West Virginia Here I Come!!!

It's vacation time.. and a well deserved one at that.
Most people think warm tropical climate, or snowy mountain tops when they think vacation. Me? I think West Virginia, and not doing a darn thing for a week. No TV, no radio (not including the IPod of course), good food... scratch that.. make that GREAT food, great drinks, and great conversation. Not to mention the best sleep anyone can have, consistently, every night.

I take my best pictures in W. VA. it must be the clean air, or could it be that i can actually stop to smell the roses without getting run over by 1 million + cars and bad attitudes to boot? Yeah, that's probably it. The picture above is one i took during my August trip. It was a plant growing from the dirt embedded in a rock in a creek behind our house. The Autumn should provide me with a different perspective of my surroundings as i have only been there in the summer months when all things living are thriving in abundance everywhere you look. I'm looking forward to new sites and sounds, and less bugs! But mostly, I'm looking forward to relaxing with Kyle and his family. They are a great, fun bunch to hang with while on vacation.

It will be cold there unfortunately, i won't be able to practice my Yoga creek side like i was able to do in the summertime. It will also be much quieter because Kyle's nephews won't be there. Who will my subjects be for pictures? The two boys are so much fun to follow with the camera, i have taken some REALLY good shots of the guys and boys during my last few visits there. The boys will be missed greatly during this visit I'm afraid. At the same time though, it's the 10 year anniversary of when the guys started going to W. Va. on their own, without the parents. So there will be a lot of, shall we say, partying going on. Hardly an environment for youngsters, and Dad can let lose without having to keep an eye on the boys.

Never-the-less this is a vacation that i desperately need. My stress levels have been pretty high in the last month with the restructuring of certain divisions within my company and i was moved to a different department all-together. NO complaints, just a lot of new things to learn and well, with new things sometimes comes stress. Not really negative stress, just new stuff that I'm not used to. So hopefully, when i return from vacation, i will be able to sustain the peacefulness that always becomes me in God's country, and i will be better equipped to handle the new challenges that face our newly structured department. At least i hope so, because my back can't handle the stress anymore!

I will be gone for a week, with no access to the Internet. I won't even know when John McCain wins the presidency either until i head into town when we arrive and hear the town's folks discussing it over coffee.

I can't wait.