Remember Your Vacation with this Postcard Trick!

I road tripped 32 hours with a six year old and an eight year old and I lived to tell about it.  If you are anything like me, there are MANY THINGS about a family road trip you'd like to forget.  We will just agree here and not compare notes. This truth aside, what about those wonderful moments during a trip that fade to fog quickly after you have unpacked?  How can you remember all the little things that color the feeling of a past vacation?  I have a wonderfully unique tip from my dear friend Whitney Hibbits of Wildberry Sanctuary.  Of course I will share with it you: Keep your Vacation Memories with a POSTCARD QUADRANT!

Pick two all encompassing POSITIVE words or phrases for the top and right hand side titles, and two NEGATIVE (Or just plain funny) words or phrases for the left and bottom quadrant titles.  This is usually the most fun part.  One of Whitney's best was the word "Hecktrocity" .  I've also used a variety of colorful language.   After you pick your four titles,  plot moments and experiences from the trip in the left top quadrant for moderately troublesome, bottom left quadrant for things you wish weren't part of your vacation memory, the right top quadrant for the best of the best and the bottom right for not so great, maybe not sooo bad!

For example, in the "Estes Park 2017" postcard, my quadrants are Llama Petting, Sound of a River, Bear Mauling and Sound of Whining.  I plotted memorable but not so great parts of the trip (trying to figure our dinner logistics with 6 adults and two kids, our dog breaking through every barricade to get up on my uncle's bed...when he is allergic.) I also plotted the best parts ( Bear Lake Hike is upper Right  quadrant because it was smoother than Calypso Cascades Hike (lower right quadrant) where Libby was DONE twenty minutes from the best waterfall so we turned around and headed back to the car.)

Whitney shared this funny little thing she and her husband Richard use for their side trips and all in vacations.  It really resonated with me as a way to be intentional about vacations and my memory of them.  I have used this ever since...and often if I do not get the postcard made, I find the notes nearby and can apply it said postcard afterwards.  Whitney is cool for this but many, many other reasons. She brings out my wildness and is always encouraging. She is at times an old soul and then again a newborn free spirit.  She got my kids into every creek we passed and I try to remember this  wildness when my natural tendency is to keep things easy and tidy for me.  I miss having her closer, but she infiltrates my life with joy filled memories and wise adages like this postcard quadrant doohickey.

Should you find yourself near Barnardsville North Carolina, look her up and plan a visit to Wildberry Sanctuary where Whitney and her husband Richard help folks enjoy the wilderness playground of the hills, animals, honeybees and more. "Wildberry Sanctuary is a healing retreat offering summer day camps and therapeutic services for children in the foster system and their families, abused women and other people experiencing trauma.  We are located in the blue ridge mountains and want something that has the feel of our location, which translates to natural, rustic and healing. We have many structures made with weaving of branches, a creek that runs through the property and nearby forested area." Like their Facebook page, if you will!   Check out the views from Wildberry Sanctuary before it all began, here!

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