Mommy's Grand Adventure

I mentioned over at Froggy Blog that I'll be going on a trip. I was wondering how other moms would approach the whole "being gone" thing. This generated a few questions.

So, here's the scoop: My best friend has been away since 2004. At first it was college. Then, it was boot camp and officer training. Then, she was stationed halfway across the country from us, and then she was deployed. You can see that the majority of our friendship has been long distance. I treasure those phone calls. They don't always come often (it's been months before) and sometimes I miss them since I can't plan for them, but talking to her is always the highlight of my day when she calls.

In some of our conversations early in the year she'd told me that she was thinking of going to London next time she was on leave. Imagine my surprise, then, when she calls me in August and says, "Hey, wanna go to Seattle?" I draw a blank because my first thought is, "Who has a month to drive to Seattle?" and my second thought is, "Wait, I don't have that kind of money!" Then, she tells me that noooooo, Vics, you don't drive to Seattle, and if I invited you don't you think I'm paying for you?

This resulted in a small argument I'm obligated to have with anyone who doesn't have children who tries spending money on me. Moms, you know what I'm talking about. "Noooo! You can't spend your money that way! You might actually need it one day! Do you have any idea what that's like?" We've actually revisited this little chat several times. Finally she just told me her mom has already given her the lecture and she's doing it anyway because she loves us and wants to spend the time with us. Oh well. I tried.

Anywho, she told me not to say much about it or get too excited yet because she still had to put in for her leave and actually get things moving. Then, I got the news about two weeks ago. Her plans are a go!

I'll be gone for five whole days, but almost two of those will be spent traveling. Do you have any idea how long it takes to fly from here to Seattle? Forever! She's got us all staying in a nice hotel and I'm as excited about that as I am any of the rest of it. I've never stayed anywhere fancy before!

This is all huge for me in so many ways. I've been north (as far as Canada, actually) but never any further west than the tippy-tip of the Florida panhandle. I've never flown. I've never been apart from my baby for more than a few days and she was always a few miles away with my mom. I've never been apart from Nice Guy for more than a night. I've never left NG and Sweet'ums alone together for longer than a couple hours because I've never had to. They've never spent a night alone together. My mom and I have never been that far apart, or for that long.

It's going to be great and I'll make sure I get some amazing pictures for you folks. We're supposed to go to the Pacific Ocean one day while we're there, just because I've seen the Gulf and the Atlantic and this might be the only chance I get in my life to dip my toes in the Pacific. She wants to see Pike Place Market so that'll be fun. She also wants to do a pub crawl and seems like she's planning to stay drunk for the entirety of our visit. This is her trip, though, and I'm along for the ride, so I'm going to do my best to lighten up and have as much fun as possible!

For me this is the trip of a lifetime. I'm blessed to have a friend who even wants me along on this sort of thing and who is willing to pay my way. I feel awful for letting her, but my mom keeps telling me that it's S's way of showing her love and reconnecting after being gone for so long. I'm under strict orders by my husband to do some shopping and to do something stupid while I'm gone.

So that's the scoop. What do you think? I'm so excited that it makes me nauseous. Any travel pointers you'd like to share?