Revisit required
What places did you visit as a child that you would love to visit again as an adult?
Hmm, probably… MOST of them?
But especially nature areas, like the Grand Canyon, which I am assuming this late 80s photo is from*:
I’m still sporting the same hairstyle!
It’s amazing how much your perception and experience of/at a space changes as, well, you gain more life experience. I remember feeling drawn to nature as a child, enjoying spending time outdoors, but I doubt I appreciated it the way I do now. Even within the past few years, that love for the great outdoors has dramatically increased. It’s dorky, but when people come to visit us, the things I find myself proudly pointing out to them are the forest preserves, trails, lakes and bogs (well, bog, singular).
Anywho. With many of my friends taking road trips this summer, I’m thinking back to a few of the road trips my family took growing up, and hoping that Steven and I have a chance to take some trips like that of our own… even to see some of the same places… someday!
Question for you parents out there… when planning destination travel for you and your children, do you think about how much of the trip they’ll remember? I’ve always wondered about that, as I think a lot about the collection of memories and experience. For the most common example, would you rather take your children to Disney World when they are young, so they can enjoy the experience (and magic of being there as a quite young child) but might not remember it as much later? Or would you rather wait until they are older and might remember it more?
I’m really curious about that, because I know I saw a lot of neat places as a child, but don’t remember them the way I would if I went there now. So, like I said… it just fuels my desire to travel/explore and makes me want to go back!
*UPDATED: My dad thinks the pic is probably Bryce Canyon. I wasn’t sure! They took us to the Grand Canyon, too.
Themocracy
We definitely think about how much the trip will be remembered! We won’t take Laithe to Disney until he’s 4 or 5, hopefully by then he’ll remember some aspects of the ridiculously expensive magical kingdom!
We didn’t go a ton of places when I was a kid unless we were visiting relatives. We mostly only took a summer vacation where we’d go to one of two beaches (we would rotate each summer usually).
The one place we went when I was growing up that I wouldn’t mind exploring again was Ohio. Kind of a random destination but my mom’s uncle and his family all live out there. My parents have been several times in the past year (my dad retired 1.5 years ago so they travel a lot more now!) and I think it would be cool to visit with all the family out there and check out some of the fun things we did when I was a kid.
First off, I have to aww at adorable little Kim! 🙂 You look like you’re having fun in that photo!
Being the oldest in the family, I’ve been able to remember our family vacations probably a bit more than my younger siblings. However, sometimes it is the drama and arguments that I sometimes remember more than the fun we had there. (My parents have since divorced but were living unhappily for a long time so it made for some interesting family trips.) The hubs and I haven’t really thought much about when we will be taking big family vacations… We have some time before we need to start planning those. 🙂
Aww man, that is a bummer that those are the memories you have from your family trips! I was curious to hear what YOU thought though, since Baby Wilson is on the way! 🙂 First trip… a race! Ha ha.
I was reading and said that looks like Bryce Canyon as well! I can’t say I remember much about my childhood trips but there were a few that stand out! I have a feeling I’d have a much different perspective now too.
Thanks for correcting me! See! I really need to go back – I can’t even remember what it looks like! 🙂
You are so flipping adorable, btw:)
Growing up, we didn’t travel a ton. We visited Disney World a few times, but beyond that, we didn’t do much in terms of road trips. I have a colleague who takes his sons on a 2 week road trip every summer. He usually picks a region (i.e. east coast) and combines fun attractions with historical landmarks. It’s something I’d love to do as a family someday as well!
Aww, thanks 😉
Wow! That road trip your coworker does sounds awesome!
And I also think it’s awesome you went to Disney a few times! Did all your siblings go each time? We went once (there are also four of us), and it was a big deal – my parents had to save for quite some time for us to be able to go! 🙂
We went virtually nowhere as kids. I think Wisc Dells and one trip to 6 Flags St. Louis is as far as my parents took the 6 of us kids. That said, my kids have traveled extensively. I definitely think trips can be taken too soon when they won’t remember. Some kids also grow out of the Disney thing, or are never that into it in the first place, so it’s all a crap shoot.
I’ve been thinking about the same thing. When they are really young I think we’ll do stuff for us and just take them along. When they get to the age where they can kind of remember/appreciate where we go we’ll be more conscious of where we go and focus it toward their interested.
And this is all hypothetical, if we have kids…
I think my parents did a good job of balancing the Disney-esque vacations with the “seeing nature” vacations. I remember being really bored on some of the nature ones but looking back I’m really glad we went. They did make a great decision to put off going to Washington D.C. until we were adults and I’m grateful for that. I think taking most kids there would be boooring to them. As an adult I definitely appreciated it more!
P.S. If you want to go to the Grand Canyon again we should all invade Jason’s parents’ house and go there!
Yes! That is an awesome idea!
I still want to go back to D.C. on a real vacation! Whenever I was there for work, there just wasn’t enough time after work to see things!
Awww, nice bangs! 🙂
I have similar vacation memories as Kelly, except that my brother and I just make fun of all the fighting and drama. Since that’s how we deal with unpleasantness. But family vacations weren’t all bad. My favorite place that we used to go is Myrtle Beach, SC. We went every summer for years, and it was always so fun! We’d rent a condo, sometimes my aunt or cousins would come with us, and I even had vacation friends from New England who were there the same week as us every year. I went back with a girlfriend when I was 21, and it just wasn’t the same. Maybe because things are just different when you’re a grown-up? Or because we were too broke to do much of anything 🙂
Do you keep in touch with any of those vacation friends? How fun!
I have noticed that beach vacations aren’t as much fun as an adult because now I have to share in the responsibilities – like bringing food, cleaning up, hauling things in and out of the boat, putting sunscreen on myself (unless Henry’s there) and making sure young children don’t drown. I miss the carefree days!
This is why I like going to the beach with Bob’s parents – they do all the grown-up stuff LOL
But yeah, I’m sure that’s some of it! It’s also different to spend a week “living” at the beach compared to being in some crappy motel and just going drinking with your friend every night. As was my Myrtle Beach revisit. I’m hoping to get down there sometime with Bob, I’m guessing that would be more fun. Unless that annoys Henry 😉
When we were growing up we went on maybe 2 or 3 BIG vacations. one of them was a road trip to Disney. I was 5..I don’t remember a lot of it only certain parts (yet I am the only one in our family who was gone back) but my oldest brother was 14. It was the best set of ages for our family. And of course because I LOVE Disney when I have kids I want to take them once when they are younger and maybe once when they are a little older 🙂
The other trip that sticks out in my mind is a trip to Yellowstone/Glacier/Grand Tetons etc. I think I was in 5th grade and when the rest of my family wanted to get up at 6 am to go look at wildlife…I stayed in my pajamas and slept in the van (granted other parts of the day I liked being out and about). Now of course I would love to go and see everything again. I LOVE traveling. Yes, that picture does look like Bryce Canyon (I haven’t been but my parents have).
I want to take V to Mount Rushmore next summer. I saw it many times as a kid, but haven’t been there as an adult.
I have never been there! My grandma was saying this weekend how she has never been and would like to go. I hope she does 🙂
I actually did for one area. The Redwoods in Calif. I went as a kid, and then again back in 2010 (I still need to blog about it – way behind on that vacation)
Yes! Blog about it! I want to see the pics! 🙂
Ah, tiny Kim! Ahhh!
Harrison went to a lot of the places we’re visiting on WVT with his parents, but he doesn’t remember a lot about them. And I remember going camping with my family and having a lot of fun in my childhood, even if I don’t remember exactly where we went or which trails we hiked.
I don’t have any kids, so I plan trips that I will enjoy. And I frequently comment that having a kid would be really difficult on most vacations we take. I think if I have kids, I’ll take a lot of vacations that are memorable for the day-to-day things (like camping, the beach, road trips) instead of for the culture/sights. I’ve seen a lot of kids in Paris with their parents, and that just looks miserable. So yeah, none of that.