Vacation
An early Saturday after wrapping up work, and now I’m off for 2 weeks of a seriously earned and seriously needed vacation out in the Southwest US, after 2 night in the NYC.
I’ve been having some bad luck with my big city timing and hotels - Jacksonville, for the Georgia/Florida annual party/football game, the hotel prices were off the charts, partly because I thought the game was in Gainsville and thus had to book the hotel late after I figured it out. I happened to be in Kansas City when Taylor Swift was in town and normal $125 room was $700 (though I was in town for the beginning of the Kelce/Swift romance), and now going into NYC today, and the marathon is happening tomorrow, meaning rates are top tier.
Took my son to the Fl/Georgia game for his 15th birthday - left on a Friday and came back on a Sunday. All in, over $5000 for plane tickets, parking, hotel, game day tickets (sure we were in the 10 row), eating, souvenirs, river ferry, etc… Not sure when I became the guy who can lay down $5k for a birthday weekend for my first and only son, but I am he. It’s not as gross as it seems - I literally haven’t been on vacation since sometime last year, and our annual sojourn to far off destinations didn’t happen this summer because Lucas wanted to stay local and hang with his friends - so in terms of actual vaca spend, we are well below our average. Hope to correct that forthwith.
Just put away the Van life camper for the winter. Unhooking the hoses from the exterior faucets, putting the plows on the trucks, just getting ready for a winter of unknown ferocity that may or may not be right around the corner.
We listed our first mini micro cottage yesterday and got several offers within hours. That was encouraging, and takes me back to 2007 when these small homes filled a market need. It’s fun revisiting them, tweaking them, making them fun and alive. Unique to the marketplace for sure. Sought after for sure.
We remain busy. I leave the office for 2 weeks after spending most of 2023 restructuring the company which took several effort and several tries, all stressful and time-consuming. But each one resulted in a little more information about what I was trying to achieve. In the end, I more than doubled our office staff with high caliber individuals which should create a better client experience, and create a level of redundancy that was sorely needed. It should also open up some capacity for chasing more leads that we previously let slip through our fingers. It’s also expensive, so need to keep booking business.
So here I come Santa Fe, Durango, Monument Valley, road tripping, and finally Palm Springs CA, filled with spa days, reading works for fiction, hiking, and recharging.
