Summer 2008

I'm well into teaching summer school, the kids are done with their school, and the highlight of each day now is swim lessons at Pecos Pool. Our plan for our summer travels this year was to do the west coast. Drive over to LA and see Dom and Lucinda, then to Los Olivos to see the Yakis. On the way up north, we'd swing through Yosemite and the Redwood National Park near Eureka. See some friends in Eugene, Oregon. Swing over to Bend, Oregon to visit my Uncle Bill. And up towards Seattle to see my friend Amy and, finally, Cristina's cousin Trip.

There was only one glitch in the plan. I teach summer school until June 26 and then I have a reader's/writer's workshop training from July 7 to July 11.

Cristina and I finally sat down a few days ago and tried to hash out a plan to make it all work around the confines of my schedule. We came up with a plan, but it just didn't feel good. No matter how we tried to maximize our traveling efficiency, it still felt too rushed. And due to the amount of driving and the relatively short amount of time, it was going to necessitate staying on the road about 16 nights. In order to make that even close to affordable, we'd need to tent camp. But to drive all day, set up a tent (probably in the dark) and then break camp in the morning to hit the road again...and getting back home right before school starts...it just felt too stressful.

So we reluctantly altered our plans, cutting out the Oregon and Washington parts of the trip. We'd see Dom, see the Yakis, and see Yosemite and the Redwoods. But even with that plan, I would still be either flying back for my training, or the whole trip would be starting after my training, effectively shortening our trip to about 2 weeks. Now, most people would be perfectly content with a 2 week vacation. But knowing that Cristina and the kids have 9 weeks off, it was deflating to think that they'd be stuck in the desert, away from family and friends, on account of my teaching summer school and workshop training. So we came up with a new plan.

One of the big drawbacks with the west coast plan is that we don't have any central base to spend a big chunk of time at. That's the secret, if you want to call it that, of how we can afford to travel so much. We may not have much money, but we have family and friends that often can house us for quite a while. So while it may seem luxurious to go to Costa Rica for 6 weeks, our main expense is the airfare. We spend those 6 weeks living with Cristina's dad, not living it up in fancy resorts or tourist areas. And I'm not complaining. We love it that way. We'd much rather live in the thick of reality and be a part of our family's or friends' lives...even if it sometimes means sleeping on the floor!

With all this in mind, we made a new plan. Here it is:

On June 26, my last day of summer school, we'll leave Phoenix in our trusty Honda Odyssey and drive to Benson, Arizona, about 3 hours away. We'll stay the night in a KOA cabin. The next morning, we'll drive to Carlsbad, New Mexico and spend the night at another KOA. The next day is dedicated to exploring the caverns, something I missed out on last summer when Cristina made the drive with Elena and the kids. After a day at the caverns, we'll make a short drive down to Van Horn, Texas to another KOA. Next day (Sunday) will be a big driving day to San Antonio where we'll stay in (you guessed it) a KOA cabin. And then, our big treat: Monday we will spend at Schlitterbahn, a huge water park in New Braunfels, Texas. A few years ago, the Travel Channel had a show on the top ten water parks in the country. We were surprised to learn that #1 was Schlitterbahn, since we'd never even heard of it. This will be the first time the 5 of us will be passing within 10 miles of New Braunfels, so we have to take advantage of the opportunity.

After a full day at the water park, we'll make a relatively short drive to a hotel in Columbus, Texas and sleep well, I'm sure. Then, Tuesday morning we drive to the Baton Rouge area. This is the only spot we don't have a reservation for yet, since the KOAs don't have any available cabins. We'll probably wind up in a cheap hotel. Wednesday we drive to Tallahassee and (maybe) stay the night with Cristina's Uncle John and Aunt Kathy. And Thursday morning, July 3, we arrive in Gainesville.

After enjoying fireworks and hot dogs and all that jazz, I'll rent a car and drive to Orlando early Sunday morning. I'll fly back to Phoenix (my buddy Peter will pick me up from the airport...thanks Peter!). While I'm doing my training, Cristina and the kids will enjoy some time with Jarue and Elena. It seems that Cristina's brother, Ramon, will have just shipped out to Iraq (again), so unfortunately we're going to just miss seeing him.

On Saturday, July 12, I fly back to Orlando. We'll spend about 4 more days in Gainesville (I want to hit the Ichetucknee at least once) and then drive up to Asheville, North Carolina. We'll spend about 10 days there and then I'll fly back to Phoenix (from Atlanta) on July 28, a day before I start back at school. Since the kids don't start back for another couple of weeks, there's no point in us all coming back that early. Cristina and the kids will spend a little longer in Asheville, maybe spending a few days at the Beaudets, and then eventually they'll hit the road towards Phoenix. We haven't nailed down exact stopping places for their trip back, but they'll probably spend 3 nights in KOA's and then a couple of nights at my Uncle Doug and Aunt Lynn's near Albuquerque. As long as they're back in time for the kids' school, they can take as long as they want.

So there it is. I didn't want to announce it all until we knew for sure it was happening. Since we've now reserved a bunch of KOA cabins and one hotel, I think it's a safe bet that our plans are locked in.

While we will miss our west coast people, it will be nice to have a repeat (almost) of our last summer, which we enjoyed very much. And it will be a little easier not going to Chicago this time.

We'll figure out how to accomplish our west coast plans some time before we leave Arizona for good!