Vacation

Vacation

Dan and I booked our vacation to Belize back in April – knowing we’d be ready for a break in December.

There are two basic approaches to vacations:  1.  Plan a lot of excursions and events, in order to wring the maximum amount of fun and enjoyment out of EVERY day!  Or 2.  Go to a great place, and figure it out when you get there.

I am a planner, and I tend to have excursions and activities planned for every day (if not every hour) of vacations.

Many years ago, I took my (then) 6 and 8 year old kids to Disneyworld; and made them get out of bed at the crack of dawn so we could be the FIRST in line for the Space Mountain roller coaster.  Sure enough – we were there when they opened the gates, and we RAN to the most popular ride in the park.  No waiting in long lines for us!   What I had failed to factor into the fun ‘algorithm’ is that Space Mountain was / is (?) a single file ride, in the dark, with lots of nasty twists and turns and my kids were NOT roller coaster tough.  By the time we got off, they were traumatized and tearfully asked me to never make them go on that again!   The parts of the vacation THEY liked the best was eating pizza in the hotel room.  Sometimes careful planning does not ensure a good time.

This year, we adopted Dan’s more laid-back attitude for our vacation in Belize. We did some snorkeling, kayaking, paddleboarding, zip-lining, dancing, hiking and more.  We explored an ancient Mayan Cave (which was amazing);  but most of the time… we simply chilled.  I read several books; laying in a hammock while listening to the waves crash on the shore; or sipping pina coladas on the beach.

It added to our vacation pleasure to know that we missed some bone-chilling temperatures and a couple blizzards in Wisconsin while we were gone.  Cleo was well taken care-off by a trio of young women in our absence;  so much so, that she barely registered our return.

Vacations are important to help re-connect with yourself (or possibly a loved-one) and recharge the internal battery: whether that happens on a roller coaster or in a hammock.

 

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