Nature in Its Natural State: Post 06-Vacation Or Sabbatical?

I was putting together some gear to head outta town and my buddy said, "man another vacation?" 

I had a fairly exhausting month of April, complete with packing a house to move, Easter, and my son's birthday, and I was very much looking forward to my trip.  A good friend of mine, and frequent travel companion, PuddinSnack, also had a very rough month and decided to head back to the Heldeberg Mountains in Eastern New York, the place from whence she came. She asked if I wanted to roll out there with her.  Turn down a trip to the mountains? Yeah right!  So I was heading outta town, but when my friend asked me about a vacation, I chuckled and said, "I'm not going on vacation, I going on sabbatical." To which my friend said, "same thing."

I am not sure exactly what a sabbatical is, but I was thinking to myself, "this ain't no vacation holmes."  My brain was fried and my body was exhausted, and those two things would necessitate a vacation for sure.  But my soul was bruised, and my nerves were frayed, and in general, my plug was unplugged.  And my friend PuddinSnack was the same so I figured if she was heading back to her roots, then I was heading back to her roots too.  That is what makes a sabbatical a sabbatical, I think.  Getting back to what makes you, YOU.  A vacation is like taking the bag out of a vacuum cleaner and emptying it and then going back to task with a freshly maintained machine.  A sabbatical is more like when you push the vacuum too far and you weren't sure how far the cord would reach, and it unplugs.  You know the face you make.  It's like, ugh.  What do you do?  You grab the cord and follow it back to the wall to see where it got snagged or how far was too far and then you plug it back in.  That's gettin back to your roots.

So that's what we did.  But I will tell you what, for all the unwinding we did, we sure got a lot in.  I saw Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall Of Fame.  I saw State Parks, the Farmers Museum, Ommegang Brewery, and the flood damage of Schoharie County. I chilled at a lake I could swim across and I chilled at a lake I could barely even see across. I saw Albany from the mountains, and I saw the same mountains from the streets of Albany.  I saw a buzzard soaring as high as they ever do, but I was higher up, looking down at him!  I saw the tops of mountains from the top of a mountain! No wonder all that relaxing was making me so tired!

Honestly I don't know if there is or isn't a difference between a sabbatical or vacation.  Maybe I really was on a vacation.  I am not sure.  And I don't care. All I know is, I can't wait till my next one!

The photos included with this post are of my journey so check them out, and let me know what you think.

Also, here is a teaser for my next post.  I am going to be writing about some of the best spots not just in Summit County, but in the whole Northeast Ohio region.  See if you know what park is featured in this batch.