Vacation packing still crazy | Columnists | Summerville Journal Scene

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Vacation packing still crazy

Published Tuesday, May 26, 2009 12:55 PM

By Judy Watts
Summerville Journal Scene ®

Tomorrow, I, the Hubster and our two wiener dogs will go to the lake for 10 fantastic days. We’ll stay in the cabin my father and uncles built 56 years ago.

I’ll go barefoot, wear no makeup and not do anything to my hair other than corral it with a rubber band.

It’ll be great.

But first, we have to get there.

So in order to successfully get our stuff from point A to point B, I decided to jot down a few items I didn’t want to forget.

The quick list is now three pages long and is headed by all the stuff I have to take in order to keep us and the wieners happy and safe. The doogy list is followed by a similar list for us – the humans.

(It is basically the same list I used to make in order to take our guy-kids to the lake.

For instance, back then, the list was headed by suntan lotion – more commonly known to today’s enlightened mothers as sunscreen. Sunscreen is still on the list – for us and the for the dogs’ noses as well.

My once-upon-a-time-list included travel bed, stroller, baby food and kid food in addition to grownup food. There were mounds of diapers and stacks of wipes. The new list includes, wiener dog food and doggy treats instead.

Children’s medicine figured prominently on the old list from way back when. Those items have now been replaced by flea medicine, heartworm pills and special canine brushes.

Today’s list includes doggy gates to keep them from running away. These are the same barriers that were formerly known as baby gates.

Back then, years before we had a truck, we usually found ourselves caravanning to the lake in both cars just to be able to haul everything up there.

Now that the kids are gone, and we have a truck, the Hubster has to return to the Lowcountry during the middle of the week for a few workdays.

I told him yesterday, “I’ll be taking my car this year.”

“There’s plenty of room in the truck.”

“That’s true, but the truck will go home with you and you aren’t abandoning me out in the woods without transportation. And the pontoon boat does not count as emergency transportation.”

So tonight, before we go, I’ll be at the grocery store, and at the department store, and I’ll be digging bathing suits and flip-flops out of the back of the closet and getting the leashes and travel kennel out.

I’ll pack paper plates and doggy dishes. I’ll check the tags and collars on their necks.

And eventually, off we’ll go in separate (but as fully loaded as a giant baked potato) vehicles to commune with nature and each other.

And when we get there, we’ll unpack and start reading the books we meant to read sooner, take long walks with the wiener dogs, catch a few fish (I hope), ride in the boat, visit with my sister (who has the good fortune to live on Lake Wateree), ask friends and family to join us for Memorial Day and just have fun being.

Contact Judy Watts at 873-9424 or jwatts@journalscene.com

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