I'm Dave-El and for the last three days, I've been playing catch up on history that was in the making while I was on vacation last week. So today I thought I might cover a few highlights from that vacation.
We spent the week at a hotel resort on the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Actual time spent on the actual beach: 1 hour. Seriously. 1/2 of that was for an evening walk along the beach (which was rather nice) and the other half was spent in the surf one morning where the waves repeatedly mugged us. At one point, a wave hit me so hard, I lost my swim trunks. Yep, I was naked in front of God and everybody, thankfully for only a few seconds as I hastily yanked my swim wear back on. But long enough to be recorded on someone's phone, I'm sure. So if there's a video of a pasty, bloated, bearded man monster flailing away naked in the ocean waves, that might be me.
Besides some terrible tidal trauma, other inducements to stay off the beach included heat indexes in the 150 degree range and the constant threat of imminent shark attack. OK, I may be exaggerating a bit (a bit, mind you!) but still. There's been more than enough shark activity along the Atlantic Coast to make a lot of people think twice about getting in the water. People were venturing out into the surf but not as far as out as I'm seen in the past.
I have tried to question the wisdom of spending good money to go to a hotel resort on the beach while making very limited use of said beach. If all we're going to do is hang out in the pool all day, we can do that for a LOT less money that an ocean front hotel in summer. But my wife and daughter are insistent that they want to at least SEE the ocean from our hotel balcony. There is something to be said for being perched up 14 floors into the sky, sitting on a balcony and listening to the waves crash upon the shore. It is very relaxing...as long as I don't think about how much that experience is costing me.
One thing I try to insist on is once I am at the resort, I don't want to drive anywhere until it is time to go. The nice thing about our vacation spot is there are places to go that are within walking distance such as a nearby amusement park and a nice family restaurant. And our room has a kitchen so we can stay in and make sandwiches, hot dogs and easily microwaveable meals.
This trip I did have to break my "don't drive anywhere until it's time to go" rule but it was for a very important reason. My mom had surgery Tuesday morning. It was a minor procedure and I suppose I didn't have to go. However, as our hotel is 1 hour away from my mom's hospital (as opposed to the three hours away I would've been from the our Fortress of Ineptitude), I figured I better be there or have my vacation marred by guilt. The procedure went smoothly and I got to spend some quality time with my nieces who take such good care of my mom.
Back at the hotel, our time was divided between the following activities:
- hanging out in the pool
- naps
- more naps.
Boy I did a LOT of sleeping on this trip! OK, vacations are supposed to be relaxing but if all I'm going to do is take naps, I could've done that at home and for a lot less money.
The El family discovered the comedic joys of The Middle, the TV series starring Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn. The Hallmark Channel airs episodes weeknights at 10 and 10:30; these became part of our nightly routine. It really is a very funny show; I recommend it highly.
I also caught up on a bunch of You Tube videos including re-watching for the first time in a long time Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog. I recently introduced this project to my daughter who in turn shared it with her friends which in turn has become a bit of an obsession with them. Seriously, my daughter writes with Sharpie on each finger of one hand, The Status Is Not Quo. Anyway, I realized I had not watched the whole thing in a long time. Of course, if you're familiar with this production from Joss Whedon, you know that despite the light hearted comedy and the delightful music, this thing ends with some serious feels. Oh, the feels!
I took Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere with me to read but wound up re-reading Stephen Colbert's America Again! I miss Colbert since The Colbert Report ended in December 2014. I'm glad he's putting out online videos leading up to his taking over the Late Show on CBS in September.
After we checked out of the hotel, we did our touristy thing. This year, it was to visit Ripley's Aquarium. They have a glass tunnel that winds its ways through an aquarium loaded with sharks, rays and a wide variety of fish and sea life. There's also a mermaid show which is kind of hot...er, I mean, uh, neat! Yeah, neat! Cool! Not hot at all, no, that would be wrong. Ripley's Aquarium also had an exhibit on the wonders of slime. Nope, not making that up. An exhibit dedicated to slime. For real.
Before returning to the Fortress of Ineptitude, the El family spent the night with my mom at her house. I've posted here before about her physical and mental health but she's doing fine. A bit wobbly from her outpatient surgery but otherwise she's doing fine. She has a good appetite for a woman of her age and size. She was also alert enough to get in a few zingers at my expense, much to the delight of my wife and daughter.
We spent Sunday back at the Fortress, recovering from our vacation which is when I'm writing this. By the time this gets posted, I will have been at work for 4 days. I miss being at work. Especially the getting the pay check part so I can afford to pay for the vacation.
And guess what? The 4th of July is on Saturday so I get July 3rd off instead! Wow! After four days at work, I will need some time off, won't I?
Well, that's all I got for this post. Let's see what nonsense I come up with for tomorrow. Until then, be good to one another.
No comments:
Post a Comment