I have several favorite travel quotes:
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness" - Mark Twain
"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page" - St Augustine
"Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey" - Pat Conroy
We were fortunate to be able to have some fun little trips in 2011. Here is where we traveled:
Our first trip of the year was in March. We celebrated our 30 year anniversary a month early and went to Maui. We had both been there before, but it didn't make the trip any less enjoyable. I savored every minute of it. Highlights included: snorkeling, hiking, swimming, a luau, walks and runs along the beach, hiking to a waterfall. We also had an adventure of sleeping on a hillside in our car when the tsunami warning came. But great memories, nevertheless.
Our next trip was in April. Because we wanted to keep celebrating, we went to Moab, Utah for our actual anniversary. Highlights included hiking all around Arches National Park, running along red rock trails, and slickrock biking.
In May I went to visit Steph and Jared in East Lansing, Michigan. This was my first time there to see where they lived. Highlights included: a Detroit Tigers ballgame, shopping, eating, just being with my youngest little girl!
In May we made a quick trip down to St George, Utah for the funeral of my Uncle Lynn. Not a happy visit, but still good in the sense that I was able to support my family.
In June I tagged along with Dave to his business trip to Las Vegas. I spent a lot of time reading by the pool and exploring the malls there. I didn't gamble a single nickel.
Also in June we had a Niederhauser family reunion for a couple of days at East Canyon Dam. We camped, fished, swam, played miniature golf and did lots of visiting with the fam.
At the end of June we went on an Alaskan cruise with Dave's dad and siblings. Highlights included: seeing glaciers, hiking, riding a narrow gauge train, and kayaking. Along, with eating ourselves into oblivion on the cruise every day.
In July we went camping at Mirror Lake in the Uinta Mountains in Utah.
In August we took Alex to our all-time favorite lake - Washington Lake in the Uinta Mtns.
And because we are obsessed, in August we went to Washington Lake again for more camping, canoeing, fishing, hiking and biking.
In September we went to see Steph again in Michigan, since Dave hadn't seen where she lives yet. We also went to Frankenmuth and the Ford Museum in Detroit.
Dave and I have a tradition that the first weekend in October we stay overnight in Logan Canyon and hike to see the beautiful leaves the next day. We did it again this year.
In October we went to Palm Springs, CA with all of the fam. Everyone came except Andrew and Jared. We stayed in Palm Springs at our time share. We also went to Disneyland, Sea World and Coronado.
Our final trip of 2011 was a little jaunt down to St. George, UT. We took Alex. We went to a concert, Beatlemania, at Tuacahn. We also went to a session in the St George temple and also hiked Snow Canyon. We did all of this in just over 24 hours. Yes, we know how to suck to marrow out of our vacation time.
I won't argue that we were kind of spoiled this past year. I absolutely love traveling. Although I don't say I had a deprived childhood or anything, we really never went anywhere except to Idaho until I graduated from high school. From then on, I always wanted to see as much of the world as I possibly could. I am so glad I married Dave, who had to same love for travel that I did. We have had a blast over the last 30 years, seeing so much of the country and of the world. I think we have been to 45 out of the 50 states. And we've been to 20 different countries. I don't regret a dime we spent or a minute we spent. I am so glad I have those memories forever.
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