Seeking Charm in Moose Country

Today is the day for post-vacation tasks: unpacking and laundry, grocery shopping, sorting the mail, returning the rental car, and putting my new charm on my charm bracelet.

I started my charm bracelet long ago on a vacation with my family when I was a kid. I should go through old photos and find out the dates that go with the charms because when I got them then, I was more interested in adding another charm than I was with the historical significance of the places we visited. Now they all run together and if I didn't have a charm on the chain, I may not even remember I'd been there at all.

There were a lot of years in between that I forgot about my bracelet and didn't collect any charms. I wish I had. Golly, we've been to London! I'd have a silver Big Ben, no doubt. I started up again when Jason and I took the kids to see Mount Rushmore. After seeing a tiny silver replica of the mountain face in the souvenir shop, I remembered my bracelet and started collecting once again. I have charms from places that include Niagara Falls, Williamsburg, Mackinac Island, Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, New York, Montreal, and The Alamo. Maybe that last one doesn't count. Or maybe it counts extra. When I went to The Alamo in seventh grade, I bought a charm but lost it before I even got home. So a few years ago when my sister went to San Antonio for a business trip, I asked her to pick up another charm for me. Now if dangles with the rest as if it were supposed to be there.

Last year when we went to Moab and Arches National Park, I added an arch, a very specific charm I wanted and searched in about six shops to find. This trip I wanted a moose because we were in moose country near the Canadian border and had to watch out for them on the road like we do for deer here at home. Fortunately we didn't hit any moose but the first shop I looked in had the charm.

The moose pretty much filled up my bracelet. Either I need a new bracelet or I need to stop traveling.

This year was so nice up in Ely (and everywhere else we went) I'm thinking I just better go right out and get myself another chain.