A Wonderful Time of Year - Vacation

Getting ready to leave for our yearly vacation (early tomorrow morning as a matter of fact), I've been thinking about how we always go to North Myrtle.  I'm sure there are lots of reasons why my uncle chooses North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina - but I don't really know many of them.  Regardless, he always rents a place there, so that's where we go :)  We know our way around and it works for us...  This article is so great Ode to the Annual Repeat Summer Vacation and I thought I'd share it with you all.  Those who return to the same location, or even the exact same house every year will probably enjoy it immensely. 

Here are two of my favorite parts, probably because I can relate to them:

"Our routine is quite simple: Swim. Nap. Eat. Rinse. Repeat. The start of the week is customarily filled with discussions of all the activities we might finally get to this year...____...but really, who are we kidding? We’re not going to do any of it."

"I’ve also learned the difference between traveling and vacationing, two words that are often used interchangeably but mean different things. A vacation typically involves travel, but travel is not always a vacation. Sometimes it’s quite the opposite—fraught with uncertainty over where to go, where to stay, what to see. Vacations are a respite from all that." 

our semi-annual, vacation photo-shoot



 

Beach (noun)

1.  an expanse of sand or pebbles along a shore.

2.  the part of the shore of an ocean, sea, large river, lake, etc., washed by the tide or waves.
3. the area adjacent to a seashore

Oh the places you can go....

I'm not sure if this would really qualify as a bucket list, it's just places I would like to visit and some things I'd like to do at some point (don't worry, this is the short version *no really, it is*).

·         Visit an active volcano (Japan 2006)

·         Touch an elephant outside of a zoo (Thailand 2011)

·         Stand on the Equator (Ecuador 2024)

·         Go to the Winter Olympic Games

·         Go to the Summer Olympic Games

·         Live in a house on the water

·         Learn to surf (Panama 2012)

·         Washington, D.C. – U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (2012)

·         Virginia – Arlington National Cemetery (2012)

·         San Francisco – see the Golden Gate Bridge (2008)

·         Swim in all 4 Oceans

    o   Atlantic (Virginia 2002)

    o   Pacific (Panama 2012)

    o   Indian (Western Australia 2017)

    o   Arctic

Travel the World!!!

·         Corcovado, Brazil (Statue of Christ Redeemer)

·         Ride a camel in Tombouctou, Mali

·         See a black rhinoceros in Zimbabwe

·         Visit the “Floating Gardens” of Xochimilco in Mexico City and visit the Aztec Ruins (Chichen
Itza) in Mexico

·         Italy

    o   Rome - Coliseum, St. Peter’s & Pantheon (2007)

    o   Venice - St. Mark’s Basilica and a gondola ride (2007)

    o   Florence - Duomo, Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (2007)

    o   Milan – Il Duomo and The Last Supper by da Vinci

    o   Alberobello, Apulia

·         Bushmills, Antrim, Northern Ireland –Giants’ Causeway

·         Go sailing off the coast of Croatia (2022)

·         Greece – Acropolis, Parthenon

·         Paris, France - Tour the Louver, Notre Dame, and the Basillica de Sacre Coure (2005)

·         Haut-Normandie, France – Visit Mont-Saint-Michel

·         India - the Taj Mahal, Golden Temple of Amritsar, Jaisalmer Temple

·         Germany -Visit Neuschwanstein Castle and Hesse-Darmstadt (the city my ancestors

        immigrated from in Germany)

·         Spain (Madrid, Granada, Barcelona, Galicia)

·         Israel – Swim in the Dead Sea

·         Dublin, Ireland – visit the Guinness Factory (2007)

·         Visit temple ruins in Thailand (2011)

·         London, England - Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul’s Cathedral, British Museum, and Hyde Park/Kensignton Garden (2007)

·         See the Swiss Alps

·       Japan -   Visit the Kiyomizu Temple

·         Turkey - Visit the Hagia Sophia (2018)

·         Peru - See Machu Picchu

·         Russia - Tour St. Basil’s Cathedral, the Kremlin, St. Petersburg (Petrodvorets) & Moscow

·         Jordan – Visit Petra

·         Prague, Czech Republic – Visit the Old Town Square (2010)