What's new

Mini Vacations | Pad Patter 2.25

IntenseMagic

IntenseMagic

Some grannies cuss a lot. I'm some grannies.
Pollywog
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Messages
13,317
I was visiting with and talking to my mom today. She was telling me that both my nieces were in Pigeon Forge, TN this weekend, and my daughter and her family were not far in Gatlinburg, TN. That area is a super popular vacation/getaway destination for many in this area, and I guess I just don't get it :giggle. Lots of people I know go there all the time. I've been there a few times, but mostly for something specific like Dollywood or the aquarium or something that the kids wanted to do once, not just for a getaway. I mean, I look at mountains all day every day, when I go on vacation I want to see other stuff like the beach or something interesting.

So, I'm just wondering...where do you like to go for mini vacations or weekend getaways?
 
Last edited:
Not necessarily for mini vacations but I often (pre covid) would travel an hour or two south of where I live and spend the afternoon there - long enough to do something different and not too expensive to travel to either
 
littlekiwi said:
Not necessarily for mini vacations but I often (pre covid) would travel an hour or two south of where I live and spend the afternoon there - long enough to do something different and not too expensive to travel to either
Click to expand...
Yes...that is exactly what I'm planning to do next weekend. We're going to go on a day trip, but not to the mountains LOL
 
Funny you ask that just after I spend a weekend not far from our home, to the mountains lol

I didn't get to see much snow when I was young so whenever I can get a chance to see some it makes me happy. This time we went away for the weekend to see what they call "snow monsters" at Mount Zao, trees are glazed with snow and ice, morphing them into strange monster looking figures.
https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/418/

Apparently it is not such a common effect of nature and only a few places in the world get that effect (I think 2 in Japan and one in Germany as far I know). It involves, winds, temperature, humidity etc.

It was a day trip originally but since the departure was pretty early I decided to take a room in town so that I don't have to wake up at 5 to drive and get to the bus in the big town.

I think we are very lucky to live where we are because we have the sea and the mountain not far away.
 
We haven't really done mini vacations. Before 2022, my husband and I hadn't been on a vacation together for a dozen years. I finally threatened to go without him if he didn't start going. We do have property in Long Beach, WA that we can visit. We don't get there often enough.

I did take Kennedy (my grandson) on a mini vacation at the end of 2022. We went on a little cruise that left out of Ft. Lauderdale and went to the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. Ironically, there was an ice storm in Seattle, so our flight home was canceled and we were unexpectedly stuck in Florida for a couple of days that stretched over Christmas. No one was happy about that.
 
My family has a condo in Ocean City, so I used to go there for the weekend pretty regularly. My granddaughter and I used to go to Disney for 3-4 days once or twice a year when she was in middle and high school.

Lately my getaway weekends are to a hotel about 30 minutes from my house for scrapbooking retreats. We do that 4 times a year.
 
We have lots of choices depending on the type of experience we want. If we want to do big city fun, we can easily do Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, or head west to Minneapolis. For scenery & outdoor activities, there's lots of spots in Wisconsin we haven't visited yet. It's not a very far drive to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Ditto for down into northern Illinois (not in the Chicago area) or over into Iowa.
 
We don't take "real" week long vacations very often, so mostly we do fun weekends instead. Usually it involves camping and one of the many fabulous state parks in Michigan or we sometimes will take a weekend trip to Chicago to see a show or go shopping or watch a Cubs game. We live in a beach town so we can see the beach anytime, but we do still love to camp near a beach or lake. I'd love to live near the mountains and get to see more of that terrain! We do have some tiny mountains in Michigan and we love camping/hiking there too!
 
ninigoesdigi said:
Funny you ask that just after I spend a weekend not far from our home, to the mountains lol

I didn't get to see much snow when I was young so whenever I can get a chance to see some it makes me happy. This time we went away for the weekend to see what they call "snow monsters" at Mount Zao, trees are glazed with snow and ice, morphing them into strange monster looking figures.
https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/418/

Apparently it is not such a common effect of nature and only a few places in the world get that effect (I think 2 in Japan and one in Germany as far I know). It involves, winds, temperature, humidity etc.

It was a day trip originally but since the departure was pretty early I decided to take a room in town so that I don't have to wake up at 5 to drive and get to the bus in the big town.

I think we are very lucky to live where we are because we have the sea and the mountain not far away.
Click to expand...
That is so incredibly cool!! Mother Nature is wild!! Hope you had the most amazing time!!

umyesh said:
We like to go to my in-laws because it's a little warmer and they have a pool so we can swim privately for free.
Click to expand...
That sounds fabulous!!

scrapsandsass said:
We haven't really done mini vacations. Before 2022, my husband and I hadn't been on a vacation together for a dozen years. I finally threatened to go without him if he didn't start going. We do have property in Long Beach, WA that we can visit. We don't get there often enough.

I did take Kennedy (my grandson) on a mini vacation at the end of 2022. We went on a little cruise that left out of Ft. Lauderdale and went to the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. Ironically, there was an ice storm in Seattle, so our flight home was canceled and we were unexpectedly stuck in Florida for a couple of days that stretched over Christmas. No one was happy about that.
Click to expand...
Being stuck in FL sounds amazing, but not so much over Christmas lol.

Memaw2Wm said:
My family has a condo in Ocean City, so I used to go there for the weekend pretty regularly. My granddaughter and I used to go to Disney for 3-4 days once or twice a year when she was in middle and high school.

Lately my getaway weekends are to a hotel about 30 minutes from my house for scrapbooking retreats. We do that 4 times a year.
Click to expand...
Those scrapbooking retreats sound great! My family had a condo in SC, but it was recently sold, so we are exploring other vacation options this year.

meganmecrazy said:
We don't do any type of getaway/mini vaca often but when we do we like to go to Lake Erie Beaches!
Click to expand...
My hubby grew up going to Lake Erie and Lake Michigan Beaches. He is from northern Indiana.

bonnenuit said:
We have lots of choices depending on the type of experience we want. If we want to do big city fun, we can easily do Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, or head west to Minneapolis. For scenery & outdoor activities, there's lots of spots in Wisconsin we haven't visited yet. It's not a very far drive to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Ditto for down into northern Illinois (not in the Chicago area) or over into Iowa.
Click to expand...
We are not far from lots of different kinds of experiences as well. I think that's why I don't like to just go see mountains when we see them all the time. I want to do like beaches, or cities, or different scenery.

Karen said:
We don't take "real" week long vacations very often, so mostly we do fun weekends instead. Usually it involves camping and one of the many fabulous state parks in Michigan or we sometimes will take a weekend trip to Chicago to see a show or go shopping or watch a Cubs game. We live in a beach town so we can see the beach anytime, but we do still love to camp near a beach or lake. I'd love to live near the mountains and get to see more of that terrain! We do have some tiny mountains in Michigan and we love camping/hiking there too!
Click to expand...
That's what I'm thinking we're going to do this year... instead of a real week long vacation, just doing some long weekends. With everyone working now, it's hard to find a whole week that everyone can be off work. I love MLB games, and I need to check schedules to see if there's any we can get to. My hubby is a lifelong Cubs fan (he's from northern IN, not far from Chicago).
 
This gurl is game for any type of getaway. Mini or week long. Mountains, beach or city! Bring it on! I basically mix a little bit of each into my world. :-)
 
Back
Top