What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2003

I went to South Seas Plantation, a resort on Captiva Island in Florida's Gulf Coast. Captiva is God's own country -- a tiny, beautiful island with white sand beaches that stretch out forever. My family's been vacationing at South Seas since I was a tot, but I hadn't been there in ten years, so it was amazing to go back and be reminded of what I'd been missing.

After a week of playing beach bum at Captiva, I've got a nice suntan -- which, for those of you that know me, you'll know is a Big Deal since usually I'm about the whitest white man on the face of the Earth. I also got a chance to do some summer reading while working on said tan; sitting next to my beach chair were:

• Island of the Sequined Love Nun, by Christopher Moore -- a goofy, funny novel about the adventures of a private pilot who gets mixed up in a cargo cult on a tiny Pacific island; and
• The Metaphysical Club, by Louis Menand -- a fascinating tour through the intellectual life of America from 1840-1920, with sharp portraits of several key figures who contributed to it.

I also managed to start working on a new short story (no computers at South Seas, so I had to write with ballpoint pen and ruled notebook -- how retro!), discover the ridiculously funny new TV show Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, and -- most importantly -- catch up with my family, who I almost never see anymore since they live in Ohio and I live in D.C. (sigh)

Now, though, it's back to the daily grind... such is the plight of the non-independently-wealthy :-)