C’mon Irene

UPDATE: The Friday afternoon update shows Irene strengthening, but turning. My blog-hurricane prevention spell is working!!

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Early Saturday morning we’re scheduled to set out for a week-long vacation in a beautiful beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Three families, consisting of six adults and nine kids (ages 3 – 14), will make for a full house. But it’s a big place, with lots to do and we’re sure to have a great time.

At least, that’s the plan. It seems Mother Nature may send along an uninvited guest, one of her daughters, Irene. As I write this on Thursday night, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reports that Irene is “continuing to gradually get better organized”. That’s how tropical storms become hurricanes I guess, they get organized, pack their rain and winds together tightly, and then get moving! The current track shows Irene will join us by 2pm on Tuesday.

What’s a traveler to do? We did buy the travel insurance to protect us in such a circumstance, but that only pays us back if we are faced with a mandatory evacuation while we’re there. I’m not yet as organized as Irene. I still have packing to do. Nevertheless, this vacation is on, and we won’t be turning back unless we have to.

So C’mon Irene, give us a break. As much you’d like to introduce us to such local customs as filling sandbags, boarding up windows, and listening to waves crash in the darkness of a power outage, we would prefer some sunny skies, gentle breezes and comfortable air conditioning, ok?