My love for traveling

I'm pretty sure everyone loves vacation time. Who wouldn't, right? We all need a break but vacation doesn't always or necessarily mean taking a trip or traveling. In fact, I know many people who can take or leave the idea of traveling for vacation or if they do travel it's to their favorite destination, usually not too far away because even if you're not a big fan of traveling sometimes it's nice to probably escape the everyday household chores. So traveling isn't everyone's thing and that's cool. Nate and I both come from families that have a mix of the love to travel and those that just really don't care about it too much. We all have different passions. Luckily we ended up with the same travel gene, especially since everyone in my family (parents and siblings) have the opposite gene of me.

We share a passion for traveling. I love the road. I don't mind flying but would actually prefer driving because it offers such a great opportunity to see this beautiful world we live in. I love seeing new places and experiencing different foods and things that different places offer. It amazes me how even here in the United States how vastly different areas of our country are from one another. We are so many different cultures within this large American culture. I love the history you can learn from the old West towns like in South Dakota to the Civil War towns of Maryland and Virginia to the Plantation homes of the South to the history of the lighthouses on the coast. I love the beauty of the mountains along the East, the flat farmland of the Midwest, the rolling waves of the ocean, and even the hot sticky dry desert in the west (it probably awes me the least though).  I am always awed by these beautiful sights and the facts of what America was like to what it's is like.

I always say my kids will either love traveling or hate it. Averi at the age of four has already visited over a dozen different states. I got my passion for traveling from my mom's sister and parents. From the time I was a little kid I had always wanted to travel and see more of the world. Nate wants to see the whole world. But me being more the realist know that this probably won't happen (maybe we'll win the lottery one day though) so I like to set my sights on more realistic goals so I don't set myself up for disappointment. So for now I'm more focused on seeing all of this great country we live in. As for other countries beside Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Italy and Greece are my top three huge travel desirees.

As for the United States, we have pretty much covered everything we've wanted to see east of the Mississippi. I think we have three destitations left here on our list. They are New England (New York City, Boston, and Maine), the Upper Penisula of Michigan (with a stop in Chicago), and the Gulf Shores with New Orleans. There are a few repeat trips we would like to make such as Disney World of course. Most of the trips left are west of the Mississippi. Unfortunately we haven't hit too many of our desired places out there. Our list out there is closer to a dozen including Alaska and Hawaii.

We have a map we hanging in our office that shows all the places we've been. I like to see it as a reminder of where we've been and all where we have left to go. Traveling is something I ve always wanted to do and even though sometimes it's disappointing that I can't get to some of those places faster the map reminds me we're making our way around. All in good time.

I always say I want us to be like my grandparents when we retire. They spent so much of their retirement traveling around the US, enjoying all the sights and experiencing all the different things different areas of the country have to offer. One day. I'm not really ready for retirement age yet so I think I'll just stick with getting to where we can when we can for the time being. Then for now my kids can enjoy and learn from all the places we visit as they won't have a choice for now but to come along for the ride.

For now bon voyage for now as we head out on our trip to South Carolina today.