Welcome

"The world is only a book and those who do not travel only read one page" - St. Augustine

I believe this probably sums up how our feeling about traveling and why this blog has been created by us (Ashley and Andrea) as a virtual diary of our adventures big and small, past, present and future. 

We had discussed creating a version of the "Mudflap Girls" for quite some time; of course we decided that if we could not afford to produce, shoot and star in our own travel show (which included tasting and listing the best Margaritas in the world) this blog would be a good start (however, we will still have the Margarita list and tastings).....so here we are!!

Ashley and I each have our own personal stories of what, when and where we were bit by the "bug" and mine started with early memories of the family road trip each year to Greenfield, Missouri for the annual "Buffalo Days" celebration. Why Greenfield Missouri you ask?  Of course like all good mid-western families you have family that lives in some great old small town that has changed little in 50 years.  My maternal great grandparents lived in Greenfield and I loved going to see them and the "Buffalo Days" celebration every year. 

Later, there was the big family road trip to Washington D.C. hitting historical sites all along the way from Oklahoma City to D.C. and it was the grand learning experience  (mind you that in my family going to Gettysburg, Philadelphia, Smithsonian Museums, The U.S. Capital etc...is mixed with historical sites such as the Jack Daniels/Jim Beam Distillery and the R.J. Reynolds factory) the "American Experience" as I call it!

Finally, when I was 15 my mother was asked to teach as part of an exchange program with Oklahoma City University and Bunka Women's College in Tokyo, Japan; as a part of that trip we also went to Hong Kong and Bangkok, Thailand.  This was the first time I had been on a plane and from the moment it took off and thru the next 24 hours of planes and airports finally landing in Tokyo, I was hooked.  I don't think I slept the whole time!  It was this trip that opened my mind and challenged all my assumptions, perceptions and beliefs not only about the world but about myself. 

I believe that travel teaches us something about ourselves like nothing else can, it forces us to often see things outside what is shown by media and politics and most often forces us out of our own comfort zones, I usually learn something about myself, though not always something flattering. 

This blog is my virtual diary to these past adventures, what I can recall of them and to those adventures to come. 

"Like all great travelers I have seen more than I remember and remember more than I have seen"-Benjamin Disraeli


Andrea