On Monday (hereinafter referred to as: The Most Beautiful Fucking Day Of The Whole Fucking Year), I took a day off from work.


We spent the morning sleeping in and noodling about the house/backyard. We had bacon and pancakes for brunch. In the afternoon we went for a long beautiful bike ride along the river to a tiny park where the kid got to break in her new flip flops wading in the water and poking things with a stick. Came home and hung out in the yard while the kid played in more water. Made a tasty dinner from leftovers that we ate on the deck while the kid ran around enjoying some naked freedom. Ice cream for dessert and reasonably early bedtimes for all.

I would not be exaggerating at all when I say that it may have been the best vacation I've ever had.

Which got me thinking about makes a good vacation. Because lord knows that I've had many, many bad ones. You know, the ones that involve: lots of travel; tons of travel-related stress; too much time rushing from place to place; spending way more money than you wanted to spend on things you don't want to spend money on; far too little time doing/buying/eating/drinking what you actually want; crappy weather; etc.

In contrast, my ideal vacation would include:

• Low cost.
• Good friends and/or family.
• Minimal travel.
• Decent weather.
• A noted absence of biting bugs (or any other aggressive wildlife/locals for that matter).
• Spending most of the time outdoors.
• Lots of good food and leisurely cocktails.
• Spontaneous afternoon naps.
• Interesting things to do or explore at a leisurely pace between cocktails and naps.
• Casual exercise in the form of long, slow bike rides, walks and/or swims.
• Relaxed communally-prepared meals.
• After-dinner boardgames and/or music around a fire.

We have no plans to go anywhere this summer so I'm making it my goal to incorporate as much of the above as possible on a daily basis for the next few months.

However, it should be carefully noted that at no time will the words "stay" and "vacation" be combined into one word. Do. Not. Do. It.