Vacation In August

We took a family vacation to Isle of Palms on the only week we could all be together this summer. Philip came home on Friday night, and we all packed up and left Saturday morning for South Carolina.

None of us had ever been to this place, but it is fabulous. The picture is the view from our balcony looking out onto the beach.

Home from St. Thomas

Here's a picture of the view from our room in St. Thomas, looking out over the bay. We had a great time swimming and snorkeling in the crystal clear waters of the island. Now it is back to reality.

It is good to escape every now and then! I will not wait 30 years to go back to St. Thomas!

peace

Vacation Bound

Getting packed up for the trip to St. Thomas. I always tend to over-pack, so I am taking out things as I think about them. And I don't want to pay to check a piece of luggage on the plane, so I have to think about this a lot. We will be gone for 8 nights.

Do I really need socks for every day? Probably better pack them, just in case. Uh oh, I can see where this is headed...

See you soon!

Smith Mountain Lake

While the kids are away on their trip to Italy, Kim and I went to Smith Mountain Lake for several days. This was our first trip to the big lake and it was wonderful. We took our canoe and toured the inlets outside the power boat areas. I got to do some fishing and Kim floated and worked on her tan.

I included a picture from the balcony of our condo at the end of the day. You can click on it to get a bigger view. What a way to cap off a day of vacation!

Peace.

Summer Vacation

What a great tradition we have of taking time off in the summer for a vacation. Time away from work, school, and other normal routine existence becomes something to anticipate. Whether it is a trip to the beach, to the mountains, to historic sites, to amusement parks, or out of the state or the country.

I am always amazed that Europeans and others take off an entire month of "holiday". That sounds like a good plan to me. However it won't catch on here. I guess we Americans are too productive or at least too afraid that we will be forgotten if we leave work for that long.

Still, a vacation is something to look forward to. We used to take two weeks off in the summer and go to the beach. It always took me a day to unwind and de-stress, and with two weeks I did not feel like everything had to be scheduled before we got to the beach. And by the time two weeks was up I was more than ready to come back to work.

Hope you have plans for a good vacation this summer!

In a French fishing village

Continuing on, we made our way to a small fishing village called Honfleur. The first interesting thing was calling the lady who was going to meet us at our flat and let us in. She spoke little English, and fortunately Emily speaks French more than adequately. Between the two of them we cobbled together enough information for directions that got us to the right place to drop the luggage off.

We stayed in an apartment that was a former fisherman's home. The stairs went up circularly like in a lighthouse and were very steep and narrow. Tricky with luggage, and Philip carried most of it himself.

Here's a picture of the kind of narrow cobblestone street we were on. The town itself was quite fascinating, with high dollar sailboats in the protected harbor. You know I took lots of sailboat pictures.

Dinner was amazing, and only a block off the center of town. We noticed that it was still light at ten o'clock at night, so there was more day to enjoy.

France was proving to be a good choice for vacation.

On vacation in France

This will be the first of several blog entries regarding our family vacation to France. On the first day after the long night flight across the Atlantic, we picked up our rental car at the airport in Paris. I have never been able to manage to sleep much on those overnight flights, and this one was no exception.

Once we got the car and were able to read enough of the signs to navigate away from the Charles de Gaulle airport (no small feat), we proceeded towards Normandy. Just outside the airport we came to our first roundabout. I had heard horror stories about them, but this one was no big deal. Just yield to oncoming traffic and make sure you know when and where to get off. Piece of cake. Soon I had 10 or so under my belt and was feeling quite competent. (more on roundabouts in a later blog)

Our first stop was at Giverny, where Monet hung out and did some very cool painting. I am a big impressionist fan, and Monet is one of my favorites. I included a photo to try to show what the landscape was like. No wonder he loved this little place so much.

More to come later, but for now enjoy the scenery from Giverny.

Au revoir!

Summer Vacation

It is officially summer now! The outside temperatures are heading way up and vacation plans are in full swing. We are headed to France soon, to see the Normandy area and to visit Paris. France was not my top choice for a vacation spot, but now I think I might be more excited about this trip than anyone else. Gives me yet another foreign language to attempt to learn.

We have made reservations in Honfleur and Paris for several nights, and are already picking people's brains for places to go and things to experience. That is what summer is all about, experiencing things that you can one day tell others about.

Go make some summer plans, and find a place to live out the summer to its fullest!
Carpe diem!
(wait, that's not French!)