Friday Favorites: Vacation Mode

One of my very favorite things is a vacation.  How could it not?  Let's be honest - have you ever heard anyone say "I don't really care for going on vacation."?  Probably not.

I enjoy traveling so much.  Whether it's somewhere close such as Gatlinburg, a trip to the beach, or somewhere farther away, like New York... or Tokyo.  And I am all about doing the touristy stuff where ever I go.  The cheesier, the better!

Last year, we took the grand kid and went to Disney World with my sister and her family.  As much as I love Disney, the best part of that trip was taking the grand kid and getting to see him enjoy it for the first time. It was so much fun.  It was also go, go, go for a full week.  From the minute the parks opened in the morning until they closed at night.  In the central Florida heat and rain.  If you've ever been - you know exactly what I'm talking about!

This year, I spent a week on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina with just the Man of the House and the Male Offspring.  It was more of a relaxing type vacation.  Waking up to watch the sunrise over the ocean, lazy days on the beach, eating yummy food at local restaurants and visiting local sites.

We ate far too much at Hudson's Seafood House on the Docks, Skull Creek Boathouse and Bullie's BBQ.  I enjoyed driving down to Harbour Town to explore the village and climb the Harbour Town Lighthouse.  Yes, me - the lady who is terribly afraid of heights. I really did it!  All 114 steps of it!  The views from the top are beautiful. Well worth climbing all those stairs.

We also took a day trip down to Savannah.  There was a LOT of walking involved.  And of course it was H-O-T.  But it was still very nice.  I enjoyed walking and window shopping along River Street.  They were filming scenes for the new season of Ozark (which I've never seen) at the Joe's Crab Shack, but all we saw was a lot of crew and equipment.  We had lunch at Moon River Brewing Company.  Good food, a good beer, but no ghost sightings.  (The place is supposedly haunted)

Sadly, the Man of the House lost his phone on the beach the night before we left.  And within 48 hours of arriving home - mine completely died!  This means that the only pictures we have are the few of mine that were saved to OneDrive.

We've only been home a couple of weeks, but the Man of the House and I are already talking about some trips we're planning for this fall and winter!

What's your favorite vacation destination?  Share in the comments.

A Spirit of Gratitude: Zoo Edition

While in South Carolina on vacation, we drove into Columbia to visit Riverbanks Zoo.  A good time was had by all...

I AM THANKFUL FOR:

Sleepy lions

Fuzzy gray baby flamingos

Penguins

Baby koala

Feeding giraffes

Grand baby trying to tickle gorilla feet through glass

Laughing at the grand baby

Posing grizzly bear

That THIS was behind glass!

Aquarium

Clown fish (aka: Nemo)

 

Cotton candy

Getting Back

It's been over a week since we returned from vacation.  Nine days to be exact.

And in that 9 days I have managed to write exactly zero blog posts.

The week before vacation, I was a writing machine.  Completing some long neglected drafts.  Creating selections from all new ideas.  The words just seemed to flow from my fingertips.  I had enough posts written and scheduled that most days while I was away there was a fresh shiny new something for all of you to read.

However, now it seems as though all my creativity slipped away into the waters of Lake Murray.  Or perhaps baked away in the South Carolina sun. 

Since returning home, I haven't had the spark to sit down at the computer and put my thoughts into print.  Not a one.  I have picture, upon picture, upon picture from our week away which should be included in a write up or two about our get away. 

I'm starting to have a few tiny little fleeting moments of inspiration.  So, hopefully all of that will be changing soon. 

Vacation is over.  It's time to get back.  To everything.