Getting Ready...

To me, the first days of summer break are some of my favorite days of the year! With the whole summer ahead, there is a hope and sense of freedom that comes to my schedule of what is possible, dreaming about all that the summer will hold.

Before heading out on our adventure we have a fun-filled week of FAMILY time planned for the Adirondacks. Rebecca and Patrick are here from Thailand and Amy just arrived from LA. Shopping, packing and preparation will fill our day in hopes of pulling out tomorrow by 11AM.

Thanks goes to Liz for taking a lead role and keeping us on task and organized by setting up google docs for meal planning and scheduling. The 7 bedroom-2 bath rental house and adjacent 2 bedroom cottage on Ordway Pond (Gore Mountain) Gore Mountain House will be our get-a-way and family memory making location. With family spread out near and far we have loosely planned an every-other-year destination family retreat for catching up and making memories. This year also includes grandparents and a few extended family/cousins to allow opportunity to visit in one place.

So, plans include lots of family games, movies, campfires, walks, boating, relaxing, chasing kids, crafts, creative cooking, reading, discussions, along with sharing memories and exaggerated stories with "significant other" additions to the family! It will be the first time to meet Brian for most of us and Sam's friend Sarah will be joining us and meeting all of the "sisters." They all (Patrick, Brian & Sarah) should get a FULL dose of the Garofano clan...we'll see if they can endure!

We will eat and play with great purpose, storing up memories to carry us until our next adventure! Let the FUN begin....!

I sure hope this food fits?!?!

Our Summer Home Away From Home...

Do you have a plan?

This is the first thing people ask me when they find out that Mark and I are going cross-country this summer. Plans? Well just a few. I'm not really a planner until it is necessary or imminent. I know we want to reach LA by August 1st and have to return home for the start of school in late August. I know we want to see some family and friends along the way and visit as many national parks as possible. But plans? I don't really know how to plan. I have never done this before. My more adventurous trips have been by air and few have been by road. Will we want to take it slow and steady or speed up and then stop and stay? Will we want to notice every little detail or make it to the next known landmark? What will the weather bring and will we be free to choose the Harley or be required to take cover in the truck? Too many variables to predict, so it is a "we'll see" kind of adventure.

I guess the plans are to not make too many plans. To be flexible enough to not get disappointed in failure to meet goals and to be disciplined enough to make steady progress in order to see as much as possible, with the time we have. The plans are to learn more about ourselves, see with our own eyes beautiful American landscapes, and become acquainted with the diversity of American people. We want to see our friends and family in their surroundings and bring this big country a little closer to home. I want to take lots of pictures that will be a reminder of where we have been and keep the memories with us once we return home.

So those are the plans...and hopefully lack of plans will work to our favor. Of course, in case of poor planning, there is always Walmart!

Stay tuned for our adventures.