Travel Style

Keeping in touch with friends and family definitely helps this place feel more like home. It's funny how people tend to keep in better contact with loved ones while they are away. It's unfortunate that is the case, but often we take our surroundings for granted when we get used to them. Thank goodness for phone plans and email (and blogs!) or there would be a lot of homesick people in this world! I would reason people are more likely to travel in recent years than they used to, just because those conveniences are so much more widespread. I would probably go insane without any contact outside this hick town!

Switching gears...

My mom will give ANY excuse to travel. During my childhood my family took road trips all over the U.S. She's already driven halfway across the country from Minnesota to see me in Maryland, and this very weekend she's driving to Omaha, NE to visit her brother! I'm telling ya, if my mom heard that someone's belly button was on fire down in Podunk, IA she would drop everything and drive down for a picture! :)

I seem to have caught the travel bug as well, although I'm not so much of a "see it all" traveler or a clicking tourist; when I travel, I like to spend more time in the same spot so I get a little taste of what it is like to live there. You know, make contacts with the people, research little-known sites, visit the "Mom & Pop" diner, and skip stones in the pond.... After I've stopped somewhere, I like to more than just be able tell everyone where I've been, I like to take a piece of the people and their culture with me.

The Cecil's extended family is planning a get-together in the Bahamas at the end of November. Can you imagine that? I mean, I can almost picture the invitations for my own extended family: "Nupson Family Fun Time: Thanksgiving picnic on Freeport Beach! BYOL (Bring Your Own Lefsa)!" Uh, yeah. Nice thought. :D Anyway, I'm kind of indifferent about the whole trip. You're thinking, "Yeah right she is!" I am looking forward to it, but I'm not a huge beach person. Heh heh...maybe I will be once winter rolls around! It'll be fun to see what it's like down there, and I'm hoping to find postage not too expensive so I can send at least a few of my Christmas cards from there. Thought that might be kind of unique.

Better get prepared for the little squirt to wake up. Then we're going hiking! It's my new-found favorite activity around here. There are some nice trails through the woods near St. Mary's Lake that we usually take. It's nice because Chris (the mom) comes with Samantha and I so I have some company. She wants to climb one of the mountains in Washington state (not Ranier) with her dad next summer and is starting to train for that. Plus it gives her a break from work as well as provides some good exercise for me. Sammie loves it too, of course!