Getting Away Without Going Anywhere

Everyone loves a vacation. Getting away from it all, away from the normal routine, the stress of the same ol’ day in day out. But what would you do if you had a few days off and decided to stay home instead of traveling? A “staycation,” as they say? Bob and I found out these past few days. Eric of course is away at school. On Friday, Andrew left for Orlando with the high school band. Bob and I were alone, just the two of us. So he took Monday and Tuesday off, made it a long weekend, and we squeezed in as much fun as we could into a few days. Turns out there’s quite a lot to do in one’s own backyard. It was pretty easy to pretend we were on vacation.

Coincidentally, there’s a festival in town right now, Contraband Days, which is the city’s annual pirate festival. It lasts not one weekend, not one week, but an astounding two full weeks. It’s essentially a carnival with a pirate/boat theme and lots of music. Always a lot of music. Bob and I are not into the carnival scene, but we went to the Civic Center Friday night, dismayed that we had to pay $20.00 admission just to get to the marina to visit some friends of ours. En route, we enjoyed observing the merriment of the pirates and other general people watching.


We dined out several times over the course of the weekend . . . a late night snack and drinks at MacFarlane’s, Sunday brunch at KD’s Diner, burgers for lunch at Dairy Barn, and dinner this evening at Le Beaucoup Buffet at L’Auberge du Lac Casino Resort. It was crawfish night. Looking around the restaurant, we could tell who were the out of town tourists. They were the ones who didn’t know how to eat crawfish. After dinner, it took us about ten minutes to lose $20.00 in the quarter slots. We quickly decided it was too noisy and smoky in there.

We saw the movie Water For Elephants. Bob and I had been looking forward to seeing this movie for some time. We had both read the book and loved it. The movie is also very good. And we watched a few Netflix movies in our favorite movie theater – our living room.

We played 18 holes at Mallard Cove golf course. Notice the plane in the background. Mallard Cove is right next to Chennault Airport.

We walked, gardened, shopped, baked cookies, relaxed. We wanted to go sailing, but it was too windy. I know, that sounds like a contradiction. But in a little sunfish, some wind is good; a lot of wind is just another way to go swimming.

Alas, Bob goes back to work tomorrow and Andrew returns from Florida. It’s been a pleasant time off.

What would you do on a staycation?