Vacations

I had a bunch of vacation memories this past week since we were on a family vacation. I'll highlight one:

When we were at the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory in Shelburne, VT, we thought we recognized a couple on the tour. They had a boy about Emma's age and a younger boy. Their grandmother was also along. When we were leaving we realized that they were in the childbirth classes with us at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tucson back in 2002 before we had Emma. She was in the class and her mother in law took her husband's place when he had to work. They had driven across the country in their minivan with AZ plates and had been traveling for 3 weeks. They also recognized us and we caught up.

This reminds me of the trips across the country as a child. We went across the country twice. The first time we went I remember some people who knew their geometry calling Mom on the declaration that we were going to see the Grand Canyon in Colorado. (I didn't know any better, but having lived in AZ for 6 years, I don't think I would make that mistake again.) On one of these journeys we were driving late at night looking for a camp ground in [???? NM ????] the middle of nowhere when we found a camper hookup in the desert. Daddy went into the camp store and we ran into the Barlow's - a family from Street who had been good friends of my Grandad Famous and who went to school with Daddy. They had been driving across the country also, but from a different clockwise direction.

These trips were key in my mind to forming our adult beliefs. They also pointed out how small the US really was sometimes. I was reminded of those childhood trips and the small world this past week when we ran into a family we knew from Tucson on our Vermont vacation.