I Go Back...

I was thinking today as I dream about possible vacation spots about some of my favorite memories so I thought I'd share a bit.

The smell of Irish Spring soap always makes me think of the beach house in Manasquan. K's mom always has Irish Spring soap in the outdoor shower. So now, every time I smell it I am transported back to lazy summer days at the shore. It's probably one of my all time favorite US beaches (I have to say US because nothing competed with the sugar sand of Cancun or the tropical paradise in Bermuda). It's just a quiet family beach with cute little houses. K and I like to walk up and down the beach at night dreaming about which beach-front home we'd buy if we won the lottery. With only a handful of bars and no boardwalk it's a far cry from the hard partying Seaside Heights of Jersey Shore fame.

Fresh pineapple and white chocolate cookies remind me of Disney World. On our second trip we stayed in the Polynesian (which if you're going to go and if you have the cash I would highly recommend). All day, everyday there were cookies and fresh pineapple out to eat. I don't think I've ever eaten so much pineapple in my life.

There's the feeling of accomplishment that rings inside me every time I look at my photos in Mexico. K and I took a tour to Chichen Itza a Mayan ruin near Cancun. Sure it was hot (it's the middle of July in Mexico we didn't expect anything else) but it was so worth it. One of my favorite pictures from that trip is one we took of the two of us on top of the pyramid. We're slick with sweat, our faces are red but we're smiling. If you go, you have to climb it - sure it's a little scary (no handrails, a hundred people swarming around the top of a pyramid) but the view is amazing.

The funny thing is I remember a lot of vacations for things that went wrong.

The trip to the Poconos as a kid for one. My dad found this "cabin" at a "resort" so we packed up and went. I remember someone saying what's with all the tool sheds (or maybe my mom said outhouses) when we drove in... surprise that's your cabin. It was literally like someone had taken a tool shed, made an addition of a bathroom and a second bedroom and slapped a bunch on the hill. There was even a crack around the door where you could see outside between the room my sister and I shared and the bathroom. Not to mention the air conditioning was only in my parent's room - so they were freezing and we were blistering hot, the 7,000 stairs to the dining hall, the indoor pool that smelled funny... but we had fun. We went sight seeing, we played a lot of shuffleboard (I could probably beat any 70 plus year old Florida resident still), we road bikes.

Then there was the trip to Tennessee where the van key got stuck in the ignition and we were stuck at the Casey Jone's Train Museum for what seemed like half a day. It was 300 degrees in the shade, the only locksmith was an hour away, and the museum (while I'm sure is quite lovely) loses something after the first hour or so. I remember my parents took turns with us inside the gift shop while someone else stayed with the van. I still have a framed antique postcard of a guardian angel that I bought there though.

That's all my reminiscing for now - what were your favorite or most memorable vacations?