I'll admit to a bit of concern about the decision to do this, since my normal travel plans follow the mantra: "this is a trip, not a vacation." And I did take enough electronic equipment to fill a duffle bag so I could check emails, surf the Internet, and stream episodes of Mad Man Season 1 on Netflix.
But by about day two or three, I could feel myself really let go, relax, and thoroughly enjoy the days with Lisa, Katie and Jasper.
We took two long canoe trips -- one to the bridge at Odd Fellows, and one upstream to the Hacienda Bridge. These aren't particularly long distances, but it is further than I've ever traveled on the water. We packed picnic lunches, stopped wherever we wanted, and never once tipped over.
One day, we ventured into town and bought the supplies for an simple outdoor shower -- okay, that's an exaggeration. It's just a showerhead on a hose. But enough of a project to elicit a sense of self-satisfaction. Another afternoon, we went in search of the County's best ice cream cone and ended up at Screamin Mimi's in Sebastopol. Nancy and Marge spent one afternoon with us on the porch, and we went down to Monte Rio for dinner on another day.
When I got back to Sacramento, I met up with some friends at an after-work event. One of them had given me a book to read on vacation. "So how'd you like the book?" he asked.
It was only then I realized that I'd been so checked-out, I didn't even remember I was supposed to read a book. I also took virtually no photos, another anomaly for my typical vacation behavior. (This picture of the canoe is the exception, and I'm pretty sure I'm not even the one who snapped it.)
At the end of the week, it didn't seem like the trip had been too long a vacation. But also didn't seem like it had been too short. Just right. I think we'll do it again next year.
