Summer Vacation…

It’s summer time and, for a lot of families, that means vacations!!

I hate vacations. I don’t “vacation” well, as my wife would say, and I have to agree. Every time we go somewhere there is this underlying expectation to do something…constantly. You are in a new place, don’t waste it. Go see the sights, visit the theme parks, go, go, go.

For me, the ideal vacation is curled up on the couch with a book.

There are those nuggets, however, that stand out as great times. Several years ago we took the kids to Mount Rushmore. Drove it, which was fun. We got to see a lot of America we would not have if we flew. Then in ’09 my wife and I went to Vegas to see Star Trek the Exhibit. We barely made it, sort of. They closed the site down six months later.

Then a few years ago my wife and I went to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Just us…no kids…. See, I’m a huge Harry Potter fan and when I learned they were finally opening the new theme park at Universal, it was all over. I was going.

Wow, they did that place right. It was amazing! What amazed me more is how much they made you feel like you were in the world of Hogwarts. It’s the same thing that amazes me about the movies, really. They took JK’s work and recreated it almost exactly how I had envisioned it, which is why I think the movies did so well.

Anyhow, we liked Universal so much we took the kids this summer. We also did Disney,but frankly, Disney is over rated. Universal is the theme park to visit. We all had a great time.

Don’t get me wrong. I still missed curling up on the couch and reading. It seems as if I haven’t been able to do that enough lately. Too many other “small” projects going on. Like most things, I need to find time to read. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to take a reading vacation and sit out on the porch and read while the rest of the world passes me by. Now that is a vacation.