We've been planning this trip for so long I don't actually remember when we started. I think it's been in the back of my mind for a long time, and one night when Alex and I were out to dinner with friends I mentioned that we'd probably take the kids out of school for a semester to travel. I remember a "have we talked about this?" look cross Alex's face, but he rolled with it. The man is a team player.
For a while I read about families who decide to take off and see where the road takes them. I admire that, but I'd never survive the uncertainty.
As we thought about places we wanted to visit and things we wanted to do, our plan started taking shape. We decided it would be best to do the trip during the second half of the school year rather than the first. It seemed like it would be too hard for the kids to walk into a new classroom when their classmates had been working with the teacher for half a year already. Better to start the year with everyone and then leave halfway through, we figured.
We wanted to spend some time with my parents in Florida, and we have a place in their building, so that seemed a logical first stop with a good home base. Plus: Florida in the winter. It's not rocket science, people.
Since we're going to Florida, the kids clamored to go to Disney World, and so we will. I found the second-least-crowded week in the Disney calendar, and we're booked. I did manage to find some academic activities for the boys, and they'll be taking three classes from the Disney Youth Education series. I'll be interested to see how academic the classes really are.
I went to college in Washington, DC, and I love that city. It's beautiful. There are so many things to do that I'm not sure our monthlong stay will be long enough. The Smithsonian alone has 19 museums. Then there's the Capitol, White House, FBI Tour, Spy Museum, Supreme Court, the Mall, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial. Just outside the city, Mount Vernon. Not too far from there, Williamsburg.
Finally, we wanted the kids to have a sense of just how vast the United States is and how incredibly different other parts of the country are from Connecticut. So we'll head west and check out deserts, canyons, red rocks, mountain ranges and wild beauty. Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands, Arches and the Grand Canyon are all on our list. That part of the itinerary is still coming together.