Mountains or Beaches?

Where do you prefer to vacation? Do you like the sun and crowds at the beach or the cool shade and solitude of the mountains? Both can be nice and I have enjoyed trips to the beach. But my preference is usually for the place with the fewest people per square mile. Theme parks and tourist towns are interesting--once. Don't get me wrong-- I love people and socializing. I just do not care to be around thousands of strangers who have left manners and civility at home. So, I prefer the mountains as a place to return year after year. I am very thankful that every member of three generations of my family gather at Vogel State Park each summer for a week (more or less) to relax and catch up on "who we are becoming". Friends have asked me what we did for a week. It is difficult to explain. Lots of time is spent just sitting on the deck of the cabin sipping coffee and sharing life events or comparing opinions on current events. I said that I would not eat as much this time, but I did--Laura's blog has proof of the peanut butter and cornbread snack. For the first time, I did not take a single picture. My 35 milimeter camera seems so old fashioned when so many of the family is snapping with digitals and uploading to the two laptops that made the trip. It is pretty cool that they can upload and share with a zip drive so that all the pictures are instantly on both laptops. I used to be so proud to have 2 or 3 rolls developed one hour after returning home! I appreciate the technology and the instant gratification. More than that, I appreciate the chance to slow down and appreciate God's creation--even the early morning crows. I am also thankful for Baron and Lindsay who married into our family and use vacation time to join our pedestrian pace. They are young and energetic and would probably like to go more and do more, as would Helen, Laura, and Mark. These two pictures were nabbed from my brother's facebook where he chose to show the world my lack of grace and abundance of body mass. I share them to show 1) that you can make fun wherever you are, 2) old people do not have to sit on the porch all the time, 3) it is o.k. to allow people to laugh at you. I could probably explain away the unflattering parts of the ski picture, but the climbing picture just looks like an old, overweight monkey. Is that a honky-tonk bedonka-donk? Thanks, Keith. Your shutter timing is impeccable.