On
an undisclosed day this week (fine, it’s Thursday), I will turn 41. Two days
after turning 40 I posted about three goals that I had for things I wanted to
do when I was fifty, and this seems like a good time to go over my progress.
On
one level, I have made the least progress in travel. I have gone to no new
continents this year, and the next three trips will also involve no new
continents. However, the point is the journey as much as the destination, and I
believe I can still be on schedule, so it works out.
In
2012 we went to Mexico, Alaska, and Idaho Falls. Mexico was a repeat, but I got
to see more of it, and to see things that I had not seen before. That was good.
Alaska was completely new, and I got to see a friend in Victoria. Idaho and
Wyoming were also new, and I saw many cool things, and got to visit with
another friend. All of these trips were shared with Julie and Maria, and a
varied assortment of other motley characters.
One
thing this led to is that I revived the travel blog. I had originally intended
to do a few more posts about Australia, but it seemed like it might be getting
repetitive, and then I entered that dark period where I just wasn’t writing
anymore, and hey, we weren’t traveling for a while either. It’s good to have
both of those elements back in my life.
I
have been going in reverse order, so I wrote about Idaho Falls and Yellowstone
first (August), then the cruise to Alaska (May), and I am currently writing
about Mexico (January 2012). As luck would have it, I should publish the last
Mexico travel post on the day we leave for Anaheim.
Oddly
enough, I typed up some Disneyland tips for a friend that ended up being seven
pages long, and I have since sent them to two other people. I have never really
written about Disneyland, but there does seem to be some need, and thinking
about that, and how to organize the material, is interesting.
I
will probably start with the La Brea Tar Pits and the Santa Ana Zoo, which we
visited on our last Anaheim trip, and then the San Diego Wild Animal Park,
which we are visiting on this trip, and then figure out how to handle the Magic
Kingdom.
In
May, we are returning to Italy to visit our family there. This will be
different because Julie and Maria have been there with Mom, and I have been
there with Mom, but we have not been there together. Also, Lance and Lynn are
taking a separate tour and will meet us at the end. Also, we have only been on
day trips right around Vicenza, but this time we are branching out, and will
take the train to some other places. So it is a repeat, but also new.
Sometime
this summer, we will take a road trip to Mount Rushmore and De Smet. I haven’t
been on a road trip for many years, and never going Eastward. Family trips were
always North to Canada or South to California. Honestly, that time we ended up
in Nevada seems to have been due to a
wrong turn, but I can’t be sure.
Clearly
there are new things going on, but still limited to North America and Europe,
which I have already visited. 2014 is Julie’s next sabbatical, and that will be
more Europe—places we have not been, but still Europe. And the clock is
ticking.
So,
I just told my sisters that in 2015 I am going to go somewhere in South
America, one way or another, and whether it an amazing trip covering the
Galapagos, Machu Pichu, Buenos Aires, Isla Chiloe, Patagonia, the Amazon River,
Rapa Nui, and Tierra Del Fuego, or it is only one of those, or a completely
different destination I don’t know about yet, it is still going to happen.
Though, I think I will just save Tierra del Fuego for my departure on the
Antarctica trip. I’m not sure when I’ll get to Costa Rica, but that’s Central.
Anyway,
they agreed that is fine, and the 2017 trip to Africa is their idea, so I know
that will work out and the schedule is still totally workable. I have plenty of
time to figure out my Asia itinerary. And again, as much as I do want to go to
specific places, there are still exciting and new places popping up all over,
and this is living the life that I want.
So
this is a preview of how the travel blog will look for the upcoming future. If
I end up finishing recording the latest trip before I take the next one, other
places I have visited but have not blogged about include Vancouver, Toronto,
Hawaii, and Italy, and the regular blog has seen some posts on San Francisco,
San Jose, and Washington DC, but there is more I could write, and perhaps I
will. I have some very strong thoughts on Oahu.
And that leads us into an update on writing.
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