Vacation Planning

I have always looked forward to vacations. As a kid, we didn't vacation as a family a whole lot. There were a half dozen years where we spent weeks at the beach. I recall a teenage trip to Disney and a few trips out to visit my grandparents, once they retired to Phoenix.

As I got old enough to pay my own way, I started traveling with friends. My first "adult" vacation was with a college friend for a long weekend in Vegas. Then there were a number of trips to see different baseball stadiums. (This week, I will be visiting my 43rd and 44th major league parks!) Many of these trips were with close friends and I often traveled and stayed at a friend's house.

It wasn't really until Deb and I got married that we became real tourists. Our honeymoon was in California, our first anniversary to London (across the pond, that is.) As a tourist, I've pretty much done as I pleased, although, as I think now about it, our itineraries were not very adventurous. We've done sight seeing. We've done Disney, but not much beyond that. Most of all, though, we've had heavy concentration on eating.

As we've put together our itinerary for this vacation, the focus was markedly different.

Deb had been saying for years that she'd love to go to Seattle. I spent exactly 3 hours in Seattle on a diversion from a meeting I attended in Portland. Drove up with some friends to see a ball game in that gawd aweful place they called a stadium -- the Kingdome. May she rest in peace!

So, the kids are old enough to appreciate the trip and we planned 9 days in Seattle and Vancouver. On the food front, I knew that we'll get all the fresh fish we can eat -- and all four of us love it. I know we'll get plenty of sushi (sashimi for me) -- and all four of us love that too. So to start with, eating healthy won't be a problem.

Next up is activities. The first part of our trip was scheduled to be Vancouver. We were originally looking at Whister, but there just wasn't enough time to get there. As we researched, the focus became outdoor activites. Ultimately, we settled on a rafting trip in Squamish, BC.

My dad took my brother and I and a family friend rafting when I was about 15 or 16. We had a blast, but I couldn't fathom a trip even at my former lows, in the low to mid 300's. Now is the time to get back out on the water.

When I spoke to the woman who ran the rafting company, she said that they supply wet suits. Okay, I thought, can I fit? I asked how big they got. Well, she said that they'd handle about 260-265 lbs. GLUP. At that point, I was at about 290 with 10 weeks or so to go. It would be tight. Obviously, I didn't plan to plunk down $300 if I wasn't going to be able to fit in the suit! We told the kids about the trip and they were psyched, but I knew I had work to do.

Anyway, that was the plan.

We didn't pre plan any other activities other than touristy stuff, but I did map out a running route in Vancouver and Seattle. Now, that's new!

Deb and I knew there'd be lots of walking and that would be no big deal.

Just couldn't wait to go!

To be continued. . .

L'Chaim!