Travelling

When I was growing up I never went to Disney World like all the other kids I knew. 

In the early years I mostly remember rented cottages or tent or trailer camping, gravelly beaches, cutting my toe open in the water, blood sucking fish, boating, fishing, paddle boats, chasing frogs and sitting on the end of the dock watching the sun set.

When I was 15 my family decided to take our first cross country trip. 4 kids, one mini van, 2 parents driving from Ontario to Prince Edward Island. I remember a lot of fighting on that trip! However, despite the bickering amongst us kids it was a great experience to see more of our country. We stopped in a few places in each province along the way and Halifax, especially, left a lasting impression on me.  It strangely felt like home. I hope to take our family there someday.

At 18 a family reunion took us to the west coast of Canada. Though we drove again, my parents must have learned something from the first trip and rented an RV. It was much more enjoyable not being so crammed in! This time we drove through the United States on the way to Alberta and through Canada on the way back. Visiting Medora, North Dakota was my favourite part of the trip. It felt like a real "wild west". The badlands were vast, there were wild bison and horses, etc. Alberta paled in comparison.

In 2006 I flew for the first time. After a quick flight to Toronto we eventually boarded a large plane for an 8 hour flight to Warsaw, Poland.

Once in Poland we stayed in 2 hotels spending part of the week touring in and around Warsaw and part of it in and around Krakow. 

During our trip we realized we had the opportunity to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. I was really unsure if I wanted to go but in the end I'm glad we did. I had studied the camp as part of history class in high school but it was really crazy, almost surreal to see it with my own eyes. Seeing "Work will set you free" inscribed over the entrance was especially moving.

In 2007 I took one more opportunity to go on a family vacation with my parents and siblings. My now husband and I had been getting pretty serious in our relationship and I suspected he might propose. The distance made the trip really hard on me as I would have liked to share it with him but I had a really great time seeing Portugal. 

We stayed in Lisbon the whole time in a beautiful hotel with a great view of the city.

We also got to travel to Cascais, a beautiful coastal town. I would have loved to have explored it more thoroughly but we were with a tour group.

Since my trip to Portugal I haven't really left our country. Maybe some day but in the mean time there's so much of Canada our 4 year old hasn't seen.

This blog post was inspired by Mama Kat's blog prompt number 3: What countries have you traveled to?

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 14

Your Earliest Memory.

Honestly my childhood is a bit of a blur.

I remember making tents out of blankets, playing dinosaur with my dad (he was the dinosaur we rode on his back), and playing "sandwich" with a chair my parents had that folded out.  Sandwich was when you went in between the cushions of the fold out chair and people sat on top of the chair creating a "sandwiching" affect.  You would then tickle the person stuck in the chair until they screamed to stop.

I'm sure I have memories from before grade 2 but they aren't as vivid as this one.

So I'll take you back to Pigeon Lake. . .

The year was 1989 and I was in grade 2.  Our family, at the time my parents, brother, sister and I were going to our first cottage as a family.  I was extremely excited.

My mom had written me a note to get out of school a few days early for summer vacation.  It was a long car ride up there.  If anyone is familiar with Ontario you'll know that on the way up north there are A LOT of pink rocks.  I still hate pink rocks.  They still make me feel car sick to this day. lol.  Anyway, enough about that.

I don't remember that much about the car ride other than I believe we took the Brown Chevy and I can remember the smell of crayons melting in the window.  Such an awful smell!

I remember going to the zoo on that vacation but I don't remember much about that.  I think it was in Peterborough but I can't be sure.  What I do remember is the rainy day that we played with an Origami book.  I remember trying to fold a fox but all I could manage to make was a paper cup.  So I made A LOT of paper cups.

I remember the swings outside, and the kids that we met from the cottage next door.  I don't remember much about them other than they were fun to play with and I remember discussing that our cottage had mice and they said that their cottage had snakes.  We decided mice were better.

My mom hated the cottage experience.  She whined about cleaning and she whined about the mice.  She complained that she had to wash the dishes every morning before we could have breakfast.  I don't know why she didn't just put the dishes in a protective container of some sort. lol.

I remember the dock.  Unfortunately the brochure for the cottage had mentioned a beach and there was one but it wasn't very good for swimming as there was a lot of plant life in the water.  We did get to play in the sand though and I remember going on a paddle boat.

I believe this is where my love of cottages originally grew from.  Although it wasn't necessarily the perfect experience for everyone, I still love cottaging and someday hope to take our daughter to a cottage and possibly own one as well. :)

What was your earliest memory?

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 13

Day 13 of the 30 Day Blog Challenge talks about places I'd like to visit.  I've been blessed to have had the opportunity to travel to a lot of places including most of Canada and parts of the U.S. throughout my childhood.  I also got to go to Poland and Portugal.

However, I missed out on going to one place in particular that most people went to as a child.  So to begin with, one place I'd like to visit would be Disney World.

I would like to take our daughter to Disney World and have the whole Disney experience.  I've heard wonderful things about the park from my mom when I was growing up and since the last time she went was when she was in university in the 1970s I'd imagine things have probably even gotten more magical since then.

I'd love to stay in a hotel there and take advantage of the fact that Disney apparently does an amazing job at dealing with allergies and intolerances and could feed my daughter and I gluten free food without a problem.

Venice, Italy.  I've always wanted to go to Venice since my aunt bought me a tape as a child called "Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery".

Venice seems like such a romantic city and the idea of waterways instead of streets is very interesting to me.

I would also like to go to Rome but Venice is definitely more important to me.

I've also heard that Italy has some of the best gluten free pasta in the world so that's a pretty big motivation to go right there. lol.

Spain.  I love almost all forms of dance and Flamenco dance has got to be one of the coolest kinds of dance out there.  I'd love to see it in person in Spain.

The culture, language, history and food of Spain completely fascinates me. I'd love to visit the capital, Madrid, one day and possibly along the coast as well.

Paris, France.  I honestly don't care that much about seeing most of France but I figure it's one of those places that if you're going to see the world you should really stop by just to say you've been there.  Especially since I've already been to Portugal and I'd like to see Spain.  It's just so "close" by. lol.






Finally, I'll add St. Lucia.  I've always wanted to go to St. Lucia since I did a project on it in grade 6. lol.  It's just a beautiful Carribean island.  I have never been to the Carribean before and I think it would be nice to lay on the beach for a week enjoying the beauty.

So, that's where I'd like to visit.  Well, at least for now.  Where would you like to go?