Vacation
relax renew run for the hills

As you know from the blog we just returned from a month-long vacation in Paris. It was great fun and also several days too long. Family is great. Yet maybe there's a reason that we don't spend 24/7 with each other? I think having a nanny on any family vacation voyage over 2 weeks long might not be such a bad idea. In France Vacation (les vacances) is not just something you do, but a human right. It's a time to get away (even on a staycation), to do something different, to gain perspective, and to eat good food! The problem with vacation seems that often we build them up to be such life-changing, long awaited, nearly epiphany-esque experiences that we can't help but have our stellar expectations go unmet. We have some friends who would go on fantastic travels for vacation each year, annually ending in some sort of family blow-out. The cycle continued until the children said "enough!" There's something in us - maybe our inner Girmwald - that wants to provide a "perfect" experience for our loved ones. I always remember the family blow-out scene from one of my all time favorite movies "Vacation."



My best vacations have been ones that involved several things:
6. Something fun to visit (preferably ancient scavi or ruins or a local grocery store in a foreign country)
5. Sun - preferably some sort of beach space to be in a swimsuit in order to get guicied.
4. A chance to swim in (preferably in this order): a river, a lake, the ocean, a pool.
3. Good books to read
2. Good food & drink
1. Good people - the only ones you can stand - to be with!

My favorite vacations have been to: (in no particular order)
6. Egypt
5. Discovering the greatness of the Jersey Shore & all it's ice cream glory
4. Camping in Rome with that great campsite pizzeria
3. In a hole-in-the-wall no-screens hotel on the beach in Costa Rica
2. A hot week on the veranda in Cloverdale
1. Camping in the rain with Kristy at Bellagio

My worst vacations have been:
3. Skiing and breaking some ribs then having to pack the car for another family & ride home for 10 hours in the back of a station wagon.
2. The time spent crammed in a over-crowded car on a 24 hours blitz trip to Disneyland.
1. Being stuck in a minivan full of junior highers on Hwy 80 outside of Truckee for 13 hours in the snow with no food.

What about you?