noise of the city to long hikes and expanses of great beauty in the Parks.

Two vacations in 17 years on the surface seems kind of lame. But there is a reason we do not vacation in the traditional sense. When I was 24 I moved back to Oregon from San Diego. My family stayed. Mr. Wonderful’s family moved from Vancouver, WA to Phoenix when he was 21. I just turned 47 and Mr. Wonderful is turning 50 this year. 50! (Yeah, I know, Right?) This is a lot of years to have not lived near family. So we do get out of town but since time is limited we have always chosen to take the time we have available and use it to go visit our loved ones. When we were 1st married we would meet Mr. Wonderful’s family in Logan, Utah every summer because that is where his extended family is from. We fished a lot, had family reunions and ate Aggie ice cream (the university in town has its own ice cream shop) and cheese curds from the local cheese factory.

Fortunately for us, our respective families live in areas that are either beautiful in and of themselves or are near beautiful things we can go visit in route. Which is exactly what we have done. Mr. Wonderful has become excellent at creating fun moments for us as we travel to and from our families. On our way home from Arizona in 2015 we made a detour to Zion National Park. We had been there in 2010 and were excited to share this beautiful place with our kids. I had just finished chemo so I was bald and unsteady on my feet but Mr. Wonderful held my hand and we hiked all over. We even ventured into the Narrows a bit. It’s a hiking trail where most of the hiking is in the river. I was pretty nervous about this as the water was brown from a recent rainfall. We went to the visitors center to check on conditions (there are flash floods that occur quite frequently), they informed us that someone had broken their leg on that hike the day before. The risk for flash flood, however, was low so we ventured out the next morning. Because of my balance issues after chemo I was struggling with the water being so muddy we couldn’t see where we were walking but Mr. Wonderful held my hand and we walked. We didn’t go up all that far but it was far enough to feel like we had done something amazing and seen something beautiful.

In 2016 en route to Arizona Mr. Wonderful took us to Mammoth Lakes where we rented mountain bikes. We rode the trolley up to the top of the mountain and rode the bikes back down. It was amazing. He also looked up an authentic taco shop on the Vegas strip to introduce the kids to true street tacos. It was by the grace of God we arrived right when they opened. It was literally right on the Vegas strip. We found a parking spot in front and Mr. Wonderful stayed in the car with the dogs (it was super hot out). Natalie was unsure about this whole “authentic” street taco thing but when we came out and saw that the line had in 15 minutes began to wind out the door and down the street, we knew we were on to something. After the kids and I ordered food and then brought it out to the car so we could leave the air conditioning on for the dogs.  Natalie didn’t want to like those tacos but a year later she is still on a quest to find street tacos anywhere that can compare to Tacos El Gordo in Vegas.

On our way home from Arizona we went through South Lake Tahoe and took in a few sights while were there. We had planned to stay two nights but I picked the seediest joint in town to sleep in and Bridger had a fever from heat exhaustion. B does not do well in the heat. You take a boy who lives in 55-65 degree weather and you put him in 110-degree weather for a few days, it does not end well. So we stayed one night and got in as much sight seeing as we could.

All of these little side trips are only one night and sometimes two but what makes them so great is that we are creating memories albeit short ones but memories nonetheless. Life is what you make it. Take what you have been given and add something special to it …. it could be a half hour bike ride down a beautiful mountain or a quick stop at a taco shop in the middle of Vegas. It takes extra time and effort to do these things but it’s always worth it and it’s what we remember the most when we come home.

Have A Fabulous Day My Friends!

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