Can I Start Packing Yet?!

Well the time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things, of shoes and ships and ceiling (oops) sealing-wax, of cabbages and...what did you think I was going to recite ( ok, type) the whole thing? It's time to talk about one of my favorite things, VACATION! I'm not sure which part of this whole thing I like more, the planning or the actual vacation. I like planning vacations so much that I have even helped a few friends plans their family vacations that I can't even go on. Could I do this to make a living you may ask? No Way!!! First that would require I go back to school and I didn't like it that much the first time. Then there would be all the pressure of planning the perfect trip for everyone. Not gonna happen. I'll help out when asked but other than that I'll stick to the elaborate planning methods for even the simplest of my trips.

This is how it usually starts, Danny says where do you want to go on vacation? That's all it takes and the wheels start to turn. Usually the answer is : A Cruise. This time Danny said we could take a longer vacation and take Bandit with us if we took a road trip. A road trip, that could be interesting. Where would we go? Danny said he always wanted to take me out west since I have never seen the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone. That was it. The destination had been set. Let the planning begin.

The internet is my best friend. Danny gave me a list of every state we would be passing through on our trip and I let my fingers do the walking to find all the places I wanted to see While we were traveling. Now I know it will be impossible to do everything I want but wishful thinking never hurt. So with my list in hand I started putting together a notebook of all the information I had found. Now while we are on the road we just look at my little book and we kind find all kinds of things to do.

As most of the family knows, as vacations get closer, I get the urge to start packing. That is usually no big deal since we go to warm places when it is cold here. I don't need the clothes I am taking on vacation while we are at home so who cares if I start packing three months ahead of time. This time we are going in the summer, or at least while it is still hot outside and we are going where at times it will be 90 and other times in the mountains it can get pretty cold. Did I mention that we are taking the Prius. That's right, 18 days, Danny, Bandit and me with all of our stuff in the Prius. Danny's brilliant idea is that he and I will share a duffle bag for the trip. Hello, did he forget I'm a girl. I need my stuff. Maybe we can share one duffle bag and I can have another one all to myself. Sounds like a plan to me. He wants to us (meaning me ) to do laundry on the trip. Isn't this called a vacation? Laundry, I don't think so.

So slowly but surely I have been putting things aside in a corner in my room of what I want to bring with. I now have a small mountain by the side of my dresser and that doesn't include the essentials like underwear. I was thinking maybe I could bring the duffle bag upstairs and start arranging things in it to see how they will fit. That isn't necessarily packing yet, is it? I have less then a month. Why not pack now? You can never pack too early is my motto.

I guess I'd better get start.