My People

Image by Kup Kup Land via Flickr

As I am gathering ideas and lists for our New England and Mid-Atlantic trips, I'm also making note of people to visit and people to possibly stay with along the way. Staying with people, for at least part of the time, is the only way these trips will be possible, since funds are quite limited. But the sheer number of people I know in the locations we'll visit is growing rapidly! Even the people to just visit, that I know wouldn't want to or be able to put us up. I can't wait to see/meet some of these folks!

Not surprisingly, the longest list of people is in the D.C. area. There are several people to visit that I knew when I lived there, but the most interesting part is how many people I know from completely different circles in my life that have moved there since I've been away. Some family, Arizona friends, Colorado friends, GeekDad contacts... And wouldn't it be awesome to tour the ThinkGeek offices while there? Something to ask them when the time comes.

So I'm really hoping that when we embark on our trip that we'll be able to visit a whole bunch of people. And I hope that some of them will join us on our adventures in their area, such as to museums, historical sites, and.. well.. more museums and historical sites. =)

Will Write for Travel

Image by oh_candy via Flickr

There is a feeling that hits me in mid to late summer every year. It is a yearning for the east, a desire to see fall colors and feel cool, crisp air on my skin. The smell of fall rarely makes itself known where I live. The lack of leaf piles to jump in here saddens me. Don't get me wrong. Most of the year, I love the weather where I live in northern Arizona. It has relatively mild summers and mild winters and lots of sunshine. Though as a very fair skinned girl, it is easy for me to get too much sunshine.

Once in a long while I get to travel back east. Unfortunately, it's usually in the summer, which only reminds me of how much I hate humidity and mosquitoes. But a trip in the middle of autumn would be delightful. So I'm planning a trip for 2011. It all started because my 20th high school reunion will occur (if it does) in that year. It is possible it will happen during the summer instead of the fall, in which case I'll have to make a tough decision. Do I go in the summer and brave the humidity and mosquitoes? Do I go in the fall anyway and miss the reunion? It's a decision that I won't have to make for at least a year. But it's also one I may not be able to make at all.

See, money is an issue for me. I don't have a paying job, but spend my time with my children, taking care of them and homeschooling. I love what I do, but it doesn't allow for many extras such as traveling. I hope that some of my writing endeavors start paying at some point soon, but if they don't, I need to find a way to make a couple thousand dollars in the next two years. I figure that if we're going to make the long trip back east, we might as well see everything we want to see. So from Virginia up to Connecticut, or even possibly Maine, I'd like us to see all the family, friends, historical sites, and regional activities that we can. School isn't an issue, obviously. There will be more learning done traveling from museum to historical site to governmental building than we'd ever be able to do at home. My kids will be 10 and 7 for the trip, and, since we homeschool, our schedule is flexible to allow such a long trip.

Depending on how many wonderful souls will put us up for free, my very rough initial estimate for the cost of the trip for the three of us (transportation, food, activities, occasional lodging) is about $2000. This doesn't include airfare for my husband if he decided to meet up with us for part of the trip. There are many free and inexpensive activities to do, so about half of my estimated cost is transportation. I am envisioning an Amtrak journey out there, then renting a car.

So I'm embarking on a two year mission to raise funds for this trip. I'll start saving money where I can, but until we sell our house, that'll be tough. So it's up to me to make some extra money.

I write for GeekDad and have done proofreading and editing for a living in the past. So if you have any writing or proofreading needs, I'm open to suggestions and offers! I'm happy to send my resume if you're that interested.

Otherwise check out my writing at GeekDad.

Another idea I had was to take our experiences from taking this trip and writing it up in great detail. The planning, logistics, trip itself, and aftermath ("what we learned") could be interesting for others to read. So if you want to help fund the trip so that I can blog about our experiences, or perhaps to write a book (a girl can dream), let me know. Thanks!

Tune in for another post soon about where I plan to go!