Monday, December 27, 2010

The Need to Freeze

There are many things illogical about living in Arizona. There's the summer, for instance, when we get very excited as the weather "cools down" to 105 degrees. There's the general weirdness of people decorating cacti for Christmas because that's one of the only living things in the front yards. Okay, there's even the general weirdness of being a Jew in Arizona - being rare, like a unicorn or Big Foot.

But one of the strangest things about being an Arizonan is the way we all go seeking snowy weather in the winter, like there's some genetic need to freeze built into our DNA - like the salmon swimming up river in Washington State - and we head out. Since I was born in Chicago and Husband was born in Milwaukee, you'd think we'd have worked this need to freeze out of our systems as kids, but no, here we are, in the middle of our now annual exodus to Northern Arizona.

So even though I've lived in Arizona since 1973, even though I hadn't seen snow since my that last winter in Chicago, last year when we got to Flagstaff it all came back to me. I immediately remembered it all. Layered clothes, bundled up, always prepared. Similar to the Brownie I once was, but the snowy version. And last year it made sense. It was a glorious winter wonderland. Freezing cold with pristine, untouched snow everywhere, we didn't have to bother with a dedicated sledding area; everywhere we looked was a sledding area. We went sledding behind our hotel; we practically went sledding to our car since each night it was frosted in.

This year, except for some gray, piled up frozen slush, there's virtually no snow. Patchy hillsides with slush, mud, rocks and trees, so we can break our necks hurtling down a mudslide on our speeding snow disks.

We try to put a positive spin on it for Bar Mitzvahzilla and Daughter. It's still cold, right? It's good to be cold, right? How nice to be away from home on vacation! And look at the nice hotel we're staying in! Free breakfast everyday! And now, with all that stupid sledding out of the possibilities, we can spend all our time eating out, right? Let's go to another bookstore, kids!

Are we going to get away with this? Let's put it this way: Daughter was packed a week before we went on vacation. She made a list of all the restaurants we'd go to ahead of time and the days we'd go to each. Both kids are up at the crack of dawn, dressed and waiting for Husband to awaken and take them to the hotel breakfast. Children this neurotic aren't going to let us get away with anything.

Next year: Tucson.

Do you go on vacation seeking something in particular at different parts of the year? Have you ever sought out snow intentionally or is the seeking always for beach and sun? Anyone else have kids this driven?

I'm happy to report that I'm getting close to publishing my book and hope to have it available in the first half of January. I'll post here when it's available in both in print and e-book form and am sorry I've been so sparse lately with blog posts. Thanks to everyone for all your  encouragement.

24 comments:

  1. vacation? what's that? We try to get back to michigan and ohio every other year. Every fifth year we try to do a 'vacation'.
    We have managed two in the 17 years we've been married...one was to france and one was to california. Not bad in any case. Just need to be more frequent. My kids' only request....no camping. lol.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We don't vacation a lot that is not planned to see family. When we do, I go for something to do - like DC. Speaking of which, last time we went there we hit a blizzard!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congratulations on the book's imminent publishing...I know how much that means to you and can't wait to get the details - will it be available on Kindle?! Maybe you'll be my first book - though I doubt I can hold out that long before I start loading this amazing gadget up!

    Thanks as always for your support, Linda.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Vacation. Vacation. Huh. There's something vaguely familiar in the word, but I can't quite place it... :)

    Haling (or hailing?) from land of ice and snow, I have no need to seek it out. If / when I ever get a break and can travel, I head to warmth, beaches, or (surprise surprise), Paris.

    As for my kids, they've gotten far more vacation than I have - occasionally with snow (including a trip to Quebec in winter, with school, some years back, and visits to Europe to see relatives).

    That said, we had a lovely light snow on Christmas Day. And there's still snow on the deck. About an inch. That will do for me, until next December. Meanwhile, I dream of 80 degrees, the Riviera, a younger me...

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am totally skipping past the vacation. The last I read you were ready to throw in the towel on the book and now we are close to publishing. What happened? Did I fall asleep and miss something? Did you get an agent? A publisher? Where was I? I feel like Rip Van Winkle who fell asleep for 100 years and the world passed by. What did I miss? Where is it? What is the story? I am totally confused. I want the freaking book story.

    As for your post, your kids are troopers. Glad that they are happy to eat. Merry Christmas. Make that Happy Hannukah. Or Merry Christmukkah. Whatever. Still smarting about the book.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've lived in the Northeast my whole life and I know I would need a regular injection of cold - even though I complain about it here - if we moved to a warmer climate. I also love a good beach vacation even though I make it a point not to be outside too much during the summer here. Ahh, the mysteries of the human mind!

    Can't wait to hear more about your book! I'll stand by for more details. Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congratulations on the book, Linda! How wonderful for you, and for us!

    The last time we attempted anything snowly was 2 years ago. We ended up bringing back the stomach flu from hell, that lasted about three weeks before we were all better. No thanks. As of right now, Tennessee has a big red X over it, for at least another 3 years.

    Hope your new year is filled with much deserved health, happiness and success!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have lived in snowy places my entire life and must say am already running from it. Is that bad? Perhaps one day I will want to head toward it, but I doubt it. My memory is not that short.

    Wow! Your book is that close??? I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU!

    (P.S. We will soon be living in your state. Thought you'd like to know. : ) )

    ReplyDelete
  9. Vacations for us are more work than actual, say, vacation right now. Three kids for and under will do that to you. I can't wait for my daughter to be old enough to pick out restaurants for the family ... besides McDonald's, I mean. =>

    ReplyDelete
  10. I don't know if it is ironic that I'm reading this after I just saw your post that you are stuck in a snowstorm right now trying to get home. I am so excited for you that you are getting close to publishing you book! Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Chris, I'm sure that one Parisian vacation is worth about ten of these trips to Flagstaff! Really, we haven't taken a vacation requiring a flight for six years, so we're not exactly glamorous!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Karen, I can suddenly relate to blizzards because it started snowing our last day of vacation and then, since we're Arizonans and apparently don't understand weather, we got in our car, in a blizzard, to drive back to Phoenix. So we've now been in the car for 8 hours! The drive should have taken two... Oy.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Leslie, thanks for the good wishes. It will be available on Kindle and other e-book delivery, also Amazon, etc. I also hope to have a nice pile at home to assure myself it's real!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Very exciting about the book! Good luck on the finishing touches and details and all that!

    Between my husband's schedule, the two little ones, and all the Jewish holidays, we don't get much vacation. We did go to Israel two summers ago. That was fanTAStic. Nothing since. Someday....

    ReplyDelete
  15. SOOOOOO excited about the book! Can I come to your book signing please? Glad you are back from your nordic adventure!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Linda, I'm so excited for you and your book. I look forward to reading it. I know this has been an incredible journey for you! 2011 rocks!

    ReplyDelete
  17. That is hysterical --- as we live in Northern Canada, we have 8 months of winter and always plan at least one warm weather getaway, and it never occurred to me that people would actually travel TOWARDS the cold weather!

    Happy New Year, looking forward to reading more about your book!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Very exciting about the book, can't wait to hear more about it!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I did the same thing while growing up and living in So. Cal. We would go to Big Bear. :) Now that we moved to Texas there are no mountians to drive too! lol

    ReplyDelete
  20. Linda, that is terrific news about the book. I am truly excited to read it. Congratulations!!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. We would love to get away from winter, but is it fair to ask the neighbors to shovel two feet of snow from our sidewalks while we're gone? And push through a four-foot high drift by the back door to get in to feed the cats? Five dollars a day to the 12 year old next door is not enough for those conditions.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Linda-

    Thanks for stopping by my old and new blogs!

    I wish we could go away, but money is a big factor in everything we do.

    Looking forward to seeing your new book!

    ReplyDelete
  23. It been a while since I stopped by. Unfortunately my daughter has been in the hospital for 2 months with something they are not sure of. We are in the hospital now. THis illness has killed our vacation. All five of us were headed for Paris but that does not seem to be in the cards. We always go away in the winter, usually around Easter. Last year St. Lucia. I love getting away and being somewhere so different that I forget about all the business and silliness that keeps me busy. I would really love to read your book. Is it out now, I have a good bit of time to read. I wish I could blog but all my thoughts are sort of the samething lately. I journal it a bit but not sure what I want to say about any of this because I do not even understand it. I will check back soon, you are the only blog I check up on right now.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Joely, it's so good to hear from you and sorry about this antique post of mine. I got the proof of my book a week ago (it took a bit more work than I anticipated!) and have been dealing with some final edits. I'm so sorry about your daughter being ill and this crazy limbo your family's been in. You're in my prayers.

    ReplyDelete