Family Travel Series Part 2

To begin my blog with a family travel series is both spontaneous and logical. It's spontaneous since I haven't outlined my blog with a what to write about list, and it's logical since I am currently planning my own family's vacation. In my last excerpt I shared that I will be writing about some of my own experiences. Here is where it begins- with my own childhood. Those adventures were mainly shaped by books, people, actual travel opportunities, and finally an imagination full of all sorts of wonderful dreams.
I am so thankful that while I was growing up my parents provided me with all kinds of books at home. I remember my mother telling me the reason for this was mostly economical when I was very young. She could steer me to the "Little Golden Books" and leave the toy shop without breaking the bank. When I was in the first grade our family got a beautiful set of encyclopedias. Those were my favorite books. I loved looking at pictures of exotic places and reading about worlds I could only imagine. They were full of maps and history-ah! history! The world amazed me!
Various people in my life also created a desire for me to see new places. I grew up in a small town, but even there I enjoyed meeting people who came from far away places. I had a neighbor from Ireland, and I can still picture her descriptions of the farm in Galway that had no electricity or running water and imagined how they would catch the rainwater. Two older gentlemen in my church came from England and filled my head with stories of people and places and olden days. I always loved to find out the places people came from, and places they had been to. My aunt and uncle had taken some vacations to far places. More special than the souvenirs were the pictures and guide books they brought back, and the stories of the fun they had.
While I wished that I could see the world, every summer I was able to go to my own very special world. My parents had a summer cottage that we shared with my aunt, uncle and cousins. I loved exploring in the woods, floating on a raft on a hot, muggy day, and staring at the starry sky over the lake on a clear dark night. This was my world and it was the next best thing to heaven. My good friend once told me that the number one best childhood memory people recall is the summer camping experience. Whether it's a cottage, or a tent camping trip or in an RV, I believe there is something very special and quite mystical about being so close to Gods wonderful creation and experiencing nature.
The books, the people, and the experience of being away from home, all these things stirred up my imagination, and were the inspiration for dreams later lived out. In my next blog entry I will share some great family trips we have taken, and look specifically at the times we travelled with infants, toddlers, and very young children.