The Great American Staycation

I had no idea what I was going to write for this post until I turned on the TV Wednesday morning and saw Good Morning Texas' report on the book The Great American Staycation. His ideas were better than what I could come up with (unless skydiving counts as one commenter suggested--which we've done!) so I thought I would share his interview.

Growing up, Matt Wixon, the author, had family "fakations" as he called them where his family would stay in the area, rent a car for 24 hours and have a cheap vacation.

He says the most important thing is to make it fun! He recommends keeping the trip to within 100 miles because you could get to the location and home within the same day. Some ideas that he gives are to do a "behind-the-scenes" tour. That could be going to a famous location (like Southfork Ranch near where I'm from) or, like he suggests, asking at the bowling alley if you can see the pin setters work!

He believes the biggest mistake that people make on staycations is to not plan ahead. They plan to take off from work, relax and try to have some fun. Some locations, however, are closed at certain times, so you may not get to do what you want--you don't want Wally World to be closed when you pull up to the gate!

Here are the rules that he gives:
1. Choose a start and end date
2. Treat it like a real vacation. (Get all household work done at the start so you're not doing that in the middle and you can relax better.)
3. Create mental distance.
4. Treat yourself.
5. Remember it--take photos!
6. Maximize your hometown.
7. Stay positive.

Can you think of a "behind-the-scenes" idea that you or your kids would enjoy?

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