Featured Article:

This article originally appeared in the January 2002 issue of Welcome Home.

Winter Escapes for Moms

by Deborah Baker

A few years ago, when I was about halfway through my second Pacific Northwest winter, I realized I needed a warm, sunny vacation. My husband was working long hours and commuting, I had a baby and a four-year-old, and the rainy, gray skies were finally getting to me. Steve and I talked it over and decided to look into vacation spots, but after some Internet browsing, we quickly realized that a warm vacation in winter was not going to fit into our one-income budget. I tried to remain upbeat, even as I watched many of our friends venture off to all sorts of exotic places and return tan and recharged. We took a short vacation nearby, which was fun and helped a little. But with winter lingering, I knew I needed something more once we got back to our routine.

With the wisdom of a four-year-old, my son suggested I look for some books about sunny places at the library. A few years before I had read some of Peter Mayle’s books about life in Provence, so I decided to look for something along those lines. I really didn’t want to drool over other people’s vacations, nor read travel guides to places which were currently out of reach. So instead, I began to read about people who had done something which seemed impossible, and interesting to hear about--they chucked their ordinary lives and moved to an entirely new place in another country, just as Mayle described in his stories.

After a few winters, I am happy to report that my attitude toward vacationing someplace warm has changed altogether. Although I certainly wouldn’t turn down a winter getaway, I have created my own “mom at home winter escape” through books. While still in Washington, I looked forward to rainy evenings, and now in New Hampshire, I look forward to cozy nights near the woodstove. Every year, I find more and more books in my chosen winter getaway genre. As I share the best bits with my husband, he and I dream together of possibly trying to live in another country one day as well. But the dream is daunting enough that for now, I am content to relegate it to fantasy, and not have to deal with the reality of culture shock, miscommunication in a foreign language and homesickness. Instead, I laugh, learn about new places and feel much better about my comfortable life right here at home.

Tracking down books about people living abroad has been fun and interesting as well. I have found several at my library and have purchased some at used bookshops and web sites. I find reviews in the newspaper, get suggestions from friends and family, and browse the library’s shelves and “new book” displays at the local bookstore. Some of my favorite titles have related videos. Several include recipes, which I enjoy trying, and sometimes I am inspired to look for music from a place I’m reading about. Because I know I’ll most appreciate the vicarious getaway in winter, I try to wait and read new books after the holidays.

The whole family has benefited from my new tradition. Surely no one enjoyed having a grumpy winter mom before I learned to have my getaway right from home. My children have become interested in my “winter travels” as I share information or recipes from the countries I read about. We look up places on maps and atlases, cook together or listen to music from different countries. Two years ago, we all decided to learn French, which we are doing slowly but surely. My son proposed this year that we choose a different country each month, read about it and look it up together, and then have a family party at the end of the month, with a meal from the country we’re learning about, music or a video describing it. We’ve also taken a new approach to enjoying the areas near our home, ever since that first “nearby” vacation in Washington. Wherever we live, we try to visit the places that people from out of state come to see, and have enjoyed many mini-vacations, which have been affordable, fun and interesting.

Most of all, I feel good that I have beat my “winter blahs” inexpensively and without envying other people’s vacations. I hope someday that we can travel more, perhaps even visiting some of the places I read about, but in the meantime, I am grateful to the people who are living adventurously and writing about it for the rest of us. I also enjoy the perspective on home I get from reading these books--no place is perfect, but everyplace is interesting in some way, and home is what you make of it. Most of all, I am so glad to be making my home with my children, learning and living together while they are young.

Some web sites to help you locate winter escape books:

www.powells.com. Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, has an award winning web site and helpful staff. They sell new and used books and offer many search options as well as frequent sales.

www.nytimes.com/pages/books/. The New York Times book section, including links to the Sunday Book Review. A wonderful place to read reviews.

http://travel.discovery.com/. The Travel Channel’s home page, with links to the Discovery Store (which has a travel and adventure book section) and articles, which may help you choose a “destination” for your armchair travels.

Books to Escape with:

A Year In Provence by Peter Mayle. Mayle chucked an advertising career in England to live in the south of France. Mayle was a pioneer of this genre of travel writing. (Also look for other titles about his life in Provence and fiction set in exotic locations).

O Come Ye Back to Ireland: Our First Year in County Clare, by Niall Williams and Christine Breen. The first in their series of books about moving from New York to a small cottage in County Clare, and I heartily recommend them all.

Notes from a Small Island and I’m a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson. I became hooked on Bryson’s sometimes biting humor. Notes from a Small Island describes his farewell tour of England, where he’d lived for many years, and I’m a Stranger Here Myself is a very funny book about his first year after moving his family back to the United States.

Under the Tuscan Sun, Bella Tuscany and In Tuscany by Frances Mayes. Mayes lives in Tuscany as well as San Francisco, and she tells how this came about and includes recipes in her books. She describes her own home and village, many historic places in Tuscany and beyond, and reflects here and there on her childhood, her family, and her love of writing, gardening and cooking.

Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalusia by Chris Stewart. Stewart “roughs it”in his new Spanish home, which he shares with his wife and young daughter. He describes their process of becoming a part of the neighborhood among other expatriates as well as Spanish friends.