Today’s blog theme is ‘hobby’. If you’ve read my blog, you know me. What you see is what you get. I love to write, I love to research my family history, I love to travel, and I love to forage wild edibles. If you don’t know that by now you’ve missed some of my posts! (Go back to ‘Go’ and do not collect $200!) The other thing I have fun with that may not necessarily be apparent is trip planning and date planning. I love planning! I’ve planned day, weekend, and spur-of-the-moment trips- mostly for dates and genealogy research. I’ve planned longer trips- mostly for anniversaries and vacations. I’ve planned trips for other people who didn’t like the planning aspect. When our kids were at home and I couldn’t travel with Bart, I even planned day trips for he and his travel buddies when they would get a day off unexpectedly. My mom always said that when I was little I could be asleep and dead to the world but if someone said the word ‘go’ I was instantly wide awake and ready to go- just like my Granny Jessie BATES. I’m sure I’ve told you that when Bart and I were young and broke I would break out my trusty atlas and plan future trips to different places. Just thinking about going somewhere makes me feel better and it really doesn’t matter where we go! Maybe my middle name really should have been ‘go’!
Being a trip planner means you keep in mind what your fellow travelers will enjoy as well as what you will enjoy. I think one of the reasons Bart and I travel so well together is because we respect each other. He wants me to have a good time and I want the same for him. Any time we go on a trip together you can bet we’ll be riding motorcycles (even if we have to rent one) and we’ll be digging around in courthouse basements for information to add to my family history. Why does he dig around in basements or tromp through cemeteries with me? Because he respects and loves me. Why do I hop on a motorcycle and go for day rides with him? Because I love and respect him. It’s a two way street. The funny thing is, I’ve learned to enjoy riding and he’s learned to enjoy history and family research. We both win because we’re both happy. But we also win because we’ve made each other feel valued, accepted and loved. The benefit is we’ve stretched the boundaries of our comfort zones and done things we wouldn’t have otherwise done. Studies show that when you learn something new it helps to keep your brain healthy (it fights against Alzheimer’s). I’m predisposed to Alzheimer’s/dementia on both sides of my family so the more I can fight it the better off I am. But mostly we both benefit because we’ve kept ourselves from becoming selfish and self-focused. When we’re sharing experiences with each other it keeps our feelings for each other alive in a way that I don’t completely understand and can’t explain. And nothing beats sitting on the couch on a winter night and reminiscing about some experience we had together.
By actively participating in each other’s activities and hobbies we say to each other, “You are important enough to me that I’m willing to do this with you even if it may not be my favorite thing.” The willingness to do things together builds confidence and bonds us together.
So enough talking already. I’m sure you get it. Here are some examples of some dates, vacations, and trips we’ve taken together.

A cowboy themed date we went on:

The remake of True Grit was in theaters when I planned this trip and I wanted to go see it but I wanted a full date experience so I planned a cowboy themed date. We had a lot of fun. We went to Dewey and went through the little Tom Mix museum. We went to Claremore to the gun museum, watched True Grit, and had a great meal. We had a lot of fun and spent the whole day running around and enjoying each other’s company.

Weekend trip to see Elmer McCurdy:

This was a weekend trip to Guthrie. Sometimes I don’t know why Bart does some of the crazy stuff I plan for a trip. I became absorbed by the story of Elmer McCurdy a few years back (if you have time you should definitely look up his story). I decided we should go to Guthrie and visit Elmer’s grave at midnight and make a recording to see if we could record any strange occurrences. Just for fun. We left Elmer a beer for his trouble. It was a great weekend.
One of our favorite trips was to Massachusetts in 2010. It was one of my all-time favorite trips. He was hooked on history by then and always loved the Revolution. We went to Lexington, Massachusetts, stood on the green and heard the story about the Redcoats and the Minutemen, and toured the area all the way to Concord.

Massachusetts:

One of the trips we took this year was to Georgia to Chickamauga Battlefield. It was amazing. We were there most of the day and did not get to see everything that was there.

Georgia:

The field I’m standing in front of is a field where my ancestor’s unit fought a battle in the Civil War. (My 3rd great-grandfather, Joseph LARKIN- 59th Ohio.)
I love to trip plan and Bart’s job has afforded us lots of opportunities to travel and trip-plan. For a girl who was born understanding the word ‘go’ Bart’s job has been a real blessing. If you ever need a trip planned keep me in mind.

Until my next trip- however short or long it may be-
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives