On Wicked Wednesdays, we all weigh in on a topic. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about our favorite dream vacation, which in most cases involved lots of travel and planning. This week, we’re keeping it more low key and sharing our favorite staycations–getaways close to home.
So, Wickeds, what’s your ideal staycation?
Liz: The beach is always my favorite, whether it’s near or far. I prefer Rhode Island beaches to the ones in Connecticut, so most summers when it’s a beach day that means driving an hour and a half or so to Second Beach in Middletown, RI. It’s close enough to Newport that you can also do dinner or some shopping, but also perfect to just drive in to the beach, hit the sand and head home. Heaven!
Jessie: Like Liz, I love the beach. We spend the summers in Old Orchard so the whole season is an ideal staycation for my family. Whether strolling the beach at the crack of dawn to sprawling on a patchwork blanket under the stars, the sea breeze and the lapping of the waves never gets old for me. As a matter of fact, I’m heading there now!
Barb: That’s one thing I love about New England. Oceans, lakes, mountains, historic cities and charming country towns are a day’s drive away. These days, staycations are spent on our front porch in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. The whole family was here last weekend, and we had wonderful days at the Cabbage Island Clambake, the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens and the Maine State Aquarium. Not to mention, wandering downtown for shopping and ice cream!
Sherry: When I lived in New England I loved to drive to Rockport, Massachusetts (pictured to the left) or York, Maine for a day to enjoy the coast and have a lobster roll. Now that I’m back in northern Virginia I love to go to the National Mall and while away the hours at the American History Museum, the Sculpture Gardens, or the National Gallery of Art. There is so much you can do here that is free it’s amazing.
Edith: I’m echoing the beach theme. At the end of this week I will have the first draft of Quaker Midwife Mystery #2 done, and before the end of July I will have finished revising and have sent in Country Store Mystery #2. I plan to take a week off, go
to the beach for at least a couple of hours each day, eat BLTs and drink G&Ts, and … bring up all the boxes from the basement. I desperately need to sort, glean, donate, toss, and otherwise dispose of books, photos, and other possessions. Even though that sounds like work, it will be so satisfying and relaxing to have it done, I know it’ll feel like a vacation. Oh, and I’ll do some reading, too!
Julie: Add another beach staycation fan. My family has a house down the Cape, and I have spent staycations there many times. It is a combination of spending time with my folks, reading, lots of naps, and spending some time at the beach. I realize this is sort of cheating, since I’m not officially home.
Readers: What’s your favorite staycation?
All you beach people! My fair Irish skin does not like sun (even though I love to swim in the ocean and collect shells), so I’m more likely to set off for western Massachusetts, where my Orchard Mysteries are set. I love the Northampton area, which has everything I could ask for: good food, lots of bookstores, ancestors and plenty of history. If I stay home all I can think about is all the projects I’m supposed to be working on, like shelving all those stacks of books or sorting out some family collection I don’t know what to do with.
It is hard to stay home and not think about projects and to do lists. Northampton sounds lovely.
We just put a roof over our deck (in preparation for maybe/someday making it a 3-season room). I’d happily spend a week right there!
I love projects like yours that are fun in the now and enjoyable to contemplate where they could go in the future!
Reblogged this on F4l ~ FLECK.
Thanks, Kim!
My staycations typically involve reading, reading, and more reading, with some TV thrown in, hopefully writing a short story, and enjoying meals with friends. Actually, that sounds like my regular life, except with more reading for pleasure instead of reading/editing for payment. Can’t complain!
Barb, it sounds like your life is just exactly the way you’d like it. Congratulations!
It’s pretty easy to have a staycation on the beach when you live nearby! LOL
A friend who lives near Seattle once decided to give me a tourist tour, as if she was herself one. We took the bus from Bellevue into the city, and just roamed around, from the museum to famous wharf, wherever our interests took us. And I’ve done the same since then with visitors to our home in Cincinnati. There are so many things to do here. Maybe we don’t have an ocean, but we have rivers and lakes galore, museums, theaters, and great architecture.
What a lovely idea, Karen! Every community has something wonderful to see if you look, doesn’t it?
Add me to the people who love the beach. I don’t go nearly often enough. Fortunately, my church is having Sunday services at the beach in a few weeks, and I’m looking forward to that.
Another one I love is the redwoods. It’s one thing I miss living here in So Cal, but I grew up camping in the redwoods. It’s just magical.
I grew up camping in Sequoia, Mark, too! Absolutely magical. Such a treat a few years ago when I took my teenaged sons to a housekeeping cabin there for a few days and showed them all my favorite places. We even swam in the river at the Lodgepole campground – OUR campground. ;^)
I’m doing more staying home now, though I did love the storytelling cruises that ETSU used to organize. I had just made a decision to play tourist more around home, zoo, museums, botanical garden, and immediately received an invitation to join a friend at the MUNY. If rain stops the show, we’ll still have dinner together.
We have a theme going of playing tourist around home. I like it!
I am now living in Florida at a retirement park, so staycation will mean more time in the pool and hot tub.
Time in the pool? Sounds perfect, Sandy.
Having the wonderful opprotunity to be a young retiree makes everyday (in the words of a dear friend) Saturday. Or as I always say everyday is a vacation. I have always been a traveler and that has not changed from my working life to my retired life. But, one thing that I do more of is day trips. Living in the Capital Region of NYS, there are so many diverse places we can get to in an hour or less. So when we do venture out we treat it as “the type of day we would have if we were on vacation.” We try to head out as tourist in our home town. When we get home, we always feel as if we were miles away.
That is a great opportunity, Margaret. And the day trips!