How about staying here this year? My husband asked.
What do you mean? I said.
We can do a staycation. There are all these places and things within Minnesota we never have the time or enough money to do. Instead of spending money on a hotel or accommodations we can use that money for activities. We’ll have a family meeting and everyone can list what they would like to do. He replied.
Why not? I replied.
That’s how our staycation idea developed. A staycation is not a new idea and there are many different ways to plan one. This was how we did it. We first made a couple of guidelines to help us plan our sleeping at home vacation.
Our Guidelines:
Anywhere we went we needed to be able to return to our house at night. So I didn’t feel the need to be picking up and deep cleaning when we were home, the house was put into order like we were leaving on vacation. And to make staying at home still feel vacation-like, we bought treats and vacation food for breakfast and snacks. Several weeks prior to vacation, we had a family meeting and everyone (Mom, Dad, Malcolm age 12, Emily age 9) got to chose one activity that they had been wanting to do for a long time. This gave us time to book and get tickets to a couple of the activities we needed to schedule in advance. My husband and I filled in additional ideas and places. Besides, the activities they suggested, to make it more fun, we didn’t let our kids know the whole plan for the week. We announced each night before bed, where we would be going the next day. The last rule: We tried to pick things that we had not done together as a family before.
In the end, this is what our one week staycation looked like.
Monday: This was our most ambitious driving day. Tobies for breakfast (they are known for their world-famous rolls), Lake Superior, Split Rock Lighthouse, Gooseberry Falls, a Stop at Two Harbors and a drive over the Aerial Lift Bridge in Duluth. Whew!
Tuesday: Was another busy day, but we didn’t have to drive so far. We went Horseback Riding at Iron Woods Springs Christian Ranch and then saw the fun and upbeat musical Newsies at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre.
Wednesday: All Day Biking on the Root River Trail. We brought the kids bikes and then rented our bikes at The Little River General Store in Lanesboro. It was a really hot day so in hindsight, we should have went tubing down the Root instead.
Thursday: Explored Winona. Gavin Heights Lookout Point, visited the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, which focuses on great art inspired by water, then we took a short stop at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church to admire the architecture, and briefly visited the Watkins factory.
Friday: We were still going strong so we spent the morning at Fort Snelling, most of the afternoon at Minnesota History Center, a brief stop at the Cathedral of Saint Paul since it was right across from the History Centre (and one of the family members loves historic buildings), and then we had dinner at our favorite Afghan restaurant the Khyber Pass Cafe.
Saturday: Movie Day: We were starting to feel our week of activities. Well, at least my husband and I were. So we had a leisurely morning and then went to the movies together and saw Incredibles 2.
Sunday: Since, Monday my husband and I were going to be back at work. We went to church and then at night had a bonfire in the backyard, reliving all the fun things we did throughout the week.
Our staycation actually was a lot of fun. We did things together locally as a family that we just never would have been able to squeeze in. I feel like our staycation accomplished what family vacations should, exploring new things, focused family time, memories, and a fair amount of time driving in the car. Our visit to the Cathedral of Saint Paul will always be labeled by my children, “as the time we church crashed a wedding.” I’m still maintaining our innocence.
