Vacation plans

In typical fashion, it is the weekend and I've been awake since 6:30. Since it's counterproductive for me to lie in bed, turning things over in my head, and then getting worked up about these stupid things, I decided to get up. Plus, that means JK^2 can sleep in peace for a couple more hours without me tossing and turning. I made myself a cup of tea (Irish Breakfast - it was a little too strong), and ate some of the raisin bread that I bought at the store yesterday. I love fresh-made raisin bread! This stuff was made on Friday!

We finally planned our trip. We weren't sure we were going to take one. We started out with grandiose ideas - Turkey, or Rome, or taking a 2-week cruise around the tip of South America. These are all places we'll go someday. But not this time. After looking at the expense of these trips, as well as the amount of sitting in a plane, we questioned whether we should do a trip at all. My job prospects are uncertain at this point because of the economy, and judging from the rate that my belly is currently growing, I may be on the large side next month, when we plan to go. Not much fun sitting on a plane for 12 hours when you're worried about blood clots and you have to get up every hour to go to the bathroom. I'm also somewhat restricted as far as how long I should be walking, etc. I need to take it easy. Spending a week walking around Rome would be super cool and I don't know when we'll have the opportunity to do that for several years. But I think it would be too much this time around. Plus, it would be expensive.

But we still wanted to do a trip. We probably won't be traveling again for a while. Plus, it's only a month away. How big am I really going to be? I've only started really showing over the past couple of weeks, and for the most part, I still feel fine.

So we decided to take the trip we had to cancel last winter when I got the flu. We are flying out to Las Vegas, renting a car, and driving. We'll probably go to the Grand Canyon, which neither of us has ever seen. It seems that since we've lived in the U.S. for 30+ years and have seen large parts of Europe as well as small portions of South America and Africa, it's time to see a major part of our own country. The Grand Canyon is a big thing not to have seen. So if the weather is right, we will drive there. If the weather isn't right, we can drive to southern Arizona instead, or up into Utah. By flying into Las Vegas, we're very flexible.

Yes, this will still involve the same issues with sitting and need of bathroom. But I think I'll be OK. There are lots of opportunities to stop and you have more control when you're the one driving the car. An added bonus is that we got the plane tickets for free with JK^2's frequent flier miles. That cuts the expenses by a lot.

I'm really happy about the trip. We'll get a much-needed break from the cold and from work.