The family vacation

Big family vacations were not a regular part of my childhood. With my dad doing most of the work to run the family business, he wasn't able to take off for several days. There were long weekends here and there, but as I wrack my memory, I can only think of two extended summer trips. Maybe I'm forgetting others, but there can't be too many.

My reason for writing about family vacations is that I committed to going on one that everyone else will be taking in August. They've taken these trips at least a couple times in the last couple years, but I haven't gone, largely because when they were going conflicted with my work schedule. I didn't mind. They were going on fishing trips, and I didn't have much interest in doing that even if I'd been able to go.

This summer the family is going to northern Minnesota for a vacation that is, you guessed it, built around fishing. I confess that the idea of a week of fishing is not at or near the top of my list, but I also feel like I ought to go anyway. Who knows how many opportunities like this may remain?

I checked out the information about the cabin and site and looked at a map to see where we will be. Although the cabin is in a village about as big as my hometown--in other words, I don't expect more than one traffic light--there's a decent-sized city not too far away if I get bored.

So I told my parents that I will go, although I'm not guaranteeing that I will do any fishing. I may be perfectly happy to read a book or knit or do whatever. I have some concerns that everybody may drive me crazy, especially since my dad is (insanely) considering just taking one vehicle for seven people and a small dog. My brother and pregnant sister-in-law are to fly from Dallas to Minneapolis and then join us, so it wouldn't be seven the majority of the way but still...