yin yang of vacationing

It's funny how easy it is to "package" a vacation on a blog. Doesn't it look great? Isn't my life fabulous? It's really all a matter of perspective with the daily shifts that life has- vacation or not. Some examples:

There were the coffin like sleeping quarters on the train or the fact that kmkat serendipitously mentioned David Sedaris' new audio book and it made falling asleep in a coffin much easier.

There were the vast and beautiful vistas (how cliche, eh?) observed while eating in the dining car as well as the community dining which involved 2 strangers at every meal where the mandatory questions were "where are you from?" and "where are you going?" Can't I just give you my blog address and you can get to know me that way?

There was the fact that the train was too bumpy to do any Icarus knitting as I had originally planned but not too bumpy to work on the EZ February Lady Sweater which gave me plenty of practice on k2tog, ssk, and yo's.

Once on San Juan Island, there was the bald eagle that was no more than 10 feet in front of me. There were also the bald eagle noises made by the g-children which occasioned the second official "rule" of the trip. (The first was "only one root beer a day.")

There was the smile on Mr. Sophanne's face as he enjoyed the happy gathering of his children and grandchildren. There were the tears that he could not help but shed when it was time to go.

There was the lack of tv and internet and bloggy friends but the reality that I could function without them and might consider being less compulsive about it all. That seemed like a good idea when I was on the island. I've reconsidered since coming home and am trying to figure out how I can move my desktop to the couch.

There were the alpacas crias, guard llamas (only for show) and even a camel spotted daily. There were also the $25 skeins of alpaca that I accidentally bought for g-children only to have them cherish the Lamb's Pride we found at the LYS on the island.

There was the Orca Whale watching at the corner of the Island. O.k. there really was no flip side to that one (other than fearing we'd lose a g-child off a rocky cliff) It was just really really cool.

That's what I know. Vacation is like life. It's just in a different place and you're really glad once you get back home with some stories to tell. Although Mr. Sophanne pretended he was on the show Survivor once we were alone with the g-children for 5 days.