Changed vacation plans

The time when we were going to travel to the Grand Canyon is rapidly approaching, but the strangest thing happened:  Every time I sat down to make some plans, I got an uneasy feeling.  "Unsettled" how I described it to Cliff.  

That is the chief reason I decided we shouldn't go, but there are two others also:  First, such a trip would be costly.  Not that we couldn't pay for it, but we aren't millionaires, and there is always something wiser on which we could spend that amount of money.  Secondly, I don't know that my knees are up to such a long ride.  I'm sure I could make judicious use of the Vicodin I use sparingly when we're on the road, but it's just another factor in why we aren't going.    

But the unsettled feeling is the main factor.  By the time a woman is my age, she learns to pay attention to her intuition.  Call me crazy if you like.  

There will be some adventures during the time the baby is in Iowa with her grandma, though.  I have already gotten tickets to Warm Springs Ranch at Boonville, Missouri, home of the Budweiser Clydesdale horses.  We've been wanting to visit there for three years.  We were always going to make it a motorcycle ride, but just never planned ahead for it.  It's one of those things for which you have to buy tickets ahead of time.  Tickets are non-refundable, but since they only cost $10, that isn't a big deal.  

I also booked another trip to the old Missouri Penitentiary in Jefferson City.  We've wanted to do a return visit practically since the minute we walked away from there at the end of the other tour we took.  This time I chose the more in-depth three-hour tour instead of the two-hour one.  Tickets for the prison tours cost more than those for Warm Springs Ranch, but are refundable up to within 24 hours of the tour.  

I'm sure I will come up with some other fun things to do during our baby-less days that won't take us too terrible far from home.  I've considered a day or two at Branson, just to see some shows.  I only hesitate to do this because Cliff is so hard of hearing, it's difficult for him to enjoy the shows.  But we'll see.  He is so happy to get out of going to the Grand Canyon, he doesn't much care what we do instead.  

We have been wanting to visit my sister in Kansas for a long time, but there has been so much going on around here!  I plan to put that to our vacation agenda, too.  

I have the Gusewelle visit to look forward to, although that doesn't happen until late October.  It's on a Saturday, a day when the baby wouldn't be here anyway. 

So there you have it.