In our Winter 2007-2008 issue we ran a contest asking the question, "What was your most meaningful vacation?" Grand prize: A weeklong luxury train trip for two, courtesy of our partner GrandLuxe Rail Journeys. Here is the the winning essay by ELDR reader Barbara Feliciano, pictured here with her granddaughter Michelle, age 11, who rode the rails with her this spring.

"The most meaningful vacation that I ever experienced was on November 9, 1987, when for our Honeymoon my new husband took me on a journey to find my Dad. I was born in a small town in Tennessee and this is where we began our search. We found no record but the clerk told me to check with the Property Assessor, who turned out to be my Uncle. We had a very good relationship until his death Septemer 14, 2001, when he passed away, and the next year on September 14 my Daughter passed. I am now raising my granddaughter on only my retirement and it would be so wonderful to take her on this magnificient rail journey to give her a lifetime rememberance of a great vacation spent with her Grandmother."