My traveling brain

Summer time is creeping up on us and that means I am planning a trip home to South Dakota to visit the families. Our families live on opposite sides of the state so that means bonus road trips too. If you will remember we tried something new. We flew into Omaha NE and drove up to D's family for a day or so then on to my family. We spent a few more days with D's family and drove back down to Omaha to take our first Amtrak ride.

Turns out I liked it so much we will be doing the same thing this year. We hope to avoid getting turned around leaving Omaha. That added some unexpected travel time. And I will remember to eat earlier and not turn into the traveling, ravenous Yarnkettle monster. I am super grumpy when I am hungry. However when I was able to eat I had the best Subway sandwich ever. Hunger really keys in those taste buds.

It really is funny to book a trip like this. Comparing air travel and train travel has pluses and minuses. The flight gets us in a few hours after leaving NY while the train takes over 24 hours of travel. But it is such fun travel for us. Good food, the best night of sleep for D and all the farm country I can handle.

My knitting is getting sorted and planned out. The train allows for plenty of knitting time. Plus I know I will sit around some kitchen tables and visit too. Maybe I will be able to leave some knit gifts behind if I plan it right. Or maybe I will just end up mailing them, I like my knitting to be stress free without deadlines. I just know I've started five or six projects in my mind and will start many more before the actual trip.

I do worry about Gus while we are gone. He will be staying at the vet's office so he can be closely monitored. But I know even with his ball of yarn, his bed and Grandma's flannel blanket, it will still be the vet's office to him. Sigh, sometimes in order to be a good daughter you have to be not a great Momma. I keep telling myself we need to go home but it is still tough.

Anyways, I will soon start making my packing list which I so enjoy that I start it months before we leave. We have a six hour layover in Chicago on the trip home which I will research this time. I want to see if I can hit a yarn store and get some deep dish pizza. Last time we walked up and down a street only to settle on Subway. I was so disappointed when I got home and saw we were only one street away from a huge park. Missed opportunity there, I love parks. Regent's Park was one of the first things we went to see in London. Well after we hit a pub, because you know how demanding the traveling ravenous Yarnkettle monster can be. Food then park = happy traveling Yarnkettle monster.

I am thinking of an audiobook for our road trip time. Right now it is between Mr Mercedes by Stephen King and An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield. D has turned me into a Stephen King fan via Under the Dome and Lisey's Story. On the flip side he enjoyed an NPR interview with Chris Hadfield. I guess it will be a in-the-car decision.

So don't worry about my traveling brain it is most happy when it is planning for a trip, even one we make every year. I welcome suggestions if anyone has any. It gives my brain even more to chew on.