Vacation

Vacations Past & Yet to Come
Writers Post #22

So many places I want to see all around the world!  Vacations, for me, are just a chance to see something I have never seen or revisit someplace I loved.  I don't care to fly, unless I have to for time sake or because the destination isn't accessible any other way.  I love a good road trip with no absolute return time.  I always have some idea when we are returning to the home front because my roomy is still working and has to have an idea when he will be back to work.  When he retires our trips will for sure be open ended.

I completely enjoyed visiting Hawaii.  We have been to Honolulu several times and to Maui once. It is properly referred to as Paradise. It rains a lot there, but the rain doesn't interrupt your plans and in fact, is a nice refreshing break from the heavenly sunshine and near perfect 80 degree temperatures.  The beaches are pristine and immense. I could literally sit on the Hawaiian beaches everyday for the rest of my life and eat my lunch of fresh island fruits and a nice cool drink.  Dipping my toes in the deep blue Pacific every now and again to cool myself.  As sunset time approaches, I like to head on to any clear spot and quietly sip my cocktail or glass of wine and wait to be in awe, once again, of the fierce beauty of the sun slipping into the ocean for the night.  Breathless beauty nearly every single evening.   There is much with which the tourist can entertain themselves, if that's something they enjoy.  We have toured the rain forest.  We have driven to the North Shore on Oahu, home of the world championship surfers.  We have stopped in some of the small towns all over the island and grabbed a local lunch and loved the quaintness of these towns.  We have gone up the west coast to the beautiful mountain range on the right and the ocean on the left.  Where else can you do that?  Spent an entire day on that beach and watched the sunset before heading back to the city.  Other than these trips, you can walk or use the city bus system to see all there is to see on Oahu.  There is a tour for anything and everything and a luau is a requirement for the first time visitor.

Maui is a different kind of vacation.  A car is needed everyday to see what there is to see and in fact, just to get to the restaurants.  We stayed on the west side and had to drive 5 or 10 minutes to see most of what we wanted to see.  Shopping was excellent on Maui and we bought several lovely things there.  We also took a tour to the eastern side which took an entire day.  The beaches here are okay, but do not compare with the Waikiki beach or any of the other beaches on Oahu, yet, they are still magnificent.  We had dolphins actually come into the cove in front of our condo to play with the swimmers.  Literally to PLAY with the swimmers.  Not tame, trained animals, wild and free dolphins who just saw people and decided to come and play with them. It was amazing to watch.

I don't care to return to Hawaii, though I loved every trip we made there.  The flight is exhausting from Michigan and I feel like we've been there an done that.

We have also been to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.  Very nice resort in an otherwise poverty stricken area.  It was a fabulous and affordable vacation.  Don't care to return because we did everything there was to do and very few people speak English there.  I'm not too good with Spanish, so it was a difficult week.

I spent a week in Italy with Momma and my brother and his wife about 20 years ago.  It was an incredible trip.  We went on a tour every day and saw so much of Italy, I probably counldn't even tell you all the town and all the cathedrals we walked through.  What I remember most is the magnificence of the buildings downtown Rome and the food.  Such food I may never eat again!  I would return to Italy anytime. There is so much we didn't see and Venice would be among my cities of choice.

We've taken a few cruises and although I don't want to repeat any of them, I would love to cruise again.
So cruises are still in our future.  We would like to do several in the Bahamas.  There are many to choose from, taking different paths through the beautiful eastern islands, which we have not done.  I would also like to cruise through the southern Bahamas. We have done the Western Cruise.  We have done the Panama Canal Cruise.  We have done a short one and a long one.  I liked the long one.  Roomy liked them all.  We will cruise again.

We also enjoy the add-on most cruise lines offer.  An extra 3 or 4 days at the end of the cruise in a port or tourist area near the cruise destination. So maybe next time we'll travel through some of the Eastern Bahamas and spend a few relaxing days at Key West.  Oh yeah, that sounds nice.  Kinda wanna go plan that right now, but this year's vacation dollars went into our pool.  This year we will vacation at home for the most part and probably not venturing out to see anything much past Frankenmuth, Michigan.   Also a nice place to spend a week-end away.  Great food, German ambiance everywhere and some fun shopping.

It's always good to pack up a few things and just run away from your house, your every day routines and even your responsibilities for a little while.  Not having any pressure, self-imposed or otherwise, is good for the soul.  It's always good to walk back in your own door, too.  There really is no place like home.

Jo