I’m back :) I got in yesterday around 5:30 PM and barely had time to take a shower (which was badly needed- my last was Tuesday morning!) before heading over to have St. Patrick’s Day dinner with my kids and ex.
Overall I had a great trip. By leaving on Friday the 8th I managed to completely miss the snow that Denver got later that night and into Saturday. I did have some cool weather and some rain for the first couple of days, but that was while I was staying with my friend in Dallas so it wasn’t a problem. The rest of the week was sunny and warm- a bit too warm for me at times (Saturday afternoon, while in north Texas, my car thermometer reached 90 degrees F/ 32 C. In mid-March!). Big Thicket was an interesting park- not the most scenic I’ve ever been to, but the biological diversity was very impressive. I would consider this to be a scouting trip, giving me plenty of ideas for the next time I head down there.
This was also a vacation with a lot of driving, as you can see from the attached photo. Those are miles, of course ;) That’s 4600 km in 9 days!
BTW, the “right-side” quote as I write this entry is perfect for this goal:
“Life is an adventure to be lived, not a problem to be solved.”
- John Keats 2 months ago
Things were pretty up in the air for this year’s vacations until very recently, but since I finally got a car that I think I’ll be able to trust on long drives some plans are starting to fall into place.
Tomorrow afternoon or Saturday morning I’ll be heading out on my first trip of the year. I know that some people think I’m always on vacation :P but it’s actually been five months since my last one. This time I’m heading to east Texas to do the trip I had planned a couple years ago but had to postpone. I’m spending two or three days in Dallas, visiting a friend (a former 43er) who I haven’t seen in a while. From there I’m driving a couple hours farther southeast to Big Thicket National Preserve, a national park unit (but not a full national park, so it won’t count towards this goal) that I’ve never visited before.
I had my next week scheduled for early May in case Dan & Tom were coming back out for another Utah trip, but that’s not going to happen this year- Dan’s wife isn’t too healthy right now and Tom just went back to work after three months off due to a shoulder injury and surgery. So I think I’m going to change that one to November or December and see if Death Valley Mark can do another desert trip.
At the beginning of June I’m planning on taking my daughter and driving back to Indiana to see my family. I saw three of my four siblings out here last year but I haven’t been back “home” since Mom’s funeral in November of 2010.
In August I’m taking another week with my daughter. I’d like to drive out to Washington state to see my best friend- he moved there a couple years ago and I still haven’t been out to see him. But with the way that gas has been skyrocketing again (it’s gone up a dollar a gallon here in the last two months!) I may not be able to afford that long drive. If not, at least by living in Colorado it’s easy to get to someplace scenic with a short drive.
And finally, I have a week scheduled at the beginning of October. I’m hoping to talk my sister into biking the Katy Trail in Missouri, which I put into my “I’ve given up” goals several years ago- not because I really gave up on it, but just because I needed the room and didn’t have anything planned in the near future. If that doesn’t work out, it’s my favorite time of the year to take a vacation and the weather’s reasonable almost anywhere in the country then.
So, lots of fun places to look forward to again this year! It will be interesting to see how these plans actually turn out. 2 months ago
I am planning two fabulous trips with my boys this summer. An end of school treat to NYC to see spiderman and then a week at the beach where hopefully I’ll be wearing my bikini :) 4 months ago
This is a New Year’s Resolution of mine. I really want my husband and I (maybe with our son) to have a one-week vacation away from home and work. 4 months ago
I got back home around 10 last night- 8 hours before I had to be at work again for a busy day :P Oh, well. I like to extend my vacations as long as possible :)
Overall I had a great trip. I drove 2100 miles, and since the roundtrip to Vegas from here is 1500 miles, that means that I didn’t do too much driving around while I was there. I camped the first three nights and stayed with my mom’s best friend the rest of the week. I did several hikes, all of which were new to me. Walked the Strip one evening and visited Freemont Street the last evening. And I met up with three 43ers! :) TajLV I had met twice before but hadn’t seen in a couple of years. GorgeousGoddess drove out from LA for a Grand Canyon trip and we were able to spend a few hours having dinner & talking before she had to make the drive back. And nevadagirlamber and I met up several times and checked out some of the sights in town. We should have had a 43T meetup with so many of us in town! Thanks to all of you, it was great to be able to visit with you :)
Now, back to reality… :P
Here’s a pic I took yesterday- on the way home I made a quick trip up into the Kolob Canyons section of Zion National Park in Utah. It’s one of my favorite national parks but I had only been into Kolob Canyons once before.7 months ago
Were about to go away for a weekend… with my parents. I’m not, not excited about it. However I’d rather go by ourselves… Regardless, it’s time away. And this, I am thankful for. 7 months ago
on my last full week of vacation for this year.
I’m taking a week in and around Vegas- meeting up with a couple of 43ers, seeing my mom’s best friend, and doing some hiking. Although it’s kind of a hassle I also threw in my bike at the last minute (a hassle because I have to take off both wheels and one pedal and shove it behind the seat in the car :P) in case my Achilles tendonitis acts up- biking doesn’t irritate it nearly as much as hiking or walking.
I’m getting started a little later than I wanted to, but closer to my scheduled departure time than usual ;)
If I have any Internet access during the trip it will be very limited, so you all take care & I’ll see you in just over a week! :)7 months ago
I got back home a little before lunch time today. I very rarely return from vacation this early (I usually don’t get home until Sunday afternoon. Or evening. Or night. Or once in a while, early Monday morning. I like to extend my vacations as long as possible ;) ), but my brother still has over 1000 miles (1600 km) to drive to get back home, so he wanted to get started on that long drive. (Unfortunately, I received a call from him a little while ago and he’s stuck with car problems just a couple hours east of Denver :( After all of the driving we did during the week with no troubles!).
Someday I’ll post a few pics from the trip, but for now I’ll just say that we had a great time. A week was probably enough, though- a few times the conflicts between him & his oldest daughter got kind of old :P But other than that we had fun- we saw some great country, did a couple short hikes, spent some time with the family, went whitewater rafting, had some delicious food, and drank too much beer and rum ;)
Here’s a pic from the first day of the trip- me and my daughter with my niece, SIL, other niece, and brother on the banks of Clear Creek in Idaho Springs, CO. 9 months ago
I’m outa here!
My brother & his family will be here around noon tomorrow and my daughter and I are staying with them in a condo he rented in the mountains. I believe that this is the closest vacation I’ve ever taken in my life- although we’ll drive around during the week, the drive from my house to the condo is only 65 miles/100 km!
I’ll be back on the 19th (to those of you who have my address- I know who you are and if I come home & find out that someone has been partying there for a week… ;) )- you all have a great week & I’ll see you soon! 9 months ago
Thursday was the first anniversary of Glenn’s death. I looked into renting a cabin for a night or two like I’d done on the first month anniversary, but the West Virginia and Pennsylvania park services only rent cabins by the week bring the peak season. I decided to take a break at home. I spent the first half of the week cutting down my todo list so I wouldn’t have unfinished chores on my mind, then finished my work by 5:00PM Wednesday and planned to do Friday’s work starting at 5:00PM that day. That way, I could effectively have two days free while only having to take off one day of work.
At 5:00 on Wednesday, I shut down the laptop, iPad, and iPod, and hid them away in a closet. I threw a sheet over the TV, turned all the clocks face-down, and reclaimed the freedom of not knowing what time it is. As before, I made no plans, and just did what I felt like doing as I felt like doing it. I ended up spending a good part of Thursday at the nearby State Forest, finishing a lot of writing on Glenn’s memorial.
By the end, I felt I’d only scratched the surface of the amount of time it would take to really decompress, but I hope I can return to my routine with some perspective on what I’m doing and whether it’s what I should be doing. I do think I should take the tech-limiting methods I used here to carve out a few analog mornings each week. 10 months ago
