We haven’t planned a summer vacation for several reasons.

After two summers of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, we really haven’t taken a true vacation in two years.

In that time, we have taken a few short trips to South Dakota to visit our daughter, son-in-law and two grandkids but now they are in Tulsa. And many of those short four- or five-day trips were solo because Susan and I have a hard time being away from our business at the same time.

We are taking a “48-hour vacation” to Branson in May because it is close. We can leave on Friday and come back on Sunday. It’s nearby, inexpensive and entertaining. We eat at our favorite restaurants and see a few live shows but it is always over way too soon.

Because we must publish 51 issues a year, we only get one true week of vacation every year and we take that between Christmas and New Years. It’s always a special time and in years past we have taken our kids on ocean cruises and week-long trips to Branson.

Here’s another complication about a summer vacation. Our two grandkids are ages 4 and 2 but we have another that is due in Oklahoma and two more – twins – in December.

Theoretically, in December we could have 13 family members that could go on a holiday vacation. That makes things a little more difficult.

I used to think I would love to someday take all my grandkids to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Now, because of the perversion at Disney World, I am not sure I would ever take anyone to that pro-homosexual haven.

I would like to take them to Silver Dollar City in Branson. It is cheaper than Disney and it has a wholesome atmosphere.

But our grandkids are so young, I am not sure they are ready to appreciate Silver Dollar City. And I really don’t want to go to any major amusement park in the summer because they get so crowded. The fall or spring are really the best times to go to these parks due to the crowds and for cooler weather.

When our kids were young, we took them to Silver Dollar City and it was really, really hot. We went to the area of the park with water rides and got soaked.

Then it was steaming hot.

We won’t be taking a cruise this summer for several reasons. First, we are not vaccinated for the coronavirus (we both already had mild cases of it) and we will not get vaccinated to gain passage on a cruise ship.

Plus, if we didn’t have to get vaccinated to go on a cruise, there is still the risk of being quarantined for a couple of days (or weeks) and we can’t be away from work that long.

We might take some short weekend trips this summer. Someday, I would like to visit the Great Salt Plains Lake in Alfalfa County in North Central Oklahoma. My father went to high school near there at Cherokee High School and it’s a part of Oklahoma that I have never seen, much less explored.

But I understand that it is really hot there in the summer. And I am not interested in digging in a salt place for their unique crystals.

I have been fascinated  in the past with Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.  People from all over the world come to Murfreesboro, Arkansas, to look for real diamonds in an original volcanic source. You can pay to search 37 acres and you get to keep whatever you find.

It sounds like fun – and work. Maybe when we retire, we will drive over there and look for a giant diamond.

We might take a weekend trip to Dallas because we have some good friends there and there is so much to do. I hate the traffic in Dallas (and Houston, Kansas City, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami and Los Angeles) and it gets hotter in Dallas than in Tulsa (where it does get hot in the summer).

A three-day flight to Florida’s Gulf Coast would be a treat but we couldn’t take our whole family and it is seriously hot in Florida in the summer, even on the coast. (That is why people love to winter in Florida because it is warm while almost everywhere else is cold.)

And while that trip would be fun, navigating through airports, renting cars and booking nice hotels can be a hassle for such a short trip. (The Florida seafood might make it worthwhile, though).

For all of our 39 years of marriage, it seems like when we had the time to go on vacation, we didn’t have the money and when we had the money, we didn’t have the time.