I'm spending my vacation week at my house, hanging around, sleeping late, going to movies, relaxing. What's your favourite way to spend a vacation?

-- Kymm Zuckert (hedgehog@hedgehog.net), August 23, 2000

Answers

I go to the beach ("down the shore" in NJ), and start every day early, trying to catch the sun coming up over a hot cuppa tea. Then, I take a long rollerblade on the promenade followed by a cool plunge in the ocean with my boogie board before the lifeguards show up. After that comes breakfast, and then a trip to the beach with a good book and assorted kids. Lunchtime finds us back at the house for some leftovers from last night's feasting. I usually skip the midday sun, being neither a maddog nor an Englishman, and opt for errands, reading, napping or painting away the hours. When the shadows get long, I hit the beach for a couple of hours of playing in the sand and surf. Then there are margaritas at the beach house and an enormous seafood dinner with a nice wine, followed by a movie or a book. I always reserve at least one day for a good storm with lots of wind and rain and crashing surf. I actually just got back from vacation and that's just about how it went. I have always wanted to take a vacation at home. Since I live near Washington, D.C. I would time it for the non-tourist season (if there even is one anymore) and spend a lot of time at the Smithsonian museums and the zoo).

-- Jon Arthur (zanne1504@aol.com), August 23, 2000.

We go to stay at my in-laws' camp in the mountains in West Virginia for a couple weeks in the summer. It's usually about 70 degrees there, and we're not far from a big rafting/recreation area and lots of good hiking. Sometimes we go backpacking for a few days in the Monongahela National Forest, or ride bikes along the river trails, or go into town and eat fried chicken and ice cream, or--if we time our visit right--go to the annual local folk music festival and fiddling tournament, but we almost always cook out and roast marshmallows and sit out on the porch and read good books and watch fireflies and stars. Usually my in-laws are there about half the time, so we get to both visit with them and be by ourselves in the peace and quiet. I love the mountains. It's always hard to come back to the city afterwards.

-- Catriona Richardson (catri696@purpleturtle.com), August 24, 2000.

I like to go someplace simple that I'd normally not take the time for--an amusement park, museums, zoos, whatever, and just wander slowly and have fun doing things. When we go to these places on the weekend, there's too much rush to get things done. Or, I like to just lounge around and read.

Unfortunately, my wife grew up on a dairy farm. Her idea of a vacation is to catch up on chores we don't get done normally. A year or so ago, we had a friend from out of town staying with us over Memorial Day weekend so we could go to Minicon. We both took Friday off. Imagine my surprise when I got home Thursday night and found our driveway full of dirt, which my wife expected me to shovel under the front porch to prevent water from leaking into the basement, so that's what we spent that vacation day doing. Not quite so much fun as sitting by the pool at the Radisson.

-- Colin (ethilrist@prodigy.net), August 24, 2000.

I spend my vacations much like Colin's wife does. I do lots of stuff that I just don't have time to do normally, but I take lots of long naps in between.

I make sure I have a nice pile of unread books, too. I can stay up and read all night if I want to.

-- Laura (windmills@diaryland.com), August 24, 2000.