Those who have known me for a long time will have at least a vague recollection of this, but for those who don't: have I ever mentioned how much we used to travel? Starting from the time Robert and I got together right up till JZ was a baby and our finances took a big dump, we used to travel. A LOT.

I was just looking through some of my old files I have saved and found a few lists of our yearly trips.

First off, check out this itinerary from 1999, pre-children:

January 22 - 30: California

March 4 - 7: Kansas City
March 7 - 10: Hot Springs, AR
March 26 - 28: Amarillo (cat show)

April 9 - 13: Vegas

May 3 - 9: Mom and Dad visit
May 22 - 23: Midwest City (cat show)

June 14 - 17: Atascadero
June 17 - 18: Hollywood (Poison concert)
June 18 - 19: Atascadero
June 18 - 22: Monterey (with Robert)
June 22 - 27: Big Sur
June 27 - July 3: Atascadero

July 27 - August 5: California

September 24 - 28: Vegas
September 30 - October 3: Chicago

October 7 - 9: Dallas

November 2 - 6: Disneyland; L.A. Beatles convention
November 7 - 16: Atascadero

And, yes, you're reading it right. I had a mere three weeks between two of my California trips.

Now check out this itinerary for 2000. Keep in mind I was pregnant most of this time:

February 14 - 22: California

March 8 - 12: Kansas City

April 6 - 14: Mom and Dad visit

June 20 - 28: California

July 13 - 16: St. Louis (Gateway sci-fi convention w/ MSTies)
July 29 - 3: Atascadero
July 3 - 4: Hollywood (Poison concert)
July 4 - 9: Atascadero

August 27 - 30: Vegas

September 23 - 30: California (returning less than a month before Madalyn was born)

December 23 - 30: California

I like how I begrudgingly took three months off to have a baby and then headed right back to CA again.

As if that wasn't enough, here is our itinerary for 2002. Madalyn was a baby/toddler and as of September I was pregnant with JZ:

January 18 - January 26: California

February 19 - 21: Eureka Springs, AR

March 8 - 11: Kansas City

April 3 - 6: Las Vegas
April 22 - May 4: California

June 21 - July 12: California
July 26 - 29: St. Louis

August 3 - 6: Las Vegas

October 21 - November 9: California (parents' house and also four days at Disneyland)

December 23 - January 6: California (parents' house plus overnight trip to LA for the Rose Bowl)

I remember that summer well. Madalyn was with me on all of those trips and by the time we got to Vegas we were both just DONE. We were worn the hell out. I needed the rest of August and all of September to recover!

So having spent the first six or seven years of my relationship with Robert traveling like this it was quite a change to be reduced, for a few years, to visiting California once a year, at best.

We are now on the road to recovery, though. Much of this isn't set in stone yet but here is a rough outline of my 2008 itinerary:

December 22 - January 4: California

March: either my parents visit or we go to California or somewhere else for Spring Break

May 22 - 26: Louisville, KY

June/July (to be determined): California

August 8-10: Minneapolis

October: possible Fall Break trip

November: North Carolina (or possibly another location -- meeting some girlfriends)

December: California

Not quite up to late 90s/early 00s standards, but a pretty meaty schedule, considering we have three times as many kids as we did then. I'm going to be pretty busy this year. And just as happy as the prospect of all these trips is the fact that we are in a position, financially, where they will all likely be possible. A couple years ago I wouldn't have been able to consider half this many.

*dusts off traveling shoes*