Columns

Paperwork: I do love to travel, despite the traveling part

First headline: Couple visits Seattle for five days and it does not rain.

That’s right. This happened. We were visiting the youngest son and his fiancé right before that headline changed.

Second headline: Record-breaking heat melts Seattle area.

We hit the road in our rental car right before the heat hit. We drove south on U.S. Route 101 along the coast toward San Francisco. Beautiful weather stayed with us.

Wait. Relax. This is not going to be a travelogue. Well ... maybe a little.

What I want to talk about mostly is the concept of vacations. And it will help if I talk a bit about our 11-day adventure.

I have been dragged into the basic belief that vacations are important. (Especially after a pandemic.)

I say dragged but gently pulled is more appropriate. Gently because all my vacation trips have been orchestrated by my wife ... with love. And she knows I was never a travelin’ man.

She had to take my hand and show me. “Now this, honey, is what we call a vacation.”

Growing up, Mom and Dad worked. All the time. The only trips I remember were to visit family in nearby states. And that did not happen often.

I have no early memories of beaches or seeing amazing sites. Until I married a vacation planner.

Thus, began the dragging ... or gently tugging.

Onto planes, which I do not like. (Especially if wearing a mask for more than four hours.)

Onto boats that go into the ocean for snorkeling. I thought it would be along the beach in more shallow water. She thought I could swim. I clung to a small buoy and waited. We joke that it was the first time she tried to kill me.

Onto Arizona trails in sweltering heat. (Long story short: got lost, dehydration, heat exhaustion, saved by hikers. The second time she tried to kill me.)

And onto winding, serpentine roads through mountains with death drops along the side. Like the 101 we took south of Seattle.

U.S. Route 101 is a north-south link stretching from Los Angeles to Tumwater, Washington. Anyone who has made this coastal drive raves about the views of the ocean and beaches and more.

“It’s the most beautiful drive I’ve ever seen,” said more than one friend.

My wife agrees. I have to take her word for it.

She had our trip broken into segments with stops in Oregon and California, ending at Sausalito. There were some four- and five-hour driving periods.

While driving, on my right, I heard mutterings such as:

“Beauuutiful.”

“Wow, look at that.”

“We should have pulled over there.” (More than once.)

Now and then, I tried to make rapid sideways glances. Not often. Too terrifying.

Here’s the deal. On that gorgeous drive, there is no time or space for cruise control. I was braking to 25 mph and then rapidly trying to bump to 45 and, sometimes, 55, but never for any long stretch. Up and down. Left, then right. Gripping the wheel.

One does not stop watching the road, the curving white line, the oncoming trucks loaded with lurking, long tree trunks, the speed limit signs – and the drop-offs.

Also dotting the roadside were little blue signs telling me I was entering a tsunami hazard area or to be alert for falling rocks. (Just tell yourself it never happens.)

There were times we pulled off the road into some of the many sightseeing spaces. And while readjusting my breathing, I did enjoy seeing the ocean basting beautiful beaches and miles of rolling lush green – and a sea lion cave.

Eventually, we must review our trip.

“What was your favorite part of the trip?” A question that always catches me off guard. I have to think.

Inappropriate answers: Getting out of the car. When the plane lands safely. The bookstore.

I did enjoy seeing the kids, future in-laws, and a cousin with his son who took us boating on the Puget Sound where we saw orca whales spouting and fins, and towed some stranded boaters to shore.

Walking among the redwoods was spiritual. And stepping inside a burned-out redwood tree was memorable. (Like a small cave.)

The short hike through a petrified forest and the Old Faithful geyser were fun near Calistoga, California.

Followed by two wine-tastings nearby that I enjoyed more and more as the day progressed.

Reviewing the trip is important because my wife planned every step. She even compares vacations on some kind of scale that only she understands.

She remembers them all ... in detail. (I remember that snorkeling adventure pretty well.)

We actually had a morning with nothing booked. A few hours blank.

“What should we do?” she asked.

“Maybe nothing,” I suggested.

She loves to travel. Lives to travel. It’s important for her to get away and relax. Enjoy life.

I do not totally relax until I am back home.

She agrees that it’s always good to be back home. Where she can begin planning our next vacation. Right away.

It’s something I probably would seldom do.

But, truth be told, I am so glad she does.

• Lonny Cain is the retired managing editor of The Times in Ottawa and was a reporter for the Herald-News in the 1970s. Email him at lonnyjcain@gmail.com or mail to The Times, 110 W. Jefferson St., Ottawa, IL 61350.