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| Bonnie & Lew, the Travelers! |
The Holidays have passed. We spent a great Thanksgiving week with long-time friends in Lake St. Louis, another week with friends in Colorado Springs, and finally the weeks leading up to Christmas and New Years with daughter, Erin, and family in Salt Lake City, where we remain for the next few weeks. All in all, a low-key holiday with family and friends that suited us just fine. Of course, there was the quick 3-day trip to Breckenridge over New Years just because we could, but it was still pretty relaxed. Now that the new year has begun – and I have time on my hands – it seems like a good time for reflection: a time to look back on 2019, all the miles we’ve traveled and all we’ve seen and experienced these past 16 months (yes, I know, a year only has 12 months, but it seemed right to throw in the first four months of our trip as well!).
Our adventure is drawing to a close and as I sit here in the
Salt Lake City KOA, looking out on the snow falling gently, I am thinking about
what this time on the road has meant to me, to us, and what we can take away
from the experience. Throughout our travels, when we tell people what we are up
to, we are often met with either envious or horrified surprise, followed by the
inevitable question: so, what have you liked the most? Sometimes, it’s a variation
on that theme: what’s been your biggest surprise or what would you do
differently or how on earth have you managed to stay married??!!
Those questions, and similar ones, deserve our attention, so
this and some subsequent posts will attempt to answer such queries. Part I
will look at some broad questions – what was most _________? Fill in the
blank: memorable, awe inspiring, difficult, beautiful, etc. Part II will
focus more on how this experience has affected us – how we might have
changed, whether the trip was worthwhile, what we learned along the way, etc. I’ll
write Part III, my final blog post, once we return home in April. That
one will be an overall summary, a look at places we might want to revisit, how
it feels to be back in a house (that doesn’t move), what we would do
differently, regrets, etc. So, here
goes.
REFLECTIONS: PART I – WHAT WAS MOST ____________?
Caveat: I must remind you, dear reader, that we have
seen and enjoyed wonderful sights all over the country; to choose our “favorite”
this or that is subjective and doesn’t diminish any of the other experiences we’ve
had or places we’ve visited. We have
addressed many of these places and our reactions to them in other posts. And
note that since Lew and I often have different perspectives, I’ve included both
of our answers to the question: What was most…?
Awe-inspiring Bonnie:
Arizona desert – all of Navajo country and especially Monument Valley
Lew:
Canyon de Chelly in Arizona, our October Road Scholar experience
Surprising Bonnie: Everything about the Midwest.
Also, my 50th college reunion!
Lew:
That the Fall Foliage Caravan trip worked out so well.
Emotional Bonnie: The two weeks spent visiting
3 Presidential Libraries, the museum and site of the JFK assassination in
Dallas, and the Oklahoma City bombing memorial.
Lew: D-Day Memorial
in Virginia. Also Gettysburg and Arlington. Ditto Bonnie.
Difficult Bonnie: Lack of people to talk
to on a regular basis.
Lew:
Technological issues – no wifi, no satellite connection for TV, etc
Disappointing Bonnie: Niagara Falls – I didn’t remember so
many people. Also true of Grand Canyon.
Lew: Shenandoah
National Park – too late for colors, freezing cold temperatures. Timing off!
And we are spoiled by mountains in the west!
Beautiful Bonnie: So many beautiful places,
but favorite was fall colors in New England
Lew: California
and Maine coastlines, as well as Painted Rocks National Seashore on Lake
Superior
Frustrating Bonnie: Lack of counter space to cook
and space in general. Always having to shift stuff around to get things done.
Lew: The “mechanics”
of the Caravan – we learned we are not good herd animals
.
Weird Bonnie: House on the Rock in
Wisconsin
Lew: Ditto
Special Bonnie: Reconnecting with
friends and family – in California, Arizona, Oklahoma, Missouri, Wisconsin,
Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Virginia,
Colorado, and Utah.
Lew: The
conversation with the security man (a Belize native) at Arlington who personally thanked me (and who
plans to personally shake 5000 hands of other service members) for serving in
the U.S. military and for helping make this country was it is.
Interesting Bonnie: Presidential Libraries –
getting a “whole” picture of the man
Lew: Newseum in
Washington D.C. dedicated to First Amendment freedoms.
Educational Bonnie: African American History Museum
in D.C. and Gettysburg and the contradictions of Jefferson and Madison as displayed
at their historic sites in Virginia
Lew: African
American History Museum. Ditto to Bonnie’s choices. So many educational
experiences. We also learned a lot at Oak Ridge, TN.
Unique Bonnie: Lowell National
Historic Park – I think of National Parks as those in the west, natural wonders.
The “urban” parks we visited in the east were quite unique.
Lew: Lowell –
where the American industrial revolution began.
Favorite
National Park Bonnie: Death
Valley, because it was so different. Starkly beautiful
Lew:
Big Bend – loved the diversity and the hiking
Memorable Bonnie: For me it is not one thing,
but a sense of how incredibly varied this country is, how much beauty there is
everywhere (not just where I happen to live), and how much history there is to
drink in. I could understand why people loved where they lived.
Lew: You think
you’ve seen a lot and then you discover there is so much more to see and learn.
