LITTLE ROCK — As I write this, I’m sprawled in a camp chair, enjoying New Mexico’s crisp, pinion-scented air and sipping a glass of Pistachio Rose.
The children, exhausted by sun and activity, have already fallen asleep. Tonight, they actually asked to go to bed.
This is my favorite part of vacation - sitting in the dark, listening to the persistent chirp of crickets as the stars begin to come out.
The drive here was long, peppered with frequent, impatient inquiries: “Are we there yet?” and “How much longer?”
But the pestering and bickering from the back seat faded quickly from memory as I watched my daughter’s wonder and excitement grow with each step she took through Carlsbad Caverns, which still, all these years after my first trip, make me feel I’ve wandered into a surrealist painting.
And listening to my son’s triumphant shouts as he rocketed down the dunes of White Sands National Monument in a bowl-shaped sled ... those made the 15 hours of whining totally worth it.
My children may not remember all the many details of this trip, which we are taking with my parents. But they will, I hope, recall bits and pieces, enough to make them respond as adults to the lure of mountains, oceans and, yes, even deserts.
And then there’s the laughter.
Even though falling up the stairs of the space museum was a tad painful for me and the Eman, we couldn’t help but cackle over Hubs’ astonishment when he found his 5-year-old and his wife collapsed on a small staircase.
A few nights ago, Hubs woke up and saw what looked to be a large spider on the floor. He pointed his flashlight at the creature and surmised it was one of the E-man’s rubber tarantulas. Still, he felt enough uncertainty to declare, “I wasn’t about to touch it.”
Instead, he used his flip-flop to poke at it. Remember, this is the guy who once tried to chase off javelinas with a spatula.
Meanwhile, my father rolled over and saw a large insect leg at the foot of his bed. He, too, pulled out a flashlight, thinkingthat the big black squishy thing looked like a worm. Having just seen a giant centipede that afternoon, Dad was a little unnerved.
It turned out to be a leg belonging to one of the Eman’s toy tarantulas.
The little boy had used his time wisely before bedtime, planting his bugs and then scattering a few rocks where my dad sleeps.
And my little girl, loverof animals and nature, continues to revel in each day’s finds. Rocks, bugs, tadpoles, fish. All are equally fascinating.
Yesterday, we waded and swam in one of several creeks and ponds that are fed by waterfalls at Sitting Bull Falls National Recreation Area. We had to pry the kids from the water when the park closed.
But the most precious moment, my mother says, was when the pair came in one evening after spending an hour or so perched on theroof of our pickup.
“Nana, we saw the sun go down!” shouted the E-man.
And Tootie, also aglow, chimed in: “It went down right behind that mountain.”
I hope one day, long after they leave our cozy nest, that my children will seek their own mountains. Maybe they’ll climb them. Maybe they’ll take photos from a distance.
Regardless, I want them to feel that same thrill of that sunset.
If you’d like to see photos of our trip, visit arkie. littlerockmamas.com. And if you have special memories of family vacations, please email me your stories. I would love to hear them, and possibly share them with readers in a future column.
Cathy Frye, a news reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has two stepteens and two children, ages 5 and 7. Also a husband.
She and Cindy Murphy are coeditors of LittleRockMamas.com. E-mail her at
Family, Pages 31 on 06/30/2010