I want things back the way they were ... before March. But I also know that this attitude is partly responsible for making the situation worse.
After getting back from hog hunting in January, I had started planning three spring/summer trips. One is still impossible - entry into Canada is verboten. The other two are impractical. I guess they aren't cancelled at this point, but have certainly been put on ice for an indeterminable amount of time. Even with the company I work for allowing me to carry over more of my vacation into next year, it is still looking like I'll end the year swimming in vacation days.
About a month ago we finally got real internet access at home in the form of fiber directly into the home. This has allowed us to get rid of our data-cap restricted cellular home service we had been using for most of the last decade. Progress can be slow. This has allowed me to start streaming TV. I'm surprised at how much is available for free (meaning it still has ads which can't be skipped). I'm too cheap to pay for TV - which is fine since this allows me to rewatch shows from the 1980's. Some of these shows have brought back memories from then; as much as I like the shows, this isn't always pleasant. It is interesting to hear the music from the 80's in that context and a bit humorous to see the 80's technology.
It is easy to sit at home on a weekend and think the world hasn't changed. I live in a rural area, and my weekends are typically doing stuff around the house, walking dogs and riding the bicycle. Most purchases recently have been on-line and SO has been doing most of the shopping. Outside of work, this trip will be the first occasion to wear a mask for extended periods of time in public. I went grocery shopping for the first time a week ago. I felt myself judging people for not wearing a mask - I wasn't too proud of this. I don't think treating people who choose not to wear a mask as if they are desperately trying to kill grandmothers is helpful or healthy. I equally think that deciding to not wear a mask is an act of political fortitude is just as stupid.
I was somewhat mystified by the number of people wearing their masks inappropriately - not covering their nose, or around their neck. If one is going to wear a mask - why do it half way?
But I'm selfish and I want things the way they were. Even if masks only help a little bit - they are worth it.
So as it looked like the pandemic was coming under control several weeks ago SO and I decided to at least try a short trip. I've wanted to go to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum since I first read about it five years ago. But it is an awkward distance from home to stop and tour en route to somewhere else. I wasn't sure I was ready for an epic cross-country road trip during a global pandemic, but a short trip seemed like a good idea to test the waters. Besides, one would have to be a lunatic to travel and do a tour during a time like this - the location felt right.
My own belief - which is all that it is - is that this virus will be around for quite some time. We'll get initial vaccines which will kind of work, and we'll get treatments which kind of work. But it will be years until things are under control. Until then, we need to learn to live with this, and sitting at home for a few years really isn't an option.
The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum was built before/through/after the civil war. It is said to be "the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in North America, and is purportedly the second largest in the world, next to the Kremlin." Opened in 1864, it originally was for approximately 250 people, but in its heyday it held nearly 10 times that in conditions which were less than ideal. I'd say inhumane, but that kind of reinterpretation of the past needs to be done with caution - especially when it originally opened it really was called a lunatic asylum - only later did its name get changed to Weston State Hospital. It shut down in the mid-1990's and there have been a few attempts to use it profitably.
While I'm not sure I'm completely comfortable with this trip during an apparent resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic, money was spent so we are doing the 5-hour Discovery the Asylum tour.
There is a good podcast which gives some of the history of the asylum here (interesting even if one believes the paranormal part is BS).
(note that this podcast sent me down a rabbit hole of other episodes - so listen with caution)
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