Travel Plans

I am so excited!  I haven't travelled as much as I would have liked over the last ten years or so for various reasons, and now I have not one but two big trips in the works for this year!!  Yea!

First, my 40th birthday is this July which means I must do something fun and fabulous (#69).  I have officially decided to rent a beach house in Oregon for about a week and invite some friends to join me for some serious R&R.  When I thought about how I might really want to spend my birthday, the idea of no schedule, time spent with friends, good music, reading, good food, and generally just a period of time when the only priority was to do whatever sounded good at that moment sounded better than anything else I could come up with.  As for a destination, that took a little more thought.  I don't like hot weather.  Or humidity.  Which crosses a lot of places off the list when you need to travel in July and you're trying to stay in the continental U.S.  But I do love water and watching waves in the ocean, and I have always wanted to live on a beach somewhere, so I started looking at beach houses that I could rent.  The idea of a house appealed much more than staying in a motel, because I think it will ultimately feel more relaxing.  We can all have our own spaces, so we won't feel on top of each other the whole time.  And with the cooking that I've been doing, the idea of all of us in a kitchen fixing meals sounds like fun, too.  So considering temperatures and cost, I landed on the Oregon coast.  I am currently trying to decide between seven different houses, all of which are about two hours away from Portland.  And another exciting aspect of this whole trip to Oregon...

I've never been to Oregon before, so chalk up one new state that I've never visited before (#52)!  And shortly after that, I'll be adding yet another state to that list.  My mother decided that she, her husband, and I also needed to take a big trip together this year since I turn 40, she turns 60, and he turns 65.  So, after throwing around a lot of ideas, we are officially going to New Mexico in October for the Hot Air Balloon Festival and Albequerque and then to sight-see in Santa Fe.  I have wanted to go to this balloon fest for years and years, so I am super-excited for that, and then I've always heard that Santa Fe is a neat city with lots of artsy areas.  I started flipping through a travel book the other day and got way over-excited about all the things that are out there!  I think we're probably going for a week, and I think it's going to be tough limiting ourselves and trying not to see everything all in one trip.

So, no new stamps in the passport this year, but maybe a few for my US Parks passport!