I left for Folly Beach, SC last Friday morning for an extended Labor Day weekend. I met Emily and her two girlfriends plus their husbands, the girls whom had already been there for three days without the guys. The group of six has been together before but only for a wedding, and being that two of the group were the ones getting married we didn’t get to hang out very much.

We had a blast. I’m pretty sure the combination of alcohol + good food + company was just about perfect. The beach was amazing: sunny, warm, and windy.

When you do a vacation like that, you have to do it right. Pancakes and sausage for breakfast. Skip the lunch. Big dinners: filet mignon kabobs, homemade pizzas, homemade biscuits, etc. And even a fancy dinner in downtown Charlestown. We know how to eat and we know how to eat right, baby!

Best thing of all: I didn’t bring along my computer. I had everything completely wrapped up here at work. And nothing catastrophic happened! For realz.

[Update: I uploaded the pictures to PicasaWeb. I'd have deleted some of these but I figure people who were at the vacation would like to see copies, even if they are bad.]

Last Thursday night Em and I packed our bags to set off for Shreveport, Louisiana. I’ve come to look forward to the time with her family and the different things I do while I’m there.

My first day was spent setting up and playing on a slackline, where I finally got walking backwards down and can go from start to finish on a line. In addition to that, I ended up working on and mastering a new way of mounting that starts with a hang from the line. I tried mounting by jumping both feet directly on the line but think I need a spotter and some more practice as I was thrown onto my head or side each time.

After slacklining, Emily suggested we go to the Revel, an outdoor festival held in Shreveport each year. I was unimpressed with the beer selection until we eventually found a little stand that sold Abida amber beer. The food was really great and I wish I was a little hungrier as there were all sorts of southern foods to try, including: red beans and rice, jambalaya, deep fried jambalaya, gumbo, shrimp dishes, gyros, and all kinds of other stuff. And yeah, I know gyros aren’t southern! Emily and I settled on a few dishes and shared.

Second day was spent at the lake house. Em’s father and I woke up before others and played a morning game of disc golf. Then, after gathering sticks around the property and chopping up and dragging 2 fallen trees into a bonfire pile, we went water-skiing. This marked my third time water-skiing. I’m really comfortable on two ski’s. Not so much on one. I tried the kick off a ski to slalom method and fell a few times hard. Then I tried to slalom straight out of the water and fell a few times. I’m not sure what I need to get the feeling of slalom skiing but it sure is annoying not being able to figure it out. I hope next time works out better. Then it will be off to barefoot skiing.

Third and fourth days were low-key and relaxing. I have some videos of the water skiing which I’ll post on youtube and this entry soon. That sums up my vacation!