The Stay-cation

The Tay River, Perth, Ontario

Steve and I did a spectacularly poor job of planning our summer vacation this year. There were too many options:

• Go to Colorado for a friend's wedding
• Go camping
• Rent a cottage
• Stay home and enjoy the pool

The first option got dismissed when we looked at our finances. Our travel over the previous six months (Montreal, Las Vegas, and Newport Beach) kept me from making headway on my line of credit (which financed the pool). Plus, the bill for our beautiful new fireplace came in. 

So the other options were more in scope.

If you've read this blog for a while, you'll know that I have an aversion to anything creepy-crawly (more than four legs or less than two). Camping is therefore really not my style. 

Cottaging would be more fun for me, but Steve pointed out that we have an idyllic spa right in our own back yard. Why leave?

We've got it made in the shade!

We even have wildlife, sort of. And evidence of hunters.

Well, there's more to being at a cottage than the beach, though that's a big part of it. I enjoy the quiet evenings together, playing cards and drinking hot chocolate. Hunting for frogs and turtles. Nothing more pressing to do than make a meal and wash the dishes. 

But Steve really enjoys camping and has found a beautiful spot on a lake at Bon Echo park where he canoes in to the campsite. It is so very quiet. 

While I dithered, Steve went ahead and booked his time off, then made plans for three camping trips during his three-week vacation: one with our daughters, one with our sons, and one with a larger group. He had to do this for three reasons: 

1. his calendar at work was filling up fast; 
2. the camp sites would be booked in no time and there might not be one available when he wanted it; and 
3. he had to coordinate with other people's schedules. 

I took a look at the dates he'd taken vacation, and randomly - without looking at his camping plans - selected a week in the middle of that time frame, going from a Thursday to a Wednesday. (I ended up cancelling the Wednesday because of work-related stuff.) 

In the end, here's what our summer vacation looked like.

Gray = Steve on vacation
Pale green = Steve on vacation and at home, and Wynn Anne on vacation

[I could point out that on my first day of vacation Steve actually went in to the office because his e-mail inbox was so full that it was rejecting e-mail. In fairness, he could point out that I was still asleep in bed when he got home at about 11:00.]

Looking at that calendar, it occurs to me that Steve and I did not do a poor job of planning; I alone did a poor job of planning.

But, making the most of the shared vacation time we do have, we took in a movie on Thursday, and then went to a small town nearby for lunch and a little touristy shopping today. The picture at the top of this post is of the park across the road from the restaurant where we ate a peaceful, romantic lunch.

Our restaurant was adjacent to a small arts court, where this trio looked down from the balcony.

We still have the weekend before he takes off again. And I have to remind myself that vacation isn't all about spending time with Stephen! After all, I still get to sleep late on Monday and Tuesday, even if he won't be here to notice.