Crunch time coming. A week from tomorrow, we fly out to San Francisco for the family vacay before the RWA Conference. Cleaning and shopping abound. Until then, some pre-holiday reminiscing.

1. Calling seats in our 1976 Chevy Caprice Classic Estate station wagon. Just like this one, except ours was red and had a CB antenna on top. Baby Bro usually got the “way back” seat while sis and I fought over the back seat.
2. Winning my first Highland Dance trophy on my birthday at the Flora MacDonald Highland Games in Red Springs, NC–wearing a Clan Donald sept tartan, (MacDonell of Glengarry) natch!
3. Agog on the Rocky Mountaineer in British Columbia.
4. Shagging on Myrtle Beach in college. The South Carolina state dance, not the British version.
5. Family photo op at Niagara Falls, the Canadian side.
6. Waking up to a Blue Ridge sunrise at Daddy’s house in Highlands, NC.
7. Stealing a rollaway bed in Reno with Bubbles.
8. Romantic getaway in a French Quarter B&B with DH. We had a tw0-story cottage that was the converted slave quarters of a Burgundy Street house. Vacation complete with beignets, of course, and finished-with-a-hubcap burgers at the Clover Grill.
9. Colonial Williamsburg, Carter’s Grove, Shirley, and Berkley the summer before the American Bicentennial. And visiting Monticello, home of my favorite U.S. President.
10. Real Florida–our family’s farm in Levy County. Horses, pigs, chickens, cows, turkeys. Dirt, fishing, and plenty of sunshine. No heat or AC. Water fun in a #3 galvanized washtub. Horseback riding all through the hammock. Disney has nothing on our magic kingdom.