Anniversary Week and Vacation Planning

Tuesday was DH and my 30th wedding anniversary. Wow, has that gone fast! We celebrated as couples that have been together longer than their age at wedding often do when the date falls on a weekday, regular life. DH worked well past 8:00 and I had regular busy stuff going on. Tomorrow morning though we go to the Lake Superior shore for three days, two nights of hiking, shop looking, leave gazing, and a couple brew pubs. We have no agenda and that works great for me. Despite my post last week on desert in restaurants not being worth the price most of the time, we have a special stop for pie, maybe lunch then pie, north of Duluth in Two Harbors at Betty's Pie's. DH insists we've stopped before but I do not remember doing so. 

Today will be jam packed at work as it is my last day in the office until October 23rd. I have a sizable balance of vacation hours and will still have over three weeks accrued after this leave. I'm starting to plan out how I will use. Unlike my last job where unused vacation was paid out when you departed, unused vacation here gets converted to dollars and put in a health savings account.  While technically I wouldn't lose it, I think I'd rather preserve my health and well being by using my vacation tie as it was intended, for taking well needed breaks form work. I'll keep earning more time as well each month.

DH has been very much on the fence about Europe next summer, perhaps not even quite approaching the fence. We are not one for anniversary gifts, but he likes to give cards.  On my card he had drawn a little airplane with EUROPE written next to it. I guess this was his way of saying her has gotten on the fence and over to the other side. Now I get to start the real planning, figuring finances, doing research. Since the adult kids would only be able to spend  little over a week, planning accommodations so that we don't spend more than needed in week two  will be helpful to the budget. I want to make sure we at least have a kitchenette to save meal costs. Oh the planning! 

For me, planning is part of the great fun of any travel. even for this weekend and next weekends college road tour, I'm scoping out the best stops along the way, took my time researching hotels and places to eat. While things can go wrong even with the best made plans, I find I do enjoy the time better when I have a course of action. We like to be spontaneous with activities too, but the big details are not going to be winged.  Enjoy your Thursday.