At the beginning of the year, I had a different set of travel plans: two trips to a seminary campus to do my onground intensives for my certificate in spiritual direction, some trips to see my family, at least one retreat (Create in Me) and maybe two (the quilting retreat in October). At the beginning of the year, I worried that I might not have enough vacation and PTO time. Now as I approach the anniversary of my hiring, I worry that I might lose vacation that I don't have time to take.
As it became clear that the pandemic would be restricting us for longer than a month or two, my mom and I strategized. I sent her some weeks where it might be easy for me to get away from my job, and she started to work her magic; one of her alternate life daydreams was being a travel agent, and she can get the best deals of anyone I know.
She found a week at Hilton Head Island for September 19-26, which was perfect for me, the middle week of a 3 week break between quarters. My spouse continues teaching remotely, and we'd have wi-fi at the condo my mom found. So off we went.
The trip up felt easy. I felt almost giddy, even though I 95 isn't my favorite travel route in normal times. I felt the temperature getting cooler as we drove north, and I felt so happy. I wanted roadside stands, but we didn't see any, and we weren't in a mood to linger anyway.
We got to our condo and got settled in. A week ago, we went to a Hilton Head Bi-Lo to get our food for the week. We found a great deal on whole chickens, so we had a delicious chicken dinner, and then a chicken and rice dish, and then later, the best chicken and dumplings I've ever made.
We are lucky, in that we don't need to go out to eat, we don't need to have tourist attractions, we don't need movie theatres or other distractions. I have friends who don't feel like they've had a vacation if they can't go and do all the time. I am happy to have a stack of books and time to read, and my mom, dad, and spouse feel the same way. We know from the past that we travel well together.
We stayed at a Marriott time share, so we had resort amenities, although they have been limited by the pandemic--all of the amenities like bars and the workout room are open for less time than usual. The pools and hot tubs are more limited, but we had no trouble finding a chair and keeping our distance.
When we chose this week, I thought that Hilton Head would be a bit more deserted--not quite completely off season, the way it would be in February, but not the way it would be in July. It wasn't crowded enough that I worried about disease transmission, but I did notice more children on the beach than I thought would be there. Of course, now that some school districts are meeting remotely, school can travel too.
For the most part, we stayed close to the resort. We did go to a farmer's market on Tuesday, but there weren't many vegetables. Still, the weather was beautiful, and we wandered around the historic site and the museum at the Honey Horn plantation. I loved the butterfly enclosure. We saw lots of butterflies all week, different than our South Florida butterflies, but still a treat.
Even though I had some work to do with my online classes and checking my work e-mail once a day, it was good to get away. It was good to see my parents--I know that they're safe and might have been safer if we had stayed away. But I also know that they're in their early 80's, and we don't have decades to spend together.
We had a great week together. It was wonderful to be with them and wonderful to be in a slightly cooler climate. I needed a change of scenery--we've had a hot summer, which isn't unusual, but we've had day after day of no sea breeze, which makes it less bearable.
Tomorrow I'll write more about the beach itself, about the delights of a different seashore. And later, I'll write about what I read during my short vacation.
No comments:
Post a Comment