Summer Vacation: Pondering the Plan

So it happens that for a number of reasons we are stuck where we are. We can't really move away and we are the kind of family that probably would have moved away if we could. We would go to the coast and be our water loving hippy dippy selves. 

As is it, we have to stay here in a more conservative waterless climate. So in the summer we like to head to the beach. Here are some shots of our holiday to Vancouver island last summer. We spent 2 weeks with our little 'boler knock-off' trailer driving through the interior of B.C and then stopping on the Island for a full week of beach life. 

Here is my son checking out the view from a rocky ocean beach by Nanamio, BC 

Here is the sunset view from our beachfront campsite in Nanamio. 

This is Harrison Hotsprings, B.C. We stopped here on the way home. Awesome little hidden gem. 

This year as it turns out we probably won't have a lot of money for a big vacation. I'm crossing my fingers that everything will work out for the best but it looks like money is going to be tight. It also looks like I might be going to school in Victoria so at some point during the spring or fall I will be heading there for a little on-campus conference type thing. Depending on when everything goes down it wouldn't make a lot of sense to holiday in the summer and then go back for a couple of weeks for school.  

I'm determined to have a great summer and I feel like it's super important to travel, especially with my family. I like taking them places, I like who we are together when we road trip and I especially love our combined sense of adventure. We are definitely the kind of people who say "I don't know what this is, let's go check it out!" We make random stops on the highway and we go where other people might say "We should stop there, next time.". I have to say we suck at the planned organized holiday, but the spontaneous and organic adventure we seem to completely rock at. 

As I was leaving the grocery store the other day my eye hit that magazine rack at the exit full of free publications. Campus papers, flyers, real estate junk and tourist information. My eyes stuck on this big thick book called "The Daytrip Adventure Guide". Apparently listed within these tissue paper thin pages are all of the local festivals, art round-ups, parades, rodeos and events that happen annually all over the county that we now call home. There are famers markets, celebrations and music events and I bet they are a damn site cheaper than something similar in one of the big centres. 

The adventure part really caught my eye. Part of me suddenly wondered if I could get organized and really commit, we could quite possibly arrange our summer full of long weekends spent exploring our new surroundings.

The advantages would be no long days of travel, less gas burned, a sense of community, connecting to our new surroundings and just supporting our local stuff. I like all these perks of the plan. 

Hmmmmmmm I say. I wonder I wonder. Could I get the kids involved in picking out the more interesting events. Would this be good for our growth? I am starting to really wonder if this might be the thing to do. I need cheap. I need fun. I need a summer to look forward to. I'll keep you posted.

More vacation shots! Random is our specialty