I recently took a 2-week vacation, for which I drove to see most of my family up in Ohio and Indiana (mostly over Thanksgiving weekend). What follows is a brief summary.
When I got off work on the 20th, I came home, took care of a few last-minute things to set the house up for "long-term storage", loaded up the car, and headed out. Stopped for the night just past Little Rock. Got up Saturday morning and made it the rest of the way to Elkhart. Spent Sunday and Monday chilling at home, before going to Elgin Tuesday afternoon to meet my sister. Brought her back Wednesday morning to Elkhart, had a quick lunch, then we loaded up and we went to Lima, OH in two cars (me and my mom in my Buick, and my dad and sister in their Durango). There we left the Durango behind, everyone piled into my car, and we continued on to Marion, OH for the night.
Thanksgiving morning, we finished going the rest of the way to my cousins' house near Mt. Vernon, and I got to see so many relatives I hadn't seen in years (2.5-6, depending on the person). My cousins (once removed) have grown up enough that they're not shy/scared of me any more, which was very nice. My mom had picked up a Mentos shooter kit (put in up to 7 Mentos, screw on top of Diet Coke bottle, pull pin, instant geyser), which the kids enjoyed. We had Thanksgiving dinner with everyone (very cramped, two tables and 18 people in one room) and enjoyed the rest of the day with family. Everyone else left that day, so we had a nice quiet evening with my cousin's family before going to bed.
The next day, we slept in comfortably, and drove back to Lima, where my sister and mom took the Durango back to Elkhart, so my sister could finish some schoolwork. My dad and I drove to Clayton, to visit my grandmother and aunt. It was the first time I'd seen my grandmother since she started having memory problems, and the change was somewhat disturbing; with my other relatives who have died, I wasn't around for most of it, so it's never something I've gotten used to. Fortunately, that evening was the worse of it, and her memory was better the other two days. Saturday was spent helping with some things around grandma and my great aunt's houses, and we drove back to Elkhart Sunday after lunch.
The second week was more relaxing, and much less driving. Monday I paid a visit to former colleagues at HCJB. Tuesday Dad and I worked on some things around home, mostly on my car. Dad figured out several problems I'd noticed but hadn't solved yet.
Wednesday Dad and I went to the Museum of Science and Industry, and spent the day seeing all the exhibits. My favorite area was the U-505, a WWII German U-boat (submarine, for those of you who are history-challenged), though there were other very interesting exhibits as well (the model train set and the airplanes were both impressive). After we finished at the museum, we hopped a train to the end of its line, then walked the rest of the way to Moody, where we met my cousin and took her to dinner. After dinner, we walked her back to campus, and then went back to the train station, which we missed the train we were hoping for by under a minute; it was pulling out as we rounded the last bend to the tracks. After we finally caught the next train, we got home very late.
Thursday I spent gift hunting, since I finally got Christmas lists from my parents. After a delayed but enjoyable dinner (how I miss gyros), I started packing up. I finished Friday morning, and left for the drive home. Got to the northern edge or Arkansas before stopping for the night, and then finished Saturday.
Overall it was a very nice vacation, and long overdue. I also realized how much I miss my family, and how hard it is to not see relatives more than once every several years. A few years of being closer spoiled me. One possible career change was presented to me for consideration that would enable me to be much closer to home, but I'm not sure if I want that specific opportunity. It's something I'm going to have to contemplate for a while, and decide if it's time to start directing my life instead of letting it happen to me.
