Shed a Little Light
This summer may be a bit trickier to slip off with the family for a vacation. Fuel prices, whether driving or flying, are becoming an issue that one cannot ignore unless you are driving an EV.
In our parts, this is not the vehicle of choice. Agricultural communities defer to the rigs that can haul and pull. Most run on diesel.
Rising prices across the board may limit a designated trip for the family, but there are ways to still enjoy these next few weeks of family time.
Why not try to re-define what vacation means, especially this summer?
Could it not be as simple as spending a day out of the house doing something that the kids have not done? A trip to Amarillo or Midland to catch a minor league baseball game. Maybe spend one night in a restored motel, hopefully with a pool. Keep a running scorecard (if you live in an urban area) and take the family to go play miniature golf once a week and then declare the winner based on best average at the end of the summer. Ice cream runs in the summer count for vacation, too, so either hit the soda shops or teach your kids how to make homemade and let them have fun with all the toppings.
In addition, we live in an area with several wonderful museums, some in your own communities. Find the local contact, get the key, take the kids, and let them ooh and ahh over old phones, the county’s largest snakeskin, and butter churns. You might be surprised by what a child finds interesting.
Local libraries will be open with programs. Find a way to bring those books home, perhaps a reward at the end of the summer or let your kids have a book club in your house with snacks provided. Can you imagine listening to some 8 or 9-year old children hashing out The Cat in the Hat or Charlotte’s Web?
Live music and dancing. Plan an evening when your back porch becomes the dance floor. All family members get to choose the playlist.
Teaching two-step or dancing the macarena or the latest Bruno Mars moves would be epic family fun— and funny. Grandparents should be included but make sure no one breaks a hip trying to show they “still got it.”
In our area there are several national museums that can be done in a day. Build up the visit and then throw in a trip to the local arcade, movie theater, or favorite eating place.
Lubbock has the National Ranching Heritage Museum, the Silent Wings Museum honoring World War II glider pilots, the American Windmill Museum (the largest windmill museum in the world), and a National Historic site at the Lubbock Lake Landmark.
Within driving range is the WASP Museum in Sweetwater, another national museum that highlights the work of the women pilots during WWII who were vital in aviation transport to help the war cause.
As with all of these, check websites or call in order to get times the museums are open during weekdays and weekends. Most have general admission prices in the $10 range, but senior citizens and students usually get a discount.
Go fishing, have a whiffle ball home run derby every night in the back yard, or play cards.
Poker losses to a kid may be embarrassing, but it won’t cost you as much as the gas pump.