For years, it’s just been assumed that we’ll be on vacation, usually camping at a national park, for my birthday each year. Since that won’t be the case during this Covid Pandemic Summer, I decided to see how true that statement really is. Surprise! Since we’ve been married, half of my birthdays have actually been at home. Those at-home birthdays skewed toward the beginning, though, maybe that’s why now it feels we’re usually on vacation.
Anyway, since one purpose of this blog is to record family history, and since our grandchildren haven’t been around to know all these fun facts, I decided to go through and find some pictures for them. The rest of you can enjoy my walk down memory lane if you want. We’ve traveled to some beautiful places over the years. Which are your favorite? What should we put on the list for the future?
1985 – We were in Arches National Park for my birthday this year. I forgot the camera, so no pictures! However, you can read a bit more about our trip here.
1986 – The next year we went to Lake Chelan in Washington to spend some time with the grandparents. After having pizza and birthday cake for lunch, we started the drive home on my birthday.
1987 – We spent a couple of nights camping at Bountiful Peak. We drove home on the 4th and did fireworks in our parking lot, but it still counts as a camping trip since I woke up in a tent.
1989 – Leaving Dad at home, we joined my parents on a trip to Oregon for a Martin Family Reunion.
1992 – This was the summer of our month-long trip from Utah to New York and back again. On July 4th we went swimming with one set of cousins, then drove for a couple of hours to enjoy fireworks with another set of cousins.
1998 – You’ll notice 13 years between the “national park camping on my birthday” trips. I guess we used Memorial Day and Labor Day for our annual trips. However, this year we were at
Kings Canyon over the 4th of July.
2000 – The original vacation plan was to visit Death Valley during the winter of 2000, but we cancelled those plans when a new job opportunity arose. Independence Day weekend we were in South Florida on a house-hunting trip. Our business completed, we were able to spend the holiday morning taking an air-boat tour before flying home.
Here’s where the impression of “always camping on my birthday” started. For five years in a row, we were at a different national park.
2006 –
Hot Springs (although we saved the cake for when we got home)
And that’s where the national park streak ends. However, there were still some more family reunions, including baby blessings and baptisms, to be had.
2011 – Evelyn’s baby blessing weekend – Thanks again for the delicious birthday treat!
2014 – One more camping trip, this time on the shores of Lake Okeechobee, so another segment of the Florida Trail could be hiked; fortunately, not by me.
2019 – We spent the holiday flying to Dallas for Austin’s blessing weekend.
2021 – We’re looking forward to keeping the 50:50 ratio going with our rescheduled family reunion for next July. The “camping on my birthday” will have to wait for another year or two.
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