So maybe I am enjoying sharing my little world through words.  I thought of something else to say.

Our family vacation this year is to California.  This is Rick’s pick of vacations, in honor of his high school graduation.  Maybe this is his last family vacation.  If he goes after this, he’ll need to chip in.  Anyway, he decided that he wanted to see California.  I asked what part of California did he want to see?  He didn’t know, but it was one state he hadn’t been to. 

He’s right there.  After California (and driving through Nevada), he will have 11 states to go.  Dare I say, we tend to travel a lot.  That’s my fault since I’m the one with the travel bug.  My favorite vacations are driving ones that take me across different places where I can do different things. 

Here’s how my planning works:

I spent the last couple of weeks reading some tour books and studying some maps.  I’ve contacted people about the areas where I want to stay and things I might want to see.  From there, I’ve come up with a list of things to do. 

I opened my computer and Google maps.  Starting from home, I mapped out a course that would take in the general direction of all the places I want to see.  I selected places to stop for the night based on how many miles or hours I plan to drive.  I figured out the timing and places, and saved my map for reference in the rest of my planning.

I came up with a start date and figured out how many days I have.  This vacation calls for 5 days to drive there and 5 days to drive back.  Then I figured out how many days I want to spend in each place.  My concentration was on Yosemite National Park and Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park.  The other locations get at least a couple of days.

This weekend, I concentrated on making reservations at the national parks, hotels on the way out and back, and then concentrated on the other places.  I still have a couple of places to figure out, but it’s coming together.

My plan is drive into Northern California first.  We have to stop by and visit Rich’s Aunt Fran.  From there, we head to San Francisco.  A couple of days to wonder the streets should be good.  We have to walk out on the Golden Gate Bridge though.  I’ll try to relive the one day I spent in San Fran wondering myself.

From there, we head to  Yosemite.  This is a large part of our days.  We plan to hike a lot and enjoy nature.  No one is planning to climb El Capitan or Half Dome.  I hope the weather is good to get some good sunrise and sunset pictures.  I found some nice cabins just outside the park where we can enjoy our evenings, even though TV and Internet will be limited.

Sequoia Kings Canyon is the next stop for a few days.  I’ve been here before.  I drove up while working in LA for a long weekend.  The places was crawling with black bears.  The hiking was great and I want to show my guys those sights.  Of course, you can’t miss the giant redwoods all over the park.  There is a beautiful waterfall in Kings Canyon that I didnt’ really hike and now will be my chance.

From here, we head into LA. The guys have no interest in the big city.  Other than Venice Beach, Santa Monica pier, and the LeBrea Tar Pits, they don’t care what else they see.  We definitely have to catch up with Rich’s cousin while we are here.  I’m thinking about driving out one day to catch up with another cousin just north of LA. 

Then, it is the desert.  I love the deserts out in California.  Not sure why.  I worked outside of Palm Springs for a couple of months when I first started with Motorola.  I thought it was the coolest place.  So I’m taking Rick out to see it.  We are going to hike in Joshua Tree National Forest and probably ride up to Big Bear.  A lot of those roads you see in commericals or movies are shot on the road going to Big Bear.  I’ll have to remember to warn Rick about the scorpions.

After that, we say good-bye to California and head to Las Vegas.  This is just an overnight stay, but we definitely plan to check out the Hoover Dam.  Red Rocks Canyon would be nice to see, if we have time. I checked with my experts on Vegas and found a cool place on the strip.  It’ll be like doing it old style.

All things must end and we will be headed home after this.  Part of the trip will be over the roads we already traveled.  Rich has plans to stock up on pickles from a place in Des Moines.

I love to plan out a vacation.  I pick my stops and know where I sleep.  I also look for places to eat along the way.  I like pub food. So looking for microbrews lets us enjoy the food and Rich can try the beers.  These days, I check out Foodnetwork, too.  The traveling shows pick up some good places to try.  I prefer hole-in-wall places.  They are way more interesting and have some of the best food. 

I like a good plan, but we don’t have to stick to a schedule.  I figure out what to do each day, but that could change based on how we feel and how much we can cram into a day.  I just like to have a plan.  It’s vacation, so there’s no sitting around here. Got places to be and things to see.

I guess this is just a prelude for things to come when we go on vacation in May.  I’ve been told by a couple of my readers that I have to blog while I’m gone.  I’ll try to do that where I have connection.  Where I don’t, I’ll have to catch up after the fact. 

I guess I underestimated my number of readers.  I might actually have 5.  Pretty soon, I’ll be rivaling Rose and her numerous followers.  Now I have a goal!