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Living Souvenirs

March 21st, 2012

I’m not much of one to collect things from my travels as I don’t like to keep a lot of stuff around the house. We do buy patches at the National Parks and I’m finally amassing enough of those for a quilt for the Tiny Trailer. If I find a great handmade item I’ll buy that, when we were in Seattle I found a beautiful birds eye maple spatula. Generally I prefer to buy a plant when I’m out traveling, if I can find a good one.


While traveling through Florida a few weeks ago, we passed tons of little greenhouses. If we weren’t going to be on the road for 2 weeks I would have purchased a palm tree or something, but that wasn’t really feasible with our car packed to the roof with equipment. When we stopped at Naples Botanical Garden they were having a plant sale. I debated for a while but finally settles on this beautiful kalanchoe ‘Fantastic’.


This plant will be added to my living souvenir collection, which already contains plants from a few other trips, including the lemon and lime trees from my visit to Monticello a few years ago.

What kinds of items do you like to bring home as a reminder of your travels?

14 Comments to “Living Souvenirs”
  1. Jennifer Fisk on March 21, 2012 at 7:06 am

    Last March, I traveled to AZ to visit my son and being my first trip to cactus country, I was enthralled by them especially the Saguaro. My daughter in law sent a baby Saguaro home with me. I don’t think it is too thrilled with life in Maine as it doesn’t seem to have grown in a year and really looks unhappy. Sigh!

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  2. Victoria on March 21, 2012 at 7:24 am

    A palm tree sounds fun :) difficult but fun! What a great idea – garden souvenirs. I typically bring home something to cook with and am compelled to bring home a coffee mug…but never really considered something for the garden. We’ll be traveling to Ohio to visit family soon, and now I’ll have to see if there are souvenirs in their garden!

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  3. K.B. on March 21, 2012 at 7:41 am

    I tend to stick with Christmas ornaments – small, inexpensive, and a great way to remember my travels every year when I’m decorating the tree! But I do have to admit, like Victoria, I’m often swayed by coffee mugs :)

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  4. Vonnie on March 21, 2012 at 7:52 am

    Like you I don’t like to much stuff around the house and when I lived in the UK and travelled a lot, I used to bring home either an art print/photo, plants or garden pots (depending on whether travel was by air or road). It does however, mean that each time you move (jnternationally) you leave a lot of your keepsakes behind….but I guess that they are part of that moment in time and should stay where they are as you move forward : )

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  5. Terry on March 21, 2012 at 7:55 am

    I have one of those and it bloomed this year! I have never really known the name, it was marked “desert rose” when I got it.

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  6. Heather on March 21, 2012 at 8:15 am

    Plants are a great idea for a souvenir! We usually pick up a piece of art (flat, easy to pack or ship) or some handmade jewelry (again, easy to pack and I get tons of use out of it).

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  7. Pat on March 21, 2012 at 9:44 am

    I may be kind of odd, but when we travel by car, I pick up rocks on our travels. We’ve added these, as time goes by, to our pathways in the gardens and front walkway. We have granite from the west, red sandstone from New Mexico, and many others. Each time I walk by them, I recall the scenery and good times from our trips.
    But now that you mention it, I need to start picking up some plants, too. What a great idea!

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  8. Lori on March 21, 2012 at 9:59 am

    I have thought about building a couple of terrariums to remind me of the special places in my life. I am a native Texan living in Colorado and I get really homesick at times. I think the next time I go down for a visit, I am going to collect some rocks, sticks, etc. (especially from my Grandparents place) and build a little terrarium so I always have a little piece of Texas (and my roots) with me.

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  9. Sincerely, Emily on March 21, 2012 at 10:26 am

    I already have SO much stuff around the house and I don’t pick up something from everywhere I travel anymore, but it really depends on where I am going. I have many things from travels that I am glad I brought home. From New Zealand – sheep skin rug. Many things from Kenya that were given to us when we moved back to the states. each of the guys we worked with gave us something from their tribe, that was so special, but also things we bought while there. I have collected patches also! In fact, last night I just went through the box! I always thought I would put them on a sweatshirt, I like your idea of a quilt. One day I will figure it out, until then, they are safely tucked in a shoe box. It certainly was fun looking through them again. I had forgotten how neat some of them were.

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  10. Rick on March 21, 2012 at 12:00 pm

    Great idea, when we travel we try to find a Christmas tree decoration that goes along with our trip. That way we can remember the fun we had every year when we decorate the tree!!

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  11. Augustus on March 21, 2012 at 2:52 pm

    When my son was young we did not have a lot of money. I suggested buying a pencil when we went places. He had over a dozen at one time, then my brother sharpened them.

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  12. alison@thisbloominglife on March 21, 2012 at 4:19 pm

    We always end up in second hand stores and buy old crockery. The kalanchoe is great, they are really easy to propagate, just pull off a leaf and pop it in some soil. I grow mine outside but we don’t have snow here!

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  13. KimH on March 21, 2012 at 8:17 pm

    I tend to get long sleeve Harley dealer shirts when we go somewhere, and usually theres a Harley dealership around somewhere.. If not, I’ll get a shot glass occasionally.. I have rarely use any of them, except to hold thumb-tacks & the like, but they’re fun to look at anyways. ;)

    When I go home to Texas, I’ll get Hoodies or tee shirts with A&M, Longhorns, or some other Texas logo.. its a must. ;)
    You can take the girl outta Texas, but you’ll never take the Texas outta the girl. ;)

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  14. Kathi Cook on March 22, 2012 at 6:43 am

    I love to visit privately owned local bookstores when I travel (as they are becoming more difficult to find). It gives me a flavor of the area I am visiting and something to read on the trip. I also enjoy buying practical things I was going to buy anyway ie kitchen utensils etc. at nice kitchen stores. Plants are a good idea but wouldn’t work for flying. Seeds are a fun souvenir.

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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