The Evolution of a Trip

A few weeks ago, my sister Alicia and I were headed over to Dad's for the day. We were talking about our summer plans when she mentioned that she desperately wanted to go to Colorado. Alicia absolutely loves Colorado. However, her husband couldn't take off work and none of her children wanted to go. (She has 4 children - 2 are in college, one will be a senior next year, and her youngest is 13) She said she wanted to just get in the car and go - no reservations, no firm plans - just go. So I said, "Why don't we go?"

She was so excited to see that I was interested. We immediately started talking logistics. It would be Alicia, her son (who is young enough to be told he's going on vacation), me, and my 2 kids. We would go to Mesa Verde and be gone a week. We would have to get our husband's "okay", of course, but we didn't see that as a real problem. Wow, what fun!

Then, our first obstacle. We received invitations to a wedding shower for my dad's bride-to-be. Right smack dab in the middle of our trip. This was the only week Alicia could go, as well. So, it was either miss the trip or miss the shower. We didn't feel like we could miss the shower, so the trip would have to be modified.

On to plan B. 3 days in San Antonio. We'd go to Sea World, the River Walk, the Alamo, and one or two of the other missions. It would be cheaper (making the husbands happier), and we'd still be getting out of town. The kids have never been to Sea World, so they were happy. The shower was yesterday and we were to leave this morning.

Then, my sister called last night. Was my heart really set on San Antonio? Well... She was feeling stressed and overwhelmed by the trip. She had had no time to get ready for it. We could still go, but... What did I think about going to Schlitterbahn in Galveston? I could tell by her voice that she was not doing this lightly.

I talked to the kids, stressing how hot Sea World was going to be, and how we could go in the fall when it was cooler. Were they okay with it? Yep, they were. Okay, Alicia, we can do that. However, what do you think about staying the night in Galveston after Schlitterbahn, then going to the beach the next day. Sounds great to her! We leave tomorrow morning.

So we went from a week-long trip to Colorado, to 3 days in San Antonio, to 2 days in Galveston. Alicia thanked me profusely for being so sweet about the whole thing. I told that I thought if she ever suggested a day trip to me, we'd probably end up downgrading it to shopping at Wal-Mart. :)