As always, just hit the “like” button below. Boost my self-esteem while you can.

As you can tell from my posting pattern, I’ve taken the summer off. In Washington State, the kids don’t get out of school until June 19th or 20th so I’m usually still in a work mode when they get out of school. I’m usually trying to finish up a few jobs and I really don’t get my “vacation mode” on until July. This time, July did start and I was out of work mode but not into my “full vacation mode”. I’m in a limbo mode of where I think I can do a billion things, yet in reality my vacation mode will kill all hope of accomplishing any work.

This limbo mode of thought results in me having the misguided notion that I will accomplish more than is really possible. For example, I thought my office would be cleaned by now (it’s not), and my yard projects would be done (they aren’t). I have a whole summer to do things; yet I don’t.

What is a person to do when this happens? Clearly, take a vacation! You need to decompress (as least I do) and get into vacation mode.

This vacation, I took a trip to Washington DC with my 15 year old son Hayden and meet up with my cousin Stephen for four days. That was on the 4th of July and that was a fun way to spend the 4th of July. We did all the memorials; we ended up renting a car only because I had to take a side trip to Charlottesville, VA (home of UVA) to visit a friend and his family. I did notice that people on the East Coast don’t seem to know how to use their blinker on their car when they are going from one lane to another. As you know, my mind reading skills are poor to none. So when you don’t use a turn indictor (your blinker), I get annoyed to say the least.

The weather in DC wasn’t bad at all. Sure, it was hot 93 degrees but the humidity wasn’t bad. Nothing worse than Hawaii and I didn’t feel like I was overheating and about to die. The museums are great and it is easy to get around DC either by subway or walking. We stayed in the Georgetown area and had a Trader Joe’s right by our condo we stayed at. We were also a few blocks from Watergate. Lots of history right at our doorstep.

I’ve also just finished Netflix’s “House of Cards” with Kevin Spacey. It makes it a little more interesting watching the first season, visiting DC, and then watching the second season upon my return to Seattle.

Personally, I just love the architecture of the East Coast cities and countryside. Compare to Washington State, everything is old. As long as it isn’t falling down on me; I like it. I’m that tourist guy that takes photos of row houses and brownstones. I imagine being a famous novelist and living in them; soaking up the city around me. Then I trip over the uneven sidewalk and reality sets back in.

Two things I regret is not researching (or remembering certain things about congress, our capital, general US history, etc.) and not going through my blogger/reading list to see who lived in the East Coast. I would have loved to meet some of the bloggers I follow. Oh well, maybe the next trip.

Other sarcastic observations: Women (teenage girls, overweight women, older ladies, sexy stripper types, moms, teenage daughters) seem to wear short “shorts”. In Washington State (where we don’t see the sun), we hardy see the short “shorts”. In fact, we have been having a heat wave for the past four weeks with gorgeous weather (except for two days last week full of rain) so I have been observing no short “shorts” on women like the East Coast.

I also may not hang out in a lot of tourist areas in Seattle. Well, to be honest, I hardy get out of my cul-de-sac and never visit the beaches of Seattle. Yes, we do have beaches here, and lakes, and rivers, and outdoor swimming pools. We just go swimming in the months of July, August, and September.

Anyway, I’ll post more (in a mad dash to get something posted in July 2014) for you in the next few days (or hours).