Rambling On Traveling [and several other things]

This is also me procrastinating cleaning up. I seem to have this innate ability to make a mess of wherever I am.

Anyhow, sorry I've not been around for staff chats this week [that is, if anyone else has bothered to start them :P] It's been one of those weeks where I'm just totally and completely OUT of it, and this coming week I'll be busy with the musical (I know Terry can commiserate :P)

Recently I've been thinking a lot about traveling. I've been to quite a few places, seeing as we went out-of-state for every spring break except one (that one being when my parents went to Hawai'i for their anniversary), but there's still so much I haven't seen... I always seem to end up in the same places over and over again. Not that it's a bad thing, mind you, but I wouldn't mind going to, say, Washington D.C. or New York City, or better yet, out of the country again (except for Mexico, worst vacation ever. Couldn't breath, got horribly sunburned, etc.)

This year, since Amanda [little sister, since I know we keep re-having these discussions on our siblings, and forgetting that other people have them :P] and I have different breaks, we're going to Naples, Florida over New Years instead. We went there last year, and it's this absolutely WONDERFUL hotel, with a pathway to a lovely private beach (you can also take the tram, but I only did that once or twice). It's a high-class spa resort, and so you don't have all the annoying little kids there. It's also within walking distance of a Barnes and Noble with a starbucks and free wifi! The shelling is spectacular, and they've got this AMAZING Italian restaurant - it's my favourite ethnic cuisine, and they have these amazing Potatoes called "Potatoes Brio" that made me just about die. My family had a bruschetta sampler platter, and I had my potatoes. Unfortunately, we went the day before our departure, so I couldn't keep my leftovers :( I'm excited to go back, though! It's not a bad drive to the Everglades, and we had a lot of fun on one of the boat tours; I'd also like to see if we can get to one of the private shelling islands again. We went on a gorgeous day, right after a storm, so the shelling was WONDERFUL. I also found several starfish, which I picked up to throw back into the ocean (poor dears).

I also have really loved a few other vacations (Hawai'i was nice on Maui, not as great on the Big Island - and next time we'll go to a hotel rather than rent condos!), but my favourite was always staying with my aunt and uncle at their house in Arizona. It's a gorgeous house in a Scottsdale country club, and the area around is just amazing! I even got my own room with private bathroom and bathtub, plus two little doggies who loved me! They also have a hot tub and pool, as well as an amazing Grand Piano, but I don't know if I'll get to go back again :( I believe the house is currently on the market, as they both retired and moved back to northern minnesota, to the same town they grew up in. We'll be staying at their new (apparently huge and gorgeous) house over Christmas, so I'm excited to see how it is. Apparently the dogs (Scooter and Pepper) have now met Skye and Iggy (My Grandparent's dog and cat), as well as Roxy (My aunt's slightly insane pomeranian). For a German Shepherd, Skye is kind of a wimp - she took one look at Scooter (this tiny, twelve-year-old Bichon), and got scared xD She also lets Iggy boss her around, even though he really has no authority (he was rescued from a shelter by my cousin; some owner had cruelly had him declawed on all four paws - a procedure most vets refuse to do).

-Random Intermission: I'm hungry. I ordered pizza, but it won't be here for 20 minutes or so *sigh*. I had oreos and candy earlier (I brought them in for everyone working on set and such today, I think they were appreciated x3) -

Anyhow, back to animals. I miss them. I need some fuzzies in my life ;-; I'm going into creature-withdrawal. On top of that, my mother calls and tells me how snuggly my Simba-cat is being :( I miss him and Zippy. And Rocky, of course... I want to go back in time and give Rocky more hugs and kisses and pets, because even though it'd never be enough, I regret that sometimes I wouldn't give him as many because I wanted to go inside where it was warm... and now I can't give him any more, and that really makes me sad. I tend to read a lot of blogs and websites, and so I was on petfinder the other day keeping up with Northwoods Humane Society, the shelter I used to volunteer at (I hope to do so again during holidays and summer), and ended up searching and getting emo again... I just want to sit down and have a kitty in my lap, a puppy next to me, maybe a chinchilla or something clinging to my arm. I can't wait until I have my own place and am able to do foster care for pets. I want a huge yard, so I can help with as many as possible - I know hooved animal rescues often need land and hay, so I want to help with that as well...

I think my pizza will be here shortly, and I need to find my cash.