Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012.
Today’s question comes from your Blogversation hostess, Colleen Newvine Tebeau, @cnewvine on Twitter.
What did you do on your summer vacation? (Even if it wasn’t a true vacation)
My mom had a tradition of taking a photo of me every year on the first day of school.
It was always the same pose: me with my book bag on, with my hand on the doorknob like I was ready to walk right out.
All the “first day of school” photos on Facebook have made me nostalgic for a getting a new book bag, sharpening my pencils and heading back to school.
They also reminded me of that quintessential September assignment: writing an essay titled, “What I did on summer vacation.”
Our summer flew by with loads of fun travel, including St. Louis for a family wedding, a relaxing long weekend in Phoenicia, a road trip down through Virginia to Nags Head and back by way of Philadelphia, then my first-ever Burning Man.
What about you?
Blogversation 2012: What did you do on your summer vacation?
6 Comments
Kay
I had lots of plans and kept thinking I had a long time with which to accomplish them! Turns out, alas, I was wrong and September jumped out of nowhere. I can say I spent a lot of time laying in the sun, laughing with my children, and taking great pictures.
Living so close to MSU I get highly nostalgic for the beginning of the school year, not that I didn’t enjoy my K-12 school years… but the sights and smells of the campus in the fall always brings back memories of football games, friends, and a love of learning.
Now that I homeschool, my children don’t have the same excitement toward the first day that other children might have.. but I did try to make it exciting with new supplies. Maybe.. if you think of it.. it has nothing to do with actual school, but the purchase of new “stuff”. Hmmmm… makes me want to go and buy some “school shoes” and test that theory!
Amy Throndsen
Colleen – Burning Man, just one more reason why I think you’re fantastic! Very cool. On my bucket list. Would love to get your thoughts on how I can make it happen!
I was inspired by Abigail Washburn’s music, so I packed my bags to attend the Red Ants Pants festival in White Sulfer Spring, Montana. While I was there I bought my first pair of cowboy boots at Goodwill (Tony Llama, no less!) and danced the days away.
I am always glad to get fresh veggies, but summer is the best. This year I joined a local CSA, and have been thrilled with the variety and quality of the veggies (& some fruit).
Margaret Y.
We went to Vail for a week in June. It was so great! Most people think of Vail as a winter ski place. But it’s even better in the summer! We hiked, biked, went on a zipline tour, and saw free concerts under the stars. The mountains are so beautiful in the summer that my reality was forever changed by looking at them. The best part: there were no crowds.
It made me think: where else can I go that’s unexpected? If everyone is flocking to one destination, should I go somewhere else? Alaska in the winter? Caribbean in the summer? What possibilities are out there for off-season travel?
Mary Jean
I like the counterintuitive approach to vacationing, Margaret. An approach that probably applies well to other areas of life.
Travelwise, we did three trips, all in August. First, spent a week in Lake Placid, NY, with a group of Lou’s college friends with whom we do these Big Chill gatherings (they all went to Michigan) every three years. Loved Lake Placid, loved the Adirondacks. Iris climbed her first mountain. We kayaked, saw Olympic ski jumpers, cooked meals together, baked pies; fun. Home for a week, then off to Beach Haven, on the Jersey Shore, with friends of ours. This is the third year we’ve done this trip with them, and it’s becoming a happy tradition. I’ve never thought of myself as much of a beach person, but gosh darn if I haven’t fallen a little in love with Beach Haven. Finally a trip back home to Illinois for a family gathering for my parents’ 55th anniversary. We had beautiful weather, which brought me right back to the baking, hushed summer days of my childhood. Summer is different in Illinois,, even than it is in Michigan, and certainly in New York.
Back in Brooklyn, the highlight of the summer was our awesome block party in the middle of July, capped off by seeing Saturday Night Fever in Prospect Park that night. One of my favorite nights of the summer was a date with Lou where, after dinner, we wandered into the park and lay on the grass while twilight turned to evening. On the way home, we got caught in a rainstorm, except that it didn’t feel like being caught at all.
Oh, and because there’s really no such thing as summer vacation once you’re a grownup, I *worked* a lot this summer, which actually was great. I had my busiest stretch of freelancing in quite some time.
Amy Throndsen
I like that you included travel and finding an “escape” (and reason to celebrate) in your own neighborhood.
Eleanor Traubman
I did not take a vacation, but I did work my arse off to help organize GO, a borough-wide open studio weekend created by The Brooklyn Museum. It had never been done before, so all of us neighborhood organizers learned as we went along. I was responsible for reaching out to artists in Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, and Carroll Gardens so that they would register to open their studios to the public for an entire weekend. Then, I talked to local community leaders, merchants, families, etc. to let them know they could view the artists (1700 of them!) online, create an itinerary of who to visit, and register to vote for the artists whose work they would like to see in a group show at The Brooklyn Museum. After three months of outreach, about 20 other neighborhood coordinators and myself ran information tables so that folks walking around during the open studio weekend could pick up maps of where the artists’ studios were located. At my info table, located at bar/community hangour 61 Local, we gave out bike-themed Tattly (temporary) tattoos as well as maps of artist studios. Two of the girls I helped teach Kindergarten to a few years ago showed up with their parents to help put the tattoos on passers-by. So fun!
On another front, I was totally psyched to see women win SO MANY gold medals at the 2012 Olympics. I was glued to all things women’s gymnastics and had the opportunity to help welcome home teen Brooklynite Lia Neal after she won an Olympic bronze medal in swimming. So, so inspiring! By the way, did you know that Irishwoman Katie Taylor advocated for a long time to get women’s boxing into the Olympics? Let’s hear it for Katie and all the other women athletes!
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