Life, Vacations and GPS

We've returned from what I fear may be our last full-fledged family vacation. We loaded all 8 of us into the Suburban and drove cross-country to our eldest niece's wedding in PA, then hit the road after the wedding to trek on up to Northern Maine to see family. Actually, only all 8 of us were there for the drive from PA - No. ME - Bangor, as two of us didn't get sufficient time off and had to fly to PA, then fly out of Bangor in order to be at work on extra days.

On Traveling as a Crowd:
It always, yes always, surprises me how surprised people are that our family can exist and still love each other in such close quarters. A Suburban is a massive vehicle, but load over 1,000 pounds of humans into it and it gets tight. The kids all shared the two back seats well, taking turns and switching locations for a variety of reasons. We only had one meltdown, but that is to be expected over the course of a 4,000 mile journey, and was quickly recovered. We shared snacks we packed, shared expenses of gas and hotels, and just chatted away endlessly. One of the keys is to have some distractions. Our distractions? MP3 players, GameBoy Advance, Computers, Cameras, "Do The Right Thing" by Mike Huckabee, and my own personal one - "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide." Funny thing is, we talked so much we used very few of our distractions.

On Vacationing with a Farm at Home:
This is my least favorite part of vacationing - the animals we left behind. We had a wonderful neighbor caring for the outdoor animals, and locked the cats and indoor animals in with enough food to grow fat and lazy in our absence. Our cats are all house broken, so I wasn't sure how much litter they would need for 11 days. Well, 1 box per cat for eleven days is not enough. Our super conscientious Siamese thought sure we were going to discipline her for going to the bathroom in the house when we got back, so she hid upon our return only to come out and caterwaul at our bedroom door when the lights went out. We finally convinced her that we weren't upset. The fish got a great feeding pyramid, and though it was only for 7 days, it kept them alive for 11. The bird has bowls of water and food at his feet, that look more like litter boxes now, but he is alive too! I felt worse for Ruby, our lab mix, though. She HATES thunder storms, and wouldn't you know? Every day we were gone there was a thunderstorm. She had to stay out in the storms (in her dog house, but not with us) and was very happy to see us. It's always a lot of work to come home to animals you've had babysat, but nice to be able to leave.

On Friends and GPS:
Jay has a friend at work who loaned him a nice Garmin GPS for the trip. Jay had wanted to take one since he hears all sorts of wonderful marketing for them on talk radio, and since I like technology he thought it would be fun for me to have one for the trip. So, we loaded up, turned it on, and within about 15 mintues I was ready to smash it to bits on the road. Yes, it is the most recent technology and can do wonderful things like "recalculate" when you make a turn it didn't understand how to tell you not to make. My favorite was the time it told us "keep left, and keep right" for the CENTER lane. Huh? Well, we kept left, but then there was no right to keep as we had merged onto a different highway, so we hear the dreadful two bongs and "recalculating." After 4,000 miles, we now understand its little oddities better, but still wouldn't want to take one again. I love how it tells you to drive 400 yards and turn right when you are on the top floor of the Eastern Maine Medical Center parking garage facing the Penobscot River. WE didn't listen to that instruction obviously. So, NO to GPS for me for quite some time. It was helpful in finding a great little pizza place in Wrightsville, PA though. If you have a chance, it is Wrightsville Pizza, and wonderful.

On Time:
YES!!! There is NEVER enough time when visiting friends and family, but yes we did enjoy it anyway.


So, in summary: we had a great trip. Did some interesting things, saw some interesting sites, and are glad to be home on the farm again. Now, for the mowing and cleanup from all the storms while we were gone. I've got about 100 loads of laundry to go! Wish me well.