Summer Vacation

It's February... the groundhog has predicted six more weeks of winter, spring training is right around the corner, and I can officially start thinking about summer!

My grad school application is in, and if I am accepted and can somehow scrape together the financing, I will be in school this July. And assuming I completely lose my mind and decide to teach at Young Writer's Camp again this summer, that would probably take care of the first two weeks of August.

But I'd really love to do a little traveling this summer, and it looks like the last two weeks of June or the last two weeks of August are what I will have available. So I have been using my Southwest credit card for everything, from groceries to utilities, trying to earn myself a free plane ticket before it's too late.

Two years ago I was able to take myself on a vacation to Maui using free Southwest tickets, but since this is no longer an option, I'm considering the following...

• Visiting Meggie in Kansas - a little taste of the Midwest might be good for me.
• A trip to a totally random place where I've never been - Chicago, maybe, or San Antonio.
• If the plane tickets don't work out, I could throw Brandy in the car and take a road trip up to Oregon and Washington - I love the pacific northwest, could hit the Ashland Shakespeare festival, and have several old friends I could visit along the way.

So many choices!