I have always been intrigued by the term "staycation". The concept became pretty popular a few years ago when the stock market crashed and the reality of a new economy took hold. As gas prices rose and real income dropped, vacation dollars were scratched from budgets all across the country - ours included.
The word, defined as 'a holiday in which leisure activities are pursued while staying in one's own home', was added to the Webster's dictionary in 2009... that same year we set off on a staycation of our own, spending the better part of a summer's week in Erie, PA with my in-laws, enjoying many of the activities that a home by Lake Erie offers by day, sleeping at Nana and Pap's house each night.
With Rich spending the week in Alaska for work (and at $1600 per plane ticket, a totally out-of-reach tag-along opportunity for the three of us), Matt, Cathy and I found our own fun much closer to home.
First up - the Kutztown Folk Festival ($14 for adults, kids under 12 were free and I am told there were coupons available for $3 off each adult admission), one of the things we used to do with my parents growing up (Gettysburg, Ocean City, NJ, and Luray Caverns in VA also stand out in my mind though they weren't a part of this trip). I remember the festival as being more about a way of life. Now it strikes me as more of a craft show. And since I come from Central PA and the always fantastic Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, other crafts shows are a huge disappointment for me. In fact, the only 'art' I even looked at was something that friends were purchasing for their kids.
There were some glimpses of that older way of life - we watched as kernels of corn were removed from the cob - both by kids hands and by old farm equipment, we watched as barley was separated from hay, we watched a very talented gentleman make a beautiful glass pitcher in a matter of minutes, we fed small farm animals and learned about how wash was done before the invention of the washing machine. We added to the kid's mural and made crafts for Grammy. I enjoyed all of these things and I think the kids did to.
Interestingly, my clearest memory of long-ago trips to the festival involves pigs. Specifically, butchering them. I don't think they do that anymore (I didn't see it anywhere) which is probably a good thing considering the age of the kids and the fact that I would like them to keep eating all the yummy things the butcher makes from the pig.
Speaking of food, I think the festival would have been a little better if I had kids who were interested in eating something more exotic than hot dogs or french fries - they had what looked like a great variety of German/PA Dutch foods and I'll bet they were all delicious. Maybe the next time we go we can take better advantage of that... I don't know when that will be, but I am pretty sure it won't be any time soon. If I want to take a trip into the past, I'm heading back to Colonial Williamsburg.
The next morning, the kids and I met a friend and her two kids (including my godson) at the Lehigh Valley Zoo, (adults $9.75, children $7.75) which I remember as the Trexler Game Preserve from a class trip somewhere during my catholic school days. I honestly remembered very little about the zoo - mainly the prairie dogs. And this time around, with temperatures hovering near a thousand degrees (well, not really a thousand but easily approaching 100) the prairie dogs were smart enough to hide in their underground tunnels.
One of my favorite things here is that they're really focused on educating visitors about the animals; you can find an employee or intern by just about every exhibit and they will happily share what they know about the animals with you. Among the highlights of the trip - watching the staff feed the penguins, feeding the Lorikeets nectar from a cup, and digging for bones in the children's section of the zoo.
If I were to compare it to other zoo's I've been to, I would have to put it down toward the bottom of the list just because I have seen some great zoos (San Diego Zoo, Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, National Zoo, Philadelphia Zoo). This is probably the first zoo I have taken the kids to where I wasn't in danger of being pushed back out through the gates because it was closing time. Still, we spent over four hours at the zoo, which was longer than I expected based on feedback I'd gotten from friends who had been there.
I spent Monday night with my parents...so getting back from the zoo early gave me a chance to head out and do a little child-free shopping and some extra time to spend with people that I love but don't see as often as I'd like.
What could be better than that?
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