The Vaca from %%$&

Julia’s Redbook blog talks about her terrible vacation and asks the question, what was your most terrible vacation? Apparently, Redbook does not cater to Mac users and once I signed in, I was unable to post my answer in the comments section. So I’ll write about it here.

My worst “vacation” experience (can you call it a vacation if you’re miserable?) involved a road trip to North Carolina with my then soon-to-be in-laws, not including my then-fiancee’. Four months before my wedding, 2 of my SILs, my MIL, and grandmother-on-law and I traveled to North Carolina for a weekend of bridal showers for the oldest SIL who got married 10 weeks before I did. I do not know what possessed me to go, other than a desire to spend some bonding time with my soon-to-be family. The trip up was mostly uneventful. It was February and chilly, but not miserable at that point. 5 women of various sizes and shapes were crammed into an Isuzu Rodeo with so much stuff that I think they thought we were staying for a week instead of a weekend.

Mr. Moose’s grandmother has a penchant for Cracker Barrel, so nearly every time we stopped to eat, we had to find a Cracker Barrel. Now, I must explain something about myself. My family has traveled to North Carolina for years as I was growing up. I am no stranger to road trips. However, I am used to a “let’s just get there” mentality. Mr. Moose and I travel this way. Time in the car, though it can be pleasant, is simple a means to an end. Repeatedly stopping at a sit down restaurant that always requires a wait for a table and always takes plenty of time to prepare and serve your food is not my idea of efficient. In addition, I suffered from bouts of motion sickness as a child and have learned to always be careful of how much and what types of food I consume while spending hours in a car with no easy access to a restroom. (Keep in mind my notorious stomach problems). Cracker Barrel’s greasy southern-friend food is not ideal in this situation.

Once we finally got there, it wasn’t too bad. We spent the night at SIL’s one bedroom condo, which was nice, but small. Not a whole lot of sleep to be had on an air mattress, but it could have been worse.

The trip back was awful. It was freezing cold and raining when we left and since it was a new-to-her vehicle for the SIL who was driving, she never did figure out the concept on how to keep the heat on. It took forever. We ended up stopping overnight, though we shouldn’t have. And then in the morning, when typically I would have just gotten dressed enough to be street legal, they each had to fully make themselves up – hair and all. By the time we finally got home, I had a headache and a stomach ache and I was incredibly irritable from 3 nights with terrible sleep. Needless to say, I will never again take a road trip with my in-laws.

Cycle news: I haven’t yet Oed, here on CD 12 (or is it 13?), which baffles me after my egg white experience, but I’m hoping that maybe stress simply delayed my O, or that it’s coming up this weekend.