National Parks – Wandering Dawgs

Sophia has challenged us to “Look back at things you love(d) in your life, things that have happened, places you visited that you’d like to experience again. Anything, really, as long as it’s part of your treasured memories.” I had fun going through boxes of old photos for this challenge. I found too many to include so I decided to focus on some “firsts” from my travels.

I inherited the travel bug from my father. He was a career U.S. Air Force officer whose job required moving quite often. Every summer we spent our summer vacations traveling to visit grandparents in two different states.

My first big trip that didn’t revolve around visiting grandparents was in the summer of 1959 when I was eight years old. As we traveled from the East Coast to California we passed through many different landscapes and explored several National Parks. Here I am with my Mom and my brothers at Yellowstone Lake.

My first big trip with my husband and children was when the kids were 13 and 9. We saw many fantastic places as we traveled to and from the south rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. A hike on the Bright Angel Trail was the highlight of our Grand Canyon adventure.

I was 16 years old the first time I flew in an airplane. We flew from New York to Rome on our way to My Dad’s next assignment at a small base near Brindisi, Italy. We traveled to many places around Europe during the two years Dad was stationed there. This image is of the Trevi Fountain in Rome.

Wandering Dawgs took our first RV trip in 2006 in our brand new fifth wheel. We found beauty every where we went as we traveled west to explore many of the western National Parks.