Vacations

Royalty free pic



I read your blogs and I always get inspired to write something, so thank you for that you wonderful writers. I thought I’d write an extra post this week about my recent vacation. It sort of didn’t feel like a vacation to me, but I suppose anytime you’re visiting with people you don’t see often, perhaps you could call that a vacation, in a way. It all depends on what each of our definitions of a vacation is.


What comes to mind when you think of this word? Sailing the seas to some exotic locale, perhaps digging around ancient ruins, the majestic view offered at national parks, or exploring some place you’ve only read about over the years. The list could go on and on couldn’t it? Perhaps it’s just being lazy lying about the house and doing nothing at all except sipping tea, or wine, curling up with a good book, or watching nature and enjoying all the beauty around us.

When I hear the word vacation, I usually wonder what that is since I’ve had so few of them during my life. I guess because of that those times really stand out. We could never afford it growing up, but we did go three hundred miles away to visit our great grandmother twice, I think. It could have been once. Usually we just stayed home and played in the dirt, enjoying our time away from school. We made mud pies, played baseball in the pasture, made paper dolls, had chinaberry fights, and picked cotton, among other things around the farm.

Normally, the only vacations I ever get as an adult is going to funerals, if you can call that a vacation. Mainly this is because I work all the time and can’t afford to go anywhere, but when it concerns family, you have come up with the funds to go and be supportive and pay your final respects. Once the funeral is out of the way, it is fun getting together with everyone, even on sad occasions. It’s a shame that this is how my life seems to go, but it is what it is.

There have been times when twenty years have gone by between family visits, as much as I hate to admit that, but when you live in different areas of the country, it isn’t always easy to get there when no one ever has any money to visit, or any extra time either, for that matter. Not all of us can coordinate things to coincide at the same time, so once we can all meet up we realize we’ve changed so much during that time that we don’t even recognize our own family members. Anyway, that’s a whole other story for another time perhaps...

In my mind, a vacation should be all about fun, excitement, and seeing places you’ve never been before, certainly no cooking and cleaning, or alarm clocks. I think the best vacation I’ve ever had in my life was going to Hawaii when I lived in Alaska. I’ll never forget that as long as I live. You see it was February in Alaska and for those of you who have never been there – it can be one dark, cold, desolate place in the winter.

Alaska in the winter - Courtesy of Creative Commons

Arriving in Hawaii astounded me. I’d never seen such a gorgeous place! It was like arriving in heaven. It was February and in the 80’s, birds were chirping. All the warmth and all the beauty, blue skies, flowers, palm trees swaying in the breeze were amazing! It was about 20 degrees the day I flew out of Alaska, everything was gray, the sky, and ground. The only birds in Alaska are ravens, even in summer.

Hawaii Beaches - Courtesy of Creative Commons

Another thing that stood out about Hawaii is the way they arrange food in restaurants and sidewalk cafes. The food is so beautifully prepared and they put orchids on the plate. Imagine that? I wanted to stay there and never go back home. But, that’s another story too...

Hibiscus Flowers Bloom Everywhere in Hawaii - Courtesy of Creative Commons

Plumerias Bloom Everywhere in Hawaii - Courtesy of Sunni's Pictures

Anyway, as you know, I just went on vacation with my husband to visit his dad in Oregon. Now I can’t say this was a horrible vacation, the weather was fantastic for Oregon in October – in the 70’s everyday we were there, it only rained twice, and that was overnight. A few trees had turned, but not many, so I didn’t get many fall color shots with my camera. However, that’s okay, I’m glad it wasn’t freezing and dreary the whole time as Oregon gets in the winter. I’m a sun worshipper, as you may have guessed by now. Many dreary days in a row really get to me.

Fall color from the trip - Medford Oregon - Courtesy Sunni's Pictures

Fall color from the trip - Medford Oregon - Courtesy Sunni's Pictures

My husband’s father will be 94 in December, so it was important to visit him and his wife. They both get along fairly well considering their ages, but it seemed all I did was repair things, wash dishes, and eat. We sat around a lot when not in the kitchen. The mother-in-law loves to cook and bake. My husband watched politics and sports with his dad and we found ourselves in front of the TV, along with the men on many of the evenings, so we would bring our books to the couch and read while it was on. The whole situation was a lot like staying home, except for all the cooking and cleaning to do, but I was glad to help. They did need it, and I’d rather stay busy doing something most of the time anyway. My husband usually goes alone on these trips, so it was time for me to go along this time.

One thing remarkable about his dad is that he gets around by himself, no walker, or cane, still drives, and still loves tinkering in the garage.

Internet access was a problem, but I did get to B and N one afternoon for a couple of hours to use the wifi there and I was able to get it at the motels coming and going. I could check a bit of email at least.

We were able to escape a couple of hours too to visit some of my husband’s old friends and their wives. I was hoping to get to the Oregon coast one day, but it’s an all day affair, so we didn’t do that this trip. The Oregon coast is beautiful with all the driftwood on the beaches, the misty air, and big rocks jutting from the ocean. I always get in the mood for a steaming hot bowl of clam chowder when I get in that atmosphere.

Oregon Beaches - Courtesy of Creative Commons

Oregon Coast - Courtsy of Creative Commons

I really felt like I needed some exercise after being so sedentary and eating too much, so we stopped at a couple of places in NV on the way home. We got out and hiked around to look at some old petroglyphs and then again at a mini grand canyon. Those pics are below.

Hickison Petroglyph Recreation Area - NV - Courtesy Sunni's Pictures

Hickison Petroglyph Recreation Area - NV - Courtesy Sunni's Pictures

Cathedral Gorge Park - NV - Courtesy Sunni's Pictures

Cathedral Gorge Park - NV - Courtesy Sunni's Pictures

Of course, now I feel way behind on everything. I was out of my element there, so it is good to be home even though I know it will be many years before I go again. My cats really missed me a lot and won’t let me out of their sight now.

Koki, my little daredevil, has been up to a lot of mischief, chewing a hole in the newspaper I was trying to read because she wanted my attention at that moment, also getting the drainer out of the kitchen sink again and packing it around the house. At least she didn’t break anything valuable while we were gone. However, she hasn’t let me get a decent night’s sleep since we’ve been back. She wakes me up three times a night to love all over my face. Of course once I’m wake awake, she goes back to sleep awhile, but just until I fall asleep again. Maybe she is punishing me for leaving her behind.