gasp
We started traveling with our children when they were little and by the time each one was around 9 or 10, they really personified calm and collected world travelers.
And possibly a tiny bit jaded:
Once, at the start of a trip, the four of us watched a family of five struggle at security, as the children were wearing sneakers with laces, and the parents were struggling to untie their three little ones’ double-knotted laces and put the shoes in the plastic bins to go through the x-ray machine.
My then-8-year-old leaned over to me, rolled their eyes, and whispered in my ear “Amateurs.”
I promise they’re not totally cynical. But at a young age, they definitely know how to get through security quickly and efficiently.
They were 14 and 16 when we had our misadventures in Bali and neither of them complained or acted like a butthead, which is more than can be said of many of the adults around us. To this day, I remain proud and in awe of how calm they were that whole time.
While my children have always appreciated and enjoyed our travels, there were a couple of times that they were so in awe of what they saw that they actually gasped out loud.
The first time was in Paris in 2011. We went to see Sainte-Chapelle. None of us had been to Paris before and while we knew that the stained glass in the chapel was exquisite, we were not in any way prepared for the sublime beauty we encountered. Both of my children (ages 10 and 12) gasped audibly — and yes, we adults did too — and walked around the space absolutely entranced by what they were seeing.
The next memorable gasping moment was going to the Grand Canyon in 2013 when they were 12 and 14. Neither one of them particularly loves hiking but the state and national parks on this trip impressed both of them suitably.
As we approached Grand Canyon Village in our car, we were largely surrounded by a national forest until we reached the parking lot. Even then, we couldn’t really see the canyon itself until we were about 50’ from an overlook. The gasps at that moment were loud and both were stunned into uncharacteristic silence.
I wouldn’t say these moments are what parenthood is all about, but they sure make memories.
What places have you visited that have caused you to gasp?
Our family has visited and hiked in many of the natural parks- I think each and every one of them was gasp worthy for some reason- White Sands and Carlsbad Canyons in New Mexico, Crater Lake in Oregon, Joshua Tree and Death Valley in CA, Monument Valley, Arches and Zion and Moab Utah, and that’s just some of the west! But you are about to take one of the most jaw droppingly, gasp worthy trips in October! Tetons! Glacier! Yellowstone!
I gasped at the Eiffel tower - it being so ubiquitous on everything from keychains to stationery to kitchen towels, I didn’t think it would be a big deal to finally see it in person yet it was (literally). And I continued - first trip and the next two - to delight in peeping it down so many alleys and across parks all over Paris. ☺️