2007 in review (part I)

The longer I live the more I realize how like my parents I can be. This year I discovered just how much like my dad I can be about vacation. I, like my dad, LIVE for vacation. I work so I can vacate. I enjoy routine in my day-to-day life, so that vacating from it for adventure and spontaneity is a thing of great joy. I love to explore, love adventure, and especially appreciate a good challenge. This year our vacations were short, no week-long adventures were had. But we made sure to get away as much as possible.

In March we took a four-day trip camping in Death Valley. It was beautiful, and one of the most relaxing weekends of my entire year. There's something about wide open space that soothes the restlessness of my soul. And one thing Death Valley has in spades is wide open space.


In May we celebrated our first wedding anniversary with a four-day trip to Sequoia. Walking amongst the giant Sequoias is truly a lesson in humility. Some of those trees are hundreds of feet tall and thousands of years old. That ancient forest is also one of my favorite places on the earth for its quiet and stillness. You can't help but let it quiet the soul as you stand in all your smallness beneath those behemoth trees.




In September we took another four-day weekend to climb a mountain. This was my first real backpack since I was a kid, and it was a great trip. We not only accomplished summiting a 14,000+ foot mountain in the Eastern Sierras, we got to enjoy more wide open space, the sound of quiet, and what the sky looks like without the lights of the city washing out the stars. Though a bit more physically taxing, this trip was another relaxing and soul-soothing trip. I just can't get enough of the outdoors.

In October I had the opportunity to visit my good friend Kimberly in Orlando, Florida. We slept, relaxed in coffee shops, went shopping, and had nice long chats about life. This trip soothed my soul in the way only a good friend can.

At Thanksgiving we went camping again, this time in King City (between San Luis Obispo and Salinas). Though it was mighty cold at night, and we were sleeping in a tent, it was otherwise a very comfortable and relaxing getaway. I got a lot of knitting done, Caleb finished reading a book. We played games with family and took long walks.





After Christmas we'll be heading down to San Diego for a family reunion with my mom's extended family. There are 39 of us now, so this 3-day getaway might not be as quiet as some of my other trips this year have been. But my family is one of the great treasures in my life, and the time spent with them will be soothing in a way that only my loud family can be.