A few months ago—even before it reached $4 per gallon—I was fretting over the price of gas. It was then that I proposed to Q and the boys that we try something different this summer. I suggested that we spend our vacation at home. And they were all for it. Especially after I cast some dark shadows over the traditional plane or road trip:
--Air travel is an expensive, uncomfortable pain in the @$$.
--Air travel is an expensive, uncomfortable pain in the @$$.
--Not only is long distance car travel is inconvenient, but it's no longer economical.
--The idea of spending $100+ per night for lodging doesn’t appeal. Especially since our house is bigger and more comfortable than any hotel room. The only good thing about staying in a hotel is the pool. We have one of those here, too.
So we decided to take a home vacation. Apparently, this idea has become so popular that a new word has been coined—staycation. During the next week, we will partake of leisure activities and visit some of the attractions that central Arizona has to offer.
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Our staycation starts on Saturday. And except for a few organized activities, we are playing everything by ear. On Saturday, we are driving to Cordes Junction for the Juneteenth Festival at Arcosanti. We also have tickets to Thursday's D-Backs game.
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The rest of the week is wide open. We will go to the movies, Golfland-Sunsplash, bowling, Castles N' Coasters, and anywhere else we think of. We will also spend a few lazy afternoons out by the pool.
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For a staycation to work, we need to have a few simple ground rules:
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--Q is taking the entire week off work. His laptop will only be used for watching YouTube videos, checking baseball scores, and other pointless Internet surfing.
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--There will be no chores done. I will spend Friday sprucing up the house so it will at least start the week clean. The only exceptions will be pool maintenance and scooping out Jango's litterbox. Bad things will happen if those jobs are neglected.
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--No chores mean no cooking. We will eat out in a different restaurant every night. This is something you do on regular vacation anyway. On the other hand, if Q feels like baking a batch of brownies, I won’t cry foul.
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--There will be no pressure. On a regular vacation we run ourselves ragged trying to visit every single attraction before it’s time to go home. If we don’t feel like doing something one day, it’s no big deal. The bowling alley will still be there next month.
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--I might let this blog go quiet. While I do enjoy it, keeping you people entertained is very time consuming. :-)
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The idea of a staycation was mostly prompted by our desire to save money. Airfare, rental car, and lodging eat up most of the average vacation budget. By eliminating those elements, we can afford to spend money visiting local attractions and enjoying leisure activites for which we never seem to have time.
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But it's also driven by our desire to relax and have fun without all the hassles attached to long distance travel. We won't have to haul around luggage, sleep on lumpy hotel mattresses, or worry about getting lost in a strange city. A staycation is offering us the best of all worlds.
