VACATION! BEGINNING TUESDAY.

Vacation. I’m going on vacation! Beginning Tuesday. With Lucy.

But what does “vacation” mean?

Well, if you’re in school or college, vacation means getting away from classes for a period of time. My grandkids are “on vacation” right now. But are they escaping a daily routine? Turns out that vacation for many kids is filled with classes and athletic training (sewing, music, track--you name it) all summer.

If you’re employed, vacation means getting away from the job for a while. Well, yes, it did mean that before we were plugged in. But now you can be out of the office for two weeks and still be plugged in to your work network. Work while on vacation!  Maybe it’s up to you whether you stay plugged in or unplug at times during the day.

Now the most personal (to me) question. “Vacation for the retired.” I’m retired. What does “vacation” mean when you’re retired? You can search the internet for ideas about this. I did so and found out what vacation means for retired people my age. It means traveling somewhere, oftentimes to a resort destination (think Hawaii or the Caribbean). My guess is that we retirees want to get away from home and experience something different (Alaska, the Danube.)

My vacation starting Tuesday? What'll it be like?

We’ll fly from Portland, Oregon to Washington, D.C., where Hal and Margaret will meet us. Zip zap and we're a continent away. Hal and Margaret live in nearby Maryland and have invited us to spend a few days with them around Annapolis. Then we’ll travel with them down the spine of the Appalachians. Margaret grew up in Appalachia and will be our guide. We’ll end up near Asheville, N.C. on the grounds of a United Methodist resort at Lake Junaluska.

My spouse and I will have the opportunity to spend time in Asheville with some of our friends who are friends of Sierra Leone. The venue is the annual reunion of Servants of Sierra Leone.

From there Hal and Margaret will split to back to Maryland. Lucy and I will fly back to Oregon. 

Vacation will be over! For Lucy and me, anyway.

This is what a vacation for the retired will mean for us in summer, 2016. Away from home, seeing familiar and unfamiliar sights, with old friends and new friends.

By the way, Hal is a guy with whom my wife and I spent a few weeks with in Europe in 1964! Right! 1964! We’ve seen each other a lot over the years but not traveled together since 1964. It’ll be fun to be on the road together once again.

I lean on Wikipedia a lot—use it every couple of days in fact—and I point you to an interesting three or four hundred word Wikipedia article entitled "Vacation." You’re sure to find some surprising facts about vacations and how the idea came to be.

Finally, because I'll be on vacation, I'll not post next weekend. The next posting will be August 13. Right now that seems like a long way out ahead.