Vacations

Do you like planning your vacations? Or are you one of those people that will happily go along.

I like the planning part almost as much as the actual vacation. I like finding the places to go or see or stop at. This year we are combining a road trip and visiting family into a 2 week vacation. Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois in 4,000+ miles By the time this trip is over, my fella and I will have been to 34 states, together! That's so cool! 

Along the way we will go to/see/stop at;

the National Cowboy Museum

a couple of vintage motorcycle museums along the way

an old stage coach stop

Fort Reno

Cadillac Ranch

The Big Texan Steak House - they have a 72oz steak that you can have for free if you can eat it in an hour! 4 1/2 pounds of beef. It's $72. Since 1960, 11% of the people who have tried, succeeded. I could do it. hahahahahahahaha

Santa Fe - really looking forward to this!

The Painted Desert and Petrified Forest

The Continental Divide

Winslow Arizona - because of the song...you know, "standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona, such a fine sight to see, it's a girl my lord in a flatbed ford slowing down to take a look at me..." Sorry honey, but I have to.

Several of the trading posts along the way

Ghost towns!

fun route 66 things

Bryce canyon

Old train rides in old cities

seeing family, on both sides

Yep, the planning is fun 😊

Vacation!

Last month, we decided to get out of town for the long weekend. I got 5/3 off so I took 5/2 off to make it a 4 day weekend. After we talked about where to go, it turned into a whole week...2000 miles, give or take. It was fantastic!

Our first stop was Ashville, North Carolina and the Biltmore Estate. Completed in 1895. 250 rooms. 43 bathrooms, 35 bedrooms and 65 fireplaces. 8,000 acres. If you ever get the chance to go, take it. You won't be sorry, I promise. It's just mind blowing!! When we were standing smack in front of it, all I could think was, why? Honestly, why do you want a house like that? I just can't even think that big!! 172,000 square feet. If it were all on 1 level, it would cover 4 acres. The whole place is stunning. The detail in every little thing is just unbelievable. 

(remember, you can click on the pictures to see them larger) 

would you even think to do your ceilings like this?!

or this...

or like this?!

This library holds over 10,000 books!

how about tooled leather wall coverings?

your own gym

your own indoor pool

I loved it when you leave the house, there is this table to show you what's blooming in the gardens today. Pretty cool. 

Their own conservatory...

and vineyard

I bet I took over a 100 pictures! It was so astounding!

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Our next stop was Savannah, Georgia. I spent so much time looking around at everything, I hardly took any pictures! Savannah is a beautiful city. The history, the architecture of the homes - holy wow!!! The heat and humidity is awful though. I don't know how they did it! Ugh.

I love Spanish moss!!

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Then we went to Hilton Head, South Carolina. It was really pretty in a swanky, beach resort kind of way. We had lunch here and I ate calamari for the first time. Meh.

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Next stop, Charleston, SC. Again, the history is amazing. And the old part of Charleston is so different from Savannah. Colorful, charming, southern :-) We are convinced, southerners are a lot nicer than mid-westerners. 

And there I am...that's the Atlantic ocean! Now I've really been on both coasts!!

We also took the tour out to Fort Sumter. It was a beautiful day to be out on the water. After Fort Sumter, we went across the harbor and toured an aircraft carrier and a battleship.

Have you ever seen an airplane with it's wings folded up?!

You can't even see the other end!!

This was the battleship, parked next door.

Our last stop before heading north again, was Myrtle Beach. VERY touristy!! Maybe we would've done the boardwalk if I hadn't been so sunburned, but I'm not sure. We really had the best weather almost the whole time!

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On our way home, in Virginia, we ran into this traffic. Stopped, not moving, for almost 2 hours!!! That was a first for both of us. It sucked!

These tunnels were outrageously long! 5400 feet.

8 solid, busy days, 2,000 miles, 9 states! I LOVE our adventures and road trips!

time off

If you work, do you take all your time off? You know, like some people are "earn it and burn it" kind of folks. Every time they get a second to take off work, they do. I get a lot of time off during the year. Besides 12 to 14 paid holidays every year, I also get 4 weeks of vacation, 6 sick days and 3 personal days. That's a whopping 43 days a year! I could almost take a day off every week! I don't though. The only time I use my sick time is if I'm actually sick, which isn't very often. Oh, I also use it for any kind of medical/dental appointments. Again, not very often. Sooooo, right now I have 39 days of sick time and 24 days of vacation time on the books.

When I first started working in the corporate world, years and years and years ago, and people would quit or retire from their jobs with a TON of time off on the books, I use to think, what the hell is wrong with you people!?!? Take your time off!!! My fella use to work for a company that made you take your time off. Take you vacation time off or lose it. They were serious about their staff having breaks! Where I work, if you don't take your time off it just builds up. But when you leave they'll only pay out 225 hours. You lose anything after that. Anyway...it turns out that I am one of those people now, who doesn't take their time off! What is wrong with me?! Geesh.

I'm going to try and do better. Take more time off. Even if we aren't going somewhere. It's good for your mental health :-) Plus, I don't want to feel dumb. Hey! I might even cheat and use some sick time for no good reason!!

Vacation!

When we planned our vacation for the end of May, there was no sign of the pandemic abating. People were/are being vaccinated but most of the country was still under a mask and social distancing mandate. I knew we would have to wear our masks at the airports and on the planes. I was ok with that.

We had no idea though, that so many states would have lifted those mandates by the time we left! 

We were heading out west; Vegas, Utah, So Cal. Holy WOW! The airport was packed. Busier than any other time we've ever left at 6:30 AM. The plane was full. It was just nuts. We changed planes going, in Phoenix and coming home, in Denver. Indy has a nice airport. That's why it's been given the title of BEST airport for several years running now. We flew on Southwest. While I like Southwest's prices, I wonder if other airlines are similarly cramped in their cabins. It's hard to be uncomfortable for 3+ hours. But...the flights were uneventful, so there's that.

Our first stop was a day in Las Vegas. That's what this post will be about, Las Vegas. I don't even know where to begin. Their mask mandates had been lifted just a few days before we arrived. I want to preface this by saying, I grew up in the 70's. I lived the 70's, in every way you might think. I'm pretty far from being a prude. I'm pretty open minded, about most things. It's been 12 years since I've been to Vegas. OK, now that I've said that...Vegas is a horrid place. I use to really enjoy going to Vegas. The people watching was fun. The hotel lobbies and casinos were cool. Cheap and endless food. Cheap and fun shows and museums. Except that I got to see some family there, I can't think of a single good thing to say about it. You know that saying, "sin city?" It's no longer just a term of endearment. It really IS sin city now. I saw girls walking down the street wearing pasties. I saw girls wearing fishnet stockings and thongs with crop tops. I saw very little that required any kind of imagination. Lots of foreign speaking people. LOTS of people. Lots and lots of them. It feels a little grimy and it smells. I can't put my finger on it either. My brother said it's like a cross between stale beer and dirty underwear. Yeah, that's gross. If any of us weren't exposed to COVID, I'd be shocked. If any of us weren't exposed to any other vile behavior, I don't know what it was. Ewwww. Maybe it was just the freedom everyone was trying to experience after being cooped up for a year.

I don't think I'm that old. Maybe I am. I don't know. I know for sure though, that I wouldn't go back to Las Vegas to have any kind of fun. Maybe it's just the strip. Maybe if you go and stay in a nice hotel/resort and never go out to the strip, you'd have a good time? I thought it could be fun to go to Freemont Street buy my brother said, no, don't do that. It's like the Vegas ghetto now. That's a bummer.

Greed is the most powerful source of evil. I'm convinced.

Pandemic life

Good grief! Is it EVER going to end??? Honestly, don't you think the toll on mental health is immeasurable by now?! There are days at a time when I always feel like crying. I still think it's weird in the grocery store. No flavored Coke products. Sometimes there are cleaning supplies, sometimes there aren't. Some frozen foods are still hard to find. Some frozen fish is hard to find. And expensive when you do. We went to Costco last weekend and there's still a "limit 1" on paper towels, TP and water. which is fine but why do they still need to say that? Thankfully there's no limit on bottles of margaritas!! 

Last month, just for something to do, my guy and I went to Michigan. Our destination was Mackinaw Island. It was so nice to get away, even for a few days. We went to the beach! Us Hoosiers don't have a lot of experience with the beach. The weather was wonderful too. Michigan is weird though. Anyway, Mackinaw Island was fantastic! There were A LOT more people there than I expected. For the most part, everyone had a mask on. Even outdoors, by themselves. When we wanted to have lunch, there were long lines and wait times everywhere because nothing was completely open. It was really kind of strange. You would think we'd be used to that by now, but we aren't. We took a tour of a Coast Guard ice cutter and we drove over the bridge to the UP. Now we've been to every Great Lake except Superior. On the way back, we stopped in Frankenmuth to go to Bronner's Christmas store. OMG!!!! It was AWESOME!!! Seriously, 7 acres of Christmas decorations! Ahhhhhhh. I think if you couldn't find an ornament for anything specific, then it just isn't made. Hey, want an ornament of a giraffe in a tutu? Yep. How about a casket? Or a jack-o-lantern? How about Santa on a rocket ship? Or a chili cheese dog? What about a 20 foot artificial Christmas tree? It was astounding! And also cram packed with tourists. Crazy! They even have a shuttle for the parking lot! Oh yeah, definitely my kind of place. Thanks honey :-) 

Also, the lack of news for a few days was a nice relief. Because how could the pandemic be any worse? Oh, there's an election tomorrow! It's just exhausting, all the bullshit. And this morning on my way in to work...businesses already have their store fronts boarded up. It's disgusting, all the hate and negativity. It made me cry. So I'm going to work from home the rest of the week. I'm not coming downtown, just in case. It's just too overwhelming.

(remember, you can click on the picture to enlarge it)

Yep, this is the Grand Hotel! 

                                       They just don't make things like this anymore

a natural spring

           Along our walk, we saw this slab of rock. That was funny.

In case you didn't know, cars are not allowed on the island. Just horses and bicycles.

this bridge is 5 MILES long!

                                                               Ship's innards 

Officer's mess