OK, we are back from Canada. We went to Mont Tremblant and our hotel was right in the village at the base of the mountain. It was quite nice. I could see us doing it again and recommend it.

This morning as I read the Sunday paper in Raleigh I quickly saw several items worthy of blog comments. I wonder if a week away from work has made my mind keener? I guess that is what vacations are supposed to do, recharge us! Hmm.

The weather was cold, we weren’t. We did the research and spent some money and we were fine. The temps hovered in the single digits most of the day and at night and with wind chills they were well below zero. We were fine. Some solid prep and planning always helps.

We went dog sledding. How cool is that? You can ski anywhere but you can’t dogsled. Truly a vacation only experience and only a northern vacation one at that. I am reminded that we are supposed to do new and different things. Those dogs absolutely live to run. It was zero and it was snowing and they were barking and howling to be selected to be on the teams that ran that morning. They were so eager. Wouldn’t our workplaces be very different if our people were that eager?

Ski lessons. Not for me since I skied as a youth and all through high school. Although, I have only skied twice in twenty years, it came back quick. Lessons for my kids and wife. My kids got really good in four days of lessons. It was impressive. I wish we could all learn like children sometimes and not be weighed down by whatever baggage we have that inhibits us. They were on some intermediate slopes before the week was out. My wife got decent too. I was reminded of her strength of character. There was a moment when she wasn’t sure she wanted to get back on the hill but she did. Her afternoon lesson that day was a good one and this enabled us to do a “family run” at the end of the day. She wanted, also, to be an example to the kids that learning a new thing isn’t always easy but it gets easier if you persevere. Lesson relearned for all there.

Family runs. We skied as a family at the end of Tues, Wed, Thurs and Fri from mountaintop to bottom. Truly a wonderful moment for me. The family skiing together on the family skiing vacation. Nice concept.

6 days. I have not taken 6 days off since 1991 when I took 30 to drive from CA to NC when I was changing duty stations. I confess I checked voice mail and email once per day at the end of the day but I only replied to the things that required a response. Everything else simply waited for a few days. I kind of liked it….

And I am ready to get back to work. There is much to do and I look forward to it. I guess vacation worked.

Stay inspired.

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