Vacation Close to Home…

Years ago after my mom died, my dad started going on vacation with us. He loved all the travel and seeing places he had never seen before. He especially loved going camping in the mountains of Colorado. About five years before his death, he purchased a travel trailer so that he could go to the mountains and spend the whole summer there. Because of health problems he could not do that anymore. We started taking vacations close to home so that we would be near dad's doctors incase of an emergency. When we started doing this it became a vacation with my brother and sisters also. It became a great time for us to spend together as we did when we were young.

Living in Houston, we had the beach within an hour's distance of home. We would pick a week when we could all get some time off and plan our trip. There was a nice trailer park at the west end of the seawall that we would reserve for dad’s travel trailer. I usually got the job of grocery shopping because I didn’t have an outside job and I could do my magic of shopping and get the best prices for food. We split the expenses evenly and had a great time. The best part about this kind of vacation is that we could be together as a family and have fun together, something we haven’t been able to do since we were kids living at home. It meant the world to my dad and it made him happy to have his family together like that for a week’s period. There were times when I could only go down for three or four days. One year my sister couldn’t get off of work so she would come after work, have dinner with us, spend the night and then drive back early the next morning. She lived on the south side of town and it only took her about 45 minutes to make the drive. This made things workable for a busy family.

We had such a good time together as a family. We would fish, take long walks on the beach, go shopping down on the Strand or in little “tourist trap” shops, build camp fires, hunt for crabs on the beach at night, read a good book and listen to the waves come in, take a ride on the ferry boat and many more things. At night we would play cards or games or just watch TV together. Sometimes we would sit outside in beach chairs and feel the ocean breezes on our face. Many times we would talk about our growing up years and we would laugh till our sides ached. This gave us quality time together that we will never forget.

If you cannot afford to go on a long trip, a day trip or a vacation close to home can be just as much fun. Pick a fun spot that your family likes to go to or pick a place you have never been to. Go and have some fun. If you have children you could go to a water park.
One year we decided to go to Schlitterbahn near New Braunsful. It was a three hour drive from home and we spent one night in a hotel. Talk about fun! You should have seen this old lady flying down the waterslides and relaxing in the wave pool. The park allowed you to bring in your own food and they had picnic tables set up everywhere so you could eat when you wanted to.

You do not have to spend a lot of money to have fun. Decide on a budget and pick a place close to home.