Fall and winter may not be the time of the year when most people get to vacation, but travelers who do their research may find that some of the best bargains occur during the non traditional vacation months when the summer weather is only a memory. Families with school age children, in fact, often find themselves searching for unique and affordable travel destinations once the school year has started. Even in the midwest, which is often not a popular travel option, families can find a way to create the perfect family get away.
Fall Camping Provides a Perfect Family Escape
At the same time many families are packing up their camping equipment at the end of the summer, some of the wisest parents are making plans for a couple more outings. Taking advantage of the lower rates at campsites once summer has ended, these parents realize that a couple more weekends with their children is important. The school year can be both fast and furious, so parents who create time for a weekend by the lake fishing and hiking are creating lasting memories for children of any age.
The Open Prairie Paints a Perfect Canvas
When your children are little, their interests are often much simpler than you might imagine. And while many parents will go to extreme measures and spare no expense to create a vacation to and wildly popular theme park, other parents realize getting away from the city and chaos might be a better plan. Plenty of opportunities are available for little girls to run the open spaces of the Little House on the Prairie if you visit spots in South Dakota and Missouri. And there are many ranches in the midwest that will allow the youngest of cow pokes to explore life that is a little more rustic. Be warned, however. Your young ones may want to visit the land of sleeping in covered wagons, making their own food, and washing their own laundry more than once!
Follow the Child to the Best Adventures
Maria Montessori may have been the best travel planner. Although the educational pioneer’s lessons and works were never intended to inspire vacations, the truth is parents who follow the interests of their children can find some unique and affordable travel adventures. From retracing part of the Oregon Trail to visiting lesser known monuments that children study in school, a great Fall Break vacation option is to visit the places your children have only read about in books. Elementary classes that focus on state history, for example, can serve as a perfect spring board to your family’s next travel spot.
Vacations are sacred times for families that find themselves too often trapped in a world of soccer practices, dance lessons, and high school tests. Most parents realize, however, that these days when the whole family can vacation together may no last forever. As a result, parents who want to create lasting memories with their children find ways squeeze in one more camping trip at the end of the summer, explore open spaces on the prairie far from the city center, and capitalize on the interests of children when planning the next family trip.
Where Do You Turn When Your Perfect Family is No Longer So Perfect?
A recent New York Times article indicated that there are areas of the country where not only families, but schools, are being destroyed by the opioid crisis. As teenagers find access to Vicodin, Percocet, and other kinds of high powered pain medications, they put themselves at risk of entering the opioid crisis. In fact, more than 2 million Americans each year are affected by prescription opioid misuse. Sometimes by adults, sometimes by teenagers. Finding a solution to the opioid crisis is not an easy task as the changes to government recommendations and aggressive marketing by pharmaceutical companies have led to a dramatic increase in the last 25 years in prescriptions of oxycodone for long-term use with chronic pain patients.
In a time when parents would much rather be planning the perfect family outings and vacations, there are mothers and fathers across the country who are having to carefully study drug information to make certain that no one in their family falls victim and joins the opioid crisis that is putting an entire nation at risk.