How I spent my summer vacation

Writing those dumb “how I spent my summer vacation” essays upon the return to school always seemed like a waste of time to my friends, but for some weird reason I always looked forward to it.
I liked telling my friends what I had done the previous three months and I liked hearing what they did – assuming it was something interesting. I never thought my life was anything but ordinary, but I did have some unusual experiences. In hindsight, I now know that my childhood was not exactly what most people would call normal.
We had our chores to do which included mowing the lawn, feeding the cows, pigs, sheep, chickens and other assorted critters, milking the cow, shoveling a lot of … compost, weeding the garden, cutting firewood, raising honeybees, and feeding, breeding and butchering rabbits (we had a couple hundred at one point).
Being a country boy, I assumed most kids my age had to do those things, so I never wrote about them. I always wrote about the vacations to Omaha, Neb., or Stockton, Calif., to visit grandparents, Scout campouts, showing animals in the county fair, fishing at the Frog Pond, hiking in the mountains, playing baseball, going to the movies, and buying, selling and trading comic books.
I guess the things I felt were special were more in line with the ordinary than the things I had to do every day. Still, I wouldn’t trade any of those experiences for anything.
In keeping with the “how I spent my summer vacation” theme, I thought I’d share some of the highlights from my vacation last week. It was only the second time in about five years that I was able to take a week off and go somewhere farther than Walmart.
My wife’s parents have use of a house this month at Holly Lake just north of Tyler. We spent the week with them and had a great time. But you don’t want to hear about a great time. You want to know about the unique things I got to experience. Or maybe you don’t. Either way, I’m going to tell you.
Holly Lake is a gated community nestled in a forest with a couple of manmade lakes in it. No matter how many times we saw them, we still stopped, pointed and gawked at the deer. They were everywhere. It would have been a hunter’s paradise. I suspect it would also be a great place for an entrepreneur to open a shop selling replacement headlights!
The community doubles as a resort and offers a swimming pool and hot tub, a community center with a small movie theater, crafts, game room, grille, and a host of things to do like fishing, putt-putt, golf, archery, tennis, boating and more. Of course, with all of that to do, the thing my kids loved the most was the Wii.
My in-laws brought their Wii game system with them and hooked it up to the large screen TV. As much as I really didn’t want them to be playing video games, the only games they had were Wii Fit and Wii Sports. They got more exercise on that contraption than they realized.
One of the highlights of the trip for me was finally visiting the Lone Ranger hat. Kickerz Coffee (formerly Yahooz) in Tyler is a drive-thru coffee chain best known for the large cowboy hat roofs on the buildings. There have been three built so far and the third and largest was done in a Lone Ranger theme.
Unfortunately, the ground in front of the building eroded away thanks to faulty waterlines and some poor engineering by the Big Box store across the street. That hat is closed for now while Kickerz’ owners sue for damages. Their other two hats are operational and are doing a phenomenal business.
I’ve been following the saga of the hat for my Lone Ranger newsletter for a few years now and was pleased to finally see it in person and to meet the owner, Valerie Smith. She shared the whole Kickerz story with me, including their David-versus-Goliath fight against Yahoo over the Yahooz name.
I must say that they brew a mighty fine cup o’ joe. Speaking of brewing up some coffee, my father-in-law, Joe Snyder, shared some of his kopi luwak with me. He received it as a gift while working in Indonesia. I have to admit that it is really good stuff. For those who don’t know, it is made from coffee beans harvested from the excrement of the Asian Palm Civet (a small cat-like creature related to the mongoose). And yes, I knew that going into it.
One of the special moments I will not soon forget from this trip was when my 15-year-old son declared in all seriousness that “I don’t have a mental brain.” That’s where the seriousness ended, by the way.
As they say, all good things must end. We came back with just a day to unpack, clean up and wash laundry before sending the three boys back to school and my daughter back to her mother in Virginia. Now things are settled into a “normal” routine … whatever that is.