What is your dream vacation? What is that vacation you think about and investigate over the years? Patagonia is one of mine. I was looking over a few of my guide books and I have a copy of Brandt’s “Backpacking in Chile and Argentina” copyright 1991. I must of bought it in the early ’90s and dreamed of going to Chile. I don’t remember what drew me to Patagonia. Who knows. But it has been a dream for years to visit.

I do remember listening to Sting’s song “They Dance Alone” which is song about the missing in Argentina and then later hearing about the first democratic election in Chile. I thought about how the countries were changing and moving from the dictatorships to democracy. I do remember thinking when they held the first election that soon it would be possible to visit. Now Chile has stabilized and is an important trading partner with US.

Here it is just over a week before I will be living one of my dreams. Traveling to Chile and seeing the natural wonder of the country from the desert to the rainforest to the ice fields.

The past week we have been do a few last minute items. We bought a few new pieces of clothes. It is great having an Ex Officio outlet her in Seattle. We have been doing a lot of studying of the areas we will be visiting. We found a new travel guide at REI. “Chile Experience”. It is great.

I noticed that we didn’t have seats on the LanChile flights so I called our travel agent and got some seats. We made certain we were on the Andes side so we have the best view.

Of course, there is a certain level of panic. I hate leaving our cats. We have someone stopping by but no housesitter. Hubby’s backyard nursery is always at risk since we can have freezing or snow anytime. There are years when there is no snow and it is warm and then other years it can be snowy and freezing. But it serves no purpose to worry.

It will be interesting to see what lives up to our impressions. Vacation is always a three part journey; the planning and anticipation, the experience and the memories. The actual experience of the vacation is always the shortest of the parts. Memories is what keeps us traveling. Those experiences that you can draw upon at times to bring joy or strength to the day-to-day life.