Va-Vacay

Today starts day two of the abbreviated family vacation. Abbreviated because we're only gone for half a week and we've left two of us at home. Dad and Mr. Sebastian, our beloved, deaf dog. Both live similar schedules of lounging, eating, barking at the neighbors and Starbucks. My bad, Sebastian is no longer permitted to consume human food.

The rest of us are down at Virginia Beach. The weather's been great "beach weather" in terms of excessive sun and little cloud cover, and the beach atmosphere is pretty typical, but different, too. During the day while lying on the scorching sand, (I burned my feet running back to the hotel sans flip flops) fighter planes soar above making sleeping impossible. The sight is somewhat cool, though.

Today, our aunt drove down to visit us for the day. We usually only see her at Thanksgiving, so it was fun to see her a few months early. She found us a good spot for lunch that I've already slated as our breakfast spot for tomorrow. Yep, I was eating my lunch special while thinking of which breakfast plate I would devour in the morning. IE, mentally cheating on my lunch.

Now, back to the beach town. On our walk to dinner last night, we passed four of the same mega beach stores selling everything from salt water taffy to plastic flip flops to random trinkets you will never need or use. Ahhh, the wonderful world of kitsch. It's everywhere. I could go on and on about beach towns, the strange locals, and the funky night entertainment, but I'm out of time.

I will say, though, I've never seen so many tattoo parlors in a ten block span. There was one that boasted a "family tattoo special." Maybe had Mom splurged for a bottle of wine at dinner we would've made a fantastic decision on the walk home. Or, maybe we would've toured the haunted apartment, taken a pirate ride, perused the local aquarium (which consisted of three fish tanks) or been wowed by the hall of mirrors. Instead, we walked back to the hotel and watched re-runs. Being lazy is never going to lose its popularity.

Time to head out to my favorite vacation activity...EATING!