This Year's Spring Break goes to ...

Cutter's Log - Stardate 0102.30.20
Current Song - California Love (Tupac and Dr. Dre)

No it's not California.

Last year's Spring Break was spent with my grandparents in Tucson. It was farther than anywhere I've ever gone before.

My SVCC Spring Break is from March 6-14. I made my vacation from work from the 8th to the 14th. The week works well with the state basketball tournament, which is being held on the 12th and 13th. I plan on attending both days of the tournament.

This leaves a whole four days to myself with not much to do. Tuesday night is the NIU Super-Sectional, but I'm planning on having my freelancers do it.

So where can I go in four days? I thought about for a while. It is going to be somewhere farther than the longest family vacation: Cleveland/Rock and Roll HOF was travelled to in 10 hours by car. That's including being stuck in Gary traffic, sitting down to eat lunch, and resting at a rest stop. I don't really require all of this.

The 8th would be spent driving to the location. The 9th and 10th would be spent vacationing. The 11th would be spent driving back home.

I thought long and hard about a place I wanted to go to. It was difficult, because to be honest, there's not a lot of places I want to see. I can see Mount Rushmore on the Internet. I know what it looks like.

Here were some of the options, with some comments:

Montreal - I've never been to a major Canadian city before, and this one has more of an old-style feeling than Toronto. Ends up being too far, and I don't want to get into much difficulty with Customs.

Riverside, Iowa - Not for the gambling, but there's a monument dedicated to James T. Kirk. It's the Future Birthplace of James T. Kirk (of Star Trek fame). Back when I used to watch The Next Generation, and the later movie "Generations" I wanted to visit this place. I grew out of the Star Trek thing a while ago.

New York - Ends up being a trip to be planned out years in advance. Once I establish myself as having a life, then I can safely visit it.

Boston - I have a bit of liking to that colonial feeling.

Philadelphia - see above

Graceland - I've always wanted to visit it, but my mother wants to visit it more than I do. It just doesn't seem right to have a view of it before she does.

Then it hit me ...

Cooperstown, NY

The Baseball Hall of Fame. Always wanted to go there, but never thought much about it until looking at a map. The HOF would be a wonderful place to visit, and there's some more things in Cooperstown too. May as well get a whiff of Niagra Falls while I'm driving there.

Drive up on the ninth. Art museum and Farmer's museum on the tenth. HOF on the eleventh. Drive back on the twelfth.

Now for a hotel with Internet access for a three-night stay. I'm going alone. I'm looking at maybe $300 for the duration. Light lunches and good dinners. $30.50 for the three places' admission. Budget $150 for fuel. $100 for buying things. $100 for odds and ends. $200 in reserve cash. A good $900 to be budgeted for the trip.

Should be a good one.