It's the night before we for leave for vacation. The car is packed with everything we could possibly need for the next 3.5 weeks, and the back seat, Bonnie's and Daisy's command center, will also contain state maps, Triptiks, Lucy (a Magellan), Susie (a TomTom), the Lori-baked chocolate chip cookies, and many other things that will slowly encroach on the leg room. No matter - this is the vacation of a lifetime.
For the past week, I have been having trouble getting to sleep due to vacation excitement; I felt like a kid before Christmas. I did not want to start out with a sleep deficit. I had the bright idea to tire myself by packing the trunk, then unpacking the trunk, repacking my clothes in a smaller bag so it would actually fit in its alloted spot. After five unpack/pack, in the house, up the stairs, unpack/pack, try it in the trunk episodes, I felt sufficiently tired and probably ready for sleep. I felt proud that I had staved off incipient packing panic, and relieved that only a few pieces would be left behind. Had I known how few elevators would be available, quite a few more pieces would have been left home, but older and wiser, and all that.
Once I felt sure that everything on the to-do list had been done, I went to bed. It was 6:30 pm and I could hear kids playing outside in the balmy June weather, but sleep was the priority. When the alarm went off at 3:00 am, I wanted to be able to leap out of bed, fully rested and ready for 25 states in 24 days.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Will we see wild animals?
Traveling over 8,000 miles, including Yellowstone, we expected that we would be seeing wildlife.
Were we to see grizzlies? No.
Were we to see wolves? No.
Well, how about condors? No.
Disappointing? A little, but we did see some wildlife.
Were we to see grizzlies? No.
Were we to see wolves? No.
Well, how about condors? No.
Disappointing? A little, but we did see some wildlife.
rooster, beetle, birds and bees; turtle and Canadian geese,
turkey vulture, deer and ponies; pigs, mosquitoes, mountain goats,
lizards, flies, woodchucks, lions; storks and cats, fish and bison,
llamas, longhorns, and grey herons; salamander, badger, bunny,
eagle, donkeys, many crows; pronghorn, stick bug, elk, and goats,
prairie dogs and cats and chickens; scissortail and one lone cricket,
cows and jellyfish and mules; crabs, hawks, hornet, and emu,
chipmunks, seagulls, and black ants; osprey, sheep, and some alpaca,
vultures, mule deer, ducks and cattle; dogs (all sizes), horses saddled
Not so disappointing after all.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Packing the Fun and Easy Way
My packing usually consists of matching clothing, which isn't as sensible as it sounds. This shirt matches those shorts, but not anything else. That skirt can only be worn with this shirt. What good is that when you have to cram 24 outfits in a suitcase? And how am I going to lift it anyway? Two bright ideas made packing so simple that I wish I had started it years ago.
The first idea was to do laundry three times, every six days. Pack enough for maybe seven days, just to be safe, then wash it all. There are laundromats everywhere, right? And Bonnie, expert vacation planner that she is, even located laundromats before we left home. We brought quarters, a small bottle of Tide, some dryer sheets, and badda-bing, badda-boom, we were ready. Spending an hour in a laundromat can be fun, and it was. Eileen, we will never forget you or your muumuu.
The second idea was to pack only black, white, or beige clothing. Everything mixed, matched, and got along well together. So what if the photos looked like I wore the same shirt every day? No matter which shirts, shorts, skirts I pulled out of the suitcase, they matched! And rolling up clothing is more space-efficient than folding them flat. I sneaked in more than seven days of clothing, but I was the one who had to carry the bag in and out of 22 hotels. Well, mostly it was I who did the carrying. Thank you again, Clyde, and I've heard that recuperation from hernia surgery isn't too lengthy. One drawback to Choice Hotels is that many of them lack elevators. I believe we'll be more careful when booking next time and make certain there is an elevator.
The first idea was to do laundry three times, every six days. Pack enough for maybe seven days, just to be safe, then wash it all. There are laundromats everywhere, right? And Bonnie, expert vacation planner that she is, even located laundromats before we left home. We brought quarters, a small bottle of Tide, some dryer sheets, and badda-bing, badda-boom, we were ready. Spending an hour in a laundromat can be fun, and it was. Eileen, we will never forget you or your muumuu.
The second idea was to pack only black, white, or beige clothing. Everything mixed, matched, and got along well together. So what if the photos looked like I wore the same shirt every day? No matter which shirts, shorts, skirts I pulled out of the suitcase, they matched! And rolling up clothing is more space-efficient than folding them flat. I sneaked in more than seven days of clothing, but I was the one who had to carry the bag in and out of 22 hotels. Well, mostly it was I who did the carrying. Thank you again, Clyde, and I've heard that recuperation from hernia surgery isn't too lengthy. One drawback to Choice Hotels is that many of them lack elevators. I believe we'll be more careful when booking next time and make certain there is an elevator.
Training Exercises for the Dinner Table
One of the big treats of vacationing is ... the treats! And the many, many meals. Planning breakfasts was simplified because Choice Hotels offer free breakfasts. This saved some serious money; 4 people X $5 (a conservative estimate) = $20/breakfast X 24 days = $480, or $240 per couple. That could get us a lot of ice creams!
Deciding where to have lunch was easy; Mapquest hotel to hotel, pick a spot halfway, and let Mapquest search for restaurants. Most of the time, Mapquest gave good information and we 
found what we wanted. The other times we had to wing it. For supper, we usually ate in the town where we would sleep, but when we found an exceptional place on line, we rerouted the trip so we could enjoy it. Is it worth going 74 miles out of the way for a restaurant? Look at the dessert tray and decide for yourself. Amish Acres in Nappannee IN was definitely one of the best stops.
found what we wanted. The other times we had to wing it. For supper, we usually ate in the town where we would sleep, but when we found an exceptional place on line, we rerouted the trip so we could enjoy it. Is it worth going 74 miles out of the way for a restaurant? Look at the dessert tray and decide for yourself. Amish Acres in Nappannee IN was definitely one of the best stops. Once we had found where we wanted to eat every lunch, supper, and several snacks, we planned our training regimen. This involved waiting until the week before we left and then going to Old Country Buffet for the all-you-can-eat experience. There's no sense in going on vacation to lose weight. Th professional contest eaters use lettuce to increase their consumption capabilities, but what fun is that?
We had the hotels, the restaurants, the attractions, and let us not forget the Grand Marquis, so we just had to pack enough clothes for 24 days. Simple, right?
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Where to stay along the way
Deciding where to stay and how to get there required the fine hand of Bonnie, the logistics' expert. Finding attractions, lodging, and the fastest routes required precision and accuracy, and took hours, days, weeks of planning. Finding that we would get a Significant Organizational Discount at Choice Hotels made the hotel choices easy. We booked 11 months ahead; again, she who hesitates loses the special rates. Bonnie wasn't satisfied to let the reservations collect dust over the long months of waiting. Every month, starting six months prior to blastoff, she would check the hotel prices, and if there was a decrease, we would book at the lower rate, then cancel the previous reservation. Some might find it tedious to check 22 hotel rates every month, but Bonnie (and the rest of us) thought it was worth the savings of over $100. That does not include the Las Vegas and Laughlin NV savings, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
We had the car, we had the rooms, we knew the attractions and routes to get us there, and that left a vital part unfinished - where would we eat our 72 meals?
We had the car, we had the rooms, we knew the attractions and routes to get us there, and that left a vital part unfinished - where would we eat our 72 meals?
Monday, August 24, 2009
V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!
Let's go on vacation! How about one of those once-in-a-lifetime cross-country trips? Let's go with friends because four of us will be better than the two of us. We can see Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, Crazy Horse, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, the Golden Gate Bridge, and everything else that looks good. Now that we know what to see, we have to decide how to get there. Let's rent a car! Something that will hold us and enough clothing for three weeks+ because if we're going to drive over 8,000 miles we're going to need lots of clothing and shoes (some of us more than others).
After extensive research, we decided on a Grand Marquis; not your father's Oldsmobile, not even your grandfather's choice of wheels. Grandpas everywhere are now driving Camrys, Sebrings, and CRVs. You can't even buy a new Grand Marquis, since they're only sold to fleets. For a car that has sunk to an all-time low in popularity, there are an awful lot of them around. If the drivers in the Grand Marquis Club were to wave at eachother the way bikers do, they would all get carpal tunnel syndrome.
Renting a car online is the way to go. Shopping for coupons, reserving months ahead, and making sure you get unlimited mileage makes you feel you've gotten the best deal. If you're going any place that might pose a threat to your rented Grand Marquis, which includes everywhere except the rental parking lot, you might think about getting the loss of use coverage. We knew up front that at Yellowstone, anything might happen; we could be charged by a male elk if we got between him and his harem, or a grizzly bear might like the scent of our chocolate chip cookies from Subway, and the damage to the Grand Marquis could be devastating. With the coverage, voila, the rental company would bring us a new, undevastated Grand Marquis, and we would be on our merry way. No one ever said this coverage would be cheap, but once we chose to get it, we lost no sleep worrying about what ifs.
On The Big Day, when we went to pick up The Grand Marquis, we were somewhat dismayed to see that the rental agent was away from his post. We waited for a bit, but we aren't know for patience. We looked at the three other car rental desks adjacent to ours, and they were all manned/womanned. Hmmm. Off to the A1 rental desk with our rental agreement went one of our party, while another held a place in the B2 rental desk line. Time is money, he who hesitates is lost, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and the next thing we knew, we had a beautiful beige Grand Marquis for $350 less than our reservation price. This was especially nice because when renting online, we weren't required to use a credit card, so there was no skulking back to B2 to cancel the first reservation and the exceptionally nice people at the A1 desk took care of the cancellation. We were off with our keys before the B2 agent had returned "from the lot". The Grand Marquis had only 2,235 miles, and it had no idea what lay ahead.
After extensive research, we decided on a Grand Marquis; not your father's Oldsmobile, not even your grandfather's choice of wheels. Grandpas everywhere are now driving Camrys, Sebrings, and CRVs. You can't even buy a new Grand Marquis, since they're only sold to fleets. For a car that has sunk to an all-time low in popularity, there are an awful lot of them around. If the drivers in the Grand Marquis Club were to wave at eachother the way bikers do, they would all get carpal tunnel syndrome.
Renting a car online is the way to go. Shopping for coupons, reserving months ahead, and making sure you get unlimited mileage makes you feel you've gotten the best deal. If you're going any place that might pose a threat to your rented Grand Marquis, which includes everywhere except the rental parking lot, you might think about getting the loss of use coverage. We knew up front that at Yellowstone, anything might happen; we could be charged by a male elk if we got between him and his harem, or a grizzly bear might like the scent of our chocolate chip cookies from Subway, and the damage to the Grand Marquis could be devastating. With the coverage, voila, the rental company would bring us a new, undevastated Grand Marquis, and we would be on our merry way. No one ever said this coverage would be cheap, but once we chose to get it, we lost no sleep worrying about what ifs.
On The Big Day, when we went to pick up The Grand Marquis, we were somewhat dismayed to see that the rental agent was away from his post. We waited for a bit, but we aren't know for patience. We looked at the three other car rental desks adjacent to ours, and they were all manned/womanned. Hmmm. Off to the A1 rental desk with our rental agreement went one of our party, while another held a place in the B2 rental desk line. Time is money, he who hesitates is lost, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and the next thing we knew, we had a beautiful beige Grand Marquis for $350 less than our reservation price. This was especially nice because when renting online, we weren't required to use a credit card, so there was no skulking back to B2 to cancel the first reservation and the exceptionally nice people at the A1 desk took care of the cancellation. We were off with our keys before the B2 agent had returned "from the lot". The Grand Marquis had only 2,235 miles, and it had no idea what lay ahead.
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