The Best Vacation Memories Heal Your Tired Soul

Ah, vacations. We smile at memories of laughter, shared meals, soft beaches, and fireworks. Long, boring car rides later feel fun and nostalgic in hindsight. Like the time my dad threatened to leave my brothers and I on the side of the road if he heard any more “talk about poop, gas, or vaginas.” I smile now, decades later thinking about that camping trip.

Vacations are how we’ve celebrated Tucker’s birthday each year. Colorado, Montana, Tennessee, North Carolina, New Jersey, Maryland… I cherish each waterslide, rollercoaster, and firework show we’ve cheered another year to.

The Best Vacation Memories Heal Your Tired Soul

Here are a few of my favorite vacation memories. They heal my soul.

Getting lost on a sea kayak trip with my friend Sara. We spent hours in shallow, clear water in Turks & Caicos until we rounded a corner and found ourselves fighting an outbound tide and certain death. We survived and I’ll never forget the panic, and then relief. Scuba diving on the same trip. Thanking the Earth for having places that man still knows nothing about.

Zorbing and feeling proud that I was the cool mom who let Tucker get run over by the giant ball another family rumbled down the hill in. Then, shame that his head would surely be smashed irreparably. He was fine and got up laughing. Snowtubing.

Birthdays and holidays and the thrill of travel. The comfort of coming home.

The park in Hawaii with the Jurassic roots my brand-new husband and I stood between. The thrill of “Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Campbell” each day at breakfast. “I’m Mrs. Campbell,” I whispered. “You are,” he said. We stood where Tattoo from Fantasy Island stood, pointed to the sky and said “Ze plane! Ze plane!”

Yellowstone Park on Tucker’s first birthday celebration. A buffalo ran down the road next to us, as we laughed nervously, marveling at his size. We listened to terrible country music – my husband hoping to please his parents. Before Yellowstone, we stood at the top of the world in Estes Park.

Surviving a drunken return on horseback through the jungle in Puerto Vallarta. The kindness of strangers.

The girls weekend with my best friends. The first and final time I sang karaoke. Laughing and talking until 3am. We need another of those.

Being thisclose to a newborn foal on Chincoteague Island. That’s the umbilical cord hanging down.

I’m leaving out many vacation memories that heal my soul but must include the one we’ll be taking tomorrow to Disneyland to wrap up spring break. While it hasn’t yet happened, I know the memories will last us a lifetime.

*** This has been a Finish the Sentence Friday post, with the prompt “My favorite vacation memory…” I’d forgotten we did this prompt back in 2016.