I Should Be Packing

I'm going on a trip with my Mom, leaving tomorrow, meeting up in a southwestern city known more for excess and consumption than anything else, taking a shuttle to another city, and then in the morning, going on a bus tour of Bryce, Zion, and the Grand Canyon.  It should be good.  And I should be packing.

Instead, I'm futzing around, looking at my sunflower, playing with aperture sizes, and trying to figure out what to take.

The suggested packing list says to bring hiking boots.  I have a pair that I got in the UK, but they're bulky.  And I'm wondering how much I'm likely to need hiking boots on a trip with my 80+ year old mother. 

If I don't take the hiking boots, then I take a pair of supportive sneakers and a pair of really light runners (for the day we're supposed to plan on being wet; they suggested closed toe sandals, but I'd have to go out and get those, and these I have).  If I take hiking boots, do I leave behind the sneakers?  Hiking boots are bulky, and I don't want to end up carrying them in my backpack a lot.

Then there's the base layer question.  I love my long johns.  But when I think of putting on long johns for a cool morning, and then ending up at 90+ degrees, I'm going to need to take them off.  But they're always under all the other layers.  At least they're light and not bulky!

Anyway, I'll be afk for a bit.

Meanwhile, does anyone know if sunflowers are self pollinating (or can be pollinated by bees or whatever from their own pollen)?

I planted some sunflowers from a mixed packet of heritage seeds, and I'm hoping I can collect some for next year to replant.  (I've done that with regular sunflowers before, but since I wasn't here to harvest in the fall, I didn't have my own seeds to start this year, so had to buy some.)  This is the only one flowering so far, so it either has to pollinate itself or the seeds won't be fertile.  And I'm not sure all the others are the same species to pollinate one another.  (Are there many species of sunflowers, or mostly different cultivars?  So many questions!  Much more fun to futz around with the sunflower than to get packed!)

And as a side note: I can't quite really believe that a year ago I was getting ready to go spend a month in London and more in the UK.  My mind can't quite wrap around it somehow. 

I've been watching the tour, and when they show pictures, say of Paris, I think, hey, I was there.  And I was, but wow, was I really?  Really?

I've been doing this a lot this spring, especially when I see pictures on TV of castles or cathedrals or whatever, and think, hey, I WAS there.