A Vacation On The Fly

"The rain here isn't as bad as they say."

"We only tell non-residents that so they stay away."

"This is the best place to winter."

These are just a few of the absolute bullshit statements that I heard when considering taking this job in the Seattle area. Now, to everyone's credit, no one could have predicted how bad this winter would be. It has just simply, not...stopped...raining.

Now, I know that I have nothing to complain about compared to people still suffering the effects of Katrina or any of the other dozen disasters that struck in 2005. Every day I thank God for my blessings. But that doesn't make the toll this crappy weather is taking on my family any easier. It's affecting Jen, the kids and even me in a very bad way. The last week has not been good. And there is literally, no end in site for the rain.

You probably saw that Seattle was closing in on the all time "consecutive days of rain" record. I believe we hit 28 of the 33 days. Then, on one Saturday, the sun came about for about an hour and it didn't rain. Starting Sunday, back to it. And it has rained every day since. The clouds wouldn't be so bad since when they roll in off the ocean, they're at least interesting to look at. It's not the solid grey overcast we had in Columbus. But the rain prevents you from doing anything, and the house becomes a damned prison.

So Jen suggested we find a hotel with an indoor pool and take the kids there for the night. I countered with "let's take $1000 out of the bank and drive down the coast to someplace with sun." I think we need that more than the pool. We spent a while looking at options, not finding anything suitable. Then, the word "Disneyland" was mentioned. I went up stairs to lie down for a bit and a Disneyland commercial came on advertising the "kids fly free" promotion. Jen then spent two days pricing out this package, checking hotels, etc. Money is always tight and without knowing our tax refund, I didn't want to go over the $1000. It turns out that we miscalculated how much we were saving and we have about $2500 more in our savings account than we realized. Made the choice a lot easier.

I checked with work and I'm clear for a very short-notice time off. We booked yesterday and will be leaving next Saturday. All told, the airfare, transfers, hotel, and 3 day park hopper passes ran us $300 per person. We came in $250 over budget but still thought it was a great deal. We checked weather.com to see what we can expect and it should be 76 and sunny when we arrive. That's probably more appealing than any of the amenities.

We pulled the kids downstairs because we "wanted to talk to them" and I got all serious faced. Bailey thought she was in trouble so I played it up for dramatic effect. When I told them we were going to Disneyland they both screamed like, well, children.

One drawback is that I will miss the Superbowl. I suppose I might be able to catch it in down there somewhere. I will Tivo the game but I'm not too upset about it. Right now, my general mental health is really stretched and I need a little yellow-sun radiation more than watching "the big game".

So there will be plenty of pics. I'm glad I started my diet prior to this.