From Ten on Tuesday . . . and in no set order of importance, greatness, or anything else.
1. Mike and my only trip together out West, to Steamboat Springs. Getting Mike over a tiny bit of his travel phobia and watching him gleefully immerse himself in real powder was so wonderful. I didn’t realize until we got home that my exhaustion wasn’t caused by the high altitude and exercise. It was caused by being pregnant with Lily. Thankfully all the drinking and hot tubbing I was doing didn’t hurt her!
2. My half-summer in Greece, 1988. There is no better way to learn culture, art and architecture than by immersing yourself in it. 2 weeks on the mainland was followed by 2weeks island-hopping, “studying”, eating, and exploring. It is my dream to take Mike to Santorini in 2010 for our 10 year anniversary.
3. Our family vacation to Heavenly Valley sometime in the mid-80’s. After driving in ridiculous weather conditions (at one point, my dad was under our car trying to dig out the tires so he could put chains on), and thinking we were going to die, we made it only to get snowed in at our condo. When I say snowed in, I mean the snow was literally up to the roofline. We scrapped Heavenly Valley and spent the rest of our vacation touring San Francisco. My highlight was watching my brother-in-law buy clothes from a very helpful salesperson named Jelly Love.
4. Honeymoon in Kiawah. I was a little bitter about not leaving the continental US for our honeymoon (see aforementioned travel phobia), but Kiawah Island in South Carolina was beautiful. That whole week was idyllic. Being freshly married and riding bikes all over the island, sea kayaking, our condo overlooking the ocean . . . it was fabulous. I could have done without the mirror on the ceiling in our bedroom, however. I still think Mike secretly had them install it.
5. Blowing Rock, NC. Mike and I went there for our first anniversary and it was awesome. We hiked, walked, ate, and breathed in that pure mountain air. It was fabulous.
6. Across the US Road Trip, 1993. My dad was super-pissed that I chose to blow my life insurance money on a cross-country road trip with my college boyfriend after graduation, but I’m so glad I did it even today. We left Ann Arbor and drove to California to see my sister. Along the way, we saw St. Louis, a national park in Oklahoma (who knew OK could be so beautiful?), hiked and camped in the Grand Canyon, fell in love with Flagstaff, drove in the Painted Desert, visited Mexico, hung out with family, then hit every national park we coud in Utah and Colorado. We visited more friends in Chicago and finally came back to Ann Arbor. Driving across the US is an amazing way to see the country and I’m really glad I did it, though I wish I had done it with Mike!
7. Vegas, Baby. Though Vegas is definitely not my favorite place and no place I have any desire to visit again, I’m so glad I went to Vegas to meet my online friends this past spring. The friendships and people were worth every naked puking guy I had to see on the street. And my spazz moment at Nobu even made it onto someone else’s Top 10 List.
8. Colorado. Sometime during college, I conned my friend Tom into taking the train out to Nederland to see some friends. The train trip was awesome, and the week out there was even better. We did some major hikes, and actually sat on the continental divide at one point. We also visited some natural hot springs (turns out it was run mostly by nudists, but it didn’t bother us). I fell in love with Colorado during that trip and it is a love affair that still continues today.
9. Camping/Rock Climbing with Julie. Julie, who left me for Colorado (beeeottch!!!), used to love taking short trips to wherever we could go. We both liked rock climbing and we both liked hiking, so we had a lot of fun girl-time trips involving burned marshmallows, leaky tents and a lot of interesting rock climbing routes. These trips mostly took place in Virginia and North Carolina.
10. Outer Banks - 3 times over. The first time was with Mike, alone - we stayed in Duck and had a fabulous time. The second time was with my mom and dad, Risa, Tori, and a friend of Tori’s. We had a great time and our house was terrific. Heated floors in the bathroom! HEAVENLY! The third time was with a group of people Mike knew from law school, and all of their kids. It was mass chaos - in a good way. I think the kids slept for a week after that trip.
