One to plan, two to get ready, three to go!

I confess...I love planning! (Wonder where I get that from??) ...and maps. So, I've been having a blast planning this trip. Originally, we were going to pick up the car in Portland and drive it on the trip, then ferry back to Juneau, but the more we thought about it, we decided it would be better to drive it a bit first (I hate the thought of having a new car, then having a problem with it). So, we're "frantically" putting some miles on it before the trip. We hit over 900 last night when we drove it out to dinner...and probably won't hit our target of 2000 before the trip.

More planning - working with Alana and Kelly, we settled on Elkins Resort for a location. Not an easy job by any means...we all knew full well that no matter where this was going to be, somebody wouldn't like it...and everybody was scattered from Anchorage to Hawaii to Missouri to Oklahoma and lots of points between. And, since no matter what the location, everybody would have to travel (it's only fair!) The location that would have suited Mom & Dad best would be Wasilla and Dad really doesn't enjoy traveling all that much ("Why not, Dad?"..."Because it's too cramped in coach"..."No problem, Dad, we'll get you first class seats"...."Rats, now I guess I'll have to travel!")

And yes, of course, we got 'complaints'..."too far" "too much money" and so on. Oh well, we figured, that's just the reality of trying to do this. So, Alana set us up with Elkins (after patiently working through more than 30 different locations from California to Montana - thank you Alana! At least we didn't pick Paris or Budapest!!) Everybody would end up making an 'investment' in their trip and the chance to reconnect with family - all at the same place/time. In truth, this will likely be the last opportunity we have to do this and recognizing this rather 'harsh' fact of life makes the investment alot easier to work into the budgets...at least for me.

We thought a family slide show would be alot of fun and I volunteered to put one together...the only hitch was that everybody would have to send their pictures to me. Well now, today is the 28th of April and I leave on the ferry on the 8th of June, so you'all are WAAYY behind the power curve. It takes time to do all this and with a full time job and full time volunteering, the time I have left available to work on this is just about gone. So, if you simply cannot get me your pictures, I have an alternative: BRING THEM WITH YOU!

Like lots of other families, we chose to turn this into a combination family vacation/family reunion. And, at least in my case, it ends up being work/family vacation/family reunion...the breakdown is like this: Work = 6 days/ family vacation = 12 days / family reunion = 3 days. The logistics got a bit crazy, two ferry trips (Juneau-Bellingham and return), 9 days of driving and six days of lounging around hotels/resorts. What fun! We starting making schedules/lists/reservations and saving for mad money...in our case, teddy bear money (ask Noreen about this - hope there's room in the car...) Whew! Time for a break!