10 on the 10th.....

It's time for 10 on the 10th. This year Marsha from Marsha in the Middle is taking over hosting duties for the foreseeable future. I know it will be fun!

This weeks questions are all about vacations, so let's get them answered. If I had time I'd share some photos too but I just don't have the time today.

1. Are you planning to take a vacation anytime soon? Please share. We have a few vacations planned. One at the end of August to visit family in northern Ohio. We'll be staying on Kelley's Island which is an island about 4.405 sq miles..my aunt and uncle live on the island and my other two aunts just live across the lake on the mainland. We used to visit there often when I was little and we lived in Ohio. 

The second vacation planned is for our 30th anniversary. We are planning a trip to the New England states. I'm excited about that. That will be in October. 

2. Have you recently gone on vacation? Tell us all about it! The last vacation we took was last October. We went to Sunriver, Oregon for a week. We had also gone there in August with friends for a long weekend. That is one of our favorite local vacation destination spots. So much to do and see...or just don't do anything but relax. Before that my hubby and I visited Orcas Island up in the San Juan islands. 

3. What is your favorite way to travel? I've only ever traveled by plane or car. I like that planes get us where we want to go quicker, but I do love driving and seeing the sites as we go. 

4. If money were no object, where would you go and why? Oh boy..that's a hard one because there are so many places I'd love to see. We would love to go to Greece because it looks beautiful, but I would also LOVE to travel through Italy, visiting places that my moms family is from. 

5. Who would be your favorite person (living or dead) to take on vacation? I honestly love vacationing with my family. If my mom were alive, I'd love to do like a mother daughter trip.

6. What do you absolutely have to pack when you go on vacation? My camera and books. 

7. What are your memories of your all time favorite vacation? Boy, another tough one. We have tried to take several vacations a year, do I have a favorite one? I don't know. At the moment, they were probably all my favorite. In 2020 I did fly to Ohio to meet up with my aunts and cousins to remember my grandma. I did love that time of morning walks with my Aunt Jan, sitting around tables remembering my grandma and looking through pictures. In 2018/2019 I visited Florida before my grandma passed away and those were special times with her and my aunts. In 2018 we all got together and celebrated her 90th birthday. We rented a home with a pool and everyone came from Washington (us), Ohio, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina and Florida and we all gathered at our house to celebrate, eat food and have fun. Such a special time. 

8. Where would you never ever go on vacation and why? Boy, I don't know. I don't really have a desire to travel to any Asian countries and not for any particular reason, they just have never appealed to me. 

9. What is the worst thing you ever experienced on vacation? I can't think of anything terrible that ever happened to me. One thing jumps out at me...we were on a mission trip to Mexico, we were staying in a cabana behind the Pastors house. The wife forgot to tell us to cover our shower drain because it was supposed to rain. We went out and when we all came back there were cockroaches in our cabana...She came out and along with. my hubby started killing them...her husband was laughing and I refused to go inside until we got the all clear. I don't think I slept well that night.

I'm adding a few other things I remembered. Both on our trip to NYC. But I'd still go back. I had bought some Birkenstocks to bring and thought I gave myself plenty of time to break them in. Well, apparently not because after the first day I developed blisters on both my feet all the way around the sides and a few on the bottom. It was just me and my youngest daughter and her friend (she had just graduated)...so there was no way I was going to miss out on this trip so I sucked it up, bought LOTS of bandaids and wore tennis shoes and walked in pain the rest of the trip. We had a blast but boy were my feet sore. The other thing was my daughter woke up the first morning with a massive bloody nose (she gets them sometimes). It was coming out her tear ducts which freaked her out...I was running around the hotel trying to find ice and a bag for the ice, then decided we needed Urgent Care....I might have alarmed the hotel staff a bit...lol. So down we come, with a bag of ice on her neck, a wet rag on her nose and we hailed a cab to drive us a VERY long 2 blocks to the Urgent Care. He dropped us across the street, so now we're walking down a NYC block towel to nose, ice to neck...lol. I'm sure we were a sight to see. They took one look at her and brought her right back...I'm sure a bloody washcloth will do that. They were great, cauterized her nose and we walked back to the hotel. No more bloody noses that trip.

10. What is the best thing that ever happened to you on vacation? Oh boy...I think there are so many "best things" because each vacation has been different and special and memorable. So I don't know quite how to answer that one. I think one of the best things is creating memories for our kids growing up. We have one place, Sunriver, Oregon that we traveled to yearly when our girls were little, all the way through high school. Now it's every few years. They have such great memories there. So I guess the best things are creating the memories, whether it's with all of us, just me and my hubby, or me and one or both girls. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin