Travel Q & A with Lynda Colclasure Lien

One of my school chums, Lynda Colclasure Lien, responded to my request to send me questions to answer.

 

She wrote, “I love traveling & was wondering if you’ve been out of the country.” 

 

I have been to Mexico and Canada.  (I have been to half of the U.S. states, mostly during the time I was traveling with Mom and Dad while they were building and remodeling restaurants in the 1974 to 1977 time frame. That’s when I got to Mexico. I even had some dental work done there. Mom had dentures made there. Medical tourism is quite popular south of the U.S. border.)

 

In Canada, I visited Vancouver and Butchart Gardens one summer. Another time, my family and I rented a houseboat on Lake Louise or Horseshoe Lake (can’t remember which now) and cruised around. I remember we spotted a bear swimming across the lake and thought it was a young’un until it got out of the water and we realized it was huge.

 

In Mexico, Mom, Dad and I went as far south as Ensenada in our family vehicle. I enjoyed this trip a lot because I speak a little Spanish and was able to chat with youngsters and understand them very well.

 

I had to ask adult Mexicans to speak “mas tarde” (slower) because the older we get, the faster we speak our native languages, so it was hard for me to hear the space between words when I spoke to older folks so I could make sense of what they were trying to tell me.

 

The heartbreaking part of Mexico was seeing families living in cardboard boxes and tin-sided and -roofed dwellings and watching their young children asking for coins or food to help them get by. I wanted to adopt them all and bring them home with me. Mexican kids are among the cutest in the world, and they are so nice!

 

The emaciated dogs and livestock in Mexico got to me, too. I totally understood (and understand) why the U.S. is such a siren song to poor people just scratching by in other lands.

 

Lynda also asked, “If you could go anywhere, foreign or domestic, where would you go?”

 

Domestically, I would love to visit several of the National Parks again — Yellowstone, Yosemite, Crater Lake, The Grand Canyon, Colorado’s Mesa Verde and Great Sand Dunes, and Utah’s Arches and Zion.  I’m a real nature and animal lover.  I’d also love to visit Alaska again. I loved being in Alaska in 2004 during a week-long cruise aboard the Diamond Princess. My Aussie friend Anne Richardson came along and we had an absolute blast.

 

I would also like to visit Carlsbad Caverns again  and go to Arlington National Cemetery to honor the military veterans buried there and to put flowers on Robert F. Kennedy’s grave, plus Gettysburg, Valley Forge and the Old North Church.  (I have visited Vicksburg National Cemetery Park in Vicksburg Mississippi  and Delta, Louisiana.)

 

Internationally, I want to visit Costa Rica and Vietnam (I’m thinking of relocating to one of these places, and would visit both before making the final decision).

 

I’d love to visit New Zealand (and kiwis Helen and Debbie!!!), Africa, and Australia (again, for the natural wonders, native animal species, and indigenous cultures) and Ireland (because I have an affinity for Ireland and don’t know why. I have red hair and blue eyes and an Irish complexion, so I think it may be my DNA calling me back even though all of my grandparents came from Germany. I know I have Viking in me.)

 

For a long time, I wanted to visit the Holy Land, but that desire has faded as my belief in organized religion faded.

 

Those are my most cherished possible destinations. After the first of the year I’m going to get a passport and start making some plans.