I recently took a one-week vacation. The goal was to “get away from it all.” But, as the accompanying photo shows, that isn’t what actually happened.

Four of us, myself, my wife, our daughter and son-in-law, went to Lake Chelan. In all, the four of us brought along one laptop, a Kindle, three tablets, four cell phones, a digital camera, a portable speaker for a Zune and an iPod with a Bose speaker.

We could have left most of our electronics at home, but they often are substitutes for what we would do anyway. My Kindle, for example, merely replaced the books I would have brought along with the plus of being a lot less weight in the suitcase. The iPod lets us have our favorite music with us and the Bose system makes it easy to share nd enjoyable. That said, the other devices were mostly used for playing games and staying in contact with friends.

For my part, I probably come by this attachment to modern conveniences naturally. My mother always insisted that “roughing it” on vacation meant putting up with a black-and-white TV. I don’t remember us ever camping.

Even so, electronics aren’t critical for a vacation. While our timeshare had a TV, we didn’t watch it much. Instead, we combined to complete a number of jig-saw puzzles – low tech, but still lots of fun.

Craig Groshart is editor of the Bellevue Reporter. He can be contacted at 425-453-4233.