Travel Plans

Our plans are firming up for our trip east. Glenda’s dad is having two procedures next week, so we have decided the best option is to fly to Boston, rent a car and drive down the coast. That will take about 8-10 days off our trip (with all the expenses that go with those 10 days on the road — gas, food, lodging) and we can actually cover the cost of airline tickets and rental car for what we will save.

We made our reservation for October 12th, and I spent last evening reading my “Frommer’s Guide to New England”. I have highlighted the top sights I want to see and am trying to put together a routing plan so we can hit all the locations I’ve targeted. We will have to zig zag the area, but that is not really many miles at all. I have been comparing everything to locations in the state of Arizona. Boston to Portland, Maine is about the same as Tucson to Phoenix. The Norman Rockwell Museum (western Massachusetts) to Boston is a drive from Phoenix to Flagstaff. Plymouth Rock to Providence is Tucson to Casa Grande. I think we can see some great highlights in four days, and then head toward New York City and Philadelphia on day 5. We will spend three days in Washington, D.C. and then head south toward Florida. Our return flight out of Orlando is October 29th.

Mom said something that had me in a panic. She wondered if the fall colors would be gone by the third week in October. I checked my guide book, and it indicated the southern areas (Massachusetts, Connecticut, etc) are at their peak in mid to late October. Vermont and New Hampshire may have begun to fade, but nearer the coast should still be beautiful.

I’m disappointed that I won’t get to see Wendy this trip, but she reminded me that God puts us where He wants us, and certainly Glenda and I need to be here for now. We won’t enjoy our trip if we’re worrying about her father. I know how that feels. On my last sabbatical, I flew to Alaska the day after Dad’s big thoracic surgery and he was still in intensive care. It was a couple of days before he was upgraded and moved to a regular hospital room and I could relax and begin to enjoy my vacation. I don’t want Glenda to have that same kind of burden on her mind. This plan will reduce a lot of stress and also save 7000 miles on my car! That’s a huge plus in itself. Ken had some frequent flyer tickets from Southwest that he can’t use anymore (Southwest doesn’t fly to Alaska) and they gave them to me. I used one of them for this trip, so further reduced my expenses. Thank you, Ken and Robin!

Brian and Carrie are taking Nathan to California this weekend to visit Disneyland, Legoland and Sea World. He turns 3 in another week, and this is a birthday trip for him. (He also gets free admission to the theme parks until then.) I’m considering driving over to join them in Sea World. I have the time, so why not? I could stay with them and sleep in Nathan’s bed.

I’m going to bring the kids over to my house today. I haven’t seen them since I got home from Alaska because I had that cold, but I’m okay now. Carrie is trying to get ready for their trip and can make good use of the time the kids are here. I better go put things out of their reach.