Family Vacations

As I mentioned before, my dad's conventions and Badger bowl games were the primary driving forces for our family to get out of Wisconsin.

California
I've been to California many times over the years, starting off at the ripe old age of 1.5-years-old, when my parents drove there from Wisconsin.

When we were younger, we'd stay at the Disneyland Hotel. One year, when my sister was 3 or so, she ran her hands along a rough wooden fence... and screamed when they removed the splinters in the bowels of the hotel. I had to wait outside and spent quite a while examining the Mickey Mouse outline in the sand of an ashtray in the hall. But it wasn't all bad. They had a "Dancing Waters" show in the corner of the courtyard that was always fun to watch. My sister and I have a great picture of us standing near the area all dressed in our glorious neon clothes (below!). It was always a thrill to take the Monorail from the hotel into or around Disneyland. And there was the time I got sick in the rental car on the way back from Sea World. Yeah...

We'd also make the occasional trips to the other theme parks. When I was about 6, went to Knott's Berry Farm. I convinced Mom & Cassie to go on a parachute drop "ride" with me. I don't think they ever quite forgave me for that. :o)

In the early 90s, we were out there again around Super Bowl time. We ate dinner one night at Tony Roma's, where several Hispanic fans of the Bills gathered. I still remember them chanting "Boof-a-lo! Boof-a-lo!"

Through various (mis)adventures, we've been to the bathrooms of the Crystal Cathedral, and South Central L.A., and been nearly trapped by the rising flood waters brought about by El Nino. We've been up the cable cars near Palm Springs and been in an earthquake simulator at USC.

I've been to three Rose Bowls (and three Rose Parades... most notably on 1/1/11 when Dad started
cheering the poop scoopers and got the crowd around us to do likewise). Nothing quite like getting up at 4 am, jumping in the car, getting to the stadium, and waiting for the sun to come up. And to get a sweet, sweet Badger victory... awesome.

We also made the occasional trip to San Francisco. There, we visited Alcatraz, went on the cable cars, visited the museums... typical touristy stuff. Because we went there when I was too young to drink, I didn't care much for the wineries in the area. :o)

The Best Thanksgiving

In 1991, we decided to shake things up a bit, and headed out east for Thanksgiving. We drove to DC (where we toured the White House and made it onto CNN briefly when Jesse Jackson showed up to protest when we were walking past). Next, it was on to New Jersey, to visit my Uncle Steve. We had a Thanksgiving meal of spaghetti, apple pie, and Sour Patch Kids. :o) He took us up to New York where we toured the Statue of Liberty. From Steve's place, we drove up to Niagara Falls, where they were (unbeknownst to us) having a Festival of Lights. Every hotel room was booked save for one, a huge space with a Murphy bed. We went to the falls and viewed the lights as well. From there, we drove through Canada to Detroit, where we visited an old friend of Dad's, then drove back home.

Florida

Every so often, we'd make our way down to Florida (Orlando, Tampa or Sarasota). Our neighbors in Rapids had a beachfront condo in Sarasota that we were lucky enough to stay at a few times. I can definitely see the appeal of being able to just walk right out onto the lovely, white sand (from which my friend and I made an awesome dragon during Spring Break one year).

We went to a few memorable bowl games down there. One year, we played Georgia in the Old Sombrero in Tampa. We found out seats were in the Georgia section (not cool) and it was very cool temperature-wise. Not a stellar outing. But we returned a few years later and saw awesome fireworks in Ybor City. College friends and I took two consecutive trips down to Orlando when the Badgers played in the CapitalOne Bowl in the mid-aughts. The first year we drove down, while the second we flew. Being the only one old enough to rent a car, I had to be the designated driver, which was no fun at all (especially with all of the terrible drivers around Orlando!).

Whenever we were down there for my dad's conventions, we would be interested in whether or not there was a shuttle launching. One year, we tried a few times to see the launch, but it got scrubbed every time. We did make a trip over to Cape Kennedy one year, which was pretty interesting.

Disney Cruise
When I was 20, my paternal grandmother decided to take all her kids and grandkids on a Disney Cruise in the Caribbean. Hooray! I was (and still am, curiously enough) the oldest grandkid, so it was more aimed at my younger cousins. I didn't mind. My sister and I shared a cabin with Grandma. We learned pretty quickly which of the family was prone to motion sickness, then learned we're all susceptible when the waves through the Gulf Stream are causing the boat to go up and down so much that distant ship lights move over a foot vertically. My sister nearly had a finger severed in a heavy door. I was underage according to the ship. But those were the bad things. The good included the taxi tour of Nassau we took, snorkeling and seeing a waterspout, and the gorgeous day we had at the private island. Yes, I could go back there.

Mexico
My grandma is awesome. I'm just going to say that. Because of her, I've been on a Disney Cruise and THREE TRIPS TO MEXICO. In 2007, we went to Riviera Maya. In 2009, Puerto Vallarta. In 2011, back to Riveria Maya. (Since I'm writing this in 2013, I'm wondering why I'm not going there this year! ;o) They were great big family vacations when everyone who could come, did. It was a lot of fun, and we got to see some interesting sights, like ancient ruins, manta rays, and my toddler son trying to eat sandy ice cream. We zip-lined and rappelled into a cenote. Drank moonshine in a town only accessible by water (Yelapa) and saw a woman with unbelievably huge jugs (that somehow my husband totally missed). So many great memories.