We checked into our first hotel and the kids were thrilled to jump on the beds, be out of the car, and in the cool air. I fondly remember hotel rooms as a child: watching tv, staying up late, the crisp sheets foreign to my skin used only to my own sheets at home. I loved the novelty of bathing in a new tub, white soft towels waiting for you magically placed there by some unknown entity., It's remarkable how much how perspective changes. Instead of crisp and clean, through adult eyes I can see how dirty everything is. I know that the beds are small, uncomfortable, and possibly unclean. And yet, I hope that my kids get the same experience I had. I hope that they look back at hotel rooms with fondness. I remember ducking down in the car pretending to be a smaller family... they didn't have this experience, but the memory made me smile at each and every stop.
The girls LOVED having pools at each hotel. In fact, after the first 3 days of our trip Xiana's favorite part so far was swimming in the pools, Ekco's, swimming at the lake, Brian's, the dam and the bridge, mine.... BEING ON VACATION! I swam with the girls all but one night of our trip (it was 55 and windy). I hope it enhanced their experience, made them look back with just a little more fondness, helped cement this memory into their minds forever. If they're anything like me, it will!
We went to the Shasta dam which is simultaneously breathtaking and intensely frightening. Kolton whimpered whenever Brian positioned him to be able to look down this incredible drop. Ecko and Xiana both commented on the chills, and Brian said he felt faint. It was absolutely gorgeous. The water was so far away that it was hard to tell if it was moving (which is was at a very rapid rate). Shasta Lake brought back more memories for me than you can imagine as I went on many many many trips there. It was beautiful also. It was incredible to walk along this dam knowing that the last time I crossed it, I was with the only family I knew, my sister and parents and nieces and nephews. It's so fun to take my own little family across... to share that experience... to have this vacation to always look back on as something we did together. I can already hear the girls reminding Kolton, who won't have memory, but will see pictures, about all the fun we had. At least I hope that's how it goes... that's how it went for me. The funny thing about it though, is that, as a child, you don't have to worry about anything except having fun. The DVD player took a dive after the first leg of the trip so for the remainder, after about a million "doy doy doys, and ah ah, ah's" I couldn't help but wonder if my parents were this stressed out on the vacations of my past. Did they want to pull the car over and run away as I did at times? Did they yell at us and tell us to stop? I can't remember them doing any of those things. Either they didn't or, more likely, those aren't the things that stick. I hope my children will remember the larger, more spectacular moments of this trip, not the cramped beds, tense car rides, yelling mom. I hope instead they'll remember the breath taking family swims, the marvelous beauty, the variety amongst the long travel, the memories, the quiet stirring in the morning and the joy at reaching each destination. Because, even though through adult eyes I'm much more aware of the hardships, the struggles, the stresses, the fighting, crying, not sleeping mess.... I'm still going to remember the beauty. That's what will stick in my mind ten years from now when I recall with fondness our first family trip.
We went back to the bridge after dark and it was even more beautiful... and CROWDED. There were so many people there. We went for a nice little walk across it and then headed to our hotel room to tuck those babies in bed, long after their bedtime, which is exactly as it should be on vacation.
