Day 154 (Oct 17) – Vacation

This week feels like a vacation.  It is really the first time I have felt that way on this trip.  I know that sounds strange.  Most of it has seemed like a project or an experiment.  A fun one, but not exactly a vacation.  It has quickly become a lifestyle.  I still cook and clean and teach school.  I still plan (a little) where we will go and what we will do when we get there.  I still make grocery lists and shop.  I still do laundry (a little).  The first week or two may have seemed vacation-like simply because it was all new and different, but I would not have used that word to describe what we are doing until this week.  What has changed?  We are not on a schedule.  There are no expectations.  There is nothing to see or accomplish.  (Well, I’m sure there is, but we are choosing not to.)  We are even doing more daily sit-down school than we have the whole trip and yet, it still feels like vacation.  Maybe vacation is more about taking a break in your routine and responsibilities than where you are or what you are doing.  So I guess now we are on a vacation from our 6-month trip.

On this vacation, we sleep late, do school, have a late lunch and go to the beach.  It’s just us, a few hundred dead horseshoe crabs, a couple of Chinooks (there is a military base right beside the state park) and three other older couples.  The weather is good – cloudy and cool in the morning, but warmer (70s) and sunny in the afternoon.  Carmen has had her “beach smile” back on.  She loves the waves and the sand.

We finished Brady Bunch Season 1.  Instead, tonight I watched three hours straight of ABC prime time that we are getting on Brad’s digital antenna on my laptop.  I don’t think I have ever done that before – watched 3 hours of prime time shows or anything on ABC.

VA Beach 10-17 Pics