My family did not travel much when I was a child growing up in Southern California. We made a few camping trips to Bass Lake, visited Palm Springs and Lake Havasu, and occasionally stayed with relatives in the San Bernardino Mountains. The summer days of my youth were filled instead with the typical distractions of childhood in the late 1960’s and 70’s. There were long bike rides to the beach, lazy afternoons spent swimming, quiet trips to the public library, and evenings filled with neighborhood misadventures.

We waited for the Helms Bakery truck to deliver fresh bread and doughnuts in the mornings, and in the evenings we waited for an ice cream man to deliver root beer popsicles and sidewalk sundaes. My childhood experiences shaped me in ways that even I do not understand. Growing up with a set of parents who were not particularly adventurous left me with a burning desire to wander past the boundaries of my own backyard. I want to see everything there is to see in this glorious world God created for us. Luckily, I found a soul mate who feels exactly the same way.

My husband Jeff and I grew up three blocks away from each other, meeting when we were just ten years old. His childhood was somewhat different from mine in that his parents loved to travel. They made cross-country pilgrimages nearly every summer to visit relatives in Wisconsin and Illinois. They camped and fished and meandered, sometimes sleeping in their station wagon along the side of the road. They traveled by car, by rail, and even by cruise ship. My husband brought not only a love of travel to our marriage, but a good bit of experience as well.

As you read this we are happily into our twenty-seventh year of marriage and are proud of the life we’ve fashioned. Our daughter Erin is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Arizona and a brand new high school teacher. Our son Zach is also a grad of U of A and is working at for a local university placing student teachers. Our nephew Michael, who travels with us frequently, is gainfully employed and living in Southern California. Our travels have brought us closer together over the years and we’ve created a multitude of wonderful memories.  Our friend John said I should write about our vacations, so here I go.  I hope you have a good laugh on us, and learn something along the way.

Until Later,

Deb :)