travel with my daughter

I think I can say I’ve completed this goal and that there isn’t any risk that I will stop doing this.

And she’s planning and taking her own trips. Sometimes I think I’ll explode with pride; I think she’s a spectacular human being.

My wish for her now is that she’ll get the travel bug hard and deep. I am going to make every effort to push her off this continent many times over the next few years.

Here in the U.S. it is too easy to develop a narrow view of the world. We are excessively priviledged and shiny-new. I want her to see the good, the bad and the ugly… and gain a rounded and global perspective.

I think world travel encourages both empathy and awe, two really fabulous attributes that I find in the people I most admire.

We rush to Yank Sing upon arrival for our dim sum fix. We get up early to be among the first in line for breakfast at Dottie’s True Blue Cafe. We argue over which song should be playing when we first cross the Bay Bridge into SF. We listen to each other’s ipods on the drive there from Santa Monica. We introduce each other to new and old friends who live there.

Oh I love you so, little girl. You’ll always be my little girl.

Last year my darling girl and I spent a week in the highlands of Chiapas… San Cristobal de las Casas. I wanted her to see it before it is forever changed, and it’s already so different since I was there last.

This August, a week up the coast of California, including another visit to our beloved San Francisco (our third trip there!).

When Adrienne was 7, I packed her suitcase and drove her to the airport without telling her where we were going. We flew to San Francisco for a long weekend, spent an afternoon at the Exploratoreum, enjoyed high tea, strolled through Golden Gate Park, munched on dim sum at Yank Sing… She’s never forgotten it, and neither will I.