The Good, the Not-as-Good, and the Great

After a few (overly-expensive) tanks of gas, lots of restaurant food, many friends and family and plenty of great sights, I'm back from vacation.

It was a great chance to get away and experience many new things and to see people along the way. I liked the idea of a road-trip, I think I always have. In part it was because I knew it would be a chance to get out of my normal "gotta get where I'm goin'" mould. I did a good job of shaking that neurosis off but there were others lingering (just ask C). We both more than survived my various neuroses which is a good start.

Vacation time was not just a great opportunity to connect with friends but to spend time with family especially as a rather important birthday is in the offing. For fear of imminent death by broadcasting it to the world via the wonders of the interweb I think it'll suffice to say that "you know who you are". That meant me, C and Mr. T explored the Outaouais, Laurentides, Montreal et les Cantons de l'est and the 1000 Island Parkway before Mr. T and I struck out on our own for the GTA (a hint to the birthday-celebrator). A fine time was had together getting to see much of my close family at some point over the weekend. There was even a visit to King View Farm, the farm upon which I did a lot of growing up. Word came through that the place has been sold which made a visit definitely in order. While I had popped-by since leaving 10 years ago this was the most thorough visit and was much enjoyed. It's like visiting not just your childhood home but your whole childhood neighbourhood to see that it has changed but not enough that it is not recognizable.

All in all, a good 10 days or so. Not-so-good was the stress that manifested itself when the thought of work came up. It'll be good to go back tomorrow to get back into the flow there. That being said, I always hate it when people talk about not taking their vacation time because they have too much work to do. Am I becoming one of the people I hate?

Photos of the adventures will be forthcoming on my flickr page but there are quite a few to go through so it may take a while before you get a more complete "picture" of things. In the meantime, use your imagination. I know you can do it. If you can't find your imagination, it's likely under the TV remote (at least that's usually where I leave it).