Gratitude

My (Summery) Winter Vacation

Travels of a homebody

Growing up in the Seattle area, I’ve always had pretty clear expectations for each season. Now and then we get a randomly hot day in spring or fall, but generally the heat keeps itself to the summertime, where we have many days with long hours of sunshine (it doesn’t rain here all the time, despite what people think).

It’s a unique experience for me to be on vacation in Palm Springs right now. We’re getting the warm (but not scorching) days that come with the California desert in the winter, but it’s strange for me to have a summery day where it gets dark at 5:30 PM.

I’m enjoying how the heat of the days here in February feels gentler because it cools off so much at night. When we get a hot spell in Seattle, it often doesn’t cool down enough overnight, so we get grumpier and grumpier till the heat breaks. Plus, people in Seattle don’t typically have air-conditioning, though it’s becoming more popular lately.

This vacation is a working vacation for me as I’m in the middle of winter quarter, so I’m checking in with my students. I was pretty caught up before I left, and this isn’t a big grading week either. I feel lucky to be able to get away like this. My girlfriend took time off from her job as she sees clients in person (she works in the beauty industry).

The timing has been great as it’s too early for spring break or even midwinter break, so it’s quiet here except for snowbirds and other people in situations like ours who are getting away for a little break. We overheard a few other Seattleites talking yesterday, and I imagine there are a lot of us scattered around as it’s an inexpensive flight down here.

Tonight we have dinner reservations at a restaurant in a home that used to belong to Cary Grant. Yesterday we had brunch at an outdoor cafe, where I ate locally grown raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries on thick-cut french toast. Currently, I’m having some instant oatmeal made with water from the hotel room coffeepot while my girlfriend works out in the gym near the lobby.

I can understand why people like the freedom of traveling with their laptops and taking their work with them. But this break is also a helpful reminder that my home and my routine are good for me. A break offers an important contrast to show me how I’ve built a life at home. I feel grateful for both my everyday life and this vacation — and for my girlfriend, of course, who is part of both.

My dad is checking in on Mr. Cat every day. I have a to-do list to start on when I get back with some details I need to take care of with my house (moss removal on the roof, an estimate from an electrician for a — hopefully — small project, etc). But for a few more days, I can get some sunshine and walk around the city and look up at the palm trees and farther out to the mountains.

The mountains are so different here. In Seattle, the mountains look blue and white, but here they’re brown with maybe a couple of hints of dried green. I don’t travel much, and the different landscape feels like another world to me, a place that takes up the past and the future at the same time with its allusions to old-school Hollywood glamour and midcentury modern design, and the futuristic feeling of dry heat and a carefully planted landscape of cacti.

Thank you for reading this journal entry of a post, and I hope you’re having a good week! For another perspective on traveling and working, check out “The Truth about Being a Digital Nomad that No One Talks About” by Sara Burdick.