Dentist: How are you?
Me: Good. You?
Dentist: Great! Went to cape cod this weekend.
Me: We went upstate.
Dentist: Nice.. *pauses*
Me: *pauses, sits back*
...
...
Me: Well?
Dentist: Waiting for you to take the mask off. I'm a dentist, not an optometrist like your wife.
Me:

That Ansel Adams print of Denali got us talking travel and OMG my dentist and I are psychically connected!

Me: We wanna go to Denali
Him: Me too! You two like outdoors in cold weather?
Me: Yup
Him: Then you should go to Yellowstone
Me: was our July plan. But covid. ...

Him: Blessing in disguise. It's crazy packed in summers. Go in Febr. And snowmobile around it. Easy and fun. Like riding a scooter up an empty 1st Avenue. So gorgeous. And you'll find maybe 100 people at Old Faithful as opposed to the 10,000 in July.
Me: *nods cos mouth mirror*

Him: *working on my teeth still* People should go on winter vacations for stuff other than skiing. Another place you should do in winter is Arizona. Grand Canyon of course, also not packed like summer. Get grampons and climb down.
Me: *eyes as wide as mouth, aching to talk*

Him: But even better than the Grand Canyon is Page, Arizona. Antelope Canyon won't be as crowded with Instagrammers like summer. Check out Horseshoe Bend and ooooh kayaking in Lake Powell on a clear February day... What's wrong? Is it hurting? *Takes tools out of my mouth*

Me: No, not hurting. Suppressing laughter. Because you're describing our February trip right before the virus shut everything down! Like day by day!

We then spent 15 minutes talking national parks as the hygienist's face was like, do you still need me for this part?

That "people should do more than skiing in winter" sentiment, @k_rupal and I could be the spokespeople for. Finland, Patagonia, Arizona, all outdoor winter vacations for us with zero skiing. Very much recommend. Especially for places super packed in summer.