Vacation, Have To Get Away…

More to ponder about our summer vacation:

– Road trips are not out, because the price of gas is still cheaper than the price of 3 airline tickets to most destinations.

– Matter of fact, the road trip idea came up initially when Mike pointed out how much 3 tickets to Seattle would cost. Even though they have gone down in price this week, $900 for tickets alone? Ouch. That isn’t counting the hotel room once we arrived. Although the gas to go all the way to Seattle might just come close to that in price. (Mike’s brother lives in Seattle, along with our friend Mandy, but neither one of them lives in a place large enough for us to invade for a week. We would have to stay at a hotel.)

– Then we started to look to the East – the East coast is closer than the West coast. Smokey Mountains? Tennessee / North Carolina border? Washington D.C.? Philadelphia? Maybe a road trip all the way to Washington D.C. but hitting a few other places along the way? Mike might be willing to try to see if he could take all 3 weeks of his vacation time at once, but that is a lot of time in hotels unless we visit relatives for part of it.

– We went to Minnesota to visit with my relatives 2 years ago (although a very brief trip) and last year we went to Kentucky to see Mike’s parents. Of course, my parents live here so we see them often (it is just my extended family that is up north), but he doesn’t get to see his parents all the time – so maybe the Tennessee & North Carolina road trip with a circle through Kentucky plus a stop to see his Aunt Jan in Tennessee?

– Mike wants to see more of Minnesota & Wisconsin, plus he wants to see Chicago – maybe a road trip up North? However, North Dakota isn’t on the list. (Sorry, Mom.) I only have an aunt and a few cousins in N.D. that I want to see, and it is a long drive from the Twin Cities to Bismarck, N.D. to see just 3 or 4 people. (440 miles one way, according to Mapquest.) It probably is out this trip. There are a lot of relatives on both sides of my family in the Twin Cities area that I want to see.

– I found smok tfv4 vape tank to be a good replacement tank for my custom vape.

– At one point, we had said we would go to visit my family one year, his family one year, and then a “destination” one year, and this is the destination year according to that plan.

– We have already asked Jason where he wants to go. His response? Hawaii. Uhm, no. He liked the idea of Minnesota though, and said Philly or D.C. sounded good too.

– Maybe, instead of going quite so far, we should look into going to the Ozarks. I wouldn’t mind getting away from it all, and the things I have found on the internet regarding the Ozarks? Beautiful. It might be a good choice, and it is in a border state to Texas, so not quite so far to drive. (Still pretty damn far though – Texas is a big state.)

– However, most of the places we have come up with so far are somewhat touristy – Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, Colorado (nature + touristy), Philadelphia, New York, North Carolina, Washington DC … well, like I said, the list keeps getting longer, not shorter!

– Camping isn’t an option in Texas. I don’t deal with heat very well, and listening to me whine and moan about how I am melting? Not so fun. I can spend part of the day outside, but I am sleeping in air conditioning, mostly now, that the hvac myrtle beach repaired my AC. Mike and Jason both feel the same way. I am even thinking about contacting the Performance Based Heating & Air Sonora HVAC, to see if we can install some more conditioners up stairs.

– Screw it all. Maybe we should just rent a beach house in Galveston for a week and stay close to home. No driving. Minimal planning. Just a nice get-away. A break from day-to-day life.

– But really? I don’t want to stay close to home. If I could have it my way, I would go to Canada and visit a glacier. They still have glaciers in Canada, right? How fantastic would it be to just visit some ice for the summer?

– Which all brings me back to Seattle. I know, everyone says “it rains so much” – but it is wimpy rain, not like a Houston thunderstorm. And in the two times that I have been there, it didn’t rain at all – it was sunny the entire time. Plus, it was cool. Both the temps and the atmosphere.

Have I mentioned that I have a hard time making decisions? Especially when I just keep coming up with more ideas instead of narrowing down the list?

Oh, and all of it hinges on Mike’s possible business trip – to Europe. Because if he is going to Europe, and he has a hotel room already for his trip, we might just be able to tag along. And you are crazy if you think I am going to pass up a chance to go to Europe. I’ve always said I want to take Jason there, and it just might be possible if we have to only buy two tickets.

Last but not least, Mike’s parents might be looking at a transfer in the near future, and if they do, Mike wants to go back to Lexington again before they leave – which only makes sense, since they would be moving out of his childhood home, and he wouldn’t have a lot of reasons to return there after they go. So maybe we should consider the Tennessee – North Carolina – Kentucky road-trip a little bit more. Hmmmm…