#3, #9, #16

Last night my Dad's uncle & aunt came to visit. During their visit they talked about the vacations they've taken to Egypt, some countries surrounding Egypt, and their trip to Canada. I have been to Vancouver, but did learn about various Canadian cities and several interesting facts about Egypt especially that I was unaware of. It felt like I was indirectly visiting those places as they were talking about them. Visiting with them also made me more aware of some experiences that a few of my ancestors had before they came to this country.

I made some Canadian friends, through playing some online fantasy sports games in recent years, and have enjoyed visiting with them about Canadian history from time to time since then. It's been interesting to gain a more in-depth understanding about the historical significance of the Canadian holidays and events that take place each year up north. A portion of my Dad's LDS mission was in Canada and I always enjoyed talking to him about that even though I didn't quite understand it, or have the attention span yet to fully appreciate it, at a young age. My Dad has a Canadian flag that he'd fly on a flagpole outside every once in awhile as I grew up. I think that definitely helped me to have more of a respect for the different countries in the world.

I have some very good memories of family vacations to various places growing up and we've continued to have great family vacations in recent years as well. I've enjoyed reading my friends' blog posts about the interesting places they've been that I haven't seen which has made me more interested to be able to visit those places as well. I recently watched a documentary on the History Channel about why the states have the specific shape that they do which was fascinating to me as well.

I appreciate having parents that have made an effort to take Sheila & I on several "field trips" to see more of the world that we were studying in school. During the summer after I graduated high school I went on a family vacation to Hawaii. Having just taken a high school history class certainly did assist my understanding of the U.S. historical events that occurred in Hawaii, such as Pearl Harbor, and made it a much more memorable vacation. One of my favorite college classes was my Intro. to Religion class as I enjoyed the opportunity to study more about the religious or cultural history of several countries. I do appreciate the knowledge that I've been able to gain about the world around me starting at a very young age and the enjoyment from learning more about history that I've had in my life so far.