Vacations

I have been lucky in that I had parents that believed that travel was essential in learning what life, and people, were about. I have been all over the United States. While traveling as a kid I learned that whenever you think you know people, take a trip. Traveling to a different area, even in the same country, can verify, in fact, that you don't know people, their land, or their culture. Forget about TV. This was experiencing real America.

Several memories stand out concerning our family vacations. The first time I got to swim in the ocean, getting stung by fire ants in Florida, having a snowball fight on the fourth of July on a mountain in Colorado, my first taste of grits in Kentucky, are a few things I will never forget. I got to see fireworks on the fourth of July in Washington D.C. in 1976. They were amazing! On one particular vacation our family traveled to 24 states in three weeks, in a car. I didn't say all these memories were good ones! We camped in the Rocky Mountains one year. I mean, we CAMPED! We had to dig a hole for our toilet, get our water out of the stream, and chop our own firewood. During this camping trip we awoke to the sounds of moose. You wouldn't think that would be that big of a deal but these things were loud and the sound was something none of us had heard before. The wildlife would actually come to within feet of you. It was very common to see deer and ground squirrels within ten feet. On our first trip to Kentucky I will never forget hearing the "southern draw" as one of the locals talked to us. It was funny at the time, but as I got older I realized that this was part of their heritage. Traveling to New York City was a very exciting part of our 24 state jaunt. I grew up in a town of around 800 people, in central Illinois, so New York City was like a different planet. People with signs on the corners, kids asking you if you wanted your windshield washed, a hundred different cultures bustling about. It was almost too much for my senses to take in!

Traveling always made me want to travel more and find out as much as I could about other cultures. It also made me realize just how much of a small part of the world we, as individuals, are. I hope I can give to my family what my parents gave to me, a true education in the human interaction and differences. I also hope that I can advance this education to include other countries. I think traveling to different countries would be an extremely fun adventure!

If you get a chance to travel, anywhere, do it. It will only make you more educated about the world around you! Who knows, you may even make some new friends with a totally different background!