It’s time for Friday Five linkup with DC area bloggers Courtney at Eat Pray Run DC, Cynthia at You Signed Up for What?!, and Mar at Mar on the Run!  Be sure to stop by their blogs and say hello!  While you’re there, be sure to check out other bloggers who are participating in the linkup, too.  This week the DC Trifecta chose Five Trips To Take (or Trips I’ve Taken) as the theme…..

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“People don’t take trips,
Trips take people”
~ John Steinbeck

 

I am not a exactly a world traveler, but the places I’ve visited have had a lasting impact on me, and make me want to return – again and again.  I think it’s time Bill and I plan another trip!

Here are my most memorable trips, in no particular order…..

1.  Three days after our son Joseph graduated from college, Bill and I took him and our other son Daniel to Italy for ten days.  We spent the first five days in Rome, and the second five days in Florence.  While in Italy, we also spent one day at the Vatican and one day in the Tuscan countryside.  We took thousands of pictures, ate amazing food, and drank many bottles of wine.  It was a fabulous family vacation!

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View from our hotel in Florence

2.  Three weeks after Bill and I were married, we honeymooned at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  We spent our time hiking the Tetons and playing tourists in Yellowstone.  We were wowed by the vastness of the mountains, and the size of the bull moose that wouldn’t move out of our way on our hike up to Lake Solitude.

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Grand Tetons in Jackson, Wyoming

3.  During our second year of grad school in Utah, Bill’s brother came to visit us for two weeks.  Together we took a road-trip north from Utah to Idaho, and then headed counter-clockwise to Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, and back to Utah.  We camped amongst the redwoods, hiked through Yosemite, and ate our weight in five cents per pound grapes straight from the vines.

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Deb in Yosemite

4.  When moving to and from Utah (and then later Colorado), we took our sweet time driving across our beautiful country and through states we had never visited before.  One of our favorite spots was southern Utah, home to Arches, Zion, Bryce, and Canyonlands.

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Dead Horse Point in Southern Utah

And apparently Dead Horse Point is the free range chicken’s favorite spot as well.  Check out his selfie at 17 seconds.

 

 

5.  Bill and I took our first vacation (without our sons) to Hawaii when the boys were about six and four years old.  While in Maui we attended a luau, relaxed by the pool, snorkeled, biked down from the top of the inactive volcano, Mt. Haleakala, and in general enjoyed each others company without “little” interruptions.

 

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Bill and Deb about to bike down Mt. Haleakala

Bonus:  My most recent memorable “trip” happened at last Saturday’s =PR= Trail Run Series run at Algonkian Regional Park when I caught my toe on a rock and tripped and fell.  Banged up and bruised, I’m going to be fine and my foot didn’t complain too much on my first run back this morning after jamming it against the rock on Saturday.  I know – corny, but I couldn’t resist!

 

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One of many bruises after the fall

 

  • Questions:
  • Where was your favorite trip?
  • Do you like planning trips, or do you prefer for someone else to plan it for you?
  • Are you racing this weekend?