I am incredibly fortunate ti have been able to travel to some really amazing places. I’ve been to Disneyland AND Disney World.  I’ve spent time in Key West, Houston, Galveston, Virginia Beach, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Atlantic City. I’ve seen the Grand Canyon. I visited the Oklahoma City bombing memorial. I’ve toured many, many places in Washington, D.C. I’ve taken family fishing trips to northern Minnesota. Internationally, I’ve been to Cancun and Cozumel, Mexico. I attended the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. I took a trip in high school to Geneva, Switzerland; Nice, France; Avignon, France; and Paris, France. I have visited Mumbai, India, twice; Delhi and Agra in India and the Taj Mahal once; and Dubai, UAE once. But I still have one dream vacation left to take.

Kathmandu, Nepal, and then somewhere to see Mt. Everest, maybe even trek to Base Camp.

In 2015, I traveled to India to visit my father who lived and worked there at the time. He had planned a trip for us to go to Nepal, tour Kathmandu, and spend time Nagarkot at a hotel in the Himalayas and be able to see Everest. But then there was a devastating earthquake which quashed my dreams, sending us instead to Dubai (which I adored, but it was not Nepal — my dream).

I started my dream of visiting Nepal and seeing Everest when I read the book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. I can remember reading that book and thinking two things at the exact same time:

1.) You must be incredibly stupid to want to climb Mt. Everest.

2.) It would be so cool to climb Mt. Everest!

I know I could never climb Everest, but I could see it. Maybe someday I will.