Vacations for Academics: I'm so on board!

Folks I know who work outside of academia are often envious at the thought that I supposedly have a 3 months long summer break and a month off during winter. Ummm...break? What's that like exactly? Conventionally defined these are periods of time in which you get to take time off from work and simply breathe. For us academics, it seems to be periods of time when teaching obligations wane so that you rush to get the next article/book/research project completed while you don't have to show up to teach. Not that it isn't fascinating to be able to tap into your creativity to produce research but when exactly does one get to live their life without being consumed by student e-mails, lecture preps, conferences, meetings, grading, reading, and writing? Linked above (to the title) is an article from today's Chronicle by Mary Werner. I'm not sure if the author suggests this in jest but I sure like the idea of having someone cover my class or assigning some research work or having my students watch a film while I'm away - not because I'm ill or because I have professional obligations that conflict with my class times but because I'm taking an actual vacation. Kind of like the way it works outside academia where people who work take time off to go away without their work lives falling apart.