Part One 2012 Travel Review
June
Irrespective of the soaring summer temperatures, the second half of our 2012 traveling experiences took off like a snowball and continued to gain momentum through the end of the year. In a trip that still seems like a dream, my oldest son and I traveled for a week in Oahu. We hit all the important tourist attractions in Oahu, but it was all the moments that I had to focus on just spending time with my son that I will treasure most. We summoned the courage to try a few new things together-like helmet diving and surfing, and took a ton of time just to take it easy. We had so much sitting around time that I actually came home with a tan. That has never really happened to me before (and not just because I am a pasty, white girl), but because I never just sit still. It was the calm before the storm.
July
To celebrate my birthday (and to keep my suitcase in its regular regiment) we took a road trip to Lake Conroe with my mother along for moral support. We had a lovely retreat at the even lovelier La Torretta along the lake, and then spent a few days in The Woodlands before heading home. Fortunately, the accommodations were nice enough to make up for us having a fender bender in Walmart parking lot, losing power in the entire hotel (in July when air conditioning is essential) and having to call maintenance because the baby locked himself in the hotel bathroom. It was a baptism of fire for my mother to learn that traveling with us is risky business. I wonder if she’ll ever take another chance?
August
In August, I learned that it’s not just pregnancy that causes a crazy nesting urge. As the MOART launch date loomed like a due date at the end of August, I bustled around creating fancy camper crafts and conducting scientific research on the best way to pack 50 pairs of blue jeans. On August 29, we pulled our 29 foot camper, stuffed to the gills, out of our driveway into the sunset (so to speak). Seeing that dream come to life was absolutely just as thrilling and painful as any physical birth I’ve ever experienced. All, I knew was that I felt I was really living for the first time.
September
By the first week of September, we had traveled 1,500 miles through six states, using 200 gallons of gas and outrunning one very determined Hurricane Isaac. By the end of the month, we had traveled 5,000 miles from home and visited 16 states, using more gallons of gasoline than I ever want to admit. In between we experienced the awe-inspiring highs of soaring above Niagara Falls and the soul questioning lows of having our car burgled. We learned that life on the road wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows, but by the end of the month, we had settled into a comfortable routine.
October
As the weather turned delightfully cooler, we started the month in New York and ended in Orlando, Florida. Halloween was celebrated Mickey style, a highlight of the trip. The mindless distraction of DisneyWorld was a welcome change from the highbrow history we had enjoyed for much of the trip. After weeks and weeks of historical sites, even a history geek like me had to admit that you actually can get too much of a good thing. All of the grandparents were able to meet up with us at various points in the trip and we treasured the traveling memories we were able to make along with them.
November
November was bittersweet and filled with emotion. We spent Election Day with the Gulf of Mexico as our backyard, and watched the election results roll in as we squished sand between our toes. All too soon, it was time to wave goodbye to the ocean and start on our long trek back home. Leaving meant the beginning of the end. As we began our trek back home, we were elated that we had dreamed a dream of a 10,000 mile road trip and it had come true. But, we were also desperately reluctant to let go of that time, knowing that it was possible that we would never again have moments like that. I’m not going to lie; much of November was spent in mourning, as we readjusted to normal life at home and tried to make sense of how those days on the road had changed us forever.
December
Just so the last month of the year wouldn’t feel left out, we took a road trip to San Antonio to visit SeaWorld at Christmastime. The rest of the month was spent basking in the beauty of the season and reflecting on the where the year had taken us. Although we were exceptionally fortunate to travel many miles and share many moments this year, it was the progress I made personally that really stuck with me. Traveling those 10,000 miles with my family taught me what it was like to be completely engaged in every minute of my life and to live in such a way that was worthy of the exchange of one day of my life. I marked a lot of places off my bucket list this year, but this is the lesson that I treasure most. I expect that we will be logging fewer miles in 2013 (famous last words), but I will be spending every day remembering this most precious lesson and looking for ways live life to the fullest.