Stuckcation

So, I am lucky enough to have four weeks of vacation, and since we aren’t traveling this year I can make those four weeks coincide with holidays and parlay them into five weeks off. 

No travel means I get to have five weeks of “staycation,” in which we enjoy the sights close at hand. There are a lot of fun activities within a two-hour drive that we haven’t experienced yet. Very few of them are things Gary would want to do: things like the economy museum at the Federal Bank downtown. I am intrigued by the economy museum. Aside from a 1920s stock ticker, what could possibly be in there? 

Gary is not intrigued, plus Gary is a lump of butter that needs to kept at a particular temperature, and it’s in the 90s this week. I thought I hated the heat, but Gary truly feels it’s a deal-breaker. He is willing to go out into the heat and gnats to see Pat Benetar and fireworks with Friend 2, but that’s it. I’m always happy to go to a concert with Friend 2: we just went to see Samantha Fish and had a lovely time watching Samantha rock the curl out of her hair. 

You would think that there would be air-conditioned things I could get him to do, like see a summer blockbuster movie. Sadly, as it turns out, this is the week that the new driveway is scheduled to be installed, and Gary insists we stay in the house in case the workers need us.  Assuming the workers even show up in this heat.

I suppose with five weeks of vacation one of them can be spent idling around the house. So far I’ve learned how to spatchcock a chicken and I’ve gone out grocery shopping “for fun.” (*Drums fingers, stares sadly out of window.*)

Comments

[KC]

Auuugh. I hope your vacation picks up good color soon.

(I sympathize with the lump of butter, though. Heat can be miserable, depending on what one's body does with it.)

(also, I *have* had a lot of fun grocery shopping sometimes; poking into corners of the store that aren't on my normal path and being baffled by products, or doing Grocery Store Tourism in a foreign country, or giving friends from another geography a local grocery store tour; but that is not the default for grocery shopping.)

[theQueen]

KC - actually, since the driveway has now officially been poured, and the money has been paid, we are free to travel. Of course, Gary had to immediately take to his bed, but I hope we can at least catch a movie tonight, and the Pompeii exhibit at the science museum.

[KC]

!!! Congratulations! (that was a lot faster than I was expecting - usually there's a delay before the project starts, and then various mid-project delays, etc...)

Sorry he's feeling unwell - hope he improves really fast (and that you can find something that you'll both enjoy - can you go somewhere that a lump of butter wouldn't melt right now, like maybe Ireland or somewhere Scandinavian, randomly on a cheapo fare?).

And science museums are so much fun. And also air conditioned, yay!

[Thequeen]

KC - I would hate to be in Iceland if there was a family emergency. Gary’s parents are aged.
And YES! The driveway did turn on a dime. Like you, I was expecting it to be an ordeal, with other driveways taking precedence over ours, but July 1 they showed up and tore out the old one, and then today at 6 am they poured the concrete, and then they waited an hour, then they brushed and smoothed and decorated and were done by noon. I was delighted.

[KC]

Yes, international travel sort of depends on the grade of emergency, but if you stuck with European cities that are decent air hubs (and assuming that aged parents are also near a major airport on the middle to East half of the continental US), you could be back within 16 hours or so with a great deal of scuttling, probably. (as opposed to, say, New Zealand or something, which would be no dice.) But yes, that's something to take into consideration,,.

That is so lovely. Congratulations on your new driveway! And on driveway people who actually take pride in their work!!!

[TheQueen]

KC - 16 hours is long enough for some things, but not if you need to lend a hand. And thanks for reminding me - I need to post compliments for the cement people to Angie’s List.

[Big Dot]

I thought you Americans got no holidays, comparatively. So that's an amazing length of free time to play with. Do a road trip! Go to the House on the Rock in Wisconsin if you haven't already. It's extraordinary.

[TheQueen]

Big Dot - generally, everyone starts out with two weeks of vacation, and after five years of employment you bump up to three weeks, and then ten years of loyalty gets you four weeks. Hm - that place in Wisconsin is only a five-hour drive. That might be nice. It reminds me of the folk art exhibit in the Smithsonian.