“Family are like the Catch-of-the-Day.  On the first day, they are great and you can’t help to have as much as you want.  By the third day, it’s no longer something to write home about.”
I first heard that story from my dad … at the time he was giving my Aunt’s Eulogy.   If he can get away with it there, I can get away with it here.

On Facebook I took it a step further and said yesterday:
“Last day before what will likely be a stressy, frustrating, and much more enjoyable stretch of time off than I will want to admit vacation.
On a side note, my family arrives tomorrow”

Today starts the first time I have had extended time off of work since the holidays, and the first “kinda” vacation in over a year.  It’s a sort of Stay-Cation (a vacation where you don’t travel very far) in that I am not leaving Alaska; but it sort a isn’t because I am renting an SUV and spending approximately 30 hours in it the next week driving around.

More importantly, Alaska is being invaded by family.  My parents, my brother, and my young nephew step on a plane shortly after I post this and will be here before sundown.

Our plan is fairly busy, and I have the overloaded itinerary to prove it.  A tour of Anchorage, train to Denali, bus through Denali, train to Seward, fishing, Kenai Fjords tour, and a whole bunch of other stuffed in between.

For you the reader that means something other than complaints about the weather for a while.

For me, it’s going to be time to start dreaming about someplace further south.