Pfizer

To get vaccinated or not has been an ongoing discussion between Paul and I once they opened it up to all adults last month. When my PCP asked if I wanted the Moderna vaccine, I declined it. However on Friday Paul said that he had changed his mind and was going to get the Pfizer vaccine so I decided to follow suit. I am scheduled to get my first shot tomorrow morning at the CVS in our town, and Paul is scheduled to get his first shot at the same CVS in the evening on Tuesday. So in June we will be considered fully vaccinated. Nadia is the only child in our family age 12 or over, but we are not interested in having her vaccinated at this point. The fact that those who are vaccinated are being given permission to not wear masks definitely was a factor in our decision. Our governor has said that our state's mask mandate will end when at least 70% of adults in our state are fully vaccinated. At the current pace of vaccinations, they are expecting that to happen in the middle of June. I have read that they are hoping we will resume wearing masks during flu seasons in future years so I realize that we might not be permanently done with wearing masks or shields, but I am really, really looking forward to taking a break from them. It would be heavenly if we didn't need to wear them in September when we're on vacation. The plant is not air conditioned and so it is unpleasant for Paul and his employees to wear masks at work while doing a physical job in the heat. Paul can't wait to tell his employees they can stop wearing masks at work. It's definitely a good feeling to sense that there is light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to mask mandates. 

The state of Massachusetts recently gave permission for amusement park rides to be operated. The Six Flags in MA was the very last one in the USA and Canada to be given permission to reopen. This means we are now planning on visiting at least two Six Flags parks that we'd never done before - Darien Lake (Buffalo) and Six Flags New England (MA). We're planning to visit Old Sturbridge Village and the Springfield Museums when we're in MA. If the Springfield Armory reopens between now and then, we also will visit that National Park. The third park we might visit is Great Escape in New York, but I'm not scheduling that one until more National Parks in the state of New York reopen. It feels like things are moving closer and closer back to "normal" which is a great feeling. Hopefully that means that by September hotels that used to offer a free breakfast WILL actually be offering a free breakfast again. During COVID some have been offering a to go bag of food and others haven't been offering anything. Similarly, I'm hoping that it means if a hotel has an indoor pool - the pool will actually be open in September which definitely wasn't the case when we traveled last October. I'm not certain how long I should wait before I actually start making more reservations for our trip. Currently I cut out one day in Arizona because everything on Navajo land is closed. Thus far I have only booked one night in a cabin in between Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Here's to hoping this vacation will be a lot closer to normal than our vacation in October 2020 was.