Summer Escape

Last night, D and I left for a little summer vacation...5 days in the Tennessee Mountains with his sisters, their families and his parents.  Last evening, we drove half way and spent the evening in Blacksburg so we could explore the university and tWe are a little spoiled because less than two weeks ago, we have a fun filled beach weekend with friends, yet we are already leaving for another trip!  As my baby sister would say, "Sorry I'm not Sorry." Plus, its hard to really unwind with a short weekend trip, so its great we have a few more lazy vacation days ahead of us....


What's perfect about this vacation is that it is a vacation...really, no obligations, no sights to see, no restaurants to try. I am free to lounge around, enjoy fellowship with others, relish in a few quiet moments to myself, etc.  D and I are both the same - we love adventure and seeing new places, so we tend to overbook ourselves when we travel.  Our summer vacation to Toronto in august will be full of a lot of things - good food, theater, sight seeing, tall buildings (that D will lecture me on), cocktails, wondering, getting lost in new neighborhoods...but it won't be full of rest because we wouldn't dare waste a day to relax or nap or read a book! Too much to do! But time spent at beach houses or mountain cabins are different -- no big cities nearby, no absolute "must sees" except for nature and each other, so vacation days are actually relaxing and restful, leaving you recharged. We live in such a busy city and we take busy getaways, so I am excited for the freedom and calmness of a few mountain days... where I only have one scheduled plan: whitewater rafting one afternoon.


I am looking forward to family meals with laughter and stories and second helpings, cocktails and giggling on the porch with my sisters in law, hiking and handholding with my sweet country boy, trying not to fall out of the raft while navigating rapids, having a rare girls shopping trip (I saved a little money for this trip) to the outlets where I analyze exactly how much money I have and what I want to buy, curling up on the couch and diving into a couple of the books from my 2014 Summer Reading List, cooking BBQ and monkey bread, giggling with two cute little nieces, enjoying the warm sun and a nap by the pool, late night movies and board games and chats, hot tubbing and wine drinking, and the list goes on...


...so if you don't hear from me for a few days, it is because I am busy escaping from life in the mountains.


My life sure is blessed and happy, but even happy lives require the occasional escape.