Vacations can be many things: fun, busy, relaxing, stressful, miserable, memorable, or an experience you would rather forget. In my case, this last vacation was relaxing, memorable, and full of new experiences and best of all, a lot of time with my wife. Unfortunately for her, she spent the last 2/3 of the vacation with a horrible cold, but she soldiered on and did her best to keep up despite my wanting us to relax and take some down-time. She said she wasn’t going to spend her vacation in a hotel or Air BnB sitting inside. Fair enough.

In terms of places we visited, it was great. We went to Boston (visiting my cousin Andras and his wife Carol and spending some time in the city going to many historic sites), New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and up into Canada where we went to Montreal and Quebec City.

I took my drone and got some great photos and videos that I’m still working on. I did not fly in Canada because I am not licensed in Canada, and flying there would have been illegal (and I don’t like doing illegal things unless it’s speeding).

In terms of food and drink, let’s say there was very little restraint. I didn’t say that we were unrestrained: we did try to make some healthy decisions to mitigate the impact, but I did imbibe a lot of ciders and sweet things I otherwise don’t allow myself. In terms of food, I ate as best as possible with some exceptions (how can you go to Canada and not eat poutine, or go to Legal Seafoods in Cambridge and not have clam chowder?!?!?!?!).

From a culinary standpoint, I had some amazing foods. Some healthier than others, but all delicious. I had some amazing (and some just ok) ciders. The breakfasts in Montreal were some of the best I’ve ever had outside of Scotland and Ireland.

The biggest challenge for me was finding gyms to work out in. I did find a gym in Cambridge when we first went on vacation, but in Montreal, I never go to lift any weights and my Achilles heel was still too sore for me to run. Once we got back to the US, I didn’t find any gyms in Portland, ME that I could drop into, either, so my lifting took an 8 day break which I regretted, but there wasn’t anything I could do about that.

I’m back now, and I’m also back to eating right and exercising. I’ve already had two lifting sessions, and I’m dealing with some DOMS right now, but it’s not as bad today as it was on Sunday. My next weightlifting session is tomorrow, and I’m sure by the end of the week, my muscles will be right back into the swing of things. As for lost progress, I was pleased that I only lost about 15 lbs in the squat and 10 lbs on my bench and overhead press. I should be back to where I was prior to my vacation within the week.