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Look Before You Leak

I actually like fishing, but not necessarily for the obvious reasons. It really doesn’t matter to me if I catch anything. I like hanging out by the water listening to the stream, feeling the sun and hearing the birds. Sometimes, when you are still and quiet, the birds forget you are there and will go about their business. It’s cool to watch. The best part about fishing is that it looks like you are doing something. People don’t bother you when you are doing something.  So, when my friend Patti and my brother David hatched the idea of one last trip up the canyon to our fishing spot before the river closed for the fall, I was all in.  The fishing spot is about sixty miles away and up in the mountains. (I’m not going to tell you exactly where. It’s not personal. It’s just that when I get there next time with the intent of doing nothing while looking like I’m doing something, I don’t want to find you doing nothing in my spot.)  The spot is kind of remote. You have to park in a grav
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The Pain of Packing

Traveler’s Lament I love to travel. I hate to pack. I want to pack light. I hate it when I don't have something I need. I want to have a travel wardrobe. I hate spending a ton of money on one piece of clothing. I love cruising. I don't cruise often enough to be good at packing for a cruise. I love traveling with the whole family. It is hard to transport everyone's luggage . Have you ever felt like this when you are trying to plan and pack for a trip?   Here are some tips that will help de-stress your travel planning and packing. Talk about the baggage plan ahead of time. Before you even leave for your trip....  Before you even start packing.... Talk with your family about packing. Set some expectations about how much each person will reasonably need to bring on the trip. Remind yourself and your family members that you don’t have to bring everything you own. Be sure to emphasize the "only as much as you can carry yourself" principle. It is tru
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Your Backyard

Bo & Vine Burger Bar To celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday, we did a walking tour of downtown Salem, Oregon. Pretty much the whole family joined in at one point or another. We spent several hours following a tour map of the downtown area. We walked at a leisurely pace, stopped in at several little stores and learned a lot about the history of the area and the buildings. During this adventure, several things occurred to me. 
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$20 and a Strip Mall

When we are traveling over Christmas break, we generally count part of the trip as the “gift” we give to each other and then spend less on traditional gifts. This helps reduce the number of items we have to pack and bring with us.   We also have a family tradition for when we are traveling. A game, if you will.  The rules are pretty simple.  Find a touristy shopping area. A strip mall or some downtown area will do nicely. You do not want it to be very big. For instance, a few years ago we played this game in the small waterfront shopping area in Bandon, Oregon. It’s about two main streets wide and five or so blocks long. If you were desperate, you could use a department store, but I don’t recommend it. You must clearly establish the geographic boundaries before the game starts. Some people will cheat on this point, but set out the boundaries anyway. (I’m looking at you Lana and Mom.)
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The Side Trip

Rouge River Gorge You’ve planned your trip. As you execute the schedule that you have created, you find that it leaves you with time to spare.   In fact, you will likely find that throughout the trip, there are time blocks between your “main events”. What do you do with the extra time? Enter the “Side Trip”.   What is a Side Trip? It’s a small trip, from a few hours to a few days, that is embedded in your longer vacation. For a side trip, you keep your base of operation the same and venture out from there. Sometimes the side trip is spontaneous, when you unexpectedly find that you have a few free hours and are able to take in a local attraction. Sometimes you can plan your side trip ahead of time.   There are basically three types of side trips.
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Seven In A Six Pack

I’ve always liked the Bon Marche. It could be because of the bargain basement at the Tacoma Mall store, but I think the real reason is because that is the first credit card I ever got to use. Of course I didn’t use it at the store and it wasn’t my card. One year my family planned  a trip to Disneyland over Christmas break. On the way, we would stop in Fallon, Nevada to visit my Grandma Mary’s brothers, Tom and Carry.  In order to share the driving and spend time together and last, but not least, save some money, we would all be riding and staying together and my grandparent’s 25 foot 1970’s era RV.  The RV uncomfortably slept six if you pressed the upper cupboard over the dining table into a bunk. To be fair, the cupboard was hinged on the front so that it could fold down into a bunk.   To get into the cupboard bunk, one of us kids would springboard from the bed, that had once been the dining table, like we were trying to mount the high bar in gymnastics. The goa
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How to Sea Turtles

A few years ago, we took a family trip to Hawaii. We were heading to Hana and we stopped at Ho'okipa Beach Park to watch the surfers.  While we were at the park, we came across a family selling handcrafted jewelry made from the seeds of the Mgambo tree aka Maui Mink. Three generations of the family were there at the park and they were all involved in the process. Each piece of jewelry was unique--not something bought from a bulk retailer and sold at a markup.  We talked about our plan to drive the Road to Hana. It was pretty rainy and they recommended that we not go any further than Twin Falls since there was a good chance that the road would flood. 
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