by Patti Mcquillen

Created on: February 27, 2009

Keeping vacations simple is the best way to have a vacation. I learned this through the years as I planned a myriad of getaways for my family. In the beginning, I spent hours combing through books for the best attractions. I worried about the amenities at hotels and compared them with the ferociousness of a tiger. We only ate at restaurants I carefully chose, not the ones we just happened to find.

No day passed without me checking my plans and monitoring the time spent for each activity. Then, it dawned on me that I spent more of our vacation worrying than I did relaxing. What a waste of energy!

Now, I look for a few ideas we can all enjoy and a nice place to stay. I learned if a location actually lacks a good restaurant, it is okay. We survived, and actually enjoyed, many meals in our room or cabin. We did not need to dress for dinner, peruse a menu, and wait for a server to fill our drink glasses. Plus, we did not need to figure a tip!

These lessons became extra clear after we stayed at Cumberland Falls State Park. Yes, the restaurant at the lodge really was the only place to eat, other than your room or cabin. The meals were mostly okay, the service was passable, and the cost was high. The best memories of eating at the lodge came from the rambunctious raccoons playing outside the floor to ceiling windows and the view of the breathtaking landscape.

We ate four meals at the lodge and then ate the rest in our cabin. These are the meals my family recalls when they share our memories. My favorite one involves cooking bacon on the hotplate part of the coffeemaker because the park did not have microwaves or real hotplates at the time! Yes, it does eventually work.

When I relaxed about the time we spent, and how we did it, I realized how much fun vacations are and the value of laying worry to the side. The time we spent at Perfect Slopes North, in Indiana, was a great adventure. It is a small area known for skiing and gambling that is it.

We could locate two places to eat: a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), and a Golden Corral. While we drove through the area, we did not check the clock or even read a map. We found two businesses bearing the names of my kids, which was an exciting time for them. I recall the way they began making stories about them actually owning these places.

This may all seem boring for some people; yet, for every moment spent worrying about vacation details, I have at least ten awesome ones with no worry. The main points are relax, have fun, keep everyone

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