You don't have the money or the time to take a full vacation, but you still want to go somewhere. Instead of thinking a full blown vacation, think just getting out of the house for a couple days. If you tone down what you think a vacation is, you will be able to go and take a weekend vacation and be just as happy. So what are some things that you can do over a weekend?
-Camping Trip-
During the warmer weather a simple weekend vacation can be taken in the form of a camping trip. Find a camping area or site close to your home so that you can set up camp after work on Friday. If you go and get set upon Friday night you will have all day Saturday to play. Can't think of what to do on a camping trip? Well, there is hiking out in nature, sitting around a campfire talking, or just sitting around camp playing games and relaxing. It doesn't have to be complicated just away from home.
-Ski Lodge Trip-
If you are fortunate to live near the mountains a trip to the local ski lodge would make a good weekend vacation. Spending all day Saturday and Sunday morning hitting the slopes or the sledding hills is a great way to spend a weekend. If you aren't into winter activities, there is usually a little town near the lodge where you can go shopping or just wander around the area enjoying the mountains. If you are more the indoors type, hang out by the fire and get lost in a good book.
-State Capitol-
No matter where you live in your state (except the larger ones like California and Texas), your State Capitol is usually accessible for a weekend vacation. Take the kids and head to the Capitol to visit the historic sites for your state and the government buildings. It may not be exciting but it is something that everyone should do at least once, besides you may enjoy it more then you want to let on. Besides the historic and government sites, state capitols are usually home to other more entertaining venues such as; a Zoo, sports teams, amusement parks, water parks, ECT. The Capitol naturally has a larger population so there is more to do. To find out more, do a search on the internet to find out what your State Capitol has in store for you.
-Closest City-
Just like with the state capitol, the larger cities around you have a larger population so they naturally have more to do. Find out what the city has to offer for you and your family and make a game plan. Figure out what you want to do over your weekend there and when. Just make sure not to try and get in too many things over a short period of time. If you find that there is so much to do and you can't cut anything out, try and spread it over two weekend trips or take an extra day off of work.
In some of the larger cities there is a company called City Pass that has put together a ticket booklet of the major attractions in certain cities. It is cheaper to buy the booklet then everything separate and they have things in there that you may never have thought of to do. To get more information and to find if they offer a City Pass for the city you are going to be visiting visit their website.
-Local Festivals-
Depending on where you live and what time of year it is, you may be able to take a short weekend vacation to enjoy a local festival. For example, where I live in Idaho each of the small towns like to have their own celebration to draw people into their town. It could be the Dogwood Festival for Lewiston, Rathdrum Days for the town of Rathdrum or Lumber Jack days for the town of Orofino. It doesn't matter what it is called what matters is that some of these little towns go all out for these festivals and they are a lot of fun. On top of that, the people are very friendly and you never know you may meet a new friend or a new business contact over a local brew in the beer garden.
The best way to find out about these festivals is to pay attention to local community calendars through your news stations, the newspapers and even local sales publications. The towns like to advertise these festivals but they may not have enough money in their town budget to advertise big, so keep your eyes open in smaller local publications. Another great way to find out is by word of mouth, if you hear something from a friend contact the Town Hall and get more information.