Traveling Matt

Before little Matthew came along, the Hub and I would go places. We would do things like jump in the car at midnight and drive all the way to the Blue Ridge Parkway just to better see the stars. Or once we decided on a whim to drive 8 hours to Kentucky for a NASCAR race. We literally said "Hey, let's go to Kentucky" and the next thing we did was throw some clothes in a bag and left the house. We did that a lot and it made our life interesting and fun. When the baby came, that stopped. We took him places but the spontaneity was gone. We'd plan, pack everything but the kitchen sink, stop a hundred times along the way and by the time we got to where we were going I was a nervous wreck just from the drive! Our little last minute, drive til we get to somewhere trips were a thing of the past. Subsequently the marriage was also becoming a thing of the past. . .

I remember one day clearly, Matthew was about 2 years old and was having a wicked tantrum. He was melting down right in front of my eyes, kicking and screaming, throwing things, even trying to pull the blinds off the windows. I don't remember the reason for the wrath of the terrible two but it was a whopper. I couldn't get him to calm down and since I was alone in this epic drama I couldn't run away so I figured I'd try the old "car ride until he falls asleep" trick. He settled in his little car seat and off we went. I didn't know where we were going and I didn't care. The payoff that time was not going to be the destination but the benefit of the ride. Matthew liked riding in the car and he almost always took a nap. On that first little trip of ours we landed in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. We played in the park, we sat in the grass and we strolled around the pond. Matthew threw his Cheerios to the ducks who were surprisingly close to his little toes! We went onto Main Street and had ice cream from Kilwin's and we window shopped - Matthew paying close attention to all things shiny and colorful. Not once did he fuss or cry or throw anything at me. We had a perfectly pleasant afternoon. Blowing Rock was already one of my favorite places and this little trip was exceptional. We had a nice time, just baby and me and it occurred to me then that "family vacation" didn't have to look like it did when I was a kid!

When I had settled in to my new role as working, single mother I had almost resigned myself to work, home, work, home, weekend - clean the house. Work, home, work, home, weekend - clean the house. It didn't occur to me to do something fun or go somewhere. Almost like a vacation was something "families" did - you know - mom, dad and kids. It was almost like I was waiting for a new, "proper" family unit to be in place so we could pick up where my last family unit left off. But finally it dawned on me that I might never be "proper" or for that matter, who says that myself and my kid aren't enough to be considered a 'family'? And with that realization and armed with a camera and some mapquest directioins to some destination we were off! Since our little impromptu trip to Blowing Rock that day Matthew and I have been about a zillion places from parks in our back yard to places a couple states away. Generally if we could get there within a few hours drive we'd go - stopping at interesting things along the way. I'd loosely plan the bigger trips but mostly I'd decide that morning where we'd be going. I tried to stay away from the "planned right down to the minute" kind of excursion, we'd just go - and let the day lead us. And we've had the best times.

Spring is trying it's best to get here - and this past weekend was beautiful. The sun and the warmth have a way of bringing on that urge to go somewhere. I went to work Saturday morning knowing I wanted to take Matthew somewhere that afternoon. By the time I got home I'd decided Wilmington, North Carolina would be the place. We could go see the USS Battleship and maybe see the ocean. It was about a 4 hour drive according to Mapquest so I figured we'd just go down Saturday, stay the night and come home some time Sunday. And that's what we did. And we had the best trip!

If I would have planned it it wouldn't have been as good! We got into Wrightsville Beach, just past Wilmington at dark and got a hotel. I didn't realize it until the next morning that our hotel was right across from the inlet and a beautiful marina! The sun was coming up over boats in the harbor and the view was spectacular! I had no idea! I even got a big discount on the beachy themed room because the guy just dropped the prices. That morning we got to the USS North Carolina FIRST and were the only people on the whole ship!! Again, score. After our ship tour Matthew wanted to go down to the ocean. I wasn't familiar with Wrightsville Beach but it turned out to be lovely - we spent a couple hours on the beach, had some lunch at South Side Grill and played some video games at the pier. We could have gone home that minute and we would have been satisfied with our day - but we had one more stop to make. Since being in town people kept asking us if we were there for the Azalea Festival. Nope, didn't even know what it was - but I figured we were there, we might as well check it out. We parked at the River Walk in downtown Wilmington. There was a sea of people! Bands, food vendors, shops, entertainment. We walked along the Cape Fear River seeing all there was to see. We even took a boat tour of the river and had an amazing look at the Battleship from all sides, impressed with its sheer size and beauty (in a battleship sort of way). We wrapped up our day in historic downtown Wilmington with a chocolate Italian Gelato for Matt and Espresso for me (extra juice for the drive home!) All and all it was just general fun and one of the best trips we'd had in a while.

The little day trips or weekend get-a-ways have become "our thing", a part of who we are. I'm hoping they also become wonderful memories for Matthew when he's all grown up and looks back fondly at his childhood and the "family vacations" just like I do looking back on mine.