The bed count within the gap-year reached.....80. I'd like to say the 80th bed was located in an exotic, breathtakingly beautiful locale, a place full of adventure and dazzling sights but.....in reality the 80th bed resided in a Hampton Inn directly off I-5 in Elk Grove/Laguna, Northern California where we stopped for the night on our way too long drive from Palm Springs to Oregon. Clearly, not all bed experiences are created equal. But I'm so getting ahead of myself. WE HAD AN ANNIVERSARY!
Thursday was an anniversary of sorts. A year ago that day, movers swept our boxes and furnishings off to storage in Indiana and we piled ourselves into our overstuffed SUV to begin our journey west and into a new phase of life.
Those who know me know my love for travel and ongoing itchiness to see and experience the world. Where did my gap-year adventures take us? Because I love data and counting stuff, I've made a few lists.
State side (and in no particular order) National Parks -- Mesa Verde, CO, Saguaro East, AZ, Crater Lake, OR, Olympic, WA, Grand Canyon, AZ, Haleakala, HI, Hawaii Volcanoes, HI. I like this list.
Other locales -- NYC and the 9/11 Memorial, a visit with dear friends, and tour of Harlem, cycling on the San Juan Islands, WA, visits to Vancouver, WA, Portland, OR, Palm Desert,
Palm Springs, Tucson and more.
Cruises -- four -- Transatlantic from Florida to Amsterdam, Norwegian with stops in Iceland, Faroe Islands, and Shetland Island, Vancouver, BC to the Hawaiian Islands, Hawaiian Islands through French Polynesia to North Island of New Zealand to Sydney.
Bike trips -- two -- Ireland's Connemara Coast and New Zealand's South Island.
Places visited -- Lisbon, Portugal, La Harve, (Normandy) France (Omaha Beach, WWII museum), Dover, England, Bruges, Belgium, Amsterdam (Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House), Brussels, Dublin, Ireland, Connemara Coast, Ireland, Galway, Ireland, Glasgow, Scotland, Copenhagen, Denmark, Oslo, Norway, Bergen, Norway, Faroe Islands, Shetland Island, Scotland, Grainger Fjord, Norway, London, Vancouver, BC, Hawaii, Oahu, Maui, Tahiti, Bora Bora, Auckland, NZ, Bay of Islands, NZ, Sydney, AU, Adelaide, Kangaroo Island, Christchurch, NZ, Franz Joseph Glacier, back roads of NZ, Moeraki, NZ, Queenstown, NZ. Happily, almost every place we visited was new territory for us.
We also managed to see all my siblings, many of our nieces and nephews, some grandnieces and nephews, R's family, and the Canadian group of aunt, uncle and cousins, as well as longstanding dear, dear friends. Toss into the year that we sold one home, bought another, and sold another small property. Gosh, I think we were on the move.
My gap-year has been astounding, but not one without unexpected complications, disappointments, delights, mistakes and missteps -- just like life. I wish that everyone I love, cherish, care about in any way could have such a year, to travel, to grow, to change, to learn, to see, to appreciate -- with an emphasis on appreciating, how much we have, how few material items are required to make a good life. Then perhaps we could all discuss how one settles down after such a year. I haven't a clue so right now each day I'm just making it up. Just like life.
Forward R and I move. More beds to locate and count. More experiences to enjoy.
Mum and Joey. Kangaroo Island, Australia. 2014
Feeding my Australian friends.
