I Wonder as I Wander…

I have always loved to travel--to be able to see new areas, enjoy the scenery, visit the local sights, and, of course, enjoy the local foods (no McDonalds for us when we travel).

The first trips that I remember happened when I was 6 to 14 years old and were mainly between OR, MN, and Sask. to visit relatives. We would stop and visit some scenic places along the way, but our main purpose was to get to our relatives, where we would just hang out. I was even in Calgary during the Calgary Stampede and never went to any of the events.

Right after I graduated from High School, my sister and I took a road trip to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon (and Mexico, the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore along the way). From then on, I've been hooked on seeing as much of the United States (and other countries) as possible. I started marking off the states as I visited them--with the goal of getting to every state.

This past November, I was able to mark off Connecticut--which was the last state in the lower 48 that I had left to visit. (Gotta get to Alaska and Hawaii!)

So I was infected with the traveling bug a long time ago. I'm very fortunate to have married Bob (33 years ago), who loves to go as much as I do. He's the perfect traveling partner. And, of course we raised our two children to also love to visit new places--so even though they are grown up, they not only enjoy traveling, but they even like to go with Mom and Dad. More on that later.

This is where my love of traveling was started...and where did it go (and go, and go) from there...stay tuned...