good news!

Remember that beach vacation I was swooning about a week or two ago?  That one that was 143 days away, south of Tampa, on the gorgeous Gulf of Mexico, WITH NO KIDS OR HUSBANDS?  Well, can I just say that I was never happier to realize I made a huge math error than I was when I realized I had made a huge math error ... that lovely trip begins in just 115 days (I was off by about a month).  I should never do math in my head.  And I should take more vacations. 

Y: Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park.  It feels like I've been there - I've heard a lot about it and seen a lot of photo and video footage - but I haven't.  And I want to go.  Our National Parks are such a treasure and I really want to take advantage of them.  For all that I've seen pictures of Old Faithful and such, I'd really like to see it in person.  And I can't get enough of natural beauty and wildlife.

I read a novel recently that used as its backdrop the last round of huge fires that tore through Yellowstone (I think in the 1990s?)  It made me wish I'd been there before, so I could go again and see what effect the fire had on the ecosystems.  I'm pretty fascinated by that sort of thing.  I remember seeing a lot of footage of the Mount St. Helens area before the eruption and of the eruption and aftermath itself, and then I visited the area about ten years later and was fascinated by the moonscape appearance even then - when you looked at it from a distance, it was just gray looking and dusty with weird patterns (like the dead trees, all laying where they fell in the blast, buried under ash).  But when you walked around and actually looked at the ground more closely, there was all kinds of regrowth and even flowers.  I'm hoping to go back again the next time we're in the Pacific Northwest, to see what change the last ten years have brought.

V: Venice

In my "places I'd like to go" series of this A to Z challenge, let me add Venice, Italy.  I am fascinated by this city on the water, that is sinking further and further every year.  I expect it doesn't smell so good, fetid water and all, but I really would love to see it. The buildings and the bridges seem amazing.

T: Taos, New Mexico

I would love to visit New Mexico, and Taos strikes me as a great place to start.  Mountains - check, narrow rocky mountain passes - check, warm days (in summer) but cool nights - check.  It is reported to be a community that offers lots of outdoor activities - skiing, hiking, biking, horseback riding, exploring the pueblos - and a large art community, all with the gorgeous natural backdrop.  And at that altitude, I bet there are no bugs.  Love that.

N: Norway

My grandfather immigrated to the U.S. from Norway in the 1920s, when he was about 16 years old.  He came with his mother, his brother, and his two sisters, after their father died of diabetes in his early 40s.  The family traveled to western North Dakota (aka the middle of nowhere, and a very harsh and windy nowhere at that!) where the father's brother had immigrated to some years earlier.  I suspect the widow and her 4 children were sent to the father's brother, anticipating that he would marry the widow and provide for her family.  Not sure how that all worked out, other than the widow (my greatgrandmother) never remarried.  My grandfather died when I was 23 and one of my big regrets is that I never asked him for stories about his immigration - the boat, traveling through Canada from Nova Scotia to North Dakota, etc.  I'm not sure he would have told me, but I sure wish I'd have asked.

My grandfather married my grandmother - who herself was also Norwegian but born in Minnesota.  They spoke Norwegian as their primary language and my father says he didn't learn English until he started school.  They always remained very fiercly proud of their Norwegian heritage.

My father then took up with my mother who is (gasp!) Swedish and German.  My mother said that sometime after she and dad got married, my grandfather said to her "you're pretty good for a Swede" and he meant that, sincerely, as a compliment.

Over the years, my grandparents traveled to Norway a few times, and had Norwegian visitors regularly.  My parents have done the same.  My father has re-connected with some relatives over the years and has a pretty good idea of where his family originated.

I would love to visit Norway.   A good friend of my husband's met a woman from Norway some years ago and they married and he now lives in Norway, so we have that inspiration.  Plus it is gorgeous.  Given my penchant for rocky, wild shorelines and mountains, Norway looks right up my alley.  And I would really like to see my great-grandfather's grave.

N: New York, New York

My seven year old daughter declared about a year ago that her favorite place in the world is New York.  No idea where that came from.  This same daughter last week asked me one morning if I would see my boss, Jim, at work that day.  I said I expected to.  She said "ask him if there is any chicken in the fridge".  I have no clue where that came from and when I asked her why, she said "because if there is, you should bring some home."  There is no frame of reference in our lives that explains that little conversation, any more than her declaring New York her favorite place.  We've never traveled East, we have no connections to New York, and I think she maybe just saw the  Statue of Liberty on TV, asked where it was, and then decided New York was the be all and end all of the world.  In any event, it is high on my list of travel priorities to take her to New York in the coming years. 

My friend JT chose the same topic today (read it here), and mentioned how she waited to go to NYC until she had a seasoned New York visitor to show her around.  I feel much the same.  I know there are things I'd want to see, but I suspect there are about a gadjillion things I'd love to see but have no idea they even exist.  So travel gods, please send me that New York tour guide soon!  I love musicals and would kill to see a show on Broadway.  I would love to see Lady Liberty and Central Park and Ground Zero, which I understand has the new Trade Center up to 100 stories already!  I don't think I can even comprehend the scope of New York.  An old elementary school friend lives out on Long Island and he has tried to describe the boroughs and such to me, and when he did that, I pulled out maps and pored over them, trying to grasp all the cities within the city.  And I'd love to go out to the ocean side of things and upstate New York too -  I remember the Lake Placid Olympics very well and that part of the state is gorgeous. 

M: Maine

Again with a letter that has so many choices - Mom, Men, More - several things came to mind immediately.  But I want to go to Maine and see the Northeastern coast.  It looks rocky and stark and gorgeous.  Throw in the fishing boats and the accents and it sounds right up my alley.

I always intended to drive out to the northwestern most corner of Washington State when I lived in Seattle, and plan to remedy that sometime, but I have been to the southeastern corner of the continental U.S. when we visited Key West some years back.  Get me up to Maine and I can take care of the northeastern corner, and then I'll just have one corner left - down in Baja California I suppose.

H: Hawaii

Wow, this was easy.  No sooner did I think "what letter of the alphabet am I on?" than I knew today was Hawaii.  I do want to go to Hawaii.  I would like to think I would wear a lovely flowered dress and sandals the entire time, with a flower in my hair.  I would make the trip up the big volcano in the early morning hours that I've heard about.  I would try body surfing or boogie boarding and probably enjoy it immensely.  Hours would be spent sitting on the beach, under an umbrella, drinking lovely drinks that come with their own umbrella, while reading good books and wallowing in the air off the ocean.  I would take my Dramamine and then acquiesce to whatever drive it takes to get me to those gorgeous waterfalls I've seen pictures of.  I would eat at a luau (but I will not engage in any hula exhibitions).  I would explore those places where the lava is still pouring into the ocean - stretches of black rock with crevasses that show the billion degree lava glowing in them. 

Sean and I had the worst wedding photographer in the history of the world for our wedding.  For God's sake people, skimp on anything at a wedding BUT the photographer.  But we lived through it by promising that we'd take a 10th anniversary trip to Hawaii and book a "renewal of vows" package that would allow us some gorgeous Hawaiian wedding photos.  This fall will be our 10th anniversary...I don't think Hawaii is in the books this fall.  And that's OK.  We'll get there at least by our 15th, I have no doubt, and we'll get those photos.  You'll know me by the flower in my hair!

F: Fremont

One of my favorite fantasies, after a particular trifecta of nastiness like I've had lately, is to picture myself leaving work, driving the airport, flying to Seattle, and spending a weekend going to old favorite haunts and breathing deeply of the home of my heart.  Oh I wish. 

One of my favorite places to go in Seattle was the Red Door in Fremont. It was one of the first places I ever went to taste "good beer" and it remained a go-to kind of place for me the whole time I lived there.  Unfortunately, after the earthquake in the early 2000s (was it 2002?), the original building was damaged and the Red Door moved to a new location a few blocks away.  I haven't been to the new one - it wasn't open yet when I visited the first time after the earthquake and we didn't go there for some reason when Sean and I visited in 2010.  Fremont itself was (and I believe still is) a very cool neighborhood in Seattle.  Funky shops and artists...that sort of thing.  Right up my alley, even though I am neither funky nor artistic.  Come as you are and fit right in no matter your personal style.  Love it.  I miss it. 

Can I have a Widmer Hefeweizen please?

E: Edinburgh

I had the good fortune to travel to Scotland in 1998 with a friend.  We were both in graduate school, her brother was working in Edinburgh and invited us to use his flat and his car, and so away we went.  We spent 18 days there - a few days in the Highlands but the rest exploring Edinburgh and sites within day-trip distance away.  It was May, so the weather varied from sunny and warm to cool and drizzly.  I loved everything about the city of Edinburgh and would visit again at the drop of a hat.  My friend and I had some differences of opinion as to our travel agenda, so there are dozens of things I would like to do in the city that we didn't do then, and dozens more things that I'd like to do again.  What I'd really like to get a feel for is how this ancient city, built upon an even more ancient city, is also a modern and vibrant city.  I saw lots of the old (we were staying just a block or so off the Royal Mile) and would love to tour around the entire city and get a feel for the modern part.  And I want to hike all the way up to the top of Arthur's Seat - we made it part way and I can't recall why we didn't go to the top.  And by golly, I'd spend days and days in the Highlands in and around Inverness - what a marvelous place.  I only spent a few hours at Culloden Moor but it gave me goosebumps (it might have had something to do with the strikingly gorgeous Scot in kilt with all the trimmings, running the tours which I was too short of time to attend, too).

One of the most striking memories of my trip was not in Edinburgh itself, but on one of our side trips.  We drove over to the western coast to take the ferry to the Isle of Mull.  There is a castle out on Mull and the shoreline is rocky and starkly beautiful.  I love Celtic crosses and took dozens of photos on the trip of all the various crosses I saw - on statutes, on park benches, in cemeteries.  From the ferry we saw a HUGE cross.  So as we walked up the wooded road to the castle on Mull, I realized that the cross we saw must have just been down the hill and through the woods from where we were walking...and so we followed a path down toward the shore.  We went by a house and came to a pasture that appeared to include the part of the shoreline we were looking for.  So, seeing nothing about, we went into the pasture and continued toward the shore.  And there was this huge Celtic cross right next to that rocky shoreline.  It was a grave - Mary Murray was the name on the cross.  I'm sorry I don't remember what her dates were - I suppose it might be visible from the photos we took.  What a gorgeous place.  I think of Mary Murray from time to time, wondering about her and who put up this beautiful monument to her.  I joke now that I merely expect a ten foot high Celtic cross with my name on it at my gravesite...

C: Cairo

Cairo, Egypt definitely falls into the category of "places I would go if I could go anywhere in the world", but it also makes me hasten to add the clause, "if I could go there safely".  I'm not sure about Egypt these days, in terms of safety of travel, but since we're talking about dreams here, I won't worry about that right now.

I would love to see the pyramids and tombs and experience the markets and culture. I admit I would be looking hard for Indiana Jones while there too! I would love to take a boat up the Nile.  I have been fascinated with archaeology since I was a kid and would love to see what a real dig looks like.

What is funny to me is the contradiction that I, the woman who prefers cloudy drizzly weather over sunshine, and prefers climates that don't rise above 80 degrees, would dream of visiting the desert.  But then any climate is do-able when I'm on vacation!

B: Boston

I have done a bit of traveling but I have never been to northeastern parts of the U.S.  I would very much like to tour Boston and see all the sights, historic and otherwise.  I would love to take one of those self-guided audio tours, so I can walk around at my own speed and hear the stories as I go.  I also love the idea of sailing ships and harbor activities, and at least in my mind (which I will admit has limited geographic knowledge) that is also a big part of Boston. 

Mostly it is a city I'd like to see because I would like to know what else it is ... I am feeling really stupid, like I'd better do some googling before I publish this post, since I can't really list anything else about Boston.  The Red Sox are there...Harvard is there (I only know this thanks to Good Will Hunting, thank Matt and Ben)...people talk funny (I can say this because you all remember the movie Fargo and how everyone in your movie theater laughed at everyone's accent?  Yeah, that's how I talk - seriously)...what else is notable to Boston?

A: Alaska

I responded very poorly to the NaBloPoMo challenge in February, so I'm hoping to do a little better with the A to Z challenge for April. 

My "A" thought for today is that I would love to visit the State of Alaska.  I have a friend who moved to Anchorage some years back.  She is very active in environmental politics and loves the backwoods kind of life, and met her soul mate there, so her Facebook posts and emails are full of camping trips that involve protective gear like electric fences and large caliber weapons.  Her daily walks with her dogs involve dodging moose and keeping an eye out for bear.  And this year, she and her husband are busy clearing ten or more feet of snow from their roof so that their house doesn't flood in the spring thaw.  I would love to see in person the world she describes - though I'll leave the backwoods camping trips to braver souls than I. 

I would love to take the inside passage up along the Alaskan coast.  The coastline and the wildlife sightings sound amazing.  Watching video of glaciers "calving" is amazing and I can only imagine what that would be like in person.  The northern lights are fantastic and I'm sure Denali National Park is beyond anything I can imagine. 

Yep, Alaska.  One day.