Spring Break Adventure on a Budget

It’s almost Spring Break time!  Many of you have already made travel plans, but what if you are trying to get out of debt?  How do you justify a spring break vacation while you are shoveling yourself out of a financial mess?   Think about adventure ideas that you can do either from home or inexpensively so that you don’t go backwards on your debt reduction plan.  Honestly, the idea is that you spend less now so that you have the freedom to travel and adventure debt free later on.  What can you do that is affordable yet fun?  First you have to think outside the box.  Here are my favorite ideas for an inexpensive spring break:

Camping – when I was growing up, my dad raced snowmobiles, so we stayed in our camper all year.  If you have one, think of it as an option in cold weather as well as warm.  Here in Wyoming it will still be fairly cold in March, but if you live where it’s warmer, you could tent camp too.  Go out and see what the forest is like as it’s waking up from winter.

Hiking – take day trips to hike local trails.  A Wyoming day trip is anywhere you can get to within 3 hours, but we’re used to having to drive longer distances to get places.  Look for the best trails in your area, maybe the ones that you normally overlook because you like to go to new destinations.  Pack a lunch and spend the entire day, then go home to enjoy sleeping in your own bed.  Part of the reason we want to try to do a lot of outdoor activities is because we are enjoying the first taste of spring, and it’s affordable to play outside.  And this helps us to feel like we’ve had a vacation.

Do an historical road trip – look up local historical sites, read about them, then do a history tour.  In Wyoming we have the Oregon trail, Fort Bridger, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and much more.  All states have cool historical sites to check out, and often when we’re travelling we don’t take the time to stop and read about them as we drive past them.

Do a “shop hop” – set a small budget, then go check out your locally owned small town shops.  See what you can find at the local fly shop, or sporting goods store.  Because you set a small budget it forces you to look at all the cool little small things in these stores.  Like hiking socks, fly line, water bottles.

Spend one night in a hotel within a few hours from home.  Those places that are close enough to home that we usually just cruise past them.  Go out for dinner, see the local tourist spots.  Take your bikes and find local bike trails.  Get a hotel with a pool and spend the evening swimming.

Try a new sport.  Rent mountain bikes, fat tire bikes, or paddle boards for just one day.  We try new things when we are on vacation, think about new things you can try close to home.  This also gives you a chance to see if you really like something before you invest in new gear for yourself (after you’re debt free of course).  We all know that person who bought a boat, or mountain bike, that they thought they would love but never use.

The only part I remember of the movie “Yes Man” is where they walk into an airport and buy a ticket to somewhere, totally unplanned.  I love the idea of finding a last minute plane ticket to wherever you can go for a really good deal and just going for it.  I recently got an e-mail from Frontier Airlines advertising cheap flights.  If you don’t care where you go, buy the cheapest flight you can get and spend a couple days exploring someplace new.  The deals I looked at were out of Denver, all between $39 and $54 one way.  There are many places you can fly to, but here’s a partial list of places listed that I figured I could find adventure at:  Dallas, Kansas City, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Houston, Memphis, Nashville, San Antonio.  Find a good deal on a hotel for just a couple of nights, remember we’re doing inexpensive trips, not full blown vacations.  We also aren’t planning on being in the hotel much anyway because we’re going out exploring, so as long as it’s clean and safe it’ll do.  Grab lunch at a local grocery store because you’re going to be out having fun all day.  I’m not partial to Frontier, check out all the airlines as well as sites such as Cheap Tickets.  Be open minded, all of these places have cool things to see and do.

Visit your local Chamber of Commerce and get tourist information.  Go and see whatever you can do in a day trip, but do something different each day.  Plan a baking day at home on one of your first break days, then take the stuff you make out for treats while you are exploring.  Do some photo shoots with different outfits, have some fun with it.  Take your kids dress up boxes, then let them dress however they want to because they have better imaginations than we do.  You’ll get some great photos, find fun things to do close to home, and again, get to sleep in your own bed.

Find a one day class you can take together.  Ideally close to home so that you only have the expense of the class.  Think fly fishing, rock climbing, dutch oven cooking, photography, fly tying, jewelry making, trail running.  This is a good time to do something you’ve seen advertised locally but usually don’t have the time to fit in.

Go to your closest campground with a dutch oven meal and your mountain bikes.  While your dinner is cooking go for a bike ride, close to the campground so that you can keep a close eye on your meal.  Again, we don’t usually stay at campgrounds just outside our home town, so it might be unexplored territory for you.

Living on a budget doesn’t mean that you can’t adventure.  What it means is that you may have to come up with new ideas for fun.  Chances are you will come up with ideas that are more fun than the traditional Spring Break anyway.  What are your best inexpensive Spring Break plans?

 

 

 

 

 

Setting Goals for the New Year

What are your goals for the new year?  It’s that time of year when we reflect on 2016 and think about what we want to accomplish in 2017.  Part of that goal setting inevitably includes physical goals.  I’m no different.  In fact, some of my physical goals are so good that they make it on the list every year, like to lose 20 pounds.  That one should be written in permanent marker on my list, carried over every single year.

2016 was a fantastic year for me.  I let go of some of the outside expectations and went after what I wanted, for the first time in my entire life.  And I focused on having fun instead of losing that same pesky 20 pounds that I have been worried about for the past 5 years.

Learning to paddleboard with my sister and our grandsons

So for 2017 I am approaching my goal setting in a new light.  I am worried about staying physically fit and healthy.  That should always be a priority.  And I do want to attend some races, something I usually do quite a bit, but I didn’t participate in any events in 2016.  And although it is fun to do these events, the most fun I have had is when I have gone on these adventures with one or more of my kids.

Dirty Dash with my youngest.  The family that muds together stays together.

Instead of setting goals for just myself for the new year, I am challenging myself in a different way.  I want to set my goals around fun instead of numbers.  I want to focus on learning new skills.  I want to make more time for myself.

These opportunities are more important that any housework that needs to be done.

I’m doing away with setting goals based on weight loss, and concentrate more on participating in life.  I like to show my kids that getting outdoors and being active is fun, and the best way to do that is to do these things together.

My son and I after the Lander, Wyoming 1/2 marathon.

My challenge to you is to include your family in your new year goals.  Maybe make a plan to go on a hike with our kids once a week.  Maybe go on a family run.  Pick out a 5K together with your spouse.  Color runs, bubble runs, and mud runs are really fun for kids of all ages.  I did a sprint length triathlon once with one of my daughters and it was a blast.

Two of my daughters and a friend after a color run.

What new skill would you like to learn with your child, spouse, sister?  These types of activities teach our children to love being active, being outside, and being together.  And they help us to stay active and schedule fun into our weeks.

My daughter and I at the Strip at Night 1/2 marathon in Las Vegas.

I haven’t been able to talk any of my kids into doing Ragnar with me, but I have every intention of trying to rope at least one of them into doing the Grand Teton Relay with myself and some of my friends this summer.  And I might even take a rock climbing course with my youngest.  The years go by quickly and 2017 will be no exception.  Don’t let the year pass by you without enjoying it.  Let’s make a plan now to make this our best year yet.  How are you going to incorporate fun into your new year goals?

 

 

To Catch a Fish

Looking back over this past year, I realized that I have been blessed to be able to do more fishing than I have in a long time.  Water has always been my happy place, whether it be floating a river, or swimming in a lake.  I have been on several different waters, each one bringing different types of happiness.  So what have I learned through this year’s adventures?

My hands were freezing but it was worth it!

 

First, I have learned that it doesn’t matter a whole lot to me how I catch a fish, there is always excitement that comes from finding that a fish took the bait that you offered.  It feels like a form of acceptance, like I did something right.  It’s surprising how satisfying that feeling can be.

This year I have hooked several very large lake trout.  They can be heavy and challenging to bring in, or they can be smaller with more fight and still challenging to land.  I have caught bass, and they offer a different type of fight.  Maybe not as exciting as trout, but are fun to bring in and then send back out in the water.  So far I have not met a fish I didn’t like.

All in all though trout remain my very favorite fish to catch.  The surprise that you can feel in them when they realize they’ve been hooked and try to fight their way off the line makes bringing them in so much fun.  Although these fish may be a bit smaller, the excitement they bring in a catch outweighs the bigger fish by far in my mind.

I am not a fishing snob, I like fishing in all forms.  But there is a whole new level of excitement that I get from catching a fish on my fly rod.  I don’t know whether it is because it is a bit more challenging, or it is the raw feeling of stripping in a fish by the fly line, but it brings on a feeling of accomplishment that I haven’t found in many other places.  It makes you pay attention to your surroundings, find what is hatching, perfect your presentation, watch your fly.  I have a short attention span, I like recasting often, watching for the moment to set the hook, being attentive and mindful while at the same time disconnecting from the rest of the world.

Nothing beats a bend rod

 

No matter the size of the fish, there is a connection you feel with a fish while landing it, holding it gently while snapping a few photos, then carefully reintroducing it into the water so that it can swim home.  Even if I experience a epic fish flop it is one of the most edifying experiences I can have on the water.

Fish flop,  oops

It gives me a whole new respect for our natural resources.  It affords me the chance to feel my connection with the earth.  It helps me to escape from whatever is happening in my day-to-day life for a while.  And it gives  me a chance to spend a day outside in the wild hiding from stress and responsibilities.  It offers a fantastic opportunity for  family connections.

 

I have many more fish I want to catch; on the rivers like salmon, and on the ocean.  There are trips to plan on both new waters and familiar waters.  There are hours to be spent both alone and with family.  I can’t think of many better ways to spend my free time, and I am excited to see what 2017 will bring my way.

Just because he’s incredibly cute

On Gratitude

Its Thanksgiving week, so gratitude is on all of our minds. I like the daily posts where friends list the things they are grateful for.  It’s such a good reminder for us to count our blessings, and hopefully it kicks us into the mode of thinking about those blessings every day all year.  Although it is good to think inward like this, today I want you to think outward.

How great would it be if we made this time of year more fun by doing some kind of service project for someone else? Every year our family does a service for another family anonymously, and it’s the most satisfying Christmas tradition we have.  I’ve learned that it’s really hard to feel sorry for myself when I am serving others.  And it never fails that when I turn my attention toward others, my blessings seem to multiply.

Is there someone around you that could benefit from some extra help this year? How about the people we are surrounded by?  Our coworkers, neighbors, family, people we go to church with, the girl who works at the coffee shop.  Is there something we can do to make them feel more blessed?

My challenge for you this week is to come up with some kind of plan to help someone else this holiday season. If you have kids, include them in the planning, kids are great at noticing when others need something.  If you really want to have fun, do this anonymously.  That way the people receiving help feel no obligation; and if they don’t know who these blessings came from, they tend to look at everyone around them differently.

Here’s a list of ideas to get you started:

-Make cookies and take them to neighbors.

-Put a holiday meal together in a box for a family in need. Play ding dong ditch: leave the box on their porch one evening, ring the doorbell, and run.  This is a blast!

-Provide Christmas for a family who is struggling this year. If you do this through your church or school, you can get a list of what they need, then drop the gifts off with them without the family knowing where they came from.  Church leaders and teachers know who needs help, and it puts the holiday in perspective for your kids when they are choosing gifts for other children who are asking for basic items such as coats and gloves.

-Shovel the neighbor’s sidewalks early in the morning before they get up.

-Get a list of seniors that live alone from your local senior citizens center and go caroling at their homes. It’s even better if you bring cookies.

-Go caroling at a nursing home.

-If you see a project someone in your neighborhood is working on, stop and help.

-Leave an extra big tip for your waitress.

-Pick up some $5 gift cards and hand them out to people, like you barista, or the kid that delivers your newspaper, anyone who seems like they could use a boost in their day.

-Volunteer to help a group wrap packages in the mall.

-Serve a meal at your local soup kitchen.

-Donate blankets you aren’t using to a homeless shelter.

-Call a battered women’s shelter and see if there are people staying there that need gifts. Sometimes these places get donations of gifts, but don’t have basics such as school supplies and things you have around your house already.

-Send care packages or cards to military members who are deployed over the holidays. (This is a favorite project of mine to do all year)

Hopefully this gives you some ideas to get started. Pick something that fits within your budget.  Make the time for it, it will be well worth it and teach your family an invaluable lesson.  Make this a whole season of gratitude, sharing your time and resources in order to make someone else’s holiday a bit brighter.