Other possible titles include: "So Shoot Me Now" and "Between a Rock and a Hard Place"
We/I am trying to plan the latest family vacation. When the parents live 2000 miles away this can take some doing. The origins of the latest bright idea in bonding are complex. Last winter we flew in to Seattle in a blizzard to visit my family. The blizzard was unprecedented as it was in Seattle and not Chicago. At the end of the ordeal my father expressed a natural wish to "go somewhere warm next year."
My thought had been to go to Puerto Rico. It is relatively easy to get there (non-stops from Chicago) and passports are not required. Besides it is beautiful, exotic and the food is great. There the plan stood until a few weeks ago when my father searched the net and decided that Puerto Rico was actually relatively hard to reach from Seattle and a bit expensive. So he came up with the idea of Arizona. Nice and warm and relatively nearby, right?
True for the nearby part but my father also chose that we should visit the Arizona high desert. Guess what? It will be cold! The only advantage temperature-wise over Seattle will be tons of sunshine. Warm it won't be. Alas, I'll need to bring my usual winter gear--hat, gloves, long underwear, etc.
We all sort of agreed. By sort of, I mean my 12 year old didn't want to go at all and my husband lectured on how he'd rather take a short vacation and hang around at home.
This is where the "so shoot me now" begins. I asked my dad to set up the trip as I've been way too busy to spend much time figuring this all out. As an aside, you need to know that my father likes adventure travel, only without the danger. He's over 70 but you wouldn't guess it from the itinerary he presented. In two weeks, he had us planned to drive 1000 miles and make on the order of 8 overnight stops.
My husband and I found one point of consensus. We just cannot do this. 6 people in a minivan is bad enough but this is beyond our ability to handle.
There the consensus ends. My father is still wishful for his 1000 mile ordeal. My husband wants to basically shorten the trip by 5 -7 days and stay in one place for most of it. My 12 year old doesn't want to go which I'm ignoring but my husband thinks his opinion should be counted too. My college kid probably has an opinion and definitely wants to go but he's not in communication with us. Who knows what my father's wife thinks? I'm sure he does but the communication has been between the main travel planners, me and my dad.
Oh, and my husband leaves it all up to me except when he is telling me how stupid the whole thing is and how he doesn't really want to do it. And if the trip doesn't turn out well, guess whose fault it will be?
Anyone have a small vial of arsenic handy?
5 comments:
I think you and your father need to have a vacation together and leave the nay-sayers at home. They can look at your pictures when you get back.
sounds like too many wants and dont wants. i'm exhausted already and if it were me would say i'm doing my own thing, see ya!
Arsenic? No. Absinthe? Maybe...
If you are planning a trip to the Canyon I highly recommend Stephen Pine's "Fire on the Rim", a book he wrote about his experiences as a fighter in and around the Grand Canyon and the Kaibab National Forest.
Also, there are some of the most amazing Anasazi ruins in the Canyon de Chelly National Monument on the Navajo reservation.
Also, you are close to the Petrified Forest and Monument Valley, which John Ford used as the backdrop of some of Hollywood's best westerns.
I like Crockhead's idea. Or you could get one of those dog trailers and stick the whingers in there. Just a thought.
family holidays - so many different opinions to take account of, whatever you decide I hope it goes well!
Post a Comment