Are We Destined for Opposite Lives of Our Childhood?

As I mentioned in a earlier post, I had a chance to brew on Saturday. Turned out to be a fun evening eventhough the rest of Joe's family flaked out on us. We brewed, bbq-d (it's been really warm here, so I grilled some chicken and veggies) and soaked in the jacuzzi. I LOVE the smell of freshly made beer in the kitchen. I have been made aware that the pleasantness of this aroma appears to be gender specific.

While hanging in the tub, we talked about places we'd want to go that we haven't been. He work for a giganto technology company, so he has recently been on trips to South America, Asia and Europe. My biz travel isn't nearly that exotic. However, between that and vacation travel, I've pretty much been to every city in the US that I want to go to (which isn't to say that there aren't some places that I want to go back to). The flip side is that there are plenty of Big Nature places I'd like to see (e.g., Yellowstone, Arches, etc.).

Joe was totally down on the nature vacation. A big reason for this was when he was a kid he would go on church camping excursions which would almost always be low budget trips to national parks led by a hyper protective guide. Not a lot of fond memories.

My parents are both from a big city in east coast, so ALL of our family trips were back there (with one exception). It was OK since I really like my cousins, but it didn't really expand my horizons. So now my wife and I take the HB to as many places as possible (Yosemite, Sequoia, NYC, San Francisco, etc.).

It's all good. I figured out many years ago that my parents were trying to live the east coast live style in LA--it's what they grew up with. One of the only good things to come out of the 6 years the wife and I lived in Boston was that we lived there like tourists. We made a mental note to bring that kind of openness to living here when we came back. And I'm sure that the HB will go with his family on completely different family trips. Note: If you are taking the kids and/or visiting family you are on a trip. Only if you leave the kids at home and don't see family are you on a vacation. If you're parenting you are not on vacation.