Staycation. What can I say? It’s over now so I figured I would finally jot down a few notes. I gave up writing daily because, well, staycation is kind of boring. It’s not exactly like I had amazing photos of Hawaii to post. On day 5 or 6 (I lost track of days too) we went on a trail ride, hence the photo above. It was an hour out of a week and a half that was relaxing. I love horses and everything about them. This reminded me of that and so I decided to pursue horseback riding lessons for my girls (and myself) with an aim to perhaps lease a horse in the future if they decide they love it too. I grew up around horses on Long Island (my grandparents had a horse farm) and I briefly worked at a local barn mucking stalls and watering and feeding horses before the girl were born to pay for lessons for my older daughter. I don’t even need to ride. Just hanging out in the barn and taking care of them is pretty amazing. It was nice to be reminded of this so even if the girls don’t love it, I may lease a horse anyway. Or at least buy a bale of hay and inhale it daily. (There is NOTHING like the smell of hay. Ahhhhhhh!)
Isn’t he beautiful? His name is Apollo and he is a Haflinger. He was my ride for the day and he is/was gorgeous!
The other days? Well, I went to a party on July 1st at a friend’s house, got rained on, listened to a band called Edgey Sketch who played a lot of Grateful Dead and enjoyed their pig roast. Didn’t take a single photo because I was having too much fun actually taking to people to bother (yes, you CAN do that. really. ) . Also, sang at church and botched it up. As usual. Went to a 4th of July party at another friends house and made my kids cry at the end because we couldn’t stay for fireworks because mommy’s tummy wasn’t cooperating and needed a heating pad and Zantac ASAP. Here’s a tip: children do not give a crap when you are sick. Especially when fireworks are involved. You are not more important that fireworks. Sorry. Just stop ruining their life, ok?
Yeah, no photos at the 4th of July party either. I know, I suck. I just can’t remember to pull out my stupid phone and take photos of crap no one cares about. I will take pictures of my cat though.
Isn’t he awesome. That’s George Bailey. He was hanging out with me this morning on the deck and rubbed and drooled all over me. Thanks George. Hives are awesome. (yep also allergic to cats)
Alright I did take a photo on the 4th. That’s my 4th of July baby turning 20! She was even born on her due date. I made her wear the 4th of July leggings for the picture. I was personally excited to rock the hot dog shirt-as-a-dress and was, in fact waiting to do so. Mother Nature cooperated for one day so I could wear it. It mostly rained or was cloudy all week. Not cool. Especially for Staycation.
My new work out.
I forgot. Hubs and I spent a day driving up to a couple of wineries on Seneca and Cayuga lakes. Lunch at Glenora winery on a beautiful deck overlooking the lake. No photos. Of course. Stopped at Fulkerson and wasn’t impressed. Castel Grisch was our favorite and most entertaining. Bought 2 whole bottles of wine. Seriously weak. If you are looking for a wedding or party venue, I vote for Castel Grisch. They have a very pretty new room overlooking the vineyard and lake. I don’t have a picture but I assume they do on a webpage somewhere. Ok, that’s not helpful, so here, Castel Grisch photos here. Baco Noir is delicious. Best Finger Lakes wine I’ve tasted actually. I am a dry red drinker so Finger Lakes wines are tough because they are mostly sweet and many are based on reislings. It’s just our climate in upstate NY. <sigh>
Alright, one other photo of our day at the wineries. This was at Hazlitt. They make wine slushies. We don’t even bother with doing a tasting here. Just go sit on the deck and have a slushy. It would be worth the plane ticket if you happen to live in, say, California, but be forewarned, the tiki bar is only open Fri-Sun and sadly we were there on Monday. No tiki for us 🙁
You may have noticed there are no pictures of my husband and I. That’s because we royally suck at selfies and don’t want to be “those people” when we are dining or traveling or hanging out with the one or two friends we have. I actually only had him take my picture because I wanted to post me wearing that LuLaRoe Carly dress onto a friends LLR page. What do you think? The roses are awesome but I think the hot dog shirt-as-a-dress (an Irma for all you other LLR lovers out there) takes the cake. I mean, it’s HOT DOGS! Life is too short to not wear hot dogs on your shirt.
I also have hamburgers, watermelon, popsicles and if I can get my hands on french fries in my size, I will be rocking that too. Just sayin’ #food
Ok, so I have completely bored and lost you now so I will sign off. Do I recommend staycation? Probably not BUT if it makes your wallet happier then do it. There are probably lots of sort-of-fun things to do in your hometown or close enough to make day trips. You might not want to plunk down $140 to go horseback riding for an hour as a family but I thought it was worth it. Maybe you’d want to go to a water park (if you don’t mind brain eating amoebas) or an amusement park (if you don’t mind death on a roller coaster). Whatever floats your boat. However, if your budget this year allows you to get on a plane without kids and go somewhere warm and romantic with your husband. GO. Please. For me and all the other Staycationers. We implore you.
I’ll be staycationing again at the end of August until the kids go back to school. I’ll be sure to give any great tips I learn about staycationing, take 2. Seriously doubt there are any but just in case I’ll leave this open ended. Is it bad if I pray Jesus returns before then and I don’t have to staycation again? There must be palm trees in heaven, right?
Alright, yes I know that there are lot worse things that not going away to a tropical place for vacation. I’m lucky to get any vacation or to even have a job in this economy. And I am apparently spoiled rotten for complaining (not really but kind of). But it’s not all that funny if you just love love love everything is it? Those kind of people make me wonder what drugs they are on…
Have a groovy staycation and if you figure out something off the hook to do in upstate NY, please drop me a line and let me know. My future staycation success may depend on it 🙂
Liz