Catching the Travel Fever

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn Battuta

Family History and About Me:

First of all I want to give you a little back ground on myself.  I am a 51 years old, I am a widow, I am a mother of two great kids Allen and Wendy and a proud Grams to 3 of the most beautiful grandchildren ever, Lilly, Peter and Daisy!  Growing up, my family and I didn't really what I would call "travel". Sure we would take a trip to the beach may be once every couple of years, mostly We spent our "vacations" at my Aunts house, in the small coastal town of Ocean Springs, MS I came from a large tight knit family. My mother was 1 of 8 kids, so needless to say I have more cousins that I can count. At times my family, along with Aunts and Uncles would converge in Ocean Springs, it was there that some of the best child hood memories were made. The one big trip we took when I was a child was to Disney World, in 1974. At that time all that there was of Disney World was the Magic Kingdom. On that trip we had 3 generations of family with us, it was great and something I will never forget.

At the age of just 15 years old, I met the man who would become my husband. He was my rock and the person I talked to about EVERYTHING.  We dreamed, we made plans and just a short 4 months after I graduated high school we married.  I'm not going to pretend it was a fairy tale.  Because, if you have ever been married you know it's hard. There were good and bad times. Really, we just grew up together, I was 18 when we married, and  by my 20th birthday, I had a two week old baby (Allen). 5 years later, we welcomed our second child (Wendy).

Before we really had money to be able to go and do anything big, it was nothing for us to jump in the car and go somewhere within a couple of hours driving time, just to get away. We may have wound up in Birmingham, AL, or Jackson, MS or occasionally in New Orleans or Atlanta for the weekend, we understood the importance of weekend get-away. #weekendtrips #quicktrips I think traveling with family is essential in making great family memories. Equally I think it is very important for married couples to get away every now and then alone. I think it is essential to make time for each other and making occasional weekend getaways without the kids is a great way to keep the romance alive. I just love to get out and see new places and experience new things. I often feel that while on vacation I am apt to be freer and more adventurous than I am when I am at home. Maybe that is what makes me love traveling the way I do. I don't know but, something some where sparked a love of travel in me.

Disney 25th Anniversary

Our first, what I would call a big trip as a family was to Disney World in 1996. I know most of you have heard the saying, "half of adventure is getting there".  Well I believe it is TRUE!  I loved every bit of the trip, the kids were really good to have been the ages (they were 3 and 8).  This was our first big trip as a family!  We even had my, dear Aunt who was like my second mama, her daughter and grand-daughter go along with us. #Disney #Themepark, #familytravel

Gates to Disney

Our second trip, but the biggest trip we took as a family was to Yellowstone National Park (I'll go into that in depth in next post ). We were planning our third big family trip for the summer of 2004 up the east coast and to Niagara Falls, unfortunately we never made it. Mac was killed in a boating accident in March of 2004.

Mac showed me a life that I had not been accustomed to as far as travel and it really gave me a want and a need to get out and explore new places. Traveling is really a part of me now, and I can't imagine ever getting to the point of not loving it. The thrill of adventures and new places just brings a rush to me like few other things do.