Keep passing the open windows

Weekend Assignment #323: Vacation TimeLook out - here comes summer! Kids are out of school, community pools and seasonal ice cream stands are open, and temperatures north of the Equator are on the rise. Summer is traditionally the time for families to go on vacation together. What are your summer vacation plans, if any? What time of year are you most likely to pack up the family and get out of town? Is there a particular place you go more often than anywhere else?
Extra Credit: When and where did your family usually go on vacation when you were a kid?

  This is going to be a tough one, folks. My summer is one of chaos, confusion and travel plans. All of which may go by the wayside, depending on how the funds go. We have a baby shower coming up this week for my sister-in-law, who just adopted a little boy(Hi new nephew Colton!). Then  there is a  trip to Richmond, VA  to see some friends in July, and then my wife gets to go help my eldest step-daughter move the end of July. Between my work and hers,that’s as much free time we’re going to get this summer.Honestly, we don’t get to travel as much as we’d like to. But I have to say, I’ve traveled more in my six years of marriage than in the previous thirty-odd years of my life. Before my wife, the furthest west I’d been was Lake Tahoe,and the furthest east was Detroit. Since our wedding, we’ve been as far away as Hawaii, and as far north as Toronto. She loves to travel, and doesn’t get to do it as nearly as much as she deserves to.A large part of that is of course, due to two things:children and money. If you hear about people traveling far distances with lots of children, two things are involved: airplanes and lots of cash. My daughter is five, and I want to take her to Disneyland when she’s eight. I’m starting to save for that this year, and I might make it.What we find ourselves doing ,in terms of traveling, is what lots of folks do: let’s go see our family. My other two stepdaughters are in southern Wisconsin,close to Chicago, so we tend to go up that way. Anything that brings me within sight of the Real First City(It’s second to none, all you coasters) is a good time. So we don’t go to really out of the way places, unless my wife makes up her mind to go. Then,like a good husband, I smile sweetly, say “yes  ma’am” and away we go.I’ve gotten set in my ways when it comes to traveling. My wife knows that anywhere we go, I’m going to find a bookstore and go in it. I’m always fascinated by the little differences ,even in the chain stores, in different parts of the country. My favorite ones I’ve found were the giant bookstore that’s in a converted rental storage unit on Oahu, and the movie theater Barnes and Noble  in Rochester, Minnesota. Both places, you walk in the door and feel like you’re in a movie set.I like traveling, but sometimes for me, the best part is walking in the door back home. It only takes a few nights in a strange bed to make you appreciate what you’ve got at home. I swear hotels make their beds uncomfortable just so you’ll get out sometimes.
Extra Credit: I never realy travelled as a kid,except to my grandparents. My folks would send me to them during the summer. It kept them from actually having to do things with me, I guess. I could write an entire book on summers in Litchfield, Minnesota during the eighties, and how magical it was to me. Maybe someday I will.