2012 Travel Plans (so far!)

On this Sunday afternoon, I slept until 1 p.m. and now I'm enjoying a day of nothing.  Sitting in front of a scary movie (1963's The Haunting) and watching the wind blow outside.

A word about this movie:  this black and white movie is a horror classic.  Starring Julie Harris, we saw this at the drive-in when I was a kid and it scared me greatly.  I think it was the beginning of the love that I have for horror movies and books.  I try to watch this every time it's on TV.  Great cast:  Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Russ Tamblyn -- so much better than the remake with Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Owen Wilson.  Looking it up on IMDB, I found that the exterior shots were taken at what is now a 4-star hotel in the Stratford-upon-Avon area.  I may think about staying there the next time I go to England!

Thinking about that made me realize that I need to organize my travel plans for 2012.  The calendar hasn't been filled in yet (I keep a 12-month at-a-glance calendar so I can see exactly where the travel and babysitting obligations fall), and 2011 hasn't been updated yet.  It would be nice to get one more trip in this year:  I'd like to go to the Biltmore in Asheville to see it at Christmas.  Mom and I are talking about going together, and I'm wondering if it makes sense to also try to go into Washington D.C. for a day or two to hit the Smithsonian.  [Oops!  A quick look at an atlas says that combination makes no sense.  Asheville is almost a direct line between Chicago and Florida, while Washington D.C. is considerably farther north and east.) A trip to the Grand Ole Opry and Opryland Hotel makes more sense.]  That job at Kohls does get in the way sometimes -- especially as we get closer to the Holidays and the trucks really start coming in.  Maybe I'll have a talk with them and see when it would be most convenient for me to be unavailable for a 5-6 day period.

For 2012 so far, we have a cruise in January, a weekend trip to the Dells in February, a week at the cottage in July, and the Alaska cruise in August.  Doug and Debbie's daughter is getting married in May at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico and I'm thinking about doing that as well.

I had actually considered going back to England in 2012 for a month (with a side trip to France to have a better look at Paris and to visit Versailles), but I'm not sure that there will be either time or money for that.  2012 also marks the year of our 30th anniversary and I had thought about having a party or something to celebrate.  I'll have to think about that.