My three favorite summer vacations, by Man and Moi

More of “My 3 Favorite summer vacations. Man who HATES to write, sat down and wrote nearly an entire notebook page of memories. Quite the surprise. His 3 favorites are:





1.) Hawaii - - 3 weeks - - Kauai, Maui, Big Island, Oahu, Honolulu. Lots of sightseeing - rental cars. The Trip to Hana, returning illegally on back dangerous roads of Maui which was a rental car no no. Great sunsets - romantic. Coffee plantations in Kona. Macadamia nuts. Volcanoes. Waterfalls. Helicopter rides. Bike ride down from Haleakala. Last and not the least - -visiting in Kauai where my grandfather Gehrke emigrated from Germany and seeing where he lived, worked, and worshiped. Doing research in Honolulu and getting lucky finding a book about Germans coming to Hawaii.






2.) England, my father’s side, the Lashbrooks. Awesome, family history, church where my great-great grandfather was baptized. Onward to the Netherlands to visit friend of Carol’s, Charlotte.




3.) All the camping trips with our kids when they were growing up. Too many trips to count - - too much fun - - great memories that I will always cherish!




Now, it is Moi turn, and believe me, this is not as easy as it sounds!

1.) Trips to visit my grandparents when I was a child. The Shenandoah Valley, Virginia and the mountains and Nags Head, North Carolina and the ocean. I still dearly love both. The smells of the Valley that I will never forget. The ocean, it’s beauty, its strength.

2.) Hawaii, how could you NOT love Hawaii. 'Cept for that one room, remember Man, it was so bad there were mumblings about wanting mommie. But ya know, we remember that, don’t we?? The smell of the sulfur and heat from the volcano during the helicopter ride. That bike ride was something too, I remember I was basically scared to death, but, went anyway, and it turned out to be one of those thrilling events we remember for the rest of our lives. An amazing three weeks!



3.) Trip to England was pretty spectacular, getting our first official English tea in the house at Little Lashbrook. London, WOW, London! Hedgerows, driving on the wrong side of the road. I had always wanted to visit England, more than any other place on earth, have no idea why, but my dream was fulfilled.




4.) Trip to Germany for the wedding of Son # 1 and his bride. A totally overwhelming 2 weeks. The beautiful country side, that little accident, beer that is considered a food item, french fries and more french fries, castles, a beautiful wedding. Our entire family traveling together, all 3 sons, bride, a significant other (not the bride), Man's mother, 8 in all. Remember when we went through customs and 6 of us traveling together all had same surname, the customs agent cracked jokes about all those XXXXX named people.




5.) All those camping trips like Man described, Maine, Florida, Upper Michigan, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Boston, New York. Camp outs with family, friends, camping clubs, Rallys, and quiet weeks at Portage during the height of fall color. Camping in a tent, a popup, a bunkhouse trailer, travel trailer and now our Montana 5th wheel.

Oh, dear, I have more than 3!!

Photos from top: Man and Moi on arriving in Hawaii.

St. Michael's and All Angels Church, Bulkworthy, Devonshire, England, where Man's great grandfather was baptized.

Our family in our first hard sided camper, the Yellowstone bunkhouse.

Bike ride down from Haleakala, during a rest stop.

Little Lashbrook, somewhere in Devonshire, England.

French fries and more french fries, due to language barriers, we thought we were ordering some hummus for the vegetarians in our group. Ooops.

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