rose_griffes (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rose_griffes) wrote2011-08-05 03:29 pm
rose_griffes) wrote2011-08-05 03:29 pm
what my summer vacation included (2011 version)
I'm about to tackle more stuff on my "Ack, summer is almost over! and I still haven't done..." list. Before I do, here's a quick overview of, well, cool stuff I did instead of what's on my should-do list.
Four days after school ended, I started traveling. Until late last week, I was home for a total of two weeks, and during one of those weeks I was attending a teacher conference in a nearby suburb. So... yeah. Lots of travel.
Washington D.C.! My first visit to the capital! Baby brother now lives nearby now; he didn't have much time away from work but we did do a Segway tour together one evening. It was so much fun.
Our tour guide. The Vietnam War Memorial.
I visited many, many museums, most of them part of the Smithsonian network of museums.
The bat flower--fantastic! And some Tiffany stained glass.
I met the lovely and wonderful Daybreak in person. She took a trip to see me while I was on the east coast and I repaid her generosity by dragging her to see a museum. Heh. We had a great time and I really hope we can visit in person again someday.
After D.C., I went to Pennsylvania for a week. My sister and her family live there, and they were moving across town. I babysat a lot... played a lot of hide-and-seek... made up a WHOLE LOT of stories... (It was a series: Gran and the Bean Fables. Starring Granny Bean and the Wee Bean Folk. Details borrowed liberally from Terry Pratchett and every fairy tale ever.)
What else? Oh, there was a trip to Mexico. Actually to "Disneyland Mexico"--sort of. Cancun isn't much like the rest of Mexico, and staying in a resort near Cancun is even less like Mexico. It was lovely in its own way, but not a particularly Mexican experience.
Of course, the beach helped make up for that.
And the iguanas and carved watermelon and other random stuff.
My mother and I went there together. We had Spanish classes part of the day and then overate and swam the rest of the time. (In addition to a couple of visits to the market to, uh, aid the Mexican economy. Hah!)
From Mexico to exotic Kansas. I did more babysitting while visiting big brother's family there. My sister-in-law took a camping trip, acting as chaperone for some teenaged girls from their local church congregation, so I was the temporary parental figure for their kids. Or at least adult-ish figure. Being the adult means going to the park and blowing bubbles, by the way. (No bubble pics. Hard to take pics while actually blowing bubbles.)
And now I'm home again, rather tired and not appreciative of the record-breaking heat we're experiencing here. But it wasn't much cooler in those other places--just busier. And beachier, in some cases.
On to the to-do list! Which included this:
I just posted a fill-in recap for SCC 2.16 Some must watch while some must sleep.
Four days after school ended, I started traveling. Until late last week, I was home for a total of two weeks, and during one of those weeks I was attending a teacher conference in a nearby suburb. So... yeah. Lots of travel.
Washington D.C.! My first visit to the capital! Baby brother now lives nearby now; he didn't have much time away from work but we did do a Segway tour together one evening. It was so much fun.
Our tour guide. The Vietnam War Memorial.
I visited many, many museums, most of them part of the Smithsonian network of museums.
The bat flower--fantastic! And some Tiffany stained glass.
I met the lovely and wonderful Daybreak in person. She took a trip to see me while I was on the east coast and I repaid her generosity by dragging her to see a museum. Heh. We had a great time and I really hope we can visit in person again someday.
After D.C., I went to Pennsylvania for a week. My sister and her family live there, and they were moving across town. I babysat a lot... played a lot of hide-and-seek... made up a WHOLE LOT of stories... (It was a series: Gran and the Bean Fables. Starring Granny Bean and the Wee Bean Folk. Details borrowed liberally from Terry Pratchett and every fairy tale ever.)
What else? Oh, there was a trip to Mexico. Actually to "Disneyland Mexico"--sort of. Cancun isn't much like the rest of Mexico, and staying in a resort near Cancun is even less like Mexico. It was lovely in its own way, but not a particularly Mexican experience.
Of course, the beach helped make up for that.
And the iguanas and carved watermelon and other random stuff.
My mother and I went there together. We had Spanish classes part of the day and then overate and swam the rest of the time. (In addition to a couple of visits to the market to, uh, aid the Mexican economy. Hah!)
From Mexico to exotic Kansas. I did more babysitting while visiting big brother's family there. My sister-in-law took a camping trip, acting as chaperone for some teenaged girls from their local church congregation, so I was the temporary parental figure for their kids. Or at least adult-ish figure. Being the adult means going to the park and blowing bubbles, by the way. (No bubble pics. Hard to take pics while actually blowing bubbles.)
And now I'm home again, rather tired and not appreciative of the record-breaking heat we're experiencing here. But it wasn't much cooler in those other places--just busier. And beachier, in some cases.
On to the to-do list! Which included this:
I just posted a fill-in recap for SCC 2.16 Some must watch while some must sleep.
(no subject)