A Travelin' We Will Go

I'm starting to get really excited about our trip to Denmark this summer. Way too excited.

So, I've been pouring over pictures from the last big vacation I took with most of my siblings in 2004. (Brock, Matt and Cissy, you were missed.) We went to London, Paris, Nice, and Toulouse, France. We saw the sights, ate lots of good food, and walked everywhere like the pioneers of old. We were away for two weeks with only a carry-on bag and a backpack for each of us. It was just about the most fun I've ever had.

Here are a few highlights from that trip.

Our sweet little bed and breakfast in Stratford-upon-Avon on our first day in England. This place and its owner reminded all of us of our feisty Grandmother back in the USA. She would have loved this place.

Having tea and biscuits for breakfast the next morning

Warwick Castle--beautiful and serene

Our favorite day in London--our tour with Henrietta, the best tour guide at British Tours. She was fun, vivacious and made every site come alive. In her honor on the France leg of our trip, we named each of the navigation systems in our cars, Henrietta.

Mom and Dad in front of the Louvre--we got everyone in and out in record time after seeing only the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. We had been going nonstop for four or five days by this point in the trip and everyone just wanted to crash on a bed. I stayed behind after they departed and refused to acknowledge my heavy eyelids. I had crossed an ocean to come back to this place and I was going to squeeze in every last moment of time I could here.

The view in lovely France at Rocamadour. It looks so romantic. What you can't see in this picture is that we just escaped from the mad birds in the tunnel preceding this where they dive-bombed us. Anyone caught entering walkway was immediately attacked. I didn't cover my head, but I did cover my eyes. I had seen The Birds . . . thank you, Tippi Hedren. We all made it out alive.

One of the 3,973 thousand steps in Rocamadour. At least it felt like that many that day. No one needed to work out at the gym that evening. And the views? Stunning.

There were many more highlights and lowlights of this trip. To list just a few: the Musee d'Orsay fiasco, a sunflower painting, rainy Versailles, my go-cart head injury, red poppies blanketing the fields of southern France, missing our massages in Monaco, supper on the back patio of the Toulouse mission home as the crickets sang, bread and Nutella, and a very happy birthday.

Can you tell I haven't been on vacation in a loooooooooooong time? The enjoyment has to last me at least half a dozen years. :)