First Vacation

It's my first day of vacation in 2020, though I use that word loosely.

Last Wednesday was a holiday in Québec, and so I had the day off. But my company also generously gives me a floater day off around that holiday, and I've chosen to use it today. My company provides yet another floater day to correspond with Canada Day, on Wednesday, and so I've applied it to tomorrow.

Starting this past Saturday, I'm enjoying a five-day long weekend. I don't return to work until Thursday, which is DW's and my 26th wedding anniversary, but because dining out is not an option these days, we've agreed to not book it off.

DW, making pancakes.

Currently, DW and I are in Algonquin Provincial Park, kayaking and camping on Grand Lake. In 2014, I told my family that I didn't want to camp anymore because I don't like sleeping on the ground, I like solid walls around me, and—with the exception of barbecues—I don't care to cook outdoors. But DW asked me to try one more time, so I'm considering this to be my anniversary gift to her.

Bugs included.

If I like it, who knows? Maybe she and I will relive our experience of paddling from Kingston to Ottawa, only in kayaks, instead of a long canoe?

That day that we arrived at the Chateau Laurier after a 10-day canoe odyssey.

Don't hold your breath.

But this is certainly our first vacation of the year and our first overnight getaway since the COVID-19 lockdown. Seeing that our vacation to Europe has been cancelled, we're going to have to get imaginative for future vacations. I still have 20 days to use up, and I'm considering taking Fridays off until September, to have long weekends all summer.

How about you? How are you going to spend your vacation time during this pandemic?