We are Esther and Larry, parents to two grown children and grandparents to our son’s two teenagers. We each grew up in Iowa, met and married in Southern California. Our children were born there but we moved when they were very young to California’s Central Coast, where our son still lives. After our nest emptied, we traveled the eastern half of the country and found a new home in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
We have always enjoyed traveling, most often by pulling some sort of trailer. We took our children to most of the parks of the west. They traveled without DVDs and learned to look out the window to see the world in real time. As soon as they were old enough, they helped plan our routes and chose what they wanted to see. Our main interests were human and natural history, so they saw many museums and historical recreations. Their own interests are different now, but having been exposed to ours has broadened their range.
Travel today, like so much of the rest of our lives, is frenetic and rarely restful. Everything must be done on a tight schedule, always to the beat of someone else’s drum. We hope you will come with us as we travel for the next few months to the beat of our drum. With luck, perhaps you will find a way to expand your horizons and see the world wherever you may go.
Hi Esther!
We have 2 grown kids, too (no grandkids, yet, though!). Our family vacations were always road trips -no DVDs either. They counted semis, military trucks, wildlife, played the license plate game and picked on each other. (They also got bribes from mom in the form of snacks and new comics.)
Neither of them have TV as adults, They enjoy playing games, reading, dinner parties and in general experiencing the real world.
It’s so nice to read about your similar journey with your kids. 🙂
Denise, I think there are probably a lot of people like us, but our approach to life is not the popular or well-publicized one. As for the kids picking on each other, yeah, we had plenty of that. On one memorable trip, one of them tried keeping a journal. Seasonal allergies were ever a problem. Someone said something and the response was recorded for posterity in the journal headline: “Gloating Goat Swallows Snot”.
Somehow, we all survived.
thank you for the ‘like’. It’s very encouraging.
Terry.
Nice to meet you, Esther! When we were growing up our parents put us in the back seat of our station wagons (often the seat was put down so we could sleep) and we traveled way out East and West and South to see lots of this country. Sounds like you have truly enjoyed your travelin’ life.
Kathy, I have indeed always loved traveling. The trip that is logged in this blog is one of my all-time favorites. The post for January 24 captures well the feel of that portion of the trip.
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