First post in a very long time, and it will be in two parts, but I wanted to keep this recap in a more permanent form. I have yet to figure out how to add photos, but I'm not going to worry about that right yet. There's time to add those somewhere down the line. Maybe. Possibly.
The family vacation is something that has been immortalized in Chevy Chase's "Vacation" movies, something that occurs with frequent regularity in many families if the crowds I see at the northwest Florida beaches which are crammed full of tourists is to be believed. Likewise for every tourist site in other places I've visited such as London, Paris, and New York. I witnessed crowds in Highlands, North Carolina when my folks lived there every Labor Day Weekend, and we won't even get into what Orlando looked like last year when Big Dave and I finally said "yes" to the Hilton people who wanted to give us three nights for $99 if we would sit through an hour and a half time share presentation. Knowing he was the "King of NO" after the weddings...I knew we'd be okay. What I didn't know is that they'd sell our name as a form of punishment to other sites who wanted to give us like trips to see if they could do better and crack the nut of our resolve.
Hilton has been contacted by Towanda on two occasions for that breach of confidence. They deny it vehemently, but I'm not buying it. Or their time-share either. I did, however, enjoy the three nights there, getting to see Epcot after all of these years, and a particularly fun afternoon involving margaritas and tiki glasses in a restaurant. We still have those glasses, by the way.
Family vacations are unique - like fingerprints. Some families have a second home that they visit on the weekends. Everyone gathers there and spends time as a group. These folks may occasionally plan something different, but they spend a lot of family time together at the lake or beach. We've been blessed to be invited a number of times to join people and have had the best time.
Others might have a trip that they take each year to Disney World or to a condo somewhere at the northwest Florida beaches. Some families like to go camping, or to do something educational, or just take off to visit family that lives too far away to see on the spur of the moment.
My family vacations have traditionally been to visit family. It might involve something fun at the other end or along the way, but it is primarily a long car trip. We load up, pack a cooler of snacks, try not to lose our minds, and arrive somewhere that is normally not a hotel but someone's guest room or fold out couch. This has been the pattern of my vacations throughout my childhood and into early adulthood. I'm grateful for this time...day trips to Disney...some time at St. Simons Island when I was ten...but for the most part the family vacation involved family and more family. I honestly believe that it was those days of being in my Uncle Jimmy's pool that made me want one so badly in my own backyard when we built our home out here. It has brought me such joy to watch my children, their friends, and my niece and nephew enjoy it all of those years. All that is missing is Aunt Lorraine's Charles Chips tins with potato chips and chocolate chip cookies in them that we ate for snacks.
In 1986, my folks, sister, and Big Dave and I went on a family vacation. We did some touristy things. Ate well. Enjoyed each other's company. Until one got seriously sunburned and the fun turned to trying to get him comfortable. Fast forward to 2006 to another family vacation. This time, a group of us went out to conquer London and Paris. Three days of rain, fractured nerves and exhaustion provided a perfect storm to match the rain that was messing up our (read: my) carefully laid out plans. I've written extensively about this trip by day...so I'm going to just let that sit right there and keep on going...other than to say that once we got to Paris...things got easier...and I'll never forget hearing the news that Linda was expecting Tara standing by the Arc d'Triomphe as traffic buzzed around us.
This year, Big Dave and I were floating around the pool one lazy afternoon trying to come to grips with the fact that we'd survived two weddings and a wonderful but exhausting foray into the world of grandparenting. Our kids have lived independently since 2008 for Jill and 2013 for Brian and we've long come to grips with the "empty nest." There are some things about this that are absolutely wonderful and we've adjusted to very well. However, several years have gone by and we are trying so diligently to spend whatever scraps of time we have that often find someone or other in the midst of something that is making them tired or frustrated or schedules have conflicted to such a degree that it has proven impossible to get everyone corralled and happy for any period of time beyond 48 hours.
Basically, life has intervened. That happens. And now our family is growing. Brooklyn has a schedule. We know not if there will be other grandchildren to consider in the coming years. We all have different work schedules and more to work around. And since we don't have a beach house or a lake house...we wanted to figure out something that we could all do that would be fun for everyone and not break the bank.
Floating around on the water in the pool that we don't get in nearly as much as we should, we discussed the possibility of paying for a vacation that we could all enjoy. But there would be limitations. Things we'd need to work around. Different ages and interests. Cost of entertaining that many for that long. Different goals for vacation time. It was a big discussion...but very enlightening.
We discovered that all vacations can be broken down into one of four categories. There is the family vacation...where you spend all of your time visiting family. The relaxing vacation...where you just want to sit somewhere and read, hike, chill or sit in a beach chair. There is also the "event" vacation - where you are doing something specific...such as Disney, Six Flags, Dollyworld, camping, or something similar. And then there is the sightseeing vacation...where you run off of an itinerary and just want to see as much as you possibly can since you may never pass that way again.
Naturally, I have always done family vacations and when we visited Europe, I have since found that sightseeing vacations are my preference. Big Dave prefers a relaxing vacation where he just sits and does nothing because the man runs from can to can't most of the time and really just needs a few days to sit down. Both of us are okay with an occasional event vacation...like we did last January for a few days at Epcot. But we realized on that afternoon that it was time for us to make some concessions. Big Dave doesn't want to fly. I don't want to sit at a resort. We aren't made of money. His best time to be off is in January. He likes tropical. I like tours.
We finally decided that we would consider a cruise out of Mobile, AL if one was in our price range and everyone wanted to do it. We checked into it, got a great deal on a cruise in January, and counted four other enthusiastic "yesses." Brooklyn didn't really get to vote on this one. But we figure that there will be time somewhere down the road for her to have some input. Loosely translated...at some point we are doing Disney. All of it.
We booked the cruise as part of their Christmas gift and started the countdown. And before we knew it...it was the Mardi Gras ball in Mobile for LaLuna Servante that Aunt Wendy is in...a day to recuperate in Mobile and then we got in the car and headed for the docks...
For Family Vacation 2018. :)
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