Open the Window and Kick Off Your Shoes – A BillsWeek Summer List

Ok, I know that technically it isn’t summer yet, but when temperatures hover around 90 degrees and the cold beverage container is “sweating,” I’m not interested in whether the sun has reached its greatest distance south of the celestial equator. It feels like summer in Colorado and I LOVE it, and here (in no particular order) are some of the reasons why:

• Open windows
• Hot (usually) dry days and (mostly) cool nights
• Trees and trails
• Thunder storms
• Shorts (on myself and others)
• Bare feet
• Showing snow to tourists from the east - in July
• Outdoor movies on Fillmore Plaza (I never go, but I like the idea)
• Driving up to 10,000 feet to cool off
• Going to the mail box or taking out the trash without having to put on more layers
• That blast of dry air when you first get off the plane after a trip back east
• Hiking to the old homestead ruins at Golden Gate State Park
• Sidewalk dining at Las Margaritas
• Fresh strawberries and blueberries
• Trail Ridge Road
• Movies and music at Chautauqua in Boulder (I’d like to go more often than I do)
• Fewer obnoxious kids on the city busses going to/from school
• Driving to neighboring states without fear of snow
• People everywhere enjoying being outside – walking dogs, chatting with neighbors, riding bikes, just hanging out
• The outdoor pool at the health club is open
• Russian ladies in the park watching their grandchildren
• TV reruns of Christmas shows
• Peoples’ dogs on the patio at Liks (ice cream)
• Nearly weekly events in Civic Center from People’s Fair to Pridefest (one of the largest in the U.S.) to Taste of Colorado (I don’t go often but I fully recommend them)
• Watching the Rocky Mountain Rowing Club early Saturday mornings at Cherry Creek Lake (I do this every week)
• Fresh strawberries and blueberries mixed into fine vanilla ice cream
• Concerts in City Park (I rarely go but it’s really great to have the option)

And finally:

• When it’s summertime in Colorado, I almost forget that I’ve recently, seriously thought about moving to California.

Planning to be Spontaneous

It is very difficult to not compulsively sit down, get out the AAA literature, Google some destinations, and make reservations. But I am determined NOT to plan my summer vacation.

As I reported a couple of blog entries ago (Organizer has Trouble Not Planning), I’ve always had a fantasy about just getting in the car and driving. No destination. See where the road takes me. But it’s a challenge to wait that long.

My thoughts go something like this: “Maybe I’ll spontaneously drive up to Manitoba and hit Minneapolis on the way back.” Or, at the suggestion of a good friend, “Without planning to, what if I drive through Michigan around the north shore of Lake Superior, and visit Minneapolis on the way back.”

Not all fantasy road trips involve swinging by the Twin Cities.

Commenting on the previous blog, a friend suggests road tripping to the mountains of North Carolina – the eastern version of “the middle of nowhere.” Another friend invites me to visit the Lincoln-Omaha area, what I used to call “Metrobraska.” Either or both of those sound like fun.

I’ve thought about some travel themes such as visiting all the state capitals between here and St. Paul, which is next to Minneapolis.

Another fun theme: go to every town of Springfield in a 10 state region. Yes, there’s one in Minnesota.

But the goal here is to challenge myself to behave in a different way from usual. Instead of planning everything down to the minute, which is my natural tendency, I’d like to see what happens if I have no plans – just the wide open road.

Here’s as much as I want to prepare ahead of this trip which begins June 11 or 12 and could last as long as 10 days (so not really long enough, perhaps, to go all the way to North Carolina – Minnesota on the other hand …):

• Fill the tank.
• Pack a cooler with drinks and snacks.
• Fill a travel bag with cool clothing – I’m fairly certain it will be hot wherever I go. Hmm, the North Shore could be chilly I suppose. Ok, I’ll bring a jacket as well.
• Drive out to Monaco Parkway and turn either left or right.

After that, I’ll be as free as one of those truckers in a country western song, with only the stars and the radio to keep me company.

That reminds me, I’ll need to bring my iPod. Perhaps I should start a list.