Vacation on the brain

I am in the midst of planning two separate vacations, one for this summer and one for next summer.

After a lot of back and forth and figuring out dates and places, my sister-in-law and I have planned a little mini-vacation to Martha's Vineyard. We can't afford a hotel during the summer on MV, so we are staying at the one and only campground on the Vineyard. It got so-so reviews, apparently, one of the owners is a cranky sort, but we asked for a site in the hinterlands of the campgrounds, so hopefully we'll escape his cranky eyes.

I've only been camping once in my life, and it was not pleasant. My sister and I decided to have a little family vacation, so we picked out a campground in Gloucester, MA, and off we went, with husbands and children in tow. My family was in a tent, hers was in a camper.

Unfortunately, the campground apparently used some old pictures of itself when advertising on the internet. It was broken-down, the pool was closed, the pond was covered in green scum...and they wouldn't let us have a fire, which is almost the whole point of going camping. And then it rained for almost the entire 3 days we were there. Not pleasant at all.

So I'm taking a chance going again. Theoretically, I love the idea of sleeping in a tent, being in the outdoors, cooking over a fire, etc. Realistically, my body suffers even when sleeping on a fancy pillowtop mattress. I will be saving the rest of my Vicodin supply for the trip.

Our vacation next year will be a get together with some women I met on the internet in 1996, when I joined a list of people who were due to have babies in the same month. We're going to Phoenix. In July. Yes, I know. But the plus side is that we will be getting off-season pricing. We're going to hang out at a resort with a waterpark for a few days, then on to Sedona and then a few days at the Grand Canyon. I flew over the GC on my way to Las Vegas once (back at my old job, where I made so much more money and got to travel several times a year....oh, I miss it sometimes). I remember the pilot telling us to look out the right side windows, and I saw a bunch of canyons, thinking "that's it?", but those were just the precursors, because when we got to the Grand Canyon...I got choked up, truly. Tears in my eyes. (If my kids read this, they will roll their eyes, because I get choked up at everything).

I wish I could travel all the time. I don't mind the hassle of it, I'm always too excited about going someplace new.