Our family decided that our annual summer road trip had to be temporarily shelved due to rising gas prices, but that doesn't mean our love of budget travel had to be shelved as well. I bought a guide book to Western New York at the local bookstore and decided that instead of going away on vacation, we were going to take a summer staycation. This summer I will attempt to bring my family to local attractions we've never experienced before and act like tourists in our own area. Today's outing was to Niagara Falls, NY, about 20 minutes from my hometown. [View Full Entry]

---

---

My boys are blissfully unaware of the mania that surrounds the Jonas Brothers. That name was not lost however, on the thousands of other people at this year's White House Easter Egg Roll. Apparently the boy band is why the line formed so early Friday morning for tickets. So although they were already on stage playing when we arrived at the event, we didn't feel the need to fight our way through the mob to get a better view. Instead, we headed straight over to the line for the egg roll. In addition to rolling eggs, we colored bunny ears, listened [View Full Entry]

---

---

This entry is for the compulsive over planners out there. I know who you are and how you think, because I'm just like you. So here it is friends; I am going to spill the beans, share the trade secrets, give you everything I know about getting tickets to and attending the White House Easter Egg Roll. Hopefully this will help another family plan their Washington DC vacation. The Saturday before Easter, free timed entry tickets to the Egg Roll are distributed at the Ellipse Visitor Pavilion in Washington DC. You can get all the official information at this website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/easter/2008/ [View Full Entry]

---

---

Washington DC is a fantastic location to take a budget vacation. Most of the attractions in the District of Columbia are run by the government and free of charge. The kids are out of school so we piled into the car this past Wednesday and headed down to the Maryland/DC area where I have lots of family. We usually get to visit this part of the country twice a year. Each time we come I try to find something different for the family to do. By the time the boys are grown up, they will have seen everything there is to [View Full Entry]

---

---

While researching the Statue of Liberty, I learned it was always best to reserve your tickets for a tour online beforehand because they go fast at the ticket window. Unfortunately what I didn't realize is that you need to reserve them at least two days in advance. When I logged on Sunday night to get our tickets for Monday morning, I realized we had passed our window of opportunity. Without the tour tickets, you can't actually get inside Lady Liberty. I was determined that wouldn't ruin the trip however, and we decided to go anyway. You can still walk around the [View Full Entry]

---

---

This weekend was one of the best and worst weekends of my life. It was the best weekend because I got to see relatives that I love but don't see nearly enough. I consider it the worst because obviously, I buried my grandmother. I was not ready to let her to go yet (and I told her that this summer), but she was definitely ready to take her leave (as she told me this summer). She was tired and in pain, and as a devout Christian, she had no fear of the afterlife. On Saturday we attended her viewing in the [View Full Entry]

---

---

We got a later start than we hoped leaving Buffalo Friday morning. But eventually we made it to New York City...or as my children affectionately consider it, The Toy Store Mecca. Our first job was to find our reserved parking spot. Yes, you heard that correctly, you can reserve parking spots in Manhattan and have them waiting for you when you arrive. There is this great website at www.iconparking.com that lets you do just that. You choose which area of the city you are visiting and it shows what parking garages are available and compares their rates. How convenient is that?! [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ok, maybe I'm being a little melodramatic. I'm sure this isn't the very last time I'll get to New York City, but it might be the last time for a few years anyway. My beloved grandmother passed away and we're packing the family up to head out to Long Island for her funeral this weekend. I mentioned in an earlier blog entry that I tried to take the family out to the Hamptons once a year to see her. Every time we went to Long Island I'd say to myself, "next time we come we'll spend some time in the city." [View Full Entry]

---

---

Since the main purpose of this blog is to show my relatives (who rarely take vacations), and those of you like them, that it is possible to vacation affordably with the family, my Chicago entries wouldn't be complete without a spending wrap-up. Knowing we'd already gone away this summer, I didn't allocate a large budget for this getaway. I wanted to spend no more than $500. The good news is, we didn't overspend. Our total for 5 nights was $481.98. Here's how it breaks down: Lodging: free (gotta love staying with the relatives!) Groceries: $50.80 (Super Wal-Mart; we packed lunches each [View Full Entry]

---

---

Wednesday was the last day of our mini vacation to Chicago. We packed up all our stuff and got an early start because we had one more attraction to hit on the way out; The Museum of Science and Industry (www.msichicago.org). This was another cheap activity for us, because of the reciprocal admission. This museum also has lots of unadvertised free parking. If you follow the signs to the museum's parking garage, you'll pay $12. However, if you drive around to the back of the building, you'll be able to access a free parking lot off of Lake Shore Drive. There [View Full Entry]

---

---