Gratitude Challenge Day 11:
What is your favorite place, and why?
I like a lot of places, and this question could be answered a million ways. Of course, MY HOME with my family is very, very high on the list.
But I have to go with the answer that came to mind instantly. It’s the place that, when someone says, “What’s your happy place?” I think of right away.
For me, that place is Panama City Beach, Florida.
Specifically, the family owned hotel that we always stay at, and that my parents first went to back in the 70’s. I have been there probably…. at least 10 times in my life? Maybe 15.
We don’t go every single year, but my family went there a bunch of times as a kid, Ivan and I went once alone for a getaway when the boys were little, and now we have been there at least 4-5 times I’d say with our boys (and my parents).
I absolutely LOVE it there. We all do! It is not a big, fancy resort. It’s tucked down at the quiet end of the “beach” strip, and it’s just easy. It’s casual, relaxed and feels like home.
Generally we go in August, when the Gulf of Mexico water is like bath water and the days are HOT. It feels so wonderful.
But, it’s tricky, because we like to travel other places, too! It’s a constant struggle to decide if we should go back to PCB, as it’s called, or travel to one of the many other destinations we’d like to explore with the boys before they leave home.
We don’t have an “up north” cabin or lake house or anything like that (like many people around here do), but this place in Panama City Beach is the one place our family goes back to again and again. I have the BEST memories from here, and the boys do too. They absolutely love going here!
So there you have it. My favorite place in the world.
What’s yours?
GRATEFUL KAE 
Ooh I love this! This kind of quieter more relaxed resort sounds perfect.
Hmm… for me, home would also be very close to the top of the list (and how lucky to be able to say that?!). It is just my sanctuary and safe space.
My other favourite place would be our caravan. Our home from home. A lot of the benefits of home, plus a sea view. The sea is such a passion of mine!
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When I saw your name pop up, but before I had read your comment, I thought, “Ooh, I bet for her it’s her caravan!!” 🙂
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Hehe!! 😀
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That looks lovely.
My favourite place in the world is definitely my parents home/cottage on the lake. I have been there every single summer of my life (and now my kids have too). It is one of the happiest places on earth for our family. Boating, sunsets, fishing, swimming, roasting marshmallows over a bonfire on the beach…It started out as a summer cottage and when my parents retired they retrofitted it to be a year-round dwelling. We sometimes go in the winter, too, but the summer is my favourite time to visit. Our goal is to be able to purchase this from my parents one day so we can keep the property in our family once my parents have to move (it is VERY remote at the end of a LONG driveway through the woods…not exactly ideal for seniors).
My other favourite spot – Paris. It’s just so magical and I love art and Parisian cafes and…so many things about the city.
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Mine is Santa Barbara! I grew up there, and between the beaches and mountains plus childhood nostalgia it makes me happy. My parents don’t live there anymore and we live in Colorado, but I always love visiting friends.
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I’m kind of jealous that you have a family vacation place that you can always go to. I don’t have one as we keep moving around. I wonder if we will ever find a place that we want to go back regularly. 😉 my favorite place in the world is probably home, wherever it is.
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I remember when you guys went there, I think during spring break of the pandemic? Instead of your Europe trip? It’s all blending together and I’m having a hard time getting 2020 and 2021 apart sometimes! 😉 That place sounds just perfect to me. We have gone to the gulf coast twice in late winter/early spring with my parents and had the best time. This place sounds perfect for us but i bet it’s hard to get to via flight… I wanted to check out the panhandle of FL but found that we’d need a connection to get to that area and I’m a hard pass on connections… and a hard pass on driving because our kids are at horrible ages for driving! This year we are going to Tucson for a winter getaway, barring one of us getting covid… fingers crossed we can take that trip! I need to get out of the cold! With time, I would like to find a spot for us in FL along the gulf coast that we return to every year. It’s nice to go back to a place that you know and love. I used to love doing research for trips but in this stage of life, I want/need something very easy. We liked 1 of the 2 places we went to better (Long Boat Key) but it was kind of a long drive from the Tampa airport so next time around I think I’d like to try a place by Fort Myers. For me, I want to be on the beach and have pretty easy access to restaurants so we can walk places and avoid the car as much as possible!
As far as my happy place, besides our home it’s kind of my parents, but only if it’s just us and my parents up there… which sounds terribly anti-social but it’s really overwhelming when there are so many people up there and then we have to share a room with Will which has not gone well the last several times we’ve been up there. My other happy place is the walking trails along the creek and lake that we live by. It’s so beautiful and I just feel calmer when I’m walking or running along water!
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