As you read this, we are headed out on a little trip in our trusty 1998 Chinook camper. We’re celebrating our anniversary (a few days late) with a few days of camping in beautiful Tennessee.
Now that we’ve had the Chinook for a year and a half, we’ve outfitted it with most everything we need. We’ve found an extra toaster, pots and pans, mugs, etc. at garage sales, and these stay in the camper all the time. It sure does make packing easier. For shorter trips, we can pretty much pack our clothes, make the bed, pop the canisters on the shelves, put a few things in the fridge, and be on our way.
Ken loves longer trips of six weeks or more, but I have to admit I prefer these four-day jaunts. Just enough time to get away from the ordinary for a while, but not so long that I start missing our house and the kids and grandkids.
The Chinook really has begun to feel like a second home. It is just perfect for the way we like to travel. We’re taking the bikes with us on this trip and hope for nice enough weather to ride some trails in Tennessee.
Where have you traveled to this summer? Has your family always vacationed in the same place every year, or are you more of an explorer, looking for new places each time you travel? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
P.S. Just a reminder for you ebook lovers: our own Robin’s Even Forever, the first book in her Boulder Creek Romance series, is free today! Also, my novel, A Scarlet Cord will be free this Thursday, August 25, so mark your calendars and grab your free copy!
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Just want you to know it’s KILLING me not to be able to see you this trip. Which just means we’ll need to meet halfway for lunch real soon! Y’all have a safe trip and ride those amazing bikes down some gorgeous trails. Can’t wait to see all the pics! And again, Happy Anniversary!
We’re disappointed too, but yes, this will just make that halfway lunch all the more fun! Have a great week, dear friend, and we’ll catch you on the flip side.
Happy anniversary! Enjoy your trip in your adorable camper.
This summer we spent a week on Prince Edward Island, Canada, enjoying the beautiful countryside, some fascinating museums (fishing and fox), a tour of a potato farm, a bannock (bread cooked in fire pit) and seafood visit at an Indian reservation, hikes to see natural settings including parabolic sand dunes, delicious seafood meals, walking tour of Charlottetown, and delightful fellowship with a Road Scholar group of 16.
Ah, PEI is on my bucket list! That sounds like a dream trip! And if you mean Rhodes Scholar, wow! 😉
Your trip to PEI sounds amazing. We spent only a day there about five years ago, wishing for so much more. Did you visit the Green Gables house?
It figures that you camper would be as lovely and cozy as your home. :-). It’s beautiful, and I hope you and Ken had a lovely time being together in God’s beautiful nature. Happy travels, and stay cool (it’s sweltering down here). Hugs!
Awww, thanks, Angie. That means a lot coming from you because you know I LOVE your decorating style!
Deb, every time I see photos of your camper van it makes me want one. I no longer want to rough it, but I think Boo and I could do really well in something like yours. But I’d need to fly you to Boise to decorate it so I could travel in style.
Happy Anniversary!
I think the Chinook would be PERFECT for you and Boo! And I’d fly MYSELF to Boise to decorate a camper for you! 🙂
Gone are the days when 15 members of my family would rent a house at the beach. Breakfast was simple, fruit and cereal, Lunch was sandwiches & chips, and Dinner was made by the person whose name was drawn out of a hat. Let’s say it was my turn to cook dinner on Wednesday night. Dinner was everything from soup to nuts and in between. Then I was free for cooking the whole time we were there. One night would be leftovers and the next night before we all packed up and went home was out to eat at a restaurant of our choice. I miss those days of fun in the sun with family.
I love the way you divvied up the cooking chores, Janet! Our family is ALMOST too big to all gather in one place now. And we’re meeting halfway at an Airbnb for Christmas this year because the babies are too little to travel 10 hours.
Happy Anniversary! Hope you have a wonderful trip. And I had my voice to the raves about your camper – just lovely and cozy.
No traveling for me this year, but we were fortunate to have our daughter and grandson come from California for a week long visit in Virginia. We usually visit said daughter during the summer. We used to travel to different places each year, some short, some longer. Once we discovered Bar Harbor, Maine, that became a yearly vacation destination, with a two day visit to a beautiful country inn two hours west of NYC on the way up.
Blessings to you and Ken and all you do!
Thank you, Betty! We are enjoying the trip very much so far. Driving trough Kentucky right now and it is beautiful! Bar Harbor is on my bucket list too! I’ve heard it is just gorgeous there! I’d especially love to be there in the fall.
Love your camper, Deb! Now that my nest is starting to empty out, I’m seeing the wisdom in making a similar investment. We’re probably a few year away still, but I definitely see an RV of some sort in our future. 🙂
P.S. Love your antique coffee canister!
You would love it, Karen, and what better way to research history than to park right on the land where historical events happened! To experience sunrise and sunset there and all the flora and fauna of a place, etc. As wonderful as the years of having kids at home are, the empty nest is its own glorious reward! 🙂
LOVE your Chinook! My parents had one years ago but they didn’t travel much with it. My honey and me live in an RV…camping all the time! LOL. Not really. We are stationary as we both work. But the plans for retirement are hitting the road. I’m thinking the Chinook is a much more manageable size than our big thing. Have a great anniversary trip!
I wondered if you were still in an RV, Angie. Hope you get to hit the road soon. And yes, manageable is a good word for the Chinook. Parks anywhere a van would and so comfy to ride in.
Happy Anniversary! I hope you enjoy your trip. The quilt on your bed is beautiful. Love those colors. Tim and I traveled to Lake Michigan to visit a couple of lighthouses, then went to the minor league game at Field of Dreams in Iowa. It’s a magical place. I’d never been to Iowa, and I have to saw, seeing the farms made me homesick for my childhood. Although we didn’t farm, we lived in the country and had the huge garden and animals. Prayers for safe travels!
Our son went to college in Iowa so we made the drive from Kansas to Iowa many times and it is a beautiful state. But we haven’t seen the Field of Dreams yet. Need to add that to our bucket list!
Happy Anniversary. Hope you enjoy your trip in this adorable little space you can call yours. Have fun riding the trails. No, for the last two years we have not gone far for vacations. Just day trips.
Day trips are the next best thing. That’s one thing we love about living in a new state—we can drive a few hours and be somewhere we’ve never been before!
As you know…we don’t travel in the summer…people travel to US. (wink) But, I so enjoy traveling along with you, virtually, of course. Happy Anniversary!!
We shall travel to you again someday! Our time at the lake with you and Lorren is still a huge favorite memory for both of us! <3
I love seeing your photos on Instagram! Both of your travels and your beautiful home.
This summer I traveled to Missouri (St Louis and a little south of it) to visit family. Due to COVID, I hadn’t seen my dad in far too long. What a blessing to see him again!
My family travels to new places each time we vacation (most recent was Breckenridge in December). The usual commonality though is mountains. I love hiking and our vacations almost always include it. The one exception that comes to mind is a trip to Washington DC.
Happy anniversary!
Thanks, Staci. So glad you got to see your dad again. And you were close to us if you were south of St. Louis!
Hi Deb, happy travels. We are currently on a road trip through Scotland. In typical Scottish summer weather, my family is paddle boarding in the rain!
Oooh, that’s definitely on Ken and my bucket list, Debb! Hope you have a wonderful time, despite the rain!