Is it a vacation?

The question that I have these days is -- Is it a vacation if you don't have to take off of work?
Or is it just a trip? An adventure?
If you are retired and take a vacation, do you have to go to work?

Whatever it is called, we are on our way to Ixtapa, Mexico. We are currently in a short layover in Houston and will soon be on our way to Zihuatanejo (just south of Ixtapa). We are returning to the same resort we stayed at a couple of years ago (Sunscape Dorado Pacifico) and looking forward to a relaxing week on the beach. I suppose that one of these days we'll be brave enough to take such a trip with friends, but for now we enjoy our no schedule kind of time and pretty much take it moment by moment, day by day. We hung out with a group of Canadians a few years ago and have talked about meeting them again sometime. We've also had casual conversations about traveling with some of our US friends but never made any plans to actually do it.

I'd like to take a family trip now that our kids are grown up. I've decided that I really enjoy hanging out with our adult kids and their mates. I'm not certain that they would say the same about hanging out with us (maybe if we covered some of the cost of a vacation...).

In any case, this week is just the two of us with no other plans than to relax, enjoy the beach and enjoy our time together without any of the normal stresses of everyday life. I expect that the most stressful thing we'll face each day is deciding which of the resort's feature restaurants we'll dine at for the evening, if I should wear my flip flops or water shoes to the beach or if I should smoke one of the Dominican cigars I brought with me or buy a Mexican cigar for the day. The cigar will give me time to read, otherwise I'll probably be napping on the beach.

I'll post as time and internet connections allow...or not. No plans. No promises. No stress (other than the already mentioned stressful decisions that I'll be faced with).

Enjoy the Labor Day weekend.
I guess summer in the States is over.

John <><