Today is the first day of Fall. Summer 2014 is officially over. I'm so sad to see it go, but man, it was one for the books! We had so many amazing travel opportunities and took more trips this summer than we ever have. (We typically prefer to travel during the off-season to avoid crowds and save money, so we rarely travel during the summer months.) But this summer was jam-packed with repeatedly packing our suitcases, sitting on airplanes, and outdoor activities in multiple states. It flew by, but it was awesome.
A couple weeks ago, Veronika posted a picture of her souvenirs of summer and I knew I had to copy the idea since it fits in perfectly with my Collections series. You really should just go read her post because she perfectly sums up my own desire to hoard travel ephemera and various pieces of useless crap that I collect as I go. I've mostly trained myself to accept that photos are the best souvenirs (they're free and don't take up space), but I still end up with tens of thousands of digital pictures that I can't seem to sort through. And even though I've learned to limit myself when buying souvenirs (I usually only allow myself to spend money on postcards and Christmas ornaments), I return from every vacation with a pile of maps, receipts, lists, tickets, brochures, and boarding passes. Most of it is garbage, but I just can't seem to throw away my memories!
Anyway, I thought Veronika's idea to photograph her collection of souvenirs was genius and would allow me to document the stuff I collected and then get rid of the useless bits of paper that clutter up my house. So here is the story of my summer, as told by the crap I collected along the way...
1 Park Maps - Mount Evans, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Acadia
2 Toiletries Kit provided by United Airlines after losing our luggage
3 Map of Jackson, WY
4 DC VegFest Program
5 Bison Sketchbook purchased at the Jackson Airport
6 Bike Maps
7 Trail Map - Cascade Canyon, Grand Teton National Park
8 Bear Warning Flyer - Grand Teton National Park (we carried bear spray on our WY hikes)
9 Books - I discovered I can buy paperbacks at the library, 3 for $1
10 National Parks Annual Pass - The best $80 we spend each year
11 Balsam Pillow - Acadia National Park (Smells like my Nana's house!)
12 SD Cards with 25 GB of digital photos
13 Bottle Cap - Moxie soda from ME
14 Museum Tickets - Museum of Natural History butterfly pavilion and Lemurs 3D IMAX movie
15 Concert Tickets - John Eddie at The Stone Pony, NJ
16 Flip Flops - Purchased at Jackson, WY Kmart after airline lost our luggage
17 Boarding Passes - Flew on 8 flights, but booked on twice as many due to delays/cancellations
18 Belvoir Farms Lemonade Label - my favorite non-alcoholic summer beverage
19 Vegetables from Bull Run Mountain Farm CSA
20 List of things to look forward to in Fall
21 Reasons This Summer Was Awesome (Notepads available in my shop.)
22 Camelbak Water Bottle for my new bike
23 Business Card - Little Notch Bakery, Southwest Harbor, ME
24 Map Pins to track our summer travels on our travel map
25 Sailboat Christmas Ornament from Acadia National Park
26 Coaster - Bluejacket Brewery, DC
27 Moose Sticker from WY
28 Bike Taillight
29 Matches from Matchbox Chinatown, where we celebrated our 11th anniversary (and first date)
30 Cork from a bottle of Carnivor Cabernet Sauvignon, which we drank at our cabin in ME
31 Beach Badges from Belmar, NJ
32 Brochures - Clyfford Still Museum, Denver Art Museum, Chihuly at Denver Botanic Gardens
33 Headlamp for dark nights in campgrounds and cabins
34 Packing Lists
35 Homemade Salsa and Pesto - The freezer is full!
36 Parking Pass - Acadia National Park
37 Hike Sticker - I think this came with a pair of shoes
38 List of things to do in Denver, written on hotel stationery
39 Trail List - Grand Teton National Park
40 Vehicle Pass - Mount Evans, CO
41 Bobo's Oat Bar - our favorite trail snack
42 List - 2 pages of bike research. My bike was the best "souvenir", but it wouldn't fit in the photo.
43 Postcards for my travel journal
And maybe someday (is the year 2020 a reasonable goal?), I'll find the time to sort through my vacation photos from 2014 and blog about our amazing summer trips to Colorado, Wyoming, and Maine...
2 comments:
Love this. Ephemera hoarders of the world unite!
Yay! There is something so satisfying about looking at a photo of all your souvenirs laid out -- it's sort of like a scrapbook page without all the weird stamps, stickers and borders. I get the same nostalgic happiness looking at the photo of my crap as I do if I had actually kept all my junk. I think it would be cool to do this for maybe every trip or maybe every month, then make a tiny book or magazine out of them.
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