Big Plans

In one month, the life of my alter ego begins. The only reason I will set an alarm is to catch the sunrise (Ha!) or get in line for rush tickets for a Broadway show. The only reason I will pack a lunch will be to picnic. The reason that a school is the best place for me to practice my profession becomes perfectly clears as April ends and May tumbles in with its days full of sunshine and the promise of 1 less wake up until the end of the year. It's the real me, the one who travels, sleeps late, and drives a convertible with the top down, scarf wrapped loosely, head thrown back in laughter (this part really never happens, but wouldn't it be neat if it did?). No school worries, and only seeing the people I want to see and only spending time with whomever I want to spend time.

For the past 3 summers, I have been gone the majority of the summer. This year, I vowed that I would stay home more. I thought that since I had a grandbaby, I would spend some time there and they would spend time here, so no big vacations. Foremost, I was not going to start my summer with a trip the day I got out of school. I needed a breather before the traveling began. HA! Already, the vows for a "stay at home more" summer have been broken.

In one month, we will start our trip to move the kids home. I love, love, love to plan, so the minute we knew they were coming down, the planning began. Lucky me(!), I got to plan this trip several times.

Plan 1 - Move everything by movers. I fly up a week or so after school is out to help them pack, fly back with Meg and Reid while Eddie heads to who-knows-where.

Plan 2 - Byron and I fly up and drive one car home while they ship another, to save a couple of thousand dollars on shipping of one car and giving me some time with my favorite son. Ship the new car.

Plan 3 - Kenny and I drive the car and tow the other.

Plan 4 - Kenny and I drive one car and friends go with us to drive the other car and we make it a fun road trip. This is when the real planning began. We will drive down the Oregon coastline to see some seals, whales and such, thru Napa Valley (wine country, woooo hooo), San Francisco, Sequoia National Park, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and finish off getting our kicks on Route 66.

Plan 5 - Oops, Other couple can't work out their schedule. Maybe Byron is back on with his roommate going, too, to help drive.

Plan 6 - Meg lets us know that she REALLY wants to make the road trip with us. Cloud road trips are awesome, so who could blame her. One prob... a 7 month old. Reid said he was on board and promised to be a trooper. Agrees to be on solids by then and to eat anything we dish out. What a great kid! Roommate out, Meg and Reid in.

Plan 7 - Eddie is pleasantly surprised to learn that he can take a few days off before he starts a month long rotation in Seattle. He wants in. Problem...he HAS to be back in Seattle by June 3.

You see where this is going. What started out as me flying out in June to help pack and flying back has now pleasantly evolved into a multigenerational Griswold-like family road trip. How great is that? (This time, no sarcasm).

Plans 7, 8 and 9 are pretty much permutations. What it has boiled down to is that Kenny flies up on the 27th. Byron flies up on the 28th when he gets out of work. I fly up after school is out on a flight to Seattle but get out at Portland, because it will save me 4 hrs if they don't have to wait for me in Seattle and drive back to Portland(this was decided after we bought the ticket to Seattle but found out I had a layover in Portland). Ocean drive is out, because it's too long, but we've added a bookstore and gourmet food carts in Portland. Napa Valley and wine tasting for E, K and me. M and B will hang out with Reid and shop. San Francisco and a tasting tour for all.

A quick hike in with the giant Sequoias,

and then over to Las Vegas.

The next day, over to the Grand Canyon, hopefully in time to see the sunset.

The next day, we drive to Phoenix and put everyone on an airplane; Eddie to Seattle, Byron to OK and Meg and Reid to TX (to cut down on car time for the baby). That leaves Kenny and me to drive 2 cars from Arizona to Texas. I'm still planning that part!

And this, dear friends, brings us all the way to June 5. Plans for the rest of the month, and summer, at a later time.