I recently went on vacation for two weeks. Let's just say those two weeks went by a little too fast.

This is the beauty and the downfall of going away.

You enter a netherworld of no responsibility where alarm clocks are banished and words like `` deadline'' and `` wake up'' don't exist.

Bedtimes don't matter because you can sleep all day.

And even if you can't sleep, who cares? It's not exactly like you need to be well-rested to go the club. But alas, all relaxing vaca tions must come to an end.

So here I am at work, writ ing about my relaxing vaca tion.

Looking back I'd say the highlight of my time off was my trip to Virginia Beach with a couple of my friends.

We stayed in a hotel about 10 minutes from the beach and did pretty much all the things you'd think of doing when you go to a place with `` beach'' in its name.

The only required activi ties were doing nothing, get ting a killer tan, window shopping on the boardwalk and meeting lots of new peo ple, none of whom seemed to be native to the area. Most were either on vacation like us, or stationed there in the Navy. That would explain why we had the Village People song `` In The Navy'' stuck in our heads for most of the trip.

Coming in a close second in the vacation highlights cat egory was the sacred opportu nity to do absolutely whatever I wanted. This included shut ting off all communication devices and retreating into a world of lemonade and Patri ots training camp (though I didn't actually shut my cell phone off, because then how would I have gotten text mes sages?).

Faraway land of Amherst

I even got to spend some time with my sister, who lives in the faraway land of Amherst. We did simple things we don't get to do much anymore like talk face to face and visit the Museum of Science with our mom. Originally we were planning to go to the museum by our selves. But we invited our mom because we are really nice daughters.

In a related story, I also got to enjoy several delicious meals cooked by my mother, while hanging out in her air conditioned house.

She's an excellent cook. And did I mention that when I moved into my new apart ment (which does not have air conditioning, by the way) I didn't use my stove for about four months? I think that after a really long time a vacation could potentially get boring, and borderline tedious. That, and it would totally drain your bank account.

But whatever that length of time is, I haven't come nearly close enough to reach ing it.

Which is why we're going back to Virginia Beach in three weeks. Only for a week end, though.

I'd like to say I'm practic ing moderation. But in reali ty, it's just that I've used up all my vacation time for this year.

STAFF WRITER LAUREN CARTER can be reached at lcarter(at)(at)thesunchronicle.com.