Family Vacations

Mom and Dad both grew up going on family vacations. And well since air planes were relatively new to the public use of things they did all their traveling in cars. As do we. I am willing to wager our first family trip was to Indiana to visit Aunt C and Uncle N in 1984.

 Rosalie was only a couple months old, which means I was just over two, Brother B was three, and Brother J was five. We took Grandma and Grandpa Martin with us, so there were eight of us piled into our old blue Sudan. Dad, like always, was very anxious to get to our destination so we drove all day and all night. NO STOPPING! We got there very late, like midnight. Mom and Dad were unpacking the car and us kids. Brother B was sleeping in the back so they left him there for a couple minutes while they brought stuff in. He woke up and to this day remembers how terrified he was. This is also the source of one of my earliest memories. I remember fireflies and real blueberry pancakes in the morning. I remember playing with Cousin A and pretending like Rosalie was a doll and we stuck her in the doll high chair. 

I don’t remember what order family trips went in after that. We made several trips to Yellowstone National Park, and several to Bear Lake and Dinosaur Land. 

We went to Disneyland the first time when I was seven, Dallin was the baby then. Along all these trips we would stop suddenly and we then knew there must be a dam near by, because Daddio was always stopping to show us a dam he designed or built. 

Another great family trip we went on was the only one we ever went on a plane. We flew to Boston. There we stayed at Aunt M’s and Uncle B’s house. We got to see all sorts of fascinating things! Like Plymouth Plantation, The Mayflower, many battle fields, Bunker Hill Monument, we walked along Paul Revere’s ride from the church. There was a ton to learn and a ton of fun to have. We have been to Boston in the fall. Though, I think it was before all the leaves were changing colors! 

We later went back to Disney Land. There Cuyler got lost. Fish Lake was another fond memory, that cabin is one that none of us will ever forget, the whole thing was going to fall apart from underneath us! If you stuck a marble in the middle of the floor there was no way of telling which way it would roll. Southern Utah! This was great too! The out doors are always amazing. The trips to outside destinations are Brother B’s favorites. Was it Rosalie that found the hieroglyphic? If not, it was someone. The out doors are the best! I think we are all still waiting to go to the Grand Canyon and Bryce. 

 Everyone’s favorite trip was the Redwoods! WOW! WOW! WOW! Alright so maybe I am biased and I am trying to make Look at the size of that thing! The Redwoods all of your favorite, simply because it was my favorite. But it would be pretty hard to beat (though I will discuss it’s stiff competition in a moment). During this most amazing trip we drove down the northern coast line of California. I remember the time when the fog was so thick and we were driving through the Redwood forest and we couldn’t see in front of us. The CD player was playing “How Great Thou Art! It was a spiritual experience instead of the terrifying one it could have been. Northern California is amazing. Pier 39 was full of all sorts of interesting people, people that would moo if you gave them money, and live statues! Alcatraz made us thankful that we weren’t in jail. The best was when Dad decided to cancel our reservations at our hotel and keep driving (I mentioned earlier that Dad really likes to get to places fast and just keep going). So we went a couple cities away and decided to find a hotel. Well all of the hotels in the city were full, so we continued on to the next city—no vacancies. The next city was the same story. Soon we found out that it was Berkely’s graduation and some world wide golf tournament there wasn’t going to be a room in any of the cities any where around. We didn’t know what to do. Brother C suggested that we pray. Dad pulled off to the side of the road and we prayed. We then went to the next hotel. Dad walked in and asked if there were any vacancies, he came back out with a grin on his face. The Lord had found us a room. When we walked in the owners asked if we were LDS, because we had so many kids. We said yes, and found out that they were too. That hotel had the best breakfast any of us had ever had in the morning it was great! The Lord truly was watching out for us. 

Dad had a tendency to smash as much as he could into one trip. He figured this is his one time to experience this area of the country so anything and everything there as to do, we did. Vacation there was always an agenda and a list of things to accomplish. Go Go Go. We always needed a vacation from the vaction. The same trip we stopped at Alcatraz and the Jelly Belly Factory!

The next year we went Yellowstone for the seventeenth bizillionth time! Which is always OK. We love it. It was raining while we were there. The Grand Geyser was suppose to go off, so we sat and waited for it to go off. We waited, and waited, and waited. All in the pouring rain. We laughed, and sang, and made fools of ourselves, but no matter how long we sat, it didn’t go off. We sat for four hours, and then decided to leave. I understand a half hour later it went off! When the Nauvoo temple was rebuilt and finished we took a trip to Nauvoo to see the temple. Dad took us every where! We went to Independence, St Louis, Hannibal, Nauvoo, Omaha, Grand Rapids, Mount Rushmore, and Independence Rock. It was great! In Independence we saw church history sites, we saw the RLDS temple, we got to go to the School for the Deaf and Blind and see where Grandpa Martin’s mother went to school. Daddio even took us to Adom-ondi-Ahmoan, that was great! It was gorgeous. And in the pouring rain we took our big white van out to find Hans Mill. It was mud all the way out; of course it wasn’t the first time we took the big white van off roading! We went to Carthage Jail. We went to all sorts of burial sites. We got to go to the open house of the Nauvoo Temple. We spent a number of days in Nauvoo going on tours of the houses, playing pioneer games, and just seeing all we could see. We spent four nights all nine of us in the same hotel room! This was the only way to go! As much as one might think nine people in one van and one hotel room for two weeks would be horrible, we all love it! Road trips are the best way to go. Even if you do have to stop, pull to the side of the road, and look at either a dam or a water treatment facility. 

 Sometime in the course of all of these trips to various places both near and far we have established that a family trip is not a family trip without MONOPOLY. Brother C states that, “the tradition is that I lose” and it seems to be the consensus that Brother B cheats. All that Brother B had to say about this is, “I win.” I suppose we may never know the truth, I will leave you to make that determination for yourself. The most recent family trip is the one that proves what family trips really are all about. The infamous family trip to Cody, Wyoming! It was great! THERE IS NOTHING IN CODY! Well there is an amazing museum, which we now own a pass too. But even though there was nothing out there, we all had a grand time. This could be because we brought our monopoly game. Or it could be because we enjoy each others’ company, we can have fun anywhere. Dad says that he loves family trips, he can’t get enough of them, but “the most important [part] is being with the family.” We have been some amazing places, seeing many of God’s most amazing creations, but it doesn’t matter where we go, because we will always be with his most amazing creation, our family.

Charis