Vacation or Staycation?

One thing we've rarely ever done is go on vacation.

When I was growing up, my family went on vacation every summer. To the beach. It was great fun and we all just had a marvelous time relaxing and playing in the sun and surf. My grandparents rented the same house, right across the street from the beach, every year and all of us went.

My parents were into camping and in the fall our family joined with other families and trekked to the mountains for weekend camping. This was just as much fun as the summer trips to the beach.

I remember our vacations being fun, relaxing, sometimes exciting...but never boring. And always as something to look forward to doing- even the three hour drive from our town to the beach that started at 4:00 AM. Every. Single. Year.

Our vacation days were spent getting up early and hitting the beach. We returned to the house for lunch and went right back to the beach for the afternoon. After supper, Mother or Grandmother would apply Noxema to our sunburns and we would all sit around talking and/or playing games, sometimes sitting on the screened in porch in the big rockers, but ALWAYS laughing. Loads and loads of laughing. Once during vacation week we headed to Myrtle Beach (only one beach away from where we stayed) and went to the Pavillion and the next night we went to eat Calabash seafood. Standing in line for over an hour. Every. Single. Year.

Once I had a family of my own, I soon realized the reality of vacations after a whopping three times.

• Vacations cost money. And we didn't have much. We gave up a double income for me to stay home and raise the lovelies. Probably not a great idea considering the husband has never been a worker bee who makes a lot of money. (I often tell people we are THE blue collar family in our town---not that far from the truth).
• Vacations are more work for the mom than just staying at home. Seriously. Not. Fair.
• Vacations mean riding in the car for HOURS. With four daughters. Enough said. 

What does this mean, besides we did not take vacations? It means that I learned to appreciate staycations. And this is what the lovelies and I had every summer.

It wasn't difficult to discover the reality of our staycations:

• They cost very little. 
• The amount of work is actually less than during the school year- no getting up and rushing out the door for school, packing school lunches, rushing to soccer/dance/cello/piano/etc.
• It's quite easy when your house is only 3.1 miles from the beach (except for all the stuff you take with you when you have little kids- all their fun toys and food and drinks in that Little Tykes wagon that is great until you hit that hot, loose, deep sand). 
• If we tired of the beach we headed either to my mother's or my dad's house--both of whom live on a lake (in different states THANK GOD) which is just like staying at home OR spent the afternoon with friends who either had a pool or pool access.
• People won't really bother you if you just don't answer the door or the phone. :)
• There were plenty of free community activities for the kids.

Now that the nest is empty (well, sort of, DoodleBug did move back in recently), I still appreciate staycations. Though the thought of a vacation BY MYSELF is quite appealing.

I envision renting a beach house or maybe even driving up to the mountains and renting a cabin for a week and writing, writing, writing and writing. I might even throw a little hiking and nature walking in just to mix it up. :) 

Even when I'm just staying home, the summer days can be spent any way I choose. I like this. I can---

• home improve
• clear out and throw away  junk
• read
• write
• watch movies
• go to the beach
• go on a nature walk
• take pictures
• work in the garden
• can goodies from the garden
• make one of those flower towers like Deb did. 

I can do all that and more. Or, not. It's up to me. Totally. I like this very much.

When it comes right down to it, I wouldn't trade my vacations with my family when I was a kid for anything. At the same time, I enjoyed just as much or more having staycations with the lovelies when they were growing up. Certainly our location is a bit more conducive to staycations than some other areas and for this I am eternally grateful. And as an empty nester, I could really go either way. I'll have to try a vacation first. I'll keep you posted. :)

What do you prefer- vacation or staycation?