Vacation without E-mail

This post comes to you from Stevensville, MD on a short vacation with our nieces (20, 18 & 14) and nephew (17). Vacations have become much more relaxing since I retired. No need to check email just to keep up with work and no stress about the pile of work waiting for me when I get home.

My second vacation since retiring and it is much different being on vacation without at least part of my brain focused on work. There’s no adjustment time to relax, and no anxiety toward the end of the trip about the fun that awaits back at work. First trip was our annual pilgrimage to Islamorada in the Florida Keys, scheduled just a week after my last day of work. Always a relaxing trip for me as I am in full vacation mode as soon as my feet hit the sand. This year, vacation mode started as soon as we got through the security checkpoint at the airport – always a fun experience, especially during peak flying times. Being able to get up in the morning without work on my mind was amazing after so many years. It made that first cup of coffee that much better – and sometimes an alternate beverage to start the day – hey, it’s vacation and I’m retired. All the more sweet was watching my wife, who has her own home staging business, and our friends there, checking emails and working a bit while I napped in the hammock until happy hour started at the tiki bar. Early retirement doesn’t suck.

On this trip, the only stress is from the 4 teenagers with us. Oh, and driving all the way down from NJ in the driving rain and flooding. We took it as a good sign when blue sky and dry roads appeared about 20 miles from our destination. We’re on a beautiful property on a salt creek with kayaking, paddle boarding, and crabbing (yum, nothing like fresh crab) right out back. My nephew and I tried our luck with a few crab traps while watching an amazing sunset and after letting the big one get away we snagged the amazing sum of 2 crabs. Enough for a small crab cake after taking longer to extract the meat from the shells than it took to pull in the traps. He sautéed the meat in a little butter and we enjoyed the sweet snack as our reward. Stevensville is near Annapolis and St. Michaels but is not a big tourist destination so it’s pretty quiet, but there are a lot of restaurants, pubs, etc. within a few minutes drive, and many are on the water. There are a distillery and brewery in town too which is where I went souvenir shopping while my wife and the kids headed for t-shirts and chotchkes. There are also parks and hiking/biking trails across and along Kent Island that we are going to check out before heading back north. I’m looking forward to getting some exercise and exploring more of the island.

Like I said, not having the specter of work hanging over my head has made trips like this actually relaxing. Being away only a few days used to mean a day or so to wind down, maybe a day to relax, and the next day or so having anxiety build about returning to work. Granted, every day could be considered a vacation day in early retirement, but getting away from home, especially after being locked down for so long, is refreshing – even with 4 teenagers. Just getting out of the home routine is a huge boost.

Time to go whip my nephew’s butt at Hockey Sauce - https://www.hockeysaucekit.com/ – think Corn Hole with sticks and pucks.