Vacations

I've been bitten by the vacation bug! I like vacations. Specifically, I like seeing someplace new. I did just go to Hawaii last October, but right now that seems like eons ago. Plus, it wasn't a new place: I'd been to the same exact place twice before. Now I want to do something new! The biggest problems are that vacations take time and money. I'm already crazy busy, and we're trying to save money, not spend it!

For the past, oh half hour or so, I've decided that I've come up with the perfect solution: take a backpacking vacation! Drop the dog off at my sister's, and we can just go explore the wilds of California. (I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but we do have mountainous natural areas that are far away from LA and urban sprawl). We could go for just a few days, plus the only costs would be to get some gear.

We could see pretty things like this:

Of course I'm currently very optimistic about the physical effort involved in backpacking, and

I'm thinking of it as a good opportunity to get a workout :-)

Has anyone gone backpacking? Would anyone recommend it? I think it's something I'd like to try. But there's a lot of things i say that about.