~ A Labor Day Vacation Plan ~

Hubby and I planned a weekend trip ending on Labor Day. By taking one day off, I get a four-day weekend and that is long enough to plan a trip that will tire us out and leave us ready to get home by the end of the fourth day. Last year, we headed east and saw sites all across Iowa, crossing the river for a short foray into Wisconsin and Illinois. This year, Hubby just wanted to go somewhere we haven’t been before.
Throughout our long association with each other, we’ve been across Nebraska dozens of times. We’ve gone high, low, and in the middle, and sometimes a combination of those choices. There are many places, and a few specific paths, we love to revisit. But, apparently, not on this trip – which is fine, I like seeing new things, too.
I figured that southern Minnesota would be a fun destination because we haven’t traveled much in that state and it’s close enough to go by car and get back in four days. Especially the way Hubby loves to drive. Let’s just say he is not afraid of long distances and late nights. I outlined a route for the trip and showed it to Hubby. He looked at it briefly and said that it looked like we were mostly seeing Iowa.
He seemed to not like the route I had chosen, so I started working on a different route, seeing attractions in Kansas. I was about to the stage where I would show it to Hubby when I heard him talking to someone on the phone, telling how we were going to take a trip to Minnesota. Luckily, I hadn’t thrown the Minnesota route away. I tucked the Kansas route into a “safe” place for future use – if I can still find it when the future becomes the present.
Next came the stage of the planning which is hardest for me, and practically alien to Hubby because he likes to just meander where the spirit moves him: timing the stops and comparing them to the open hours of the attractions we want to see. Of course, “we” is “me,” trying to accommodate both our interests. I go for variety. We could be visiting the Hobo Museum in the morning and that afternoon go underground for an hour-long tour of a cave. We might stop for a selfie with a roadside monument and then go see a pioneer dugout or a giant kaleidoscope. And that’s just a few items on the plan.
We often find little side-stops in places we didn’t plan for, or even know about before we drove past. Those side-trips are usually a lot of fun, making up for the work it takes to alter our schedule. In fact, one of the stops in Iowa, on our way to Minnesota, is an attraction I had wanted to see last year but we had to cut it out of that trip entirely so we could get to another site on time. I’m looking forward, again, to seeing it. I’ve looked at part of the virtual tour online, but it just isn’t the same as being there.
I have to admit that this vacation is a first. I actually used AI on the computer to help me map the route for our vacation. It made short work of figuring distances and driving times. In general, I don’t like or trust AI, but this vacation will be a test of sorts that might prove some applications of AI useful. That’s just an added bonus received at no extra cost.
All the planning is done, and the timing, and the alterations, so now we just have to pack up and take off, and stop to buy ice for the cooler. Minnesota, here we come.