if you are fully vaccinated…

Observation: “If you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.” CDC.gov.

So I did!

They also say, “Fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing.” CDC.gov

I did not.

Travel, shopping, eating out, art museums, golf, plays and musicals-these are a few of my favorite things.

Let the resumming begin.

I went to Chicago this weekend. Full disclosure it was planned before the mask reversal, fully vaccinated thing. I’d only seen my daughter twice in a year and a half. My other daughter, not at all…that will happen soon. “If you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.” CDC.gov.

Book a trip.

Travel-first on a plane. It was fine. Masks were on in the airport and they didn’t give you food or drink anyway, unless you were in first class or paid for it, or if you said you were a plus customer- whatever that is, so masks were on throughout the flight. But why no food or drink American Airlines? And where are my refunded travel miles from the flight you changed from 1 hour to 5, that you cancelled in a returned call at 1 AM. Forgive me this is a whole other conversation.

Subway/train-not too bad if you picked your car wisely. Just don’t sit near a guy sleeping across 6 seats who then starts foaming at the mouth…wait it gets worse..he then starts to choke and cough. But you can’t move too far because of the guy passed out on the other end of the car. They were pretty clean though-the trains that is. Buses weren’t bad either, but you have no control on crowd size. You enter an empty bus, but the next stop 10 more people get on. Just keep reminding myself “If you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.” CDC.gov.

We’ll see.

Shopping-the credit cards all still work. They didn’t even call to question all the charges made not in my home location. We must not have bought enough! Masks were required in every store. The Apple store went to the extreme. “Check in with me…step back you’re too close. Now have your temp taken by this guy next to me.” That guy “get closer so I can take your temp.” Make up you mind I think, hopefully not out loud. Back to girl. “What are you coming to the store for?” “A phone case,” I tell her. “Go see that guy over there. It will be a hour wait.” In my mind I said thank you, but no. In reality I probably rolled my eyes and walked off. More shopping observations-when you walk by a high end store, Gucci or Dior, do you ever see anyone inside? With Covid control, people were lined up by the dozens outside just to get in. Who knew? We had no trouble getting into our stores of choice. “If you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.” CDC.gov.

Maybe I’ll skip an Apple store for a while.

Eating out-I am not the best cook but I am great at picking restaurants and ordering food. Chicago has great food. Next time I might want to look for more veggies, but oh that deep dish pizza and burgers and cupcakes sure were good. Oh how I now need to resume my regular activities of veggies and golf. “If you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.” CDC.gov.

Eating out we did to excess.

Art museums-what makes art, art? Mold on a plate, tire tracks in the mud, laundry hanging from the ceiling-Museum of Contemporary Art. Claude Monet-wheat stacks and water lilies- Art Institute of Chicago. Art on the Mart-the Merchandise Mart-a must see for free. I loved it all. Well maybe not the mold or tire tracts, but someone must have liked it. “If you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.” CDC.gov.

Hey Beach Museum, don’t you think it’s time you reopened?

Golf-not this trip, or any with my family. Where did I go wrong! “If you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.” CDC.gov

…when I get home!

Plays and musicals-Chicago is not there yet. In fact I don’t see them going maskless any time soon, though I’m probably wrong on that one. “If you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.” CDC.gov.

In the mean time get the book Get Lost! A Travel Guide for Anywhere Lee Crutchley. It is a fun alternative for something to do while traveling. Our task for the day was to look at the ocean-so we went to the lake!

It might take a while for some to remove their masks, while others have probably already thrown all their masks away.