Wed Sep 7 - Ponderable for today (in an email with a close friend): What has been your favorite place to go on a vacation? Where would you like to vacation which you haven't been to yet, (assuming money wasn't an issue)?

This is actually a difficult question to answer because I don't remember a lot of "vacations" per se. Growing up we were constantly going "to camp." It might be a week at a Girl Scouts camp, maybe two weeks, or a week at church camp, or camp through the Y.

I remember generic camp where we slept in cabins, went hiking, learned to swim, cooked s'mores, did crafts, and wrote letters.

I remember a 2-week camp "down on the farm" where all us city kids got to live on a farm for a week, with a few days before hand at the normal girl scout camp and a few days at the end back at the GS camp. The farm trip was fun because I remember gathering eggs, feeding chickens, bottle feeding the young goat kids, going on hikes, learning about the different plants and trees, and I remember the farm owner used to hide pieces of candy under pieces of trash to see if we would think to help clean up if we saw trash on the ground. I remember it rained one night when we were all sleeping in dome tents under the trees, and people had to double-up in the only tents that weren't leaking. I remember kinda being shoved in a corner, but since I was picturing myself in a grand adventure, I didn't really care about anyone else.

I remember a week at Y camp learning to ride horses, and getting sick when everyone was practicing bareback riding. But since I signed up for it in the parents' show, I did it anyways, even if I did slide off my horse and land underneath my horse, laughing at myself so hard that tears were streaming down my face. They thought I was hurt and I was laughing hysterically.

One summer I stayed at the Y camp as a "counselor-in-training" (CIT) and had to learn to do all the crafts offered, where I learned that my aversion to guns was as bad as I thought it was. So I managed to get out of the BB class. But I did a lot of kayaking and rowboats and arts & crafts and singing and things and had a blast. And the final week we were the hosts for the Int'l Soapbox Derby kids (which runs every summer in Akron, OH).

One summer we got to see relatives in North Carolina, and we visited the Outer Banks (some islands off the NC coast). Another year I got to come to CA to see my grandparents, and did things like hang on the beach, take a trip up Big Sur in an RV, visit Disneyland or Knott's Berry Farm or something like that.

I suppose my favorite retreats still include the woods and the beaches, especially cliffs and beaches like going up Big Sur and visiting Monterey Bay. Oh, and my senior year of high school I got to spend a week camping in Yosemite with some Cal Tech friends, which was marvelous fun.

So I always enjoyed camping trips, hiking, swimming, boating, kayaking, visiting the lake, hanging out and telling stories and singing songs around the camp fire. Probably why I've taken to SCA wars so easily. And possibly my SCA war camping trips might be considered my normal vacations nowadays. I wish I could ride horses more often.

My dream trip: I've always wanted to go see Europe, massively. And it would be a combination persona / family history trip. Absolutely first I want to see England and Scotland. My maiden name comes from the Scottish clan of the MacLachlan's, and the Lachlan castle is still around. There's the ancient castle ruin, and the current modern-day castle. http://www.darkisle.com/l/lachlan/lachlan.html and also http://www.lhhscotland.com/house/49.asp and for history http://www.maclachlans.org/ ... it is from my maiden name that I get the last element of my SCA name, which just means "from the Castle Lachlan surrounding area."

My dad's older sister, Joan, actually visited Castle Lachlan once when I was young, and got assurances/verification that our family truely was descended from the clan proper.

Then I would just like to meander all over all of Britain. North, south, east, west, anything in between. I'm just entranced by the whole of the British isles and would be happy wandering anywhere there.

Second would be my Mom's Dad's family, from Holland. I would love to see the Netherlands and maybe find some of my 3rd or 4th cousins. Actually I can't remember if "Forsythe" with an E versus "Forsyth" without an E is English or Dutch—we have both in our families, that is, both of the Forsyth(e)'s.

After that I would want to see parts of Spain (especially the Moorish and Sephardic regions), Italy (any of the ancient ruins), Turkey, Russia, and China. I would love to take the Siberian Express, walk the Great Wall, or see Viking re-eactment camps and archielogical digs. I'd like to see Iceland. I'd like to see Hadrian's Wall. I'd like to see Ireland. And I wouldn't turn my nose up at New Zealand.