A Vacation Close to Home

Many people are going to skip going on vacation this summer due to the economy, increasing expenses, and threat of job loss. It is definitely not easy to plan a vacation away from home where you will spend money on travel, food, lodging, and activities. But, many sources say that going on vacation is good for your health and promotes quality family time so skipping your annual vacation may actually be bad for you and your family. Rather than totally eliminating the idea of a vacation this year you should consider other options such as day trips or short overnight trips to places that you can drive to.

I remember one year when I was a kid, we didn't have money to go on a vacation. Most of our vacations were camping trips to campgrounds that were fairly close to home but this one year, my parents determined that even a camping trip would not fit into the budget. So instead, we all took a week off from work and camp and took day trips. One day we took a picnic and went to the lake. On another day, we visited a farm where we milked cows, bailed hay, and even picked some vegetables from a huge garden. On one of the days we each (I have two brothers) invited a couple of friends over to play backyard games like tag, wiffle ball, and hide and seek. That was my favorite day. We even spent several hours of one day visiting people in a nursing home. My mother worked in a nursing home at the time so she was able to set up a time for us to go to sing and tell stories with the elderly people. We had fun and the elderly people had even more fun.

The week doesn't sound like much but it was one of the most memorable weeks of my childhood. We spent time as a family, learned new things, met new people and spent very little money. Times are different now and kids expect fancy vacations to resorts and amusement parks but I'm sure if planned out, a week of day trips will appeal to most children.