In college, I took a class called “theater appreciation.”
Was I interested in a career in theater? Not really. Did I think I could be an actor? No way. I was pretty sure that the only role I would ever play in Hollywood would be that of a tourist on the Walk of Fame asking aloud, “Are you kidding? Wink Martindale has a star on the Walk of Fame?”
The real reason I took theater appreciation was because I heard that it was an easy class to ace. That’s also why I took a class in paranormal anthropology, which included guest speakers such as a palm reader and a person who told me I had a green aura.
Well, the people who told me theater appreciation was an easy class were right. But I did learn a lot, and the highlight of the class was an assignment that I wasn't thrilled about: I had to work for a week as a stagehand during a community theater production.
It turned out to be really exciting, and a lot of fun, as I helped move sets between scenes and place props where they needed to be. That’s also when I first realized just how talented people involved in community theater can be.
Fifteen years later, I’m a huge fan of community theater. It's also great for staycations because community theater is inexpensive, it’s nearby, and it’s something that’s often overlooked.
I feel the same way after watching productions at smaller theaters. They certainly provide more bang for the buck. At a smaller theater, I can actually see the actors and singers instead of thirty rows of heads between me and the stage.
But don’t get me wrong. Broadway productions are fantastic. Touring Broadway-like productions are also terrific, so if you can make those part of a staycation, go for it. But don’t brush off community theaters, or other small stages, because they’re not as polished. It’s not like the actors are going to forget their lines or start laughing in the middle of the play. It’s not like a third-grader Christmas play with shepherds dressed in bed sheets and carrying hockey sticks.
You can find a community theater near you, and its production schedule, in the database at www.aact.org, which is the Internet home of the American Association of Community Theatre (yes, they spell it theatre.)
If you live in a large metro area, there are probably several community theaters presenting shows. Smaller stages, some with professional actors, some with amateurs, are also great destinations. See four shows in four nights, even if it’s a dinner theater, and you’ll still spend less than on a typical Broadway show.
Many community theaters also offer acting classes during the summer, which can be fun. Theaters are also searching for volunteers to help with productions, and it can be a lot of fun.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
Showing posts with label staycation idea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label staycation idea. Show all posts
Monday, July 13, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Special treatment at sporting events
Sporting events are great ways to spend staycation time. And if you plan ahead, you might be able to make a trip to the ballpark extra special.
You can contact a team’s front office or community-relations department and ask for VIP treatment. No, they won’t send a limo to pick you up or roll out a red carpet, but you can get special treatment. This is especially true in the minor leagues, whether its baseball, hockey, football or basketball. Minor league teams are very eager to please.
So take advantage of that. Before you go to a game, contact the team’s front office or community-relations department. Tell them you’re coming out to a game and you want to know how you can make it more special. If you’re bringing kids to the game, definitely tell the team that.
You and your family could be part of a promotion or skit. The team might allow your kids to get on the field for part of batting practice or give them a chance to run the bases between innings or after the game. (I’ve covered minor-league baseball, so I’ve seen this firsthand). Maybe you can get your kids a chance to sit in the dugout for a few minutes before the game. Maybe they can meet a few of the players, get autographs and take pictures with them. Whether a pro athlete is destined for the Hall of Fame or the end of the bench, meeting him or her is a thrill for kids.
A team might not be able to set something up for that night, so again, planning ahead is valuable. But it’s hard to imagine many teams saying, “Sorry, we can’t do anything for you.” That would be like saying, “Why don’t you just go find somewhere else to spend your money.”
That’s why it never hurts to ask.
One last thing, as we finish discussing how someone else can make a sporting event more special. You can do it, too, especially if you have young kids. If you’re going to a minor-league game, make it a major-league event by immersing yourself in it. Stop by the team shop and can get a team shirt and a team hat. If your kids want to make signs for the game, encourage them (and help with spelling). Take pictures during the game of the kids in their seats, with their sports garb on, and as they eat treats from the concession stand.
It will make a great souvenir. My wife made a scrapbook page of my trip to the RoughRiders game with my oldest son, and the best picture is a close-up of him licking a plastic spoon with the last drops of ice cream on it and chocolate all over his face. Great, messy fun.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
You can contact a team’s front office or community-relations department and ask for VIP treatment. No, they won’t send a limo to pick you up or roll out a red carpet, but you can get special treatment. This is especially true in the minor leagues, whether its baseball, hockey, football or basketball. Minor league teams are very eager to please.
So take advantage of that. Before you go to a game, contact the team’s front office or community-relations department. Tell them you’re coming out to a game and you want to know how you can make it more special. If you’re bringing kids to the game, definitely tell the team that.
You and your family could be part of a promotion or skit. The team might allow your kids to get on the field for part of batting practice or give them a chance to run the bases between innings or after the game. (I’ve covered minor-league baseball, so I’ve seen this firsthand). Maybe you can get your kids a chance to sit in the dugout for a few minutes before the game. Maybe they can meet a few of the players, get autographs and take pictures with them. Whether a pro athlete is destined for the Hall of Fame or the end of the bench, meeting him or her is a thrill for kids.
A team might not be able to set something up for that night, so again, planning ahead is valuable. But it’s hard to imagine many teams saying, “Sorry, we can’t do anything for you.” That would be like saying, “Why don’t you just go find somewhere else to spend your money.”
That’s why it never hurts to ask.
One last thing, as we finish discussing how someone else can make a sporting event more special. You can do it, too, especially if you have young kids. If you’re going to a minor-league game, make it a major-league event by immersing yourself in it. Stop by the team shop and can get a team shirt and a team hat. If your kids want to make signs for the game, encourage them (and help with spelling). Take pictures during the game of the kids in their seats, with their sports garb on, and as they eat treats from the concession stand.
It will make a great souvenir. My wife made a scrapbook page of my trip to the RoughRiders game with my oldest son, and the best picture is a close-up of him licking a plastic spoon with the last drops of ice cream on it and chocolate all over his face. Great, messy fun.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Staycation idea: The Backyard Theater
Drive-in theaters peaked before I was born, but my family took at least a few trips to drive-in movies in the Seventies. I don’t remember the films, but I vaguely remember lying in the back of the station wagon with my pajamas on.
Drive-ins couldn’t compete with movie theaters and their better images, sound and climate control. That’s made drive-ins very rare, so if you can find one in your area, it’s a cool nostalgia trip for a staycation. You can search for one near you at www.driveintheater.com. And if there isn’t a drive-in nearby, you can create one within walking distance ... in your backyard.
It won’t be as cheap, but it can be even more fun. All you need is a computer with a DVD player, a white wall or bed sheet to use as the movie screen, and a projector, which you can find by doing an Internet search for “projector rental” and your city. Stores that rent audio-visual equipment for business meetings will have basic projectors for about $100 a day or weekend. If you tell them what your plans are, they can make sure it will work. They also rent projection screens if you want one.
Then plug in some small speakers to your computer, get out some folding chairs, and enjoy a classic double feature in your backyard. If you have a pool to float around in while you watch, rent Jaws.
The movie won’t be high-definition, but the backyard drive-in will fit the definition of a good staycation. There’s no doubt it’s far from ordinary. You can even make it part of a backyard camping experience.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
Drive-ins couldn’t compete with movie theaters and their better images, sound and climate control. That’s made drive-ins very rare, so if you can find one in your area, it’s a cool nostalgia trip for a staycation. You can search for one near you at www.driveintheater.com. And if there isn’t a drive-in nearby, you can create one within walking distance ... in your backyard.
It won’t be as cheap, but it can be even more fun. All you need is a computer with a DVD player, a white wall or bed sheet to use as the movie screen, and a projector, which you can find by doing an Internet search for “projector rental” and your city. Stores that rent audio-visual equipment for business meetings will have basic projectors for about $100 a day or weekend. If you tell them what your plans are, they can make sure it will work. They also rent projection screens if you want one.
Then plug in some small speakers to your computer, get out some folding chairs, and enjoy a classic double feature in your backyard. If you have a pool to float around in while you watch, rent Jaws.
The movie won’t be high-definition, but the backyard drive-in will fit the definition of a good staycation. There’s no doubt it’s far from ordinary. You can even make it part of a backyard camping experience.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Staycation fun: Water parks
If you haven’t been on a water slide in a few years, you should give it a try. Chances are it’s more thrilling than dropping a swimsuit size.
Seriously, water parks are a great low-cost, high-excitement destination for people of all ages. And they’re not like 25 years ago, when a metro area might only have one or two monstrous parks, which then catered mostly to young adults seeking big water rides and teenagers wearing Ocean Pacific corduroy shorts.
Make it special by finding a hotel near the water park, checking in for a couple of nights and having food delivered to the hotel room. The bang for the buck will be immense if you have young kids, who will remember the experience long after your next big vacation. And for families with teenagers, getting one hotel room for the parents and another for the kids can be a worthy upgrade.
Important note: If you do embrace the thrill of a big slide and you’ve dropped a few pounds since your swimsuit purchase, you might want to shop for a new one. If your bikini is a little loose or the drawstring on your trunks isn’t pulled tight, it could be the most talked-about staycation ever.
You can find links to water parks at The Water Park Review.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
Seriously, water parks are a great low-cost, high-excitement destination for people of all ages. And they’re not like 25 years ago, when a metro area might only have one or two monstrous parks, which then catered mostly to young adults seeking big water rides and teenagers wearing Ocean Pacific corduroy shorts.
Make it special by finding a hotel near the water park, checking in for a couple of nights and having food delivered to the hotel room. The bang for the buck will be immense if you have young kids, who will remember the experience long after your next big vacation. And for families with teenagers, getting one hotel room for the parents and another for the kids can be a worthy upgrade.
Important note: If you do embrace the thrill of a big slide and you’ve dropped a few pounds since your swimsuit purchase, you might want to shop for a new one. If your bikini is a little loose or the drawstring on your trunks isn’t pulled tight, it could be the most talked-about staycation ever.
You can find links to water parks at The Water Park Review.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Staycation idea: Virtual vacation
Virtual worlds are becoming more and more popular on the Internet. Web sites such as Second Life www.secondlife.com allow you to customize an avatar and interact with others in a “massively multiplayer online role-playing game.” If that sounds weird to you, you’re not alone. The sites actually allow you to shop, with real money, for virtual items. I’m just not into spending real money for a virtual pair of jeans. I don’t care how good the jeans look on the virtual me.
That’s not what I mean by virtual vacation. I’m referring to creating a trip overseas by immersing yourself in a different culture through cuisine, language lessons, and films. The Wall Street Journal had a story about a woman in New York who did that. She viewed Japanese films, shopped at traditional Japanese markets, and bought souvenirs there. She ordered in Japanese at the restaurant and partook in traditional activities such as running down a road screaming, “No! No! It’s Godzilla!”
OK, not that last part. I apologize for comparing modern Japanese culture with its well-known cinematic export.
Back to seriousness. If there’s a country, or area of the U.S., that you want to visit or know more about, you can take a virtual vacation there. With a library and the Internet, it’s easier than ever to find information about customs, clothing, food, films, music, and the history of an area.
You can also take advantage of Google Earth (www.earth.google.com), a free Internet application that provides satellite images, maps, terrain, and 3-D views of buildings from all over the world. A few years ago a global poll decided the new “Seven Wonders of the World.” With Google Earth and other Web sites on the Internet, you can virtually visit the Great Wall of China, the Colosseum in Rome, the Taj Mahal in India, and the other new wonders of the world.
You can also look at stars and galaxies with Google Earth. It’s a great educational tool for you and your kids, and can be combined with a trip to an observatory or stargazing during a camping trip. And here’s another free Google treat to check out:
Google maps (www.maps.google.com) offers street-level pictures for areas all over the U.S., as well as in several other countries. Google sends out teams of people with cameras mounted on dashboards to take photos all over the country. The result is a massive collection of photos of downtown areas, tourist spots, and residential areas that you can find on a map. It’s fun to look at different areas of the country, especially if you’ve lived in several areas and want to see your old stomping grounds. It’s addicting, but even if you waste time, you won’t waste money. Virtual jeans are not for sale.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
That’s not what I mean by virtual vacation. I’m referring to creating a trip overseas by immersing yourself in a different culture through cuisine, language lessons, and films. The Wall Street Journal had a story about a woman in New York who did that. She viewed Japanese films, shopped at traditional Japanese markets, and bought souvenirs there. She ordered in Japanese at the restaurant and partook in traditional activities such as running down a road screaming, “No! No! It’s Godzilla!”
OK, not that last part. I apologize for comparing modern Japanese culture with its well-known cinematic export.
Back to seriousness. If there’s a country, or area of the U.S., that you want to visit or know more about, you can take a virtual vacation there. With a library and the Internet, it’s easier than ever to find information about customs, clothing, food, films, music, and the history of an area.
You can also take advantage of Google Earth (www.earth.google.com), a free Internet application that provides satellite images, maps, terrain, and 3-D views of buildings from all over the world. A few years ago a global poll decided the new “Seven Wonders of the World.” With Google Earth and other Web sites on the Internet, you can virtually visit the Great Wall of China, the Colosseum in Rome, the Taj Mahal in India, and the other new wonders of the world.
You can also look at stars and galaxies with Google Earth. It’s a great educational tool for you and your kids, and can be combined with a trip to an observatory or stargazing during a camping trip. And here’s another free Google treat to check out:
Google maps (www.maps.google.com) offers street-level pictures for areas all over the U.S., as well as in several other countries. Google sends out teams of people with cameras mounted on dashboards to take photos all over the country. The result is a massive collection of photos of downtown areas, tourist spots, and residential areas that you can find on a map. It’s fun to look at different areas of the country, especially if you’ve lived in several areas and want to see your old stomping grounds. It’s addicting, but even if you waste time, you won’t waste money. Virtual jeans are not for sale.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Staycation tip: Treat yourself
Your reason for a staycation is probably budget-related, but it still needs to be a vacation. You don’t have to be frivolous, but don’t skimp, either. You’ll still save money.
That’s why you should eat at restaurants as much as possible during your staycation. Your budget might determine how frequently you do this, but fixing a meal, cleaning up the table and doing the dishes is a big part of the daily grind. Of course, if you enjoy cooking, a staycation is a great time to indulge in it. Try new recipes, try new styles of food, and if you’re pretty good at it, try to make it to my house during your staycation. Anyone who wants to cook is always welcome.
As for eating out, it doesn’t have to be fine dining. It can be hitting a sandwich shop for lunch and an inexpensive casual restaurant for dinner. Any place where you can relax for a few minutes and leave the dirty dishes when you’re finished.
Treating yourself also means staying away from diet foods. In fact, don’t even think about a diet during your staycation. After all, eating without guilt is part of the fun of a vacation. Imagine going on a cruise where you’re surrounded by fine dining, 24-hour bistros, and those midnight buffets so elaborate that cruisers take photographs of the spread before eating. The food is one of the highlights on a cruise. If you stayed true to your diet, it would be more like torture than fun.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
That’s why you should eat at restaurants as much as possible during your staycation. Your budget might determine how frequently you do this, but fixing a meal, cleaning up the table and doing the dishes is a big part of the daily grind. Of course, if you enjoy cooking, a staycation is a great time to indulge in it. Try new recipes, try new styles of food, and if you’re pretty good at it, try to make it to my house during your staycation. Anyone who wants to cook is always welcome.
As for eating out, it doesn’t have to be fine dining. It can be hitting a sandwich shop for lunch and an inexpensive casual restaurant for dinner. Any place where you can relax for a few minutes and leave the dirty dishes when you’re finished.
Treating yourself also means staying away from diet foods. In fact, don’t even think about a diet during your staycation. After all, eating without guilt is part of the fun of a vacation. Imagine going on a cruise where you’re surrounded by fine dining, 24-hour bistros, and those midnight buffets so elaborate that cruisers take photographs of the spread before eating. The food is one of the highlights on a cruise. If you stayed true to your diet, it would be more like torture than fun.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Staycation idea: Hobby time
For Christmas, my 3-year-old got a guitar from his grandparents. Not a full size guitar, but one big enough that he can strum it, sing Wiggles songs, and accidentally bang it into his bedroom wall. When he’s a few years older, I’m going to take guitar lessons with him.
Maybe we’ll take the lessons during a staycation, because that’s a great time to start learning an instrument. You’ll have time to take professional lessons, practice, and decide whether you want to continue. Links to instructors for instruments, as well as voice lessons, can be found for your hometown at www.privatelessons.com. Group music lessons are also offered through city recreation departments and as continuing education courses at community colleges. Music stores –- the ones that sell instruments, not CDs –- also have bulletin boards with music teachers seeking students.
Other popular hobbies include photography, sewing, pottery-making, and painting, and you can find classes and clubs to get you started in any of them. Another easy hobby to get into is video editing. Camcorders are all digital now, so any video you shoot can be edited on a computer. It allows you to cut out the boring, jiggly, hard-to-watch stretches of video, leaving you with a shorter video you’ll actually have time to watch. Even better, editing allows you to add text to your videos, graphics, special effects, narration and music. You can feel like your making a movie, or at least a music video.
It’s also cheap and easy. Personal computers come loaded with Windows Movie Maker, and if you’re a Mac user, you’ve got iMovie on your computer. It’s easy to learn, and the results are very rewarding. If you shoot an hour’s worth of staycation footage, you can save all the raw video and also create a five- or ten-minute montage of the best moments. Add in some still photos and some background music – “Our House” by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, perhaps – and you’ll have a great memento of your staycation. It can also be e-mailed out to friends or posted on a video sharing site such as YouTube.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
Maybe we’ll take the lessons during a staycation, because that’s a great time to start learning an instrument. You’ll have time to take professional lessons, practice, and decide whether you want to continue. Links to instructors for instruments, as well as voice lessons, can be found for your hometown at www.privatelessons.com. Group music lessons are also offered through city recreation departments and as continuing education courses at community colleges. Music stores –- the ones that sell instruments, not CDs –- also have bulletin boards with music teachers seeking students.
Other popular hobbies include photography, sewing, pottery-making, and painting, and you can find classes and clubs to get you started in any of them. Another easy hobby to get into is video editing. Camcorders are all digital now, so any video you shoot can be edited on a computer. It allows you to cut out the boring, jiggly, hard-to-watch stretches of video, leaving you with a shorter video you’ll actually have time to watch. Even better, editing allows you to add text to your videos, graphics, special effects, narration and music. You can feel like your making a movie, or at least a music video.
It’s also cheap and easy. Personal computers come loaded with Windows Movie Maker, and if you’re a Mac user, you’ve got iMovie on your computer. It’s easy to learn, and the results are very rewarding. If you shoot an hour’s worth of staycation footage, you can save all the raw video and also create a five- or ten-minute montage of the best moments. Add in some still photos and some background music – “Our House” by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, perhaps – and you’ll have a great memento of your staycation. It can also be e-mailed out to friends or posted on a video sharing site such as YouTube.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Staycation idea: Observatories and planetariums
Much like museums, observatories and planetariums offer tours, exhibits, and special programs. Unlike museums, however, there’s probably a lot of people who don’t know the difference. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, unlike the Americans who think that New Mexico is a foreign country and that Condoleeza Rice is a side dish at Chili’s.
An observatory is a location equipped with telescopes for observing the planets, stars, and other heavenly bodies (insert your inappropriate “heavenly bodies” remark here). A planetarium is a theater with a large dome-shaped projection screen that is often used for presenting shows about astronomy. Both are great to visit, and you can find a list of them at www.astronomyclubs.com.
Most public observatories allow visitors to look through their huge, powerful telescopes. They also schedule “star parties” that include an observatory staff member explaining what you’re looking at through the telescope. The www.astrononomyclubs.com site includes links to observatory Web sites, so you can check out their calendars for special events. Some observatories even offer private star parties in which a staff member will bring a telescope to your backyard and direct your viewing into the sky. Expect to pay some real money for that, however.
Planetariums also have great special programs and shows. Some are for kids, such as “The Sky Above Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood,” which has played at many planetariums. For adults, there are laser light shows synchronized to music. Pink Floyd was the big laser show at the University of Arizona’s planetarium when I went to school there, but now I see shows for Dave Matthews Band, Bob Marley, the Beatles, Aerosmith, and more. I’ve even read about a show called “Laser ’80s” that has to be worth the drive for anyone who owns as much ’80s music as me (too much). As you might expect, the show includes Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded Me With Science.”
My sixth-grade teacher was right. Science can be fun.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
An observatory is a location equipped with telescopes for observing the planets, stars, and other heavenly bodies (insert your inappropriate “heavenly bodies” remark here). A planetarium is a theater with a large dome-shaped projection screen that is often used for presenting shows about astronomy. Both are great to visit, and you can find a list of them at www.astronomyclubs.com.
Most public observatories allow visitors to look through their huge, powerful telescopes. They also schedule “star parties” that include an observatory staff member explaining what you’re looking at through the telescope. The www.astrononomyclubs.com site includes links to observatory Web sites, so you can check out their calendars for special events. Some observatories even offer private star parties in which a staff member will bring a telescope to your backyard and direct your viewing into the sky. Expect to pay some real money for that, however.
Planetariums also have great special programs and shows. Some are for kids, such as “The Sky Above Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood,” which has played at many planetariums. For adults, there are laser light shows synchronized to music. Pink Floyd was the big laser show at the University of Arizona’s planetarium when I went to school there, but now I see shows for Dave Matthews Band, Bob Marley, the Beatles, Aerosmith, and more. I’ve even read about a show called “Laser ’80s” that has to be worth the drive for anyone who owns as much ’80s music as me (too much). As you might expect, the show includes Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded Me With Science.”
My sixth-grade teacher was right. Science can be fun.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Staycation tip: Plan ahead
Yes, if you wing it on a vacation, you'll probably fly into a wall.
Remember the classic movie, National Lampoon’s Vacation? Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) took his family on a road trip that included asking for directions in a rough part of town, getting ripped off by mechanics and visiting hick relatives who stirred Kool-Aid with their hands. I've watched it at least a dozen times over the years.
Anyway, it was a rough trip for the Griswolds. But it all seemed worth it when the family reached its destination, Walley World. Unfortunately, when the family got to the entrance, a statue of Marty Moose announced this:
“Sorry folks! We’re closed for two weeks to clean and repair America’s favorite family fun park.”
Clark still got his family into the park by buying a BB gun and kidnapping a security guard, but you probably don’t want to go that far. Plan ahead and you won’t be disappointed, embarrassed in front of your kids or led away in handcuffs.
For example, many art museums are closed on Mondays and so are some restaurants. Factory tours, which are a fun idea, usually aren’t available every day. Same goes for a sunset cruise you want to take. If you want to attend some sporting events during your staycation, and then realize too late that the team is on a two-week road trip, you’re out of luck.
Before the vacation begins, have each member of the family make a list of what he or she wants to do during the staycation. Then sketch out what you want to do on each of your vacation days. That allows you to prioritize and see how everything will fit together. You can always make changes later.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
Remember the classic movie, National Lampoon’s Vacation? Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) took his family on a road trip that included asking for directions in a rough part of town, getting ripped off by mechanics and visiting hick relatives who stirred Kool-Aid with their hands. I've watched it at least a dozen times over the years.
Anyway, it was a rough trip for the Griswolds. But it all seemed worth it when the family reached its destination, Walley World. Unfortunately, when the family got to the entrance, a statue of Marty Moose announced this:
“Sorry folks! We’re closed for two weeks to clean and repair America’s favorite family fun park.”
Clark still got his family into the park by buying a BB gun and kidnapping a security guard, but you probably don’t want to go that far. Plan ahead and you won’t be disappointed, embarrassed in front of your kids or led away in handcuffs.
For example, many art museums are closed on Mondays and so are some restaurants. Factory tours, which are a fun idea, usually aren’t available every day. Same goes for a sunset cruise you want to take. If you want to attend some sporting events during your staycation, and then realize too late that the team is on a two-week road trip, you’re out of luck.
Before the vacation begins, have each member of the family make a list of what he or she wants to do during the staycation. Then sketch out what you want to do on each of your vacation days. That allows you to prioritize and see how everything will fit together. You can always make changes later.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Staycation idea: Winery tours
Napa Valley in California is America’s most well-known area of wine production, but every state in the country has at least one winery. Yes, even Alaska, America’s icebox. Yes, even Rhode Island, which is only slightly larger than me.
At least one winery in every state, and in most cases, many more. So for wine lovers, it’s a great staycation destination, but consider visiting a winery even if you’re not a connoisseur of fine wine. You might like it even if you don’t know if Pinot Grigio is a wine or Italy’s best hope for an Olympic medal in gymnastics. You can find a comprehensive list of Texas wineries at www.allamericanwineries.org.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
At least one winery in every state, and in most cases, many more. So for wine lovers, it’s a great staycation destination, but consider visiting a winery even if you’re not a connoisseur of fine wine. You might like it even if you don’t know if Pinot Grigio is a wine or Italy’s best hope for an Olympic medal in gymnastics. You can find a comprehensive list of Texas wineries at www.allamericanwineries.org.
*** "The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family (and Your Wallet!)" is now available. You can find it in stores or online.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
