Favorite trip memory?

Parent Cafe
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I was reading a NY Times article “Travel and the Art of Anticipation” which says in part

Perhaps the most unexpected benefit of planning your own trip nowadays is that it can give great joy to someone else.

Reminiscing, after all, has been shown to give us a happiness boost. We can do this for ourselves by looking at our old travel diaries or photographs. But we can also give the pleasure of reminiscing to others by inviting them to share their memories — something that may be particularly welcome amid the isolation of the pandemic.

www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/travel/future-trips-anticipation.html

Not only may this be nice for others but I like to learn what has struck others as memorable. Looking forward to some interesting stories!

Here is one of mine. Growing up on the West Coast I had only seen the US Capitol on TV, and screens were a lot smaller than 65" back in the day. On the nightly news there would often be a reporter standing with the White House or Congress as a backdrop. So while I knew what they looked like they seemed more like props than real buildings. A few years after college I flew east to visit a friend who had moved there and we drove down to D.C. I still remember being awestruck walking down the Mall and seeing in person those buildings, so grand even from a distance!

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My favorite memory is camping at the Dry Tortugas with my family. One morning my youngest son and I were both awake early so we walked around the moat together sharing the moment and watching the stars get erased from the sky as dawn appeared. He was probably 9 or so.

Then I got an extra smile on my face when the boys created a Mother’s Day video for me a year or two ago. On it they were relating favorite memories with me and this is the one he mentioned too. We spent a lot of time together traveling as our kids grew up and I wouldn’t want to give up many of those memories, but I guess some moments are just super special.

My three boys are actually the snorkelers in this photo from that trip. They’ve never lost their love of nature - nor have I.

06 Snorkeling around moat Ft J

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As a young teen, I camped across eastern Canada with my family. It was so cool … loved New Brunswick & PEI. My brothers and I scooped up jelly fish on Frisbees and threw them at each other (no stings!).

As an adult, my favorite travels involved going to the Atlantic Ocean with my H and kids. Hilton Head, Cape Cod, Outer Banks, Ocean City … we always had so much fun! Actually, northern Michigan beaches are amazing, too (but you can’t body surf like you can at the ocean).

We took the kids to DC for July Fourth one year & got close-up for the fireworks. Great memory!

H and I just talked about our favorite couple-trips the other day. We really want to go back to Seattle and NYC (when we finally feel comfortable with that kind of travel).

Luckily, I am easily pleased!

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Kelsmom, you sparked a memory of a driving vacation with my dad and siblings from Toronto where he was living at the time, to the Maritimes. We camped at provincial parks across Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. We are/were Arizonans, and it was an adventure to explore the east. The best, skipping stones on the St. Laurence seaway, eating cold lobster while camping, Bay of Fundy tides, the spires of Quebec City, and really swimming in ocean for the first time ever, as the Gulf stream is warmer than California waters!

My kids and I have traveled more than many, inspired by my dad originally. But it was full circle to go to Europe with D, who has guided tours to Europe, speaks French, Spanish and functional Russian. She plans each day, heads off with cell phone to guide the way, and not a moment is wasted aside from chasing cats for photos and finding the best pastries and cheeses. Most memorable has been some of the time spent with French families that she has gotten to know, such kind people, in Brittany and southern France.

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I can think of plenty of great places/events I’ve been to with family - hiking the “stairs of death” up Huayna Picchu to look over Machu Picchu, hanging with the Galapagos turtles, climbing the Sydney Harbor bridge, Blue Lagoon in Iceland, etc.

But one that sticks in my mind the most was getting into a bit of trouble and needing to be rescued on a much less glamorous/exciting trip. We always like being out on the water, so when we were in Alaska, we signed up for a sea kayaking tour of Resurrection Bay when we were in Seward.

There was a light rain that morning and the others signed up for the trip bailed, so it was just our guide and my family of four. The guide said winds were forecast to shift around noon, but didn’t look too strong and we should be fine. So we paddled out for a few hours, seeing bald eagles, being followed by a seal, watching the whales, sea otters, salmon, etc.

The weather cleared a bit and we could feel a wind shift, but didn’t think much of it. We pulled off to have lunch by a waterfall, keeping an eye out for any friends of the bear we saw in the creek, salmon hunting, on our way from the B&B into town.

As we got back in to paddle home, we noticed the winds had picked up a bit, from Seward in our faces. As we paddled, they seemed to get stiffer. To the point that I could look to the shore and see we were making no forward progress relative to land. My younger daughter and I dug in and paddled harder, but to no avail. After pretty much wearing myself out, I headed to shore, not wanting to be pushed further out. And there we were - on the shore, a few miles from Seward, certainly nowhere near any roads/trails/etc., wondering what was next.

It took about 15 minutes for the guide and my wife/older daughter to come around the point into view, dragging their kayaks along the shallow water. They had given up long before we had, and the wind prevented us from hearing them yelling at us. They just waited on shore to see how long it would be until we gave up and where we would get to land.

Fortunately, professional guides are professional for a reason. We hung out until a water taxi came to rescue us. The guide’s outfit knew our trip plan, and there was periodic radio coverage where our guide checked in. After we hadn’t checked in as planned, they sent out a boat. They said they saw the strong wind shift and were kind of expecting to come out and get us.

While it was only slightly out of the ordinary for them, we had no such background and it made for an interesting 30 minutes or so. Every time we go kayaking, we relive the story in some way.

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Hands down our 6 week cross country/west trip that we took with our kids in 2013. We trained out to Denver from Boston, picked up a rental SUV, and drove 4400+ miles in 6 states (and a weekend in Chicago on the train ride home.) It was such a great time spent together time as a family. We visited 8 states, 13 national parks, and several state parks as well. The kids did the junior ranger program, and we did a ton of hiking. Stayed mostly in tiny cabins with bunk beds but splurged a few nights at some beautiful resorts/hotels (and one chuckwagon!) We also visited quite a few museums and a couple of fun cheesy tourist traps. It was such a great time.

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I have so many amazing trip memories!
Skiing in the Alps, traveling with friends across Europe in college, any trip to Scotland, etc…

Have to say though that our family trip to Iceland wins the prize for most often talked about because we did so many unique things - snorkeling in a tectonic fissure, horseback riding in old lava fields, hiking into caves and behind waterfalls, white water rafting, and trying all kinds of food. Probably was the vacation that far exceeded expectations.

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Too many favorite memories.

Just me and hubby: Exploring a Mayan ruin in Belize with another couple we had just met, and unexpectedly stumbling over a sleeping backpacker. It was nighttime, and we were using flashlights. We four ran off as fast as we could, laughing about Scooby Doo-like antics, but at the same time, the backpacker scared the heck out of us. I’m sure he must have been scared too.

Me, hubby, and the kids, then aged 13 and 11: An overnight train in an unluxurious sleeping carriage from Luoyang to Beijing. We were the only Westerners on the train. The conductor gave us some kind of ticket for something at night, and in the morning, knocked on the door to take it back again. No clue what the ticket was for. We each slept in our own berth, which was hard as a rock. The toilets were horrible. Every half hour, through the night, the train stopped at another station and blared out the name of the town. I hardly slept. But it was still an amazing experience.

Me: The moment I caught my first glimpse of the Great Wall. I had wanted to go to China since I was five, after seeing a slide show of my grandparents trip there. It seemed so exotic and foreign. I’d go to China again in a heartbeat.

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In 2003 took our kids out to Yellowstone/Grand Teton for 11 days. Years later we still talk about that trip. Never took the family to Disney but feel Yellowstone was WAY better, as it was real, not artificial.

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I’d love to go to Yellowstone! One of the few parts of the US I haven’t been to yet.

Don’t knock Disney though.:blush: I’ve travelled all over the world, but there’s something very special about a fun trip with the kids to Disneyland or Disneyworld. Personally, I am a sucker for the original and best!

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I think it’s good to go to Disney to know what it’s like, but our kids quickly outgrew it once they got to experience the real world. We went once afterward and they were making fun of things like “The Seven Seas” and “Old Faithful” Disney style. There really is no comparison to the real thing IF one likes nature and exploring. Real vs Animatronic is a huge difference. Those we know IRL who love Disney prefer “Nature-Lite” compared to what we like.

Nothing wrong with either way or any other love. Different strokes for different folks. We raised our kids to be content in everything from backwoods to resorts. Which one we want on any specific trip depends upon what we are looking for. Real nature is definitely our personal favorite though - coupled with places we haven’t been before. I’m glad we have a couple of “old favorites” on standby for Covid though!

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Our kids have repeatedly told us what good parents we were to take them to Disney. It was a once and done trip as soon as they were tall enough to get on all the rides. We stayed in the park, went to all the extras: character breakfasts, luau, and I even rode the roller coasters with them, something I had never done before and very rarely since.

We have traveled a whole lot, but all my best memories are trips centered around our children and their interests. The natural history museum tour of Europe, with a focus on dinosaurs, certainly was a high point. Thirtieth birthdays celebrated in New Orleans is another.

Because husband and I each had a parent who died relatively young, we didn’t wait on the bucket list trips with family and friends. The weather really cooperated for a English garden tour, where we stayed in national trust properties and ate at gastro pubs. It may have been the most glorious English spring ever.

I’m recovered enough from the last Disney visit to imagine doing it with grandchildren coming up. I would be happy to do it as soon as possible, since my father died unexpectedly with a bucket list cross country road trip already scheduled a few months later with my kids. He was really looking forward to it, and so were they.

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Same here. We do at least one multi-day backpack with our kids every summer and have hiked, biked and snorkeled in a lot of other countries. But we hit Disneyland once every two or three years. We love it all.

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Favorite trip memory ?

Probably swimming with sharks during sunrise on a desolate beach on the Florida Panhandle.

Was not my first time as I love swimming in the ocean during sunrise & sunset–which happens to be shark feeding time.

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I have so many wonderful trip memories. But two center around trips to Yellowstone.

The first was when we were in Norris Geyser Basin and very, very unexpectedly, the world’s largest geyser erupted right in front of us. It’s called Steamboat Geyser. The roar was unimaginable. The amount of water and spray was amazing! Our car in the parking lot a good quarter of a mile away was covered in spray. It erupted like this for 45 minutes. We felt so lucky that we were there.

The second was this summer. Again, we went to Yellowstone. I had heard of Grizzly 399 who had emerged from her den with 4! cubs. We were in her territory (in the car) and she emerged from the woods right in front of us! The four cubs danced and wrestled each other on the pavement, a real road show. I just loved it. I’d driven 1,000 miles hoping to see this bear and there she was. Again, very lucky.

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Unapologetic Disney lovers here. We go about every other year, alternating with other things like National Parks. We have a great time no matter where. One thing that returns us to Disney is DH is a truck driver and enjoys going somewhere that takes care of all the transportation for him. And it’s a big part of why older DD started drawing, and now she’s a professional graphic artist.

For some odd reason, when someone mentions favorite vacation memories, what immediately pops into my mind is one evening when we were just chilling in Epcot’s France. The girls were little and just dipping their hands in the fountain water. Suddenly the fountains lights came on and the edges started spurting water, surprising them. They came running to us fast and people around chuckled. Such a simple little thing compared to the fun and amazing things we have done but there it is in the forefront of my memories.

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Pre-kids memories include a lot of things you can’t do anymore: hacking bits out of the Berlin Wall in summer 1990, a few weeks before German reunification. Walking across the top of the Pont du Gard aqueduct. Landing at Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong on our honeymoon.

With kids, a lot of National Parks memories, especially backpacking trips. 2012 was a particularly memorable year, backcountry camping at the Racetrack in Death Valley at New Year, visiting Mt Rainier and Olympic National Park for our summer vacation, with a hike to the Tall Trees Grove in Redwood National Park on the way home, and then a weeklong backpacking trip to climb Mt Whitney in August.

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@alh the trip our kids still talk about the most was their first trip to Disney. It was a surprise…tickets in their stockings Christmas morning, and we left the next day. We have said that someday we will go back for old times sake. All of us have been at least a couple of times in the almost 30 years since that trip. But we would love to do it again as a family.

Our favorite trip was our Africa trip which was a three week trip to visit our daughter when she was a Peace Corps volunteer. We spent a week in Capetown, a week in Rwanda, and 4 days in Brussels on the way home. The other days were travel days…they are long trips! It was just a terrific trip, and I would do it again!

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We went to Morocco when the kids were 14 and 12. This trip was 100% inspired by our visit to Epcot when the kids were 8 and 10. For years, we (kids too) talked about the great experience we had in the Morocco Pavilion, and especially the Restaurant Marrakesh.

My family could not understand why on earth we wanted to go to Morocco. They were so worried about our safety. One of the coolest things I’ve ever done was wander the labyrinthine streets of Fez, where medieval tanning pits are still in use and a fresh camel head hangs from a hook outside a butcher’s shop. We saw wild Barbary macaques in the Atlas Mountains. We drove over sand dunes and found fossils in the Sahara. Our kids loved it. I highly recommend Morocco.

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Two favorite empty nest retirement memories:

  1. Doing falconry in Ireland. Absolutely coolest thing we’ve ever done! Disclaimer: most “falconry” is done with Harris hawks, which are much easier to handle and more low maintenance than actual falcons. To have a large hawk repeatedly land on your arm and take a scrap of meat from your hand is unbelievable!

  2. In Iceland visiting Jokulsarlon, a glacial lagoon where one cruises in either a “duck boat” or zodiac weaving between icebergs—surreal experience.

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