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January 22, 2020 Visiting the past

PROMPT January 22nd ▼

Your bags are packed. You have unlimited funds and resources to travel anywhere you want. Where do you go, who do you bring with you, and why?

A few years ago, I would have jumped at the chance to travel anywhere in the world. Though I'm not interested in being a tourist. I want to explore. Admittedly, my body now has difficulty keeping up with my mind but I would still like to give it a try.

I would love to walk among the ruins of Machu Picchu, dance the circle at Stone Henge, hike the Highlands of Scotland, lean against a pillar at the Parthenon. I could go on and on.

My traveling companions these days are my son and his family. My husband is happy to sit on our boat in Baja, he doesn't want to go anywhere else. Which is fine, since his heart surgery a few years ago, he has slowed down so much, he can't keep up and he has no problem with me leaving him behind. As long as I can still go, I will.

Seeing new places through the eyes of my grandchildren is an extra bonus. Our next trip is planned and it won't cost much. We are going to visit a Japanese internment camp, Manzanar. My friend who died 2 years ago, was born there. I always thought it would be interesting to see, but since his death, I've wanted to make it a sort of pilgrimage. His family had an apple ranch here in northern California when they were relocated to Manzanar. They didn't lose their ranch while they were gone, local farmers pitched in and worked the ranch to keep up with maintenance costs until they returned. Jerry, grew up on his family's ranch after the war. It eventually became his and he died there. Once he mentioned he wanted to go back and see the place of his birth. I don't think he ever did, so I will do it for him.

crumbled walls
of abandoned barracks at Manzanar
blight our history
                   ~~jvg