It is getting very near the time when you will have missed your last chance. IF you haven’t taken a “vacation” as yet, you are nearly too late. Yes, there are some people who do a vacation in the autumn as they think it is better to not fight crowds, have heat strokes and generally either sunburn or stay inside. Those “chickens” are missing out on the great American way of vacationing. Also, they do not have school kids as kids are not allowed to miss school just for something silly as a family trip to another part of the world or country. Our society has put so much pressure on schools that school officials and teachers would nearly faint if you said you were going to take you kid on a trip and miss a week of school. Just remember before you do that, the teacher gets blamed when a “child” doesn’t do well on tests. It doesn’t matter if the “child” is a thug, semi-criminal or just too doped up to look at the paper, it is the teacher’s fault if said thug scores very low. (Don’t you just LOVE politicians.)But to continue after you interrupted me. By now the lines at either Disney Park would be slimmed down to about two hours long. You could pay your $100 a day and probably get to do two, maybe three rides that day. That would be a very successful outing. The last time I went to Six Flags Over Texas was with a group of kids. Some of the kids were clued in enough that we could plan and execute the lines at rides. That was several years ago and the price was about ten dollars. Note, at the gate, the price is about $80 but if you buy online in advance it is only just below $50.00. Never having been a big fan of carnivals that seems to be outrageous to me. But, as you already know, I am in the minority.
To me a vacation means getting away from your normal pressures in life and getting your nerves back in order. Try this for an example. Several years ago I signed up for a week long writing seminar with a famous writer. It was to be in Canada and we secured a cabin on Campobello Island. The seminar got canceled as the writer allegedly got sick at a conference in Florida. I was disappointed but tried to make up for it by exploring more of Canada each day and going back into the USA for supplies. Each day we sat in lawn chairs on a cliff overlooking the straight and watched sailboats slipping by. The sunsets were amazing and the people, being Canadian, were marvelous. But wait, he says excitedly, we watched the ships with red sails, which mean they were whale watching ships, as they slipped past us each day, sometimes several times. We even saw the whales they were trying to watch. One cannot do that very much in Oklahoma.
A vacation does not have to be that far from home. We did many camping vacations and enjoyed them a great deal. Being on the shore of a large lake and under the trees was like being in another world. There were very few worries out there in nature. Oh, maybe one would warn the kids of snake bites, drowning, ticks and the extreme heat, but for a native Okie, this was normal stuff. The point was, we were away from daily pressures and out in God’s great wonderland. Also remember, we were much younger.
Since then we have learned that taking a cruise is a marvelous way to relax and enjoy nature. Also, one gets to meet some very nice people and we are still in touch with several of them. If you are on the same cruise ship and you are also having an enjoyable time, then you know you are compatible. On one cruise I met the pastor of the church, and some others in that church, where my Texas brother goes. What are the odds of that? On another cruise with a layover in Vancouver, Canada, we got to visit with a young Chinese family I had met on the internet. They had moved from Beijing to Vancouver and it all worked out very well.
So, get ready, get set and go. Now that is August and in Oklahoma the temperatures have cooled off to just below 110F, school is starting and you will miss your vacation time. I know things are very expensive but you could go spend a weekend in a very large city and then you would be glad to come home. Think Dallas in the summer. Just leaves your nerves at home and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
