Have you heard of staycations? It’s a vacation where you do things close to home instead
of traveling. Well, I think I invented them. Don’t laugh. I’m serious. I just didn’t have a name for it.
When I was a kid, I didn’t like traveling during our vacations. We’d go to places I didn’t care about and then see and do things I cared about even less. Nah, for me traveling on vacation meant interrupting my summer fun.
Because of my dislike of vacations, we rarely did the traditional type of vacation with my children. Our weekends were very busy with trips to museums, zoos, parks, fairs, plays, exhibits, gardens, galleries… all within driving distance. We’d leave in the morning and come back in the evening.
You should have seen my car—Lord only knows why I never bought a Minivan. Nix that. I remember why now. I hate those things. Anywhoooo, back to the subject at hand. I’d load my Maxima up with as many children as I could because my nieces and nephews often traveled with us. God was looking out for us, because we’d be eight deep at times, yet always made it to and from safely. Yeah, my Maxima look like a clown car.
We always had a great time. Since we didn’t have much money, we’d pack up our food and drinks and be good to go! I’m glad I got to spend so much time with the children.
After my children grew up and began having children of their own, I went on staycations quite often when I had my road buddy nearby. This is when they termed what I’d been doing for years as a staycation. Wish I had thought of trademarking that.
Now that my road buddy is way too far down the road to go on staycations together, I’m more of a vacation person. Yep. I’m old enough to appreciate what locations further from home have to offer. Each year, my sister and I try to take a short vacation with our parents, and we have a great time. While out, I see the look in children’s faces that matched what I felt—when do we get to go home? Poor kiddos. Maybe next time their parents will do a staycation.
Seriously, though, I’m just joking about inventing staycations. I’m sure lots of people have capitalized on the things to do in their area before I came along. What is your preference? Stay or Va – cation? Truth be told, I want both. Hmm, I need to write a post about my dream vacation.
Have a great day and be sure to use the “Share” buttons.
Dee