I would have been with Stampin’ Up in Mexico for Cinco de Mayo this year except for a conflict with graduation weekend! That would have been fun. But at least I had a great reason to miss, right? It’s only the second incentive trip I’ve missed in 15 years of earning them, so that’s not too bad. But while I hated to miss seeing my fellow achieving demo friends and their spouses, I took the cashout option and I did get to do and see some really cool things with Michael as we flew down South to his commencement and a couple days of relaxing before the kids came home from college.
For legal reasons I must add a disclaimer here that my direct sales accomplishments are “not typical” and only about 1-2% of demonstrators earn the incentive trip in any given year.
Here’s the card I made to send to my team members who did get to attend. The fringe is made from pulling strands out of the new In Color ribbons, isn’t that fun?!
Mike left a custom cardboard standee to save his place in the graduation lineup back home. it’s been a hoot to see the pictures the students took with it, and now the faculty and staff have had way too much hilarity moving it around the buildings over the summer!
We flew in to the coast to say hello to the ocean, driving from Pensacola over to Gulf Shores for the night before heading north. I managed not to get a sunburn (miraculous!) and we had a lovely time wading and watching the entertaining sand pipers and a funny heron begging from the fishermen. Not much for shells here. Obligatory toes in the sand photo! It was so gorgeously warm!
Though we didn’t have much time, I always think any amount of time spent oceanside is time well spent! It’s just a completely different world and such a great reminder of the vastness and mystery of Creation.
We headed for Waffle House (I had pecan waffles, oh my!) and hit the lush green roads towards Montgomery and a great little bungalow AirBnB in the Five Points district, an eclectic blend of tiny post-war homes and businesses, a brand new high-rise apartment complex, and huge Victorian-era houses in more than a “genteel” state of decline. Some really great architecture downtown, too, and so many eras represented!
Montgomery is FULL of history everywhere you look. Mike is really into Civil Rights era so it was like having a tour guide everywhere we walked. We visited the extremely moving National Memorial for Peace and Justice, the Greyhound bus station, the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and MLK Jr parsonage, the Edmund Pettus bridge (just a short drive over to Selma), the first White House of the Confederacy, the telegraph building from which the order to fire on Fort Sumter was given, and the Alabama State Capitol building. It was all very interesting and I learned a ton, much of it heartbreaking.
To combat all the heavy stuff we saw and do something purely fun, we went to the Alabama Safari Park and had an absolute blast feeding giraffes and doing a behind the scenes sloth encounter (worth every cent!)
So there you go! Mike had to be back to work that Monday so we just flew home with our photos and memories of adorable sloths and some really great southern seafood. When we got home our kids were back and it was so good to see them and start our summer together.
The next Stampin’ Up incentive trip I am working towards is a Walt Disney World trip complete with five nights at the Grand Floridian! Doesn’t that sound like fun? Say, anybody need stamps?! Asking for a friend : )
