Raise your hand if, like me, you became a staycationer in 2020.
First, we postponed our February trip to Ireland. Next, we postponed our April trip to Myrtle Beach, which we planned to attempt the first week of July. Well, that didn’t happen because of the recent surge in COVID-19 and my desire to not have to quarantine upon our return.
So, staycation it is.
I spent my week off last week actually relaxing. There was no packing, no hurried laundry to do, no schedule, no alarms. I stayed up late and slept in (well, some days). I meandered about my day. We took a few day trips, had ice cream for dinner and lived without any plan whatsoever.
My daughter feeling zen at Three Sisters Sanctuary. (HOPE E. TREMBLAY PHOTO)
It was actually a nice break, even from the normal vacation that tends to be a lot of work. I’m not saying dads don’t do a lot, so don’t take this the wrong way, but myself and my other mom friends tend to spend vacation doing, well, what amounts to work.
We plan, we pack, we unpack, we cook, we clean, we entertain, we pack again, we unpack again, we clean again and in between we are the schedule keepers and day planners. We tend to spend all of our family trips visiting relatives in South Carolina, but even that includes all of the above. I return exhausted and in need of a staycation!
So this year I got it. And I may get another one before this unusual year is over. And it was fun. On my first day off we visited a barn sale in Greenfield that I have been wanting to check out for a while. Another day my husband and I went alone to the Berkshires without any particular plan and ended up taking a ride and getting lunch. Another day was Girls Day and my mother-in-law and daughter and I went to Three Sisters Sanctuary in Goshen (read my “Daytripper” story on that in the July 16 paper). We also ventured as a family one day with no destination and ended up in one of my favorite Massachusetts places – Salem.
I have to admit that I really dislike getting in the car without a destination. It puts me on edge. I have never been a person who enjoys a car ride to nowhere. My kids don’t like it either, but my husband loves it. Read more about that in this week’s edition of my Daytripper series, which will be on Thursdays throughout the summer. I will share some of my experiences visiting New England staycation destinations you can visit in a day.
What are some of your favorite staycation spots? Let us know where we should venture to next – drop me a note at [email protected].
