My plan for this weeks blog was to highlight different activities for spring break, starting with Baby Farm Animals at the Minnesota Zoo. Needless to say, I found myself quickly needing a new topic! Unless you live in a remote area of the Amazon, you’ve heard of COVID-19 and how it’s slowly bringing the world to a halt. It’s the only thing people are talking about on TV and social media. I have found it interesting (not sure if that’s the right 
word, maybe terrifying or nerve wracking would be better choices??) watching the disease change our daily lives and habits. People’s behavior has been “interesting” to watch too. It started with everyone running to buy hand sanitizer (beware it’s coming), then toilet paper (watch out it’s here), and now food (school’s canceled, the world is coming to an end). As I watched the grocery shelves empty, I couldn’t help but notice there were still quite a few vacation posts on social media. For me, it felt wonderful to see life going on as if nothing unusual were happening in the world and was a nice break from the reality around me. But, it got me thinking, how many people canceled their spring trips? How many people are still planning on going? I decided to ask the question on Facebook. At first, it seemed like the majority of people were canceling because their trip was canceled for them. They were traveling to one of the “hot spots”, heading to Disney, going on a cruise, traveling with school
or for work. Others had to cancel because they are high risk themselves or traveling to see someone who is high risk. Several people have decided to drive instead of fly, one person might schedule a flight with all of the great deals around and a number of people are still planning on flying. I still don’t know if the number of canceled trips outweigh the number of taken trips, but I do know it was sad to read the disappointment people had about their vacations being canceled.
As I sit and write this blog, even more restrictions have been put in place, which leads me to believe there will be even more trips canceled. Who wants to travel to a place where all the restaurants, museums, and beaches are closed? I am also speculating there will be significant flight restrictions in the coming days, making all nonessential travel impossible, even if you don’t mind cooking for yourself!
Spring Break 2020 will certainly be one for the memory books, even if you don’t have the vacation pictures to go with it!