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Celebrate life with Nancy, the adventurous mom
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Nancy, still adventurous after all these years!
For every woman with wanderlust, there’s a mom who introduced her to travel, fun, and adventure. My mom is one of them. Nancy Fawcett Knapp somehow found the time, energy, and money (which was not easy to come by back in the 60s and 70s) to make sure I grew up knowing how to enjoy life.
One of seven children, Nancy grew up during the Depression and WWII years in rural Michigan. Precocious and imaginative, this little girl was no stranger to hardship. She recalls Christmases when getting a fresh orange in her stocking was a big treat. When her mother made their clothing out of flour sacks. And when the biggest trip any of them took was to Ohio every summer to visit the grandparents.
But Nancy and every one of her siblings—Jack, Betty, Peggy, Patsy, Sally, and Susie—loved to travel when they grew up and had their own families.
- Jack and wife Shirley have travelled around the globe, and still recall with remarkable clarity the friends they made along the way, the adventures they had, and the meals they enjoyed.
- Betty and husband Ed were members of the elite Nomads club for many years—along with many other family members—and enjoyed travels both far and wide.
- Peggy and husband George loved Florida, the Chesapeake Bay area, as well as the southern regions of the country.
- Patsy and husband Clare—who had seven kids of their own—bundled up the family into a big blue motor home and always seemed to be on the road to someplace new.
- Sally and husband John, who spent 35 years in Alaska, frequently took their kids on camping trips to see the natural wonders of that great state—and flew home to Michigan to visit as well.
- And Susie and husband Frank found a little permanent vacation home of their own on Drummond Island, a gorgeous spot off the east coast of northern Michigan.
As a hard-working single mom for several years, Nancy was always planning our next outing. I remember trips to Sarnia, Canada—out of the country!—where we’d stay in a hotel with a swimming pool. We’d go visit my dad’s relatives in Phoenix, Arizona, and my first sight of the barren desert and the huge cacti. We’d go to Florida to see the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral and the mermaids in Weeki Wachee.
We went to Hawaii when I was 11. I’ll never forgot my first steps off the airplane, a fresh orchid lei being placed around my neck along and hearing a friendly “Aloha,” or gingerly stepping through the lava trail of the active volcano Kilauea on the Big Island.
And later, as a teenager, we’d take long RV trips with my stepdad to places like Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, Jackson Hole, and Mt. Rushmore.
My mom could make even ordinary trips seem like adventures, though. Sometimes we’d spend an entire Saturday going to yard sales hunting for treasures. Once we glimpsed a pink castle as we rode around miles out of town—and then took many more trips to try and find it again.
We’d drive “up north” in Michigan and visit all the tourist spots—like the self-proclaimed "world-famous Mystery Spot” in Saint Ignace; Hartwick Pines State Park in Grayling, one of the largest stands of virgin forest in the Midwest; and dozens of little souvenir shops where I looked for rocks for my collection.
Now turning 82 on November 8 and bravely battling ovarian cancer, my mom still inspires me and nurtures my adventurous streak. Learn to ride a Harley? No problem—she’s proud of me and wears a Harley Chick doo-rag to prove it. Take a 1200-mile trip all by myself? Just be careful, she tells me. And we’re still traveling together. Jamaica, Alaska, she’s still up for it. And I’m so glad she’s my mother. I’m sure I wouldn’t be nearly as adventurous without her.
Happy Birthday, Mom!
Tip: Don’t waste time—call your mom today and tell her how much you love her. Take her on your next trip. And be sure to encourage your daughters, your nieces, your granddaughters to venture out whenever they can.
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