We love to have new experiences and are always thinking about what we want to do next and how to make it happen! Though we love taking steps forward, it’s great to look back sometimes… we learn from our experiences, understand how to make our future experiences even better, and celebrate how far we’ve come. Before closing the 2016 chapter, we sat down and thought about the year… 2016 started in Placencia, Belize and we anticipated one of our biggest travel years yet… what follows are our highlights…
Favorite restaurant: Tobermory Brewing Company, Tobermory, Canada
Best ice cream (per Daniel): Toft's Cave Man Chocolate... Michigan Pothole is a close second!
New experience: zip lining in Mayflower Bocawina National Park, Belize
Most beautiful spot: Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
Fun experience: Halloween Camping at Whispering Hills Jellystone Park in Big Prairie, OH
Best campground for kids: Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park in Grayling, MI
Best camp site: KOA Newberry, MI
Best playground: playground on the beach Manitoulin Island, Canada
Best museum/attraction: Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, IL
Prettiest water: Silk Cay, near Placencia, Belize
Funniest experience: encountering nudists on the beach in Canada (it was not a nude beach!), Long Point Provincial Park, Canada
Best long weekend: Freefall Music Festival in Snowshoe, WV
Best hike: Deep Gap Trail, Mt. Mitchell State Park, North Carolina
Most relaxing spot: Hope Town on Elbow Cay, Bahamas
Biggest surprise: Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument, Utah
Biggest surprise #2: AuSable River Canoe Marathon, Oscoda, MI
Favorite small town: Tobermory, Ontario
Nicest people: Springdale, Utah including the staff at 9 East
Biggest change: learning to go with the flow… Pelee Island, Canada
Most transformative experience: traveling for 7 weeks in a trailer together... the Great Lakes Adventure
2016 was an awesome year… so what did we learn? We learned how to use a trailer for the first time… that was quite an accomplishment! There were all kinds of other travel lessons we learned, some quite humorous, but the most important lessons were about us as a family… After years of me (Carrie) traveling weekly for work, we got to know each other again. We realized that we operated like a machine, and we didn’t like it. It was a hard lesson, but we are thankful for the discovery. We are on a journey together to play like a symphony instead…
Welcome 2017!