When I left for the pool at 4:45 this morning, there was a light dusting of snow on the car. By the time I left the field house an hour later, over an inch of white stuff had fallen. It was blowing, and visibility was less than 1/4 of a mile. The temps had reached their high for the day. And I was very glad I had grabbed my socks. No more bare feet for this hippie, at least for a day or two.=)
While remembering past vacation adventures and disasters over the past few days, my thoughts naturally turned to my "I's". Someday, sometime, I'd like to visit...
-Indonesia-Planning for this trip is actually in the works. Indonesia brings thoughts of the movie Eat, Pray, Love, starring Julia Roberts. While I don't plan to find love in Indonesia, I am planning to bring my love, and all four of our love childs.=) Most of our trips fall into one of three categories...educational-cram in as much as you can learn, see and do, visits-usually to Texas but always to connect with family or friends , or pleasure-reading, swimming, sunning, doing nothing. The really educational trips often involve just Brian and I. (our kids have been too young so far. And these kinds of trips are really expensive. And they can buy their own tickets someday if they want to go.) The other two categories usually include our kids. I am not even sort of sure what category Indonesia fits in. Maybe pleasure. Though, can you count bugs, heat, snakes, limited water and electricity in a Third World Country, pleasure? So, if we aren't going for pleasure, or love, why are we going? Actually, it is a love thing. Loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are visiting some good friends who are missionaries on Borneo. We are all going because they have kids our kids' ages. And we want to encourage them. If they can do this thing for years and years, we can survive 2-3 weeks. I think it will be a challenge and growing experience to visit a Third World country. None of us have ever done that. Indonesia is on the books for January of 2013. We are also hoping to visit some other missionary friends in Japan on the way home. A couple day pit stop in the Tokyo area.
-Italy-this will be a no kid, dream vacation. I have read so many books set in Italy, and I love Italian food. And I really would love to go. I think we will maybe do a tour group...if I can find one that is visiting all the cities I want to go. Or we will just plan it ourselves. I want to go to Rome, Venice, Milan, Salerno, the Riviera, and....I want to see the ruins, and the art and eat the food. I want to bike, and ride a gondola. We had talked about this for our 15th anniversary. But since that is only 3-1/2 years after Indonesia, we'll have to see if we can get our pennies together by then. This would be a longer trip-again probably 2-3 weeks. If I am only getting one chance at it, I'm going to make it count.
-Israel-Okay, maybe Israel will be for the 15th anniversary, and Italy for the 20th.=) After being raised my entire life on Bible stories, and Bible study, I think visiting the Holy Land would be very illuminating. Imagine being able to picture all the sights for the rest of your Bible reading career. Imagine seeing the sights for the first time. Imagine being able to describe the topography and geography based on your own eye witness. Amazing! We will definitely do a tour for this one. We have various friends who have gone with various groups. We will see which one will best suit us.
-Ireland-I'm Irish and proud of it! And I think a visit to the Emerald Isle is definitely a good idea. Several of my cousins have visited, and their pictures make me envious. It is so beautiful, and wild. I'm thinking it would be similar to Scotland. And while we would visit Dublin, and maybe Belfast, I would also want to see the countryside. That is where I'd devote much of my time. And to beer drinking. Well, probably not, because I don't like beer. Maybe we'll shoot for Ireland for the 25th. By that time Brian will have imbibed enough of my Irish-ness by long acquaintance, and he will fit right in.=)I am a firm believer in saving money. To spend on traveling.=) Okay, we save for other things too. But God created a beautiful world, and I want to see a chunk of it.
Then I can write my own book: Friends, Ruins, Geography, Beer.
Or not.
