In addition to my geocaching trips around new England, 2023 was a good year for travel.

My first trip was to visit a friend who works in Washington DC and lives close by. We toured the Smithsonian museums, saw Drunk Shakespeare, and visited the Manassas Battlefield.

In the middle of March, we set out on our first month-long camping trip. Our goal was to visit my daughter-in-law and granddaughter in Texas. My son had been deployed, so we wouldn’t see him. Our first stop was to visit our daughter and her husband who lived in Tennessee at the time (they have since moved). This included another Civil War battlefield as well as a geocaching Adventure Lab that was a bar crawl in Franklin, TN.

We left them and stopped for two nights in Memphis. We visited Graceland, although we didn’t take the tour. We visited the Lorraine Motel and the Civil Rights Museum there. We had delicious BBQ at Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous and walked on Beale Street, stopping to hear some live music. 

Going through Arkansas, we stopped at Hot Springs and went to the only still-operating bathhouse there before going to Texas. Waco has the Dr. Pepper Museum and the Silos with food trucks. We were babysitting our granddaughter and loved taking her there.

On our way out of Texas we spent three nights at Camp Margaritaville on the Bolivar Peninsula. It was cloudy and gray while we were there, but the pools were amazing.

One of our favorite places on this trip was Williamsburg, Virginia. They are very dog-friendly which was nice. We actually made this a stop on our way back from Florida in the fall, we liked it that much! One of my bucket list items was checked off when we stayed at Assateague Island National Seashore and saw the wild horses there.

In June, my son and I headed to Seattle to embark on an Alaskan cruise. We spent two days before in Seattle, taking in a Mariners game to check off visiting that ballpark. I’d like to visit as many major league ballparks as I can, so this checked off one of them. We also played tourist at the Pike Place Market.

The cruise was fabulous. I’d never cruised with Celebrity before, and I really enjoyed the ship. The scenery was beautiful as well. They also had glass blowing on the ship. My friends and I all made some nice pieces.

Alaska itself was beautiful. Granted, most of what we saw is geared towards the cruise ships that dock there. We walked around Ketchikan before taking the Aleutian Ballard Bering Sea Fishermen’s Tour. Being a big fan of the television show Deadliest Catch, this was a dream for me. The best part of it, though, wasn’t the crabbing – it was getting to see a flock of bald eagles diving for fish. That is something I will probably never see again! In Juneau, we went whale watching but didn’t see many whales. We did see sea lions which I loved. In Skagway, we took the train ride then explored the town.

For my husband’s birthday in July, we went down to Boston and took in a Mets vs. Red Sox game. It was our first time at Fenway, so I crossed that ballpark off my list as well.

Our fall camping trip was centered around a friend’s wedding. We spent two weeks at Disney World since the wedding was in Tavares. We hosted a pre-wedding party at our campsite in Fort Wilderness. My son, who is on the autism spectrum, loved that this allowed him some freedom to do things by himself. He navigated the buses to and from the parks fine. After Disney we went to St. Augustine and spent four nights there. I’d been there before and really liked it.

In November, my son and I burned some of the credits I still had on Norwegian Cruise Line taking a quick cruise to Bermuda. I’d never been there before and enjoyed it quite a bit.

For 27 years, there has been a group of internet friends who gather at Disney World. My son had come back from his deployment, so the week before my friends met up, he and his family came to Disney. My younger son was off of his job since they were rebuilding the restaurant he works at. I had a great time with them as well as with my friends the following week.

2024 Plans

January: I’m supposed to be going with friends to Las Vegas. Right now I’m not sure that will happen because I’m having problems with my knee, If I can’t go for any reason, I’ll have to change my timeshare reservation over to one of them.

February: Another friend and I are taking a between-the-birthdays cruise. My birthday is January and hers is March. It’s the same ship I was on for Bermuda, so I know it’ll be nice.

April: We’ll basically spend the whole month of April at Disney, between camping at Fort Wilderness and using our DVC timeshare for all of the kids to gather together for our biannual trip with them.

June: The Mets are playing the Phillies in London. Need I say more? This won’t be a long trip, but it’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing.

August/September: One of my friends wants to celebrate a milestone birthday in Liverpool since she is a huge Beatles fan. I have friends there, and then we’re taking a Disney cruise through Northern Europe. There are a number of countries on this itinerary that I haven’t been to yet.

October: We’re planning a short camping trip this fall, likely to upstate New York. I want to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and I have cousins who live near Syracuse who I haven’t seen in a long time.

December: Time with my Disney friends again!