Voyage Of The Crack Of Dawn Treaders
Glee! Great glee is upon our heads in a tongues-of-fire Pentecostal painting type way, but with fewer beards and more blasphemy. We’re going on our hols tomorrow, folks!
This will be the first family holiday we’ve had where we’re not visiting relatives or bound to any special timetable or obligations. Not that we haven’t enjoyed those in the past, but for the next few days it will be just the unbidden 4 of us in Yosemite and King’s Canyon and I can’t wait.
The girls are of an age now where they can appreciate a whole lot more and can last a whole day’s out-and-abouting without getting too tired or grouchy. Even just last year, at 5, there would have been over-wearied tears before mid-afternoon, far less bedtime. Off on Tuesday, back weekendyish. It’s not too far away – 6 hours or so by car – but a world apart with places and things I can’t wait to show the chidders.
My main problem will be keeping the problem-husband from adhering to too rigid a schedule. His “Print” -button finger is itching to print out itineraries and ETAs and all manner of confuddling unnecessaries. I’m sure he’ll do it anyway, in private, with his office door shut, feeling seedy and ashamed at his lack of lack of control.
He’s a lovely man in a million and six different ways but also a “Right! Seen it! Chop-chop! Back in the car and onto the next thing a mere 4 hours away!” sorta fella. Efficient. I’m more of an idler and a snooper and a long, long walker. In hols past, his way has usually won out because I couldn’t really think of any better reason to deny him getting in all he wanted to see, other than a vague “Oooh, just a wee while longer!”. Don’t be thinking of me as any type of a pushover though! Phthoo! We have a deal that if one of us feels much more strongly than the other about something then we’ll do that. I feel strongly about not leaving milk out on the counter and that oregano makes everything worse etc., and he obliges me so it all pans out.
This time, with the kids along, we’ll be forced to slow it down a good deal. Hoo-ambling-ray!! And there’ll be a whole lot more piddle-stops. Whoop-de-bladder-relieving-doo!!! Not that I’d use my children as tools against my husband in a matter as fundamental and sacred as our holidaying styles – Nopety-nope. Not me. Certainly not. But on this trip, I reckon he’ll want to take it all a little easier too.
See you in a bit, then. Have a happy week, you non-vacationing unfortunates hahaha! all.
Be good, and if you can’t be good, please blog all the details.
June 17th, 2008 at 1:01 am
Ah, well mind the rattlesnakes, unless you know how to hunt them. I hope you’ve got Indiana Jones explorer hats – especially little ones for the girls.
June 17th, 2008 at 1:13 am
No, but I’ve packed some cutlasses and a “What To Do If A Bear His Your Child In His Mouth” leaflet. It says on no account must you climb a tree.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:49 am
Have fun darling, I hope the children see the magic of it all.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:56 am
Woo hoo, Yosemite Sam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You don’t look a bit like him! Have fun with Bugs!
June 17th, 2008 at 4:08 am
Why is the post dated June 17th, 2008? Is it the 17th? Have I missed my car service?
Anyway, enjoy. And bring us back a stick of rock.
June 17th, 2008 at 5:17 am
I think our husbands might be of the same stock! If I see one more list! Argh!
Have a lovely time Sam, hope you all enjoy it!
June 17th, 2008 at 7:05 am
He?s a lovely man in a million and six different ways. . .
Ha! I’m sitting on a million and seven.
Have fun, dear. Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon are on tap for next summer. I look forward to your report and photos.
Cheers.
June 17th, 2008 at 7:14 am
Mens is like that. They like to pack in the memories, both for themselves and their others. I believe that is why I’m more of a vista snapshot type rather than the linger essence absorbing type. Have a good and memorable journey and holiday.
June 17th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Have a great time. We have just had our 5 yr old for the week-end so can imagine what it will be like x 2. And I’m sure they are sweeties too, to say nothing of Hubs. We also, DV, are having a cottage break when we shall exhaust ourselves doing b—-r all. Come back bright eyed and bushy tailed.
June 17th, 2008 at 8:19 am
oooh, Yosemite is lovely and isn’t pronounced at all like it’s spelled, much to my embarrassment (“i’m off to yo semite for the weekend” i proudly announced to the bewildered san franciscans, who presumably thought i was instigating some kind of outreach programme for jews).
June 17th, 2008 at 8:45 am
I can still recall, in the days of my youth, meandering along the byways and carriageways and the song of the open road flying in my face with a- splat. (I kept my mouth shut as much as possible.) No plans, no expectations was our motto and we did endeavor to live by it. However, there was a synchronistic occurrence that we found exceedingly strange- this rigmarole of a band- ?The Grateful Dead? would follow us around! Every few nights they would show up wherever we were and play for us. I guess they thought we were kinda fun to hang out with.
I post hast ran away to ireland and my motto evolved and is reflected in this poem by Whalt Whitman:
Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good fortune- I myself am good forture;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road.
The earth- that is sufficient;
I do not want the constellations any nearer;
I know they are very well where they are;
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.
Still I carry my old delicious burdens;
I still carry them, men and women- I carry them with me wherever I go;
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them;
I am fill?d with them, and I will fill them in return.
You road I enter upon and look around. I believe that you are not all that is here;
I believe that much that is unseen is here too.
……
Enjoy your trip!
June 17th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Oh, will there be forests and dells and glades to explore? Have a marvellous time and bring back photos.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:33 am
It’s not quite the same driving with kids. I always thought the drive was part of the holiday. Especially through great countryside. It took me a while to finally realise the kids didn’t think of “the view” as anything worth bothering with.
Still, one advantage of your husband indulging in his shameful secret is that when the girls shout “Are we there yet?” he’ll be able to reply “In another 2 hourse, 13 minutes and 27 seconds!” and keep counting down every time they say it again.
They’ll keep each other amused for hours like that.
I’d take your MP3 player if I were you…
June 17th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
have millions of fun n that…….did the badges arrive yet?
June 18th, 2008 at 3:06 am
Linger.
June 18th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Ahh Yosemite. One of m favorite places on the planet. I went there within 2 weeks of moving to Californian. I used to go there all the time, and camping in the snow under a massive meteor shower one December is a lifetime memory. Kids have prevented regular visits over the last year, but i have to get there again before I leave – moving to NY in a few weeks.
June 18th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Sam, have a blast.
We went through Yosemite a few years back.
Watch out for the bears and have fun strolling in the woods!
June 18th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Enjoy, and don’t get eaten by a bear.
June 18th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Yay, you’ll have a great time at Yosemite! It’s such a California cliche, but the first time I went, I was in awe at the beauty of it. And it’s great traveling with kids, even with all the “Are we there yet?” Our kids still remember the time their dad stopped the car to bawl them out in Colorado and leaned against a fence — that promptly gave way. Ah, the memories.
It’s surreal just how similar our husbands are. Mine must have lists and careful planning; to deny him this is to wound him deeply. I am a make-it-up-as-you-go type who must be dragged away from every museum, national marker, display, etc. before I’m anywhere near finished with it. Somehow we have managed to work out a compromise so that both of us are pissed off instead of just one of us being disgruntled.
I fight a never-ending battle to have the milk put back in the fridge, so I’m with you on that. But I must have my oregano. I think it helps if you pronounce it the American way. (And fresh beats dried, but that makes me sound like a food snob.)
June 18th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
how perfect for y’all, sugar! motoring to yosemite…been there, done that with 4 kids under the age of 11! and everyone still has great stories to tell of the trip! xoxox
June 18th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
that sounds glorious. please promise me that photos will be taken.
you can promise when you get back because it appears you’ve already left.
June 20th, 2008 at 3:41 am
Have a wonderful time! It’ll also be great to see it through the eyes of the little ones