June 2008

Go Green for Your Family Vacation

High fuel prices may make some families hesitate to take a vacation this summer. Keep the vacation but reduce its impact on the environment and its cost. Spend your vacation time closer to home, exploring fun activities which are within walking distance of home, or ones you can get to using public transportation. Or, you could allow one tank of gas for the entire week and limit your activities to what can be reached with that.

Do take time off work and away from household chores. A break in the routine allows time for rest and stress relief. Make time to reconnect with loved ones without interruptions from cell phone or email. Behave as if you were off in a very remote location where you cannot be reached for any reason.

Here are a few ideas to spark your own creativity. Some of them require advance planning just as you would do anyway when taking a trip. Get the rest of your family involved—anticipation is part of the fun.

• Go camping in your own backyard. Set up the tent and sleeping bags, cook all your meals on the grill or a camping stove. Make s’mores and tell ghost stories. Take an evening “hike” around your neighborhood to see how different things look in the dark. No reservations are required for this camp site, and the bathrooms are the best you’ll ever find!

• Play tourist in your own community and visit the sites you would take out of town visitors to see. In the metropolitan St. Louis area, there are hundreds of historic sites, museums and other tourist attractions. Many are free. See how many you can visit using public transportation like Metro. Spend a day thoroughly exploring one area like Forest Park, Laclede’s Landing or the Loop.

• Pack lunch in a backpack (keep food safety in mind!) and head off on foot or bikes for playgrounds and parks in your community. Take along a ball for some active play and a blanket for quiet relaxation. Don’t forget plenty of water and sunscreen.

• Play some new games with your kids either at the park or in your own backyard. The website www.verbnow. com/game_generator has some very creative ideas. Rope Golf is one example. To play, use a jump rope to make a circle in the yard or driveway. With a whiffle bat and ball try to hit the ball into the circle. You can keep score by counting the number of strokes it takes or make the winner the one who gets the most holes-in-one.

• If you live in town, spend a day on a farm or vice-versa. Set up a one day exchange program to experience what it is like to live in a different kind of community. Invite a family you know who lives in a different area to spend the day as your guest and another day in their community. Set up the day like one of those reality shows on TV where you and your guests do exaggerated versions of typical activities.

• Set up your own version of The Amazing Race or a scavenger hunt in your neighborhood. Divide your family into teams and give each team a list of items to find or information to gather that will take them all over your neighborhood. Enlist the help of your kids ahead of time to make a family trophy to award the winning team.

• Plan a “get-to-know-your government” day. Call your local city or county representative and ask them to arrange a tour of city hall or the county courthouse. You and/or your children may be intrigued enough in what you see to become more involved in local government.

• Use one day to volunteer at a local food pantry, animal shelter, Habitat for Humanity building site, or with some other agency that depends on volunteers. Contact your church, United Way or one of the potential agencies to learn about volunteer opportunities ahead of time.