Hooray!!!! for Tara

Favorite vacation answer:

Well, Mom already explained (with fancy pictures,even) my favorite family vacation -- Hawaii! (The Blob and Gino the surf instructor/beach bum were the best.) So I guess I'll have to talk about another family vacation that I enjoyed. I have several because I have an awesome family that makes basically any trip fun, despite all my memories of the kicking and punching fights with Spencer on the many drives. 

I really enjoyed what I will call the "National Wonderment" trip we took, on which we saw Niagara Falls, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, the Anasazi ruins, and probably some other things I have forgotten. Memorable moments: Spencer getting sick all over his side of the car from scarlet fever right before Yellowstone/Spencer getting sick in the sulfuric pools of Yellowstone itself; getting soaked in the little outlook points by Niagara falls, in our lovely yellow plastic ponchos; and looking at the cool storms coming in over the grand canyon. AND sitting in that awesome tree with my favorite brother which produced one of my favorite ever pictures of us. (which i think might actually have been a later trip. oh well)

I have also loved camping with my family. Spelunking, "exploring" the forests with Spencer, losing keys in the river, the elk caravan that walked right through our tents, and probably my favorite recollection (which is foggy but mostly intact) - sitting on the air mattress in our tent, playing Uno or something, while the downpour outside sent a river through our campsite. We were basically floating on that mattress! It was awesome. 

And I loved our recent-ish trip to Canada, when we went to Lynn Canyon and watched mom clench-jaw her way across the swaying canyon bridge, and ate KFC cake that my parents love for whatever reason, and the kind of laughably lame aquarium on Victoria Island with that guide girl who always got really high-pitched at the end of every sentence, and the wizard trees and giant hydrangea bushes, and fish and chips in newspaper at white rock beach. I think the Canada trips might be my second favorite after Hawaii. 

Since this is so long, I'll just give honorable mentions to our Lake Powell trip and our Zion's trip -- both awesome. 

And of course, for every vacation there are always "memories" made, which I have learned is actually code for things that go wrong but are funny later.