What I Did on My Summer Vacations

Listed briefly:

Swam under a freezing cold waterfall.

Hiked to a boulder field.

Relaxed in two different hot tubs.

Drank in two different hot tubs.

Was asked if I was trying to drown myself in one of those hot tubs. (I wasn't; I was just tired of listening, and put my ears underwater.)

Played Magic: The Gathering.

Watched a ton of That 70s Show.

Saw Tropic Thunder. (Lots o' fun.)

Rode my bike around Corolla, NC.

Ate the best chicken I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. Oh good god, more please.

Cooked pulled pork. Cooked lasagna.

Took a kayak wildlife tour in the northern outer banks.

Rode in a SUV over miles of beach.

Saw lots of wild horses.

Recognized that we really need dunce caps to take things to the next level.

Camped.

Drank.

Started to learn how to play "Cruel to be Kind" on the guitar.

Participated in a campground version of The Dating Game. Claimed my special porno talent was "deep sea diving." Lost, but got a free condom anyway.

Lost a free condom. Possibly in the wash.

Tried honey whiskey, against a magic eight ball's advice.

Saw Steve Earle kick ass onstage. And Kenny White, and the Felice Brothers, and so many more.

Threw my nephew around a pool.

Explained the physics behind shotgunning beers to my niece; briefly regretted it.

Borrowed my mom's car, making the North Carolina drive much better than it would have been otherwise. (Thanks, Mom!)

Missed pretty much all of the Democratic National Convention.

And the Olympics. Though I did see one Ethiopian runner pass his countryman at the last minute to take the bronze medal in the marathon. That had to be one uncomfortable flight home.

Swam in some pummeling waves at the beach. Bodysurfed to exhaustion.

Played beach volleyball.

Read Little Girl Lost, The Way Some People Die, Songs of Innocence, and The Thin Man.

Hung out with friends.

Hung out with family.

Bought more fudge than I should have.

Saw the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk.

Ate a dozen raw oysters.

And more, I'm sure... but it slips my mind at the moment.

Rob