Trip Planning in Shafferland

The sun has been out for two days now, which means I'm ready for vacation. Never mind that it hasn't been remotely warm...but did you hear the part about the sun?

Shari asked me yesterday how Ryan and I picked our county tours, and her question sparked a little blog post in my mind! Trip planning!! There is, of course, no right or wrong way to plan a trip, but I thought it would be fun to write a post on it. Maybe you can glean a tip or two, and if nothing else, in thirty years, I can look back and laugh at how I did things. (Because you know, if I'd been writing this thirty years ago, we'd be talking about stocking up on Traveler's Checks and buying a new atlas!)

So here's how trip planning goes in Shafferland:

Choosing a Date and Location:
* We start early around here, because Ryan does not have the kind of job that allows him to just decide on a Wednesday that he wants to take a long weekend. We typically choose our vacation dates and locations 3-5 months in advance so he can be sure to get the time off work.

* We choose our locations based on the amount of time we'll be gone. If it's a long weekend kind of thing, we won't go far, because we don't want to spend all our time traveling. We also choose where we land based on the cost for the time of year. We try really hard to avoid peak seasons everywhere because stuff is so much more expensive. I have a road trip board on Pinterest where I try to pin ideas as I see them throughout the year, so when planning time actually arrives, I have some options already waiting.

Research:
* As soon as we have the date and the location, we launch into research mode. Ryan normally takes over research for lodging. He has unending patience for reading pages and pages of reviews, so he usually hunts out the best deal he can find. We have also created standards about the difference between saving a buck and risking a communicable disease. You remember this hotel, right?

* I normally do all the rest of the trip research, because I'm the one with the unending patience for hunting through Pinterest and other forms of social media for fun things to do and see while we're gone. I'm such a nerd that I'll create a Word document with a full itinerary of each day, including all the names and addresses of not just where we'll stay, but also plans for restaurants, excursions, and other fun. (And as needed, ticket prices and websites.)

* I always ask the locals, if I know any locals. Internet research is great, but the best recommendations come from those who live there or have been there. So I'll post to Facebook while I'm in the research phase to see if anyone has ideas on what to definitely miss or not miss. I compile all that research into my nerdy Word document, too. And in the event that our vacation includes staying with locals, I just let the locals do all the planning. Such was the case when we went to visit Mark and Lynnette a couple of years ago. They took us all kinds of great places, and it was extra fun for me, since I didn't have to plan any of it!

* I try to find as many free things to do as possible. Gas/lodging/food take up most of our trip budget, so we try to find fun, free things to do, and we usually unearth some treasures! On the vacation pictured above, we spent one whole day exploring a state park that was completely free because it was not peak season!

Prep Time!
* I work really hard in the days leading up to the trip so I can fully enjoy the time away. I make sure the house is clean (no one wants to come home to a disaster), the laundry is caught up (so we have all available clothing options when packing time comes), the dishwasher and trash are emptied (so stink doesn't fester), someone is lined up to watch the house and Braeya, and the car is fully serviced. Ryan is actually in charge of the car, but I'm usually the one who takes it in.

* I also make snacks for the road so we don't end up eating a bunch of junk while we drive. Fruit, protein snacks, bottled water - I make sure we're stocked up! I also pack things like paper towel and disposable plates/cups/silverware in case we need them along the way.

* I stalk the weather app and figure out what clothes I need to take, and I'm such a nerd, I usually lay out each complete outfit and take a picture of it on my phone, so I know what I want to do each day. I know. It's ridiculous. I also throw in a couple of extra options in case I'm not feeling what I planned or in case the weather turns or I drop ketchup on my shirt. (That has literally never happened, but the first time I don't have a backup, I imagine it will.)

* Ryan picks out his own stuff, but I actually pack all the suitcases and pack the car, too. (Because I'm the one with the time to do it.) I also keep a nerdy Word document for this, and I start working on it days in advance, so I can add to it as I think of the things I'm afraid I'll forget. (Sunscreen, medicine bag, phone chargers, our chalkboards etc.)

* If the road trip is long, I'll also scour Pinterest for road trip ideas (games, scavenger hunts, quizzes, etc.) so we can stay entertained on the road. (Ideas here, here, and here if you need some!) We don't play games constantly on the road, but it's nice to have options when we get tired.

HAVE FUN! AND DOCUMENT IT!
* When it's time to actually go on vacation, our favorite part is just being together. We always have a great time, no matter where we go, and we take a billion pictures so we can come home and put it all in a scrapbook to enjoy forever!

* Things don't always go as planned on our vacations, but we just laugh at the mishaps and have fun anyway. Some of our favorite disasters include:

The tulip-less Tulip Time Festival

The beach visits in hats and gloves. In May.

Getting caught in a rainstorm on a bike ride - right before family pictures.

* But mostly, we have a blast. Grateful for these memories! Every bit of prep work that goes into these trips is totally worth it!

Sunset dinner cruise in Sarasota. (Suggestion from a local!)

Stumbling upon an empty beach in Nassau.

Christmas lights in Lincoln Park Zoo.

Hiking to Abrams Falls.

So many more great memories  - in all seasons!

And now...can we take a vacation, please?

Linking up with Tamar!

The Date Inspired by the Letter G

Yes, we're out of order again. :) And yes, we did TWO of these dates in one weekend! But this was totally worth being out of order.

The whole alphabetical date thing was my idea (okay, really it was Pinterest's idea, but I'm the one who has been doing all the planning), but shortly after we started doing them, Ryan told me he had a date idea up his sleeve. All I knew was it could fit into two or three different letter possibilities, and he would let me know when we needed to do it. I love surprise dates, so I didn't ask any questions or try to figure it out at all.

He said we would need to do it this past Saturday, as part of our St. Joseph County date. He told me the place he was taking me didn't open until 5 in the evening, so I could plan whatever for the day, but he'd need the evening for his surprise. No problem!

On the way up to South Bend, he told me he was a little disappointed because there had been a change in something regarding the date, and while he still thought I'd have a great time, I wouldn't have as great of a time as I would have before the change. I was utterly baffled. Could not figure out what it might be.

So while we were eating our meal at the cafe, he gave me a clue. He said something about someone who had been part of the date event wasn't going to be there, and it immediately clicked for me. I knew this was the "G" date, and I said to him, "Did you get tickets to see the Vocal Band?"

HE DID!!!!

This is the first concert we've been to since I left radio (when I went for free because I was working them), and this is also a HUGE thing because Ryan isn't a diehard Gaither fan. Not that he doesn't like them, but he doesn't get all giddy like I do.

I'd read a couple of weeks ago that David Phelps resigned (again) from the Vocal Band, and that's what Ryan meant about it not being as exciting anymore. He bought the tickets before the resignation news came, and he was sad I wouldn't get to see David, because he knows he's my most favorite! I was sad too, but I didn't care, because HELLO!!!!! GVB tickets!

That officially makes the G date a GIDDY Bekah attending a GAITHER Vocal Band concert!

Of course, after a day of hairnets, rain, winter hats, and running around northern Indiana in the cold, I sure didn't look my best. I was in jeans and walking shoes, with major frizz head, but sometimes you just gotta swallow your pride, you know?

The concert was held at the historic Morris Performing Arts Center, which is almost 100 years old! GORGEOUS old architecture.

I WAS SO EXCITED!!!

Even saw Nikki, a fellow David Phelps fan I first met back when I worked at the station. She told me David WOULD be there that night. WHAT?!?! Say it isn't so!!!

BUT IT WAS! He really was there! I texted my Mom to tell her he was there, and she responded "as is your husband." LOL!!!!! Yes, yes he is! But this was his idea, after all!

We sat about halfway back on the main floor and I was impressed with how well my camera did for pictures. (I did have to dodge a high-haired person a couple of rows up.) I was so glad I'd brought my zoomy zoom lens, even though I didn't know I'd need it!

 Charlotte Ritchie looked stunning in that black dress!

 They opened with Alpha and Omega, and I cried all the way through it. I always do.

YEP! There he is!!!

 This was only the second time I'd seen Todd sing with them. He's really good!

 And funny!

 Adam Crabb - also very good!

 Boom. The note.

 My most favorite band combo in recent years.

 This guy could plaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

 Ahhhh, Wes. He took over for David when he left the first time, and I wasn't sure I could handle a replacement, but he's so good. I really like him.

 I figured I should make sure I had a picture of Bill! After all, it is his band. :)

Last song, big notes.

It was a great night, which Ryan made even better by surprising me again with David's new CD.

Thanks, Ryan, for making it such a great date. You rock at alphabetical date planning!! And I feel very, very loved. :)

92 County Tour: St. Joseph

It's podcast Tuesday, and our stories today go along with the blogaroo today and tomorrow. Enjoy stories and pictures at your leisure!

 Listen here!

This past weekend, we knocked another county off our tour list! We headed north, almost to Michigan, to St. Joseph County! This county (apparently just known as St. Joe County by those who live there) is named after the St. Joseph River, which runs through it. That cracked me up when I read it after we came home, because we saw that river multiple times and kept searching on our maps and GPS for its name, but couldn't find it. We even asked Siri! She didn't know either. Fail.

We were (as you can see from the above photo) not blessed with beautiful weather, but we're the Shaffers! We power through!

Here's a recap of our day. It took us about an hour and a half (maybe a little more) to get up there, and the first item on my visit list was the Shiojiri Niwa Garden in Mishawaka. I'd read about what a pretty garden it was, with its design a nod to a Shiojiri City in Japan, which has been a sister city to Mishwaka ever since some elementary school classes from the two cities exchanged letters back in the sixties.

Alas, when we arrived, the gate was closed.

Sooooo....no garden for us.

That was all I'd found to look at in Mishawaka, so we drove about 15 minutes over to South Bend, where we spent the rest of the day.

We started out at the South Bend Chocolate Company, because, well...do I even need to explain?

A locally-owned chocolate factory, this building houses not just the manufacturing of the chocolate, but also the shipping department, a little store, and a chocolate museum! As you can see, we wasted no time making ourselves at home:

They offer tours of the factory, and there are two kinds. For no charge, you can take a 20 minute tour that lets you go through the manufacturing and shipping areas and get a free sample. For $4.00, you can stay on the tour a little longer, try your hand at dipping a spoon, and take a guided tour of the museum. We did the paid version so we could get the full experience. Our guide was not overflowing with enthusiasm, but I don't think she was feeling well, and she really was nice, so we still enjoyed ourselves.

And our hairnets.

I mean, can you even IMAGINE having mixers like these in your home? No? Just me?

We got to see the rooms where they created the cream centers for the chocolates, the dipping lines, the sorting area, and we even got to sample the deliciousness!

The dipping was fun, too!

The museum paid tribute to ALL chocolate companies, not just this one. They have a huge collection of old chocolate boxes and tins, and even a box used by a vendor at a baseball stadium! They also have a map that shows all the chocolate manufacturers in the state of Indiana!

And yes, this would be Ryan next to a solid chocolate Santa.

It was fun to tour the factory and see how they do things, even though my hair began its slow decline after that hairnet adventure.

Next up? A drive through the campus of Notre Dame! Neither of us had ever been there before, and we were looking forward to seeing some of the landmarks the campus is known for.

The good news? The school was on its mid-term break, so campus was virtually empty, making a tour dreamy. The bad news? The gate-keeper told us you're not allowed to drive through the campus. I found this especially amusing since as he delivered that news, a car drove by us, right out of the campus. So yes, you are allowed to drive on campus, but apparently only if you have a permit, and we did not. Soooooooooooo out into the freezing cold rain we went, to explore campus on foot. It. Was. So. Frigid. I was trying to protect my camera from the rain by holding it under my coat. My hair was growing bigger by the minute. Not quite a lovely tour. And we would have loved to see even more of the campus, but it was just way too cold. I couldn't feel my feet by the time we got back to our car.

 My nearly perfect picture of the Main Building of the campus, with its famous golden dome. Had the rental truck not been parked in the doorway delivering something, it would have been perfect! Ha! We were too cold to come back later to see if it was gone. I read that this building was the third to be built on the campus - back in 1879.

 Next to that was the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, which is apparently magnificent inside, but we didn't even try to see if it was open, given the aforementioned cold and the need to HURRY!!! Still - a beautiful building on the outside!

 A HUGE statue of Moses. (Apparently he is also known as First Down Moses.)

 The Clarke Memorial Fountain, built to honor the school's fallen war veterans, but often called Stonehenge for obvious reasons.

 The famous football stadium, under construction, and complete with portapotties. :)

This piece is called "Word of Life" and is on the side of the library. You might have heard it called Touchdown Jesus, because its visible from the football stadium and the position of the hands have led it to be known as that. But I read here that it is technically neither a mural nor a mosaic. It is made up of 6700 separate pieces of granite and stands 134 feet high and 68 feet wide.

Our tour of campus came to a cold conclusion here, and we got back in the car in search of some pieces of the stomping grounds from the first years of my parents' marriage. They lived in South Bend, where Mom worked at a restaurant, and Dad taught at Greene Township School. We never found the houses where they lived or the school (I was starting to get hungry and cut our hunt short) but we did find this tiniest of restaurants where Mom worked over 60 years ago. She said it was brand new when she worked there. It's now called The Boss's Place and is still open, but it had closed for the day before we arrived.

Our coffee shop for this county was very unique! I wanted to find something a little different and happened upon this little place called The Chicory Cafe. I chose it because it had a NOLA atmosphere and food, and Ryan loves a nod to New Orleans! He went on a mission trip there before we started dating, and I thought he would really enjoy a reminder of that part of his life.

I didn't get a lot of pictures of the inside because, similar to NOLA, he said, it was kind of chaotic in there. Very busy - even after 2 p.m. - but totally worth the wait for the food! It was our only meal for the day, so we ate well!

A mud turtle latte for me, which was delicious. Fresh brew and beignets for Ryan:

 You can kind of see behind him there the Mardi Gras style decor!

I got a turkey sub, and Ryan got a Po' Boy, and we split the best mac and cheese we've ever had at a restaurant. Truly delicious.

This technically completed our tour, and our final adventure of the day will be chronicled on the blog tomorrow, but I want to at least mention where we went, since it was part of the county and was such a great experience that I'd totally recommend seeing anything here if you can!

We went to a concert at the Morris Performing Arts Center, which is this STUNNING old theater with amazing architectural details! It was built back in 1922 and has quite a history, which you can read about on its site. I'll tell you more about our night there tomorrow! For now - enjoy a few pictures!

 

Not our prettiest weather day, but we had fun anyway!

17 down, 75 to go!