An editor’s letter for the Vox special budget travel issue on Mar. 17, 2011
I learned at a young age how to vacation on a budget. Until I was in middle school, I thought a vacation meant driving 18 long hours from my house in Bartlesville, Okla., to my grandparents’ house in Rapid City, S.D. Even though we went every year, it was always my favorite week during the summer.
We had our yearly trip rituals: stopping at an old-fashioned A&W in North Platte, Neb., fishing and panning for gold with
my uncle and visiting Mount Rushmore. Sometimes my dad added extra adventures: visiting Carhenge in Alliance, Neb., detouring eight hours just to climb a sand dune in Colorado and taking the “faster” route through unpaved Native American reservations while my mom yelled in protest from the passenger seat.
Once we arrived in South Dakota, my extended family helped us save money, too. My grandma served us tasty meals of enchiladas or lasagna using my grandpa’s elk or deer kill left over from the winter. My uncle would entertain us by shooting the food we didn’t eat out of a homemade potato gun.
The long drive and cheap recreation were fun, but it was a rare treat to go to Branson, which was closer to home. Even though our two writers (Page 8) experienced the real Branson, to me it will always be Silver Dollar City’s silversmith and candy makers.
Wherever we went, my parents always tried to stay on a budget. Now I prefer my vacations to involve a plane, but I still like to keep costs low. Using travel sites, such as the ones listed on Page 4, and mini-vacays, such as our day trips on Page 12, are thrifty ways to have fun, which is ideal for people who prefer their money in the bank.
