Every summer, my husband's family goes to Virginia Beach for a week. It's a tradition they started when my husband and his sister were young. Every year his parents would take them to the beach to meet up with a family friend and her two daughters, and they would spend a week in the surf and the sand.
This is very different from any vacations I went on with my family growing up. For one thing, we never went to the same place twice. Every vacation was different. For another, the goal was more to see and do as many things as possible, rather than to relax and do as little as possible. So our family vacations would often be road trips, where we'd stay in one town for no more than a couple days before driving to the next one. One year when I was in high school we did a road trip to visit Chicago for one day, the campuses of a couple Midwest universities, and Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Another year, when I was in middle school, we did a road trip that included a visit with a friend who had moved away from Michigan to a town near Pittsburgh, the Hershey theme park, Gettysburg, and Washington D.C. My mom and brother probably would've preferred a "sit around and chill" vacation, but my dad and I liked exploring new places.
If I lived a different life - one that was more frantic, with long away-from-home work hours, I'm sure a relaxing vacation would seem more appealing. But where I am right now, I already spend a lot of time just sitting around and reading, or writing, or thinking, or playing with my puppy. (Sorry if I sound like I'm bragging. I do love it though.) I don't feel like I need to get relaxation out of a vacation, because I try to do a bit of that every day anyway. And if I'm spending time and effort and money to go on a vacation, I like to do things I couldn't do at home - like seeing new places and doing touristy things.
That said, obviously there is more to my husband's family's annual beach vacation than just relaxing. There is the tradition of it, which is nice. And now that they don't see each other every day (his parents and sister live in Maryland, while we're in Michigan), it's really the only time of the year when they get to see each other for more than a couple days at a time around holidays. When you're enjoying the company of family or friends you haven't seen in awhile, just hanging out is enough - and indeed running around trying to do touristy things might take away from some of that rare time you have together.
So I get it. I do. But at the same time, I also enjoy leaving behind the relaxing beach every once and awhile to see something new in the area. To that end, a couple years ago on this annual vacation, my husband and I took a few hours to make the short drive to Norfolk, VA and explore their Botanical Garden.
And if you know anything about me and taking photographs of flowers, you can imagine how much I loved it - and how many photos I took. I'll post more photos tomorrow, but here are just a few of my favorite photos from the gardens to get started:
This is very different from any vacations I went on with my family growing up. For one thing, we never went to the same place twice. Every vacation was different. For another, the goal was more to see and do as many things as possible, rather than to relax and do as little as possible. So our family vacations would often be road trips, where we'd stay in one town for no more than a couple days before driving to the next one. One year when I was in high school we did a road trip to visit Chicago for one day, the campuses of a couple Midwest universities, and Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Another year, when I was in middle school, we did a road trip that included a visit with a friend who had moved away from Michigan to a town near Pittsburgh, the Hershey theme park, Gettysburg, and Washington D.C. My mom and brother probably would've preferred a "sit around and chill" vacation, but my dad and I liked exploring new places.
If I lived a different life - one that was more frantic, with long away-from-home work hours, I'm sure a relaxing vacation would seem more appealing. But where I am right now, I already spend a lot of time just sitting around and reading, or writing, or thinking, or playing with my puppy. (Sorry if I sound like I'm bragging. I do love it though.) I don't feel like I need to get relaxation out of a vacation, because I try to do a bit of that every day anyway. And if I'm spending time and effort and money to go on a vacation, I like to do things I couldn't do at home - like seeing new places and doing touristy things.
That said, obviously there is more to my husband's family's annual beach vacation than just relaxing. There is the tradition of it, which is nice. And now that they don't see each other every day (his parents and sister live in Maryland, while we're in Michigan), it's really the only time of the year when they get to see each other for more than a couple days at a time around holidays. When you're enjoying the company of family or friends you haven't seen in awhile, just hanging out is enough - and indeed running around trying to do touristy things might take away from some of that rare time you have together.
So I get it. I do. But at the same time, I also enjoy leaving behind the relaxing beach every once and awhile to see something new in the area. To that end, a couple years ago on this annual vacation, my husband and I took a few hours to make the short drive to Norfolk, VA and explore their Botanical Garden.
And if you know anything about me and taking photographs of flowers, you can imagine how much I loved it - and how many photos I took. I'll post more photos tomorrow, but here are just a few of my favorite photos from the gardens to get started:
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