Vacation or Staycation?

Vacation

For the last nine years or so our vacation trips have all been road trips to Chicago. Every summer we'd pack up the dogs, and just about everything else Mark could pack into the PT Cruiser, and drive to Chicago. We'd stay for anywhere from two to three weeks in August. I loved it. Well, except for the year the air conditioning went out in the PT Cruiser and the Midwest was having one of the hottest summers ever. That sucked. Mark got sick on the trip up and by the time we got to Chicago I had to drive straight to the Illinois Masonic Hospital emergency room. They kept Mark there for about five days. I don't know how to say this, but I kind of enjoyed being alone in Chicago for those five days. I would visit Mark in the hospital for about an hour each day, and the rest of the time was mine. I didn't go to any bars. I didn't go to any museums. I didn't go anywhere. I just sat in my friend Dennis' apartment that he had loaned us, and watched television. It all had to come to an end eventually. Mark was released from the hospital and the PT Cruiser had to have $800 worth of repairs that really didn't fix the problem. The garage gerry rigged (Mark uses a different word that I cannot, will not use) the AC so that it stayed on all the time. Now I live in Chicago and we haven't taken a vacation trip since we moved here. I'd like to take some short day trips or overnight trips to places like Galena, Starved Rock, or even Milwaukee so that Mark can experience the Midwest that I love. Or, I could just sit in the house here and watch television with Mark. He tells me that there is a Real Housewives marathon coming up soon.