I Came With Nomad Feet & Some Wandering Toes

Sunset over Lake Erie in Vermilion, Ohio (4th of July weekend, 2009)

Travel has always been an important part of my life. Since I was a baby, my parents took my sister and I on regular vacations and weekend getaways. Before you get any ideas, no I did not grow up with rich parents. We were a small town, middle-class family. My parents just made travel a priority. I had friends who lived in huge houses with tons of toys and gadgets inside and shiny new cars in their driveways. My family lived in a small house, drove cars until they died and really didn’t accumulate lots of “stuff”. But we traveled all over the U.S., with a few jaunts out of the country as we got older. To this day, all four of us still jump at any chance to travel. I am truly thankful for this because I have been able to see and do so many amazing things. I also think it has made me a more well-rounded and open-minded person than I would otherwise be.

My drying rack after a long, fun night in the kitchen

A few weeks ago, I read a blog post called Stuff Junkie or Experience Junkie? It really stuck with me. Essentially, Audrey Scott says that some people like to accumulate things while others like to accumulate experiences. Neither lifestyle choice is right or wrong, nor is the choice 100% since you often can’t have one without some of the other. She then asks the reader what he or she is. It made me think about my lifestyle. While I admit to having excessive collections of books and kitchen gadgets, I consider myself an experience junkie. I like to do things rather than have them. My love of cooking ties into this quite nicely. I enjoy the experiences of preparing and enjoying good food. I accumulate kitchen things because they contribute to that experience.

Only YOU can prevent scurvy! (U.S. 1, Florida Keys)

While I enjoy little daily experiences such as cooking, watching the sunset, having a good laugh with my husband, or taking an evening walk with my dog, my favorite experience is travel. I love going to new places, learning new pieces of history, seeing the sights, trying new food and making new friends. I’m one of those crazy people who doesn’t even mind long rides on crowded airplanes, especially not since they tend to take me to some of the most exciting and interesting places I’ve been: Cuernavaca, Mexico City, Dublin, Washington D.C., New Orleans, and, most recently, Key West. Jared and I have started a tradition of going on a short trip to someplace warm just when we can’t stand the winter any longer. This year, that place was Key West. We always return from our winter trip happy and relaxed with lots of fun stories and experiences to share. In the next few days (or weeks, depending on how much spare time I have), I plan to write about my winter getaway to Key West – from the beautiful drive along U.S. 1 to the cheesy  tourist traps to the sunset in Mallory Square to (of course) all of the fun little out of the way restaurants where we dined.

And since I am a huge Jimmy Buffett Fan, & Key West is where Jimmy got his start, I’m going to use lines from his songs as blog titles. Fins up!