Return to story

Savor your memories, share with rest of us

July 27, 2008 12:15 am

BY KATHERINE SHAPLEIGH

With gas prices so high, now's the perfect time to leave the car in park and take a trip down memory lane.

Dust off your photo albums--or gather those stacks of photos or digital files you've been promising yourself you'll organize.

Then you'll be ready to grab your friends and relatives--especially those who've shared your adventures over the years--and ask, "What's your favorite trip?"

It's a question that opens the door to some awesome memories and offers fascinating insight into people closest to us.

I love to quiz my children, my husband, my sister and mother. Why stop at "What's your favorite trip"?

You can ask their favorite:

Beach

Pool

Hike

Island

Foreign country

Cruise

Top Five vacations

Dream destinations

We always end up chatting about places we'd like to return to--and daydreaming out loud about places we'd most like to visit.

You may be surprised to discover that your father has always secretly dreamed of visiting Rome but thought it would never happen.

Maybe your wife longs for a week in a cozy cottage in Ireland--or wants to go back to that little restaurant you went to after you first got married.

You don't know until you ask.

ISLANDS AND WILD WEST

St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands is a perennial sentimental favorite at our house. My husband and I spent our honeymoon there and returned two years ago with our two daughters and my mom.

It's our girls' favorite family vacation ever.

They loved swimming in the beautiful blue and green water, having leisurely breakfasts high above the Caribbean sea and snorkeling in the ocean for the first time.

The Florida Keys are another favorite.

We talk, fondly, about taking a glass-bottom boat tour at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park-- flori dastateparks.org/penne kamp--in the Key Largo area. We were thrilled to see a sea turtle and sharks.

We remember the awesome frozen key lime pie on a stick from the Blond Giraffe--www.blondgiraffe .com--in Key West. (Uh-oh, I did not need to know I can order those online.)

We reminisce about a trip my sister and I made with our husbands to Texas.

We kicked up our heels in Austin, then went to our version of heaven in the Warrenton/Round Top area, which hosts one of the country's largest antiques extravaganzas. It's actually a series of shows that take place each spring and fall and get bigger, and more sprawling, each year.

We spent a day at the Zapp Hall show--zapphall.com--which is featured frequently in the home magazines we enjoy. As we arrived that morning, we saw tents and booths in every direction, and we were off. Later that day, we sat to compare treasures under a tall tree that dripped with moss.

We ordered Texas barbecue sandwiches and iced teas from a little stand. The barbecue was the best we'd ever had, the tea took the edge off the warm autumn day, and Patsy Cline's "Crazy" drifted from a loud speaker.

It was a moment--for me--of sheer perfection, and we still had San Antonio, its Riverwalk and the Alamo ahead of us.

What are your moments of sheer perfection? Take a walk down memory lane, ask your friends and relatives to share their favorite memories, and let us hear from you.

You may find yourself booking a repeat visit, vowing to take that dream trip or finally getting your vacation snapshots whipped into shape.

Katherine Shapleigh: 540/374-5461
Email: kshapleigh@freelancestar.com