Fogbow

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 05, 2021 6:42 pm Here comes the boss

https://youtu.be/Wjvokbv8LaY

OMG, awesome! Note Mitch with no mask and retreats into his turtle shell.

I need a vacation. A real one, where I'm away from the roomies, the dog (though I love her dearly, just want to concentrate on me), the cats, and pretty much everything.

I would love to hit the Field Museum in Chicago, along with a few other places, but checking prices, it seems a bit high, but it's still an option. So, looking for thoughts on places to go. Just want a few days off from everything at home. I will be taking PTO, so week or weekend doesn't matter. I'm trying to be budget conscious. I hate flying, so nothing too far.

jez wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 1:47 am I need a vacation. A real one, where I'm away from the roomies, the dog (though I love her dearly, just want to concentrate on me), the cats, and pretty much everything.

I would love to hit the Field Museum in Chicago, along with a few other places, but checking prices, it seems a bit high, but it's still an option. So, looking for thoughts on places to go. Just want a few days off from everything at home. I will be taking PTO, so week or weekend doesn't matter. I'm trying to be budget conscious. I hate flying, so nothing too far.

Check with your local museum about any reciprocal museums. My museum membership card gives me access to museums all over the country and it's only $60 per year for 2 people.

Our daughter and son-in-law came up from NC with their 3 kids. We went to DC. Just about everything was closed. The mall was a virtual ghost-town (we were joking that there were slightly more people there than at Trump’s inauguration). But it was a beautiful day for walking around outside.

Maybenaut wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 7:28 am Our daughter and son-in-law came up from NC with their 3 kids. We went to DC. Just about everything was closed. The mall was a virtual ghost-town (we were joking that there were slightly more people there than at Trump’s inauguration). But it was a beautiful day for walking around outside.

Is that a remnant from Jan 6? Are people avoiding D.C.?

neonzx wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 8:43 am

Maybenaut wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 7:28 am Our daughter and son-in-law came up from NC with their 3 kids. We went to DC. Just about everything was closed. The mall was a virtual ghost-town (we were joking that there were slightly more people there than at Trump’s inauguration). But it was a beautiful day for walking around outside.

Is that a remnant from Jan 6? Are people avoiding D.C.?

Almost all of the museums were closed, even ones that advertised as being open.

jez wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 1:47 am I need a vacation. A real one, where I'm away from the roomies, the dog (though I love her dearly, just want to concentrate on me), the cats, and pretty much everything.

I would love to hit the Field Museum in Chicago, along with a few other places, but checking prices, it seems a bit high, but it's still an option. So, looking for thoughts on places to go. Just want a few days off from everything at home. I will be taking PTO, so week or weekend doesn't matter. I'm trying to be budget conscious. I hate flying, so nothing too far.

I hear ya. I have 400 hours of vacation time accrued and another 400 hours of sick time. That's about a half year off if I could actually take it. For over fifteen years, I have not been able to take more than a day or two off here and there sprinkled across the calendar as time becomes available between projects. HR threatened me with "use-it-or-lose-it". I countered with "pay-me-or-lose-me". I generally take Thanksgiving week, and then Christmas / New Years week off, with a bunch of Friday's off, and one or two single weeks before and after Summer. At the end of the year, they send me a 40hr check to burn off more time.

sugar magnolia wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 5:56 am

jez wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 1:47 am I need a vacation. A real one, where I'm away from the roomies, the dog (though I love her dearly, just want to concentrate on me), the cats, and pretty much everything.

I would love to hit the Field Museum in Chicago, along with a few other places, but checking prices, it seems a bit high, but it's still an option. So, looking for thoughts on places to go. Just want a few days off from everything at home. I will be taking PTO, so week or weekend doesn't matter. I'm trying to be budget conscious. I hate flying, so nothing too far.

Check with your local museum about any reciprocal museums. My museum membership card gives me access to museums all over the country and it's only $60 per year for 2 people.

The cost of the Field isn't too bad. All access, including ticketed exhibits, is only 40$. It's the hotels in the area. Most are in the $150-300 range per night. Guess I could make it just an over night trip, but I need more of a rest then that. But that is an option for an "excursion" type get away.

I was looking at Amtrak vacation, some type of round trip thing. But when I priced it, even just Cincy to DC ended up close to 3k. So yeah, I'll think some more and figure something out. I just need to get away from this house for a few days.

jez wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 11:10 am

sugar magnolia wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 5:56 am

jez wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 1:47 am I need a vacation. A real one, where I'm away from the roomies, the dog (though I love her dearly, just want to concentrate on me), the cats, and pretty much everything.

I would love to hit the Field Museum in Chicago, along with a few other places, but checking prices, it seems a bit high, but it's still an option. So, looking for thoughts on places to go. Just want a few days off from everything at home. I will be taking PTO, so week or weekend doesn't matter. I'm trying to be budget conscious. I hate flying, so nothing too far.

Check with your local museum about any reciprocal museums. My museum membership card gives me access to museums all over the country and it's only $60 per year for 2 people.

The cost of the Field isn't too bad. All access, including ticketed exhibits, is only 40$. It's the hotels in the area. Most are in the $150-300 range per night. Guess I could make it just an over night trip, but I need more of a rest then that. But that is an option for an "excursion" type get away.

I was looking at Amtrak vacation, some type of round trip thing. But when I priced it, even just Cincy to DC ended up close to 3k. So yeah, I'll think some more and figure something out. I just need to get away from this house for a few days.

I used to stay out in the 'burbs at the cheaper hotels and take the train in. The train rides actually became my favorite part of the trips.

bill_g wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 9:36 am I hear ya. I have 400 hours of vacation time accrued and another 400 hours of sick time. That's about a half year off if I could actually take it. For over fifteen years, I have not been able to take more than a day or two off here and there sprinkled across the calendar as time becomes available between projects. HR threatened me with "use-it-or-lose-it". I countered with "pay-me-or-lose-me". I generally take Thanksgiving week, and then Christmas / New Years week off, with a bunch of Friday's off, and one or two single weeks before and after Summer. At the end of the year, they send me a 40hr check to burn off more time.

You can take it if you wished to, but... you must really love your work.

sugar magnolia wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 11:47 am I used to stay out in the 'burbs at the cheaper hotels and take the train in. The train rides actually became my favorite part of the trips.

When I go to Chicago, the train ride is not always my favorite, mainly because, I take it (or use to take it and will again in the future) every day. Still, I rather take the train and depending on which line I take, I see stuff I don't see every day.. so it's all good.

sugar magnolia wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 11:47 am

jez wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 11:10 am

sugar magnolia wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 5:56 am

Check with your local museum about any reciprocal museums. My museum membership card gives me access to museums all over the country and it's only $60 per year for 2 people.

The cost of the Field isn't too bad. All access, including ticketed exhibits, is only 40$. It's the hotels in the area. Most are in the $150-300 range per night. Guess I could m
I was looking at Amtrak vacation, some type of round trip thing. But when I priced it, even just Cincy to DC ended up close to 3k. So yeah, I'll think some more and figure something out. I just need to get away from this house for a few days.

I used to stay out in the 'burbs at the cheaper hotels and take the train in. The train rides actually became my favorite part of the trips.

I agree completely. I hated Chicago for the longest time, because of the traffic. Then a few years ago we took Amtrak, from KC to Chicago. Didn’t drive, just wife and I,and it turned out to be one of the best vacations we’ve taken. Picked up CTA 5-day pass at some store. So much to do. Shedd is the best aquarium I’ve seen, love the view from below of the whales and dolphins. Better show than from above. So much to do and see. Only bad part was leaving museum of Science and Industry was only accessible by CTA bus. We must have got the shift change bus. It was tighter than sardines.
I enjoyed the Amtrak on its own also. Trip back was night though, brought a book helped.
Next time I would get an outlying hotel and take Metra I think, thanks Sugar, good suggestion.

When we both get retired, and if COVID has subsided, I would like to get an Amtrak rail pass , and just choose destinations.

I really want a vacation, but there's nowhere to go. I'd visit my son, but he works full time from home. And he's on Oahu where there are few places we can safely go. Plus Ted would have to be boarded, and the only really good kennel has gone out of business.

Lately, when we have a 3 day weekend, I take off a 4th day.

Not happy about no real vacation, but I will be paid for unused vacation leave when I retire. It will be a very big check.

neonzx wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 8:43 am

Maybenaut wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 7:28 am Our daughter and son-in-law came up from NC with their 3 kids. We went to DC. Just about everything was closed. The mall was a virtual ghost-town (we were joking that there were slightly more people there than at Trump’s inauguration). But it was a beautiful day for walking around outside.

Is that a remnant from Jan 6? Are people avoiding D.C.?

DC shuts down in August. It must be left over from before everyone had AC because it’s damn humid in August. Like they say, it’s not the heat…

Phoenix520 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 8:02 pm

neonzx wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 8:43 am

Maybenaut wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 7:28 am Our daughter and son-in-law came up from NC with their 3 kids. We went to DC. Just about everything was closed. The mall was a virtual ghost-town (we were joking that there were slightly more people there than at Trump’s inauguration). But it was a beautiful day for walking around outside.

Is that a remnant from Jan 6? Are people avoiding D.C.?

DC shuts down in August. It must be left over from before everyone had AC because it’s damn humid in August. Like they say, it’s not the heat…

What? I’ve lived here for over 20 years. The museums don’t close because of the heat or the humidity. People are avoiding DC because everything is closed, and everything is closed because of covid.

Y'all get to be subjected to a minor rant because I can't post it anywhere else and I can't talk about it to any of my family except my husband, and it makes him feel bad too.

I'm going wedding dress trying-on with Aidan today. Sounds like a mother's dream come true, right? Not so much. She has also invited her mother-in-law to-be to join us. The MIL TB has an opinion on everything and has no hesitation sharing it. She's already opined loudly enough that we've changed the venue and some of the initial plans to better suit her. She's expressed her thoughts on dresses that are "too revealing" (I guess we'll find out what her definition of that is today) and "not appropriate". They already have a child for christsake! A full-on white wedding isn't "appropriate" as far as I'm concerned but I haven't told her that. It's not my wedding. I offered to take her out to eat afterwards, but she has plans with the MIL TB and my idiot sister, who I suspect may show up at the fitting. I haven't been in the same room with her for years and have no desire to change that. I'll do it if I have to, but it's just one more stressor. At this point, I feel like nothing more than a giant, walking checkbook.

OK, rant over. No need for sympathy, I just had to get it off my chest to someone and we'll all be fine.

Rant duly noted, and given the empathy it deserves. Do you have Ativan? You're gonna need that, or some really good meditation techniques.

I think it is considered customary to invite MILs to dress shopping nowadays.

Here is the history of white wedding dresses:

Queen Victoria Made White Wedding Dresses Popular. Here’s What Else You Should Know About Her Royal Wedding

She did not choose white to reflect purity, but to best show off its lace. (The lace makers in England were then struggling, and her commission was intended to give the industry a boon.) The young queen decreed that no one else should wear white at her wedding—trend-setting, again—and had the pattern for her dress destroyed so that no one could copy it afterwards.

https://www.vogue.com/article/queen-vic ... a-premiere

Tiredretiredlawyer wrote: ↑Mon Aug 09, 2021 9:55 am I think it is considered customary to invite MILs to dress shopping nowadays.

Here is the history of white wedding dresses:

Queen Victoria Made White Wedding Dresses Popular. Here’s What Else You Should Know About Her Royal Wedding

She did not choose white to reflect purity, but to best show off its lace. (The lace makers in England were then struggling, and her commission was intended to give the industry a boon.) The young queen decreed that no one else should wear white at her wedding—trend-setting, again—and had the pattern for her dress destroyed so that no one could copy it afterwards.

https://www.vogue.com/article/queen-vic ... a-premiere

I got invited to my DIL’s. Wish I had politely declined. The only thing more boring than shopping for clothes for myself is watching other people shop. And they kept wanting to include me by asking me my opinion. And I really didn’t have one. They were all beautiful, she was beautiful, she looked great in all of them. It was excruciating.

My daughter had a small wedding. She and her husband-to-be planned it, although we paid for it. She wore a cocktail gown instead of a wedding gown, as it was somewhat casual. I never missed the experience. I think there was/is a show on TLC about choosing wedding gowns, and I watched a few. None of it ever looked like fun.

Good luck.

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Mon Aug 09, 2021 10:34 am My daughter had a small wedding. She and her husband-to-be planned it, although we paid for it. She wore a cocktail gown instead of a wedding gown, as it was somewhat casual. I never missed the experience. I think there was/is a show on TLC about choosing wedding gowns, and I watched a few. None of it ever looked like fun.

Good luck.

"Say Yes to the Dress" is the show. One of my best girlfriends was the casting director for several years and she has some freaking hilarious stories about dealing with the brides and their moms. We almost accidentally got her fired one night when she was still living in NOLA and I spent the week with her.

sugar magnolia wrote: ↑Mon Aug 09, 2021 10:47 am

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Mon Aug 09, 2021 10:34 am My daughter had a small wedding. She and her husband-to-be planned it, although we paid for it. She wore a cocktail gown instead of a wedding gown, as it was somewhat casual. I never missed the experience. I think there was/is a show on TLC about choosing wedding gowns, and I watched a few. None of it ever looked like fun.

Good luck.

"Say Yes to the Dress" is the show. One of my best girlfriends was the casting director for several years and she has some freaking hilarious stories about dealing with the brides and their moms. We almost accidentally got her fired one night when she was still living in NOLA and I spent the week with her.

That was/is it. Thanks!

Maybenaut,

I went shopping with my DIL too and her mother and sister. My DIL looked great in everything and got frustrated about this. She had the perfect body for the dresses- tall, just the right size of boobs and butt. Then she put on THE dress and everyone KNEW.

I admire the artwork in the dresses.