StayCation Options. Door 1, 2, or 3?

For the first time in 16 years of parenthood, Sam and I have a week of childlessness looking at us sometime next month. The younger boys will be at camp, and the teens will be junior counselors. And this year we are allowing Micah to stay overnight. In the past, we've brought him home every night to sleep as a courtesy to the counselors and other campers. The boy just gets excited in such situations and stays up until even the owls have turned in for the night (or morning), then is up before the roosters, jumping and screaming.

Yes, we are subjecting other people to the joys of our boy on an overnight trip. And we are going to enjoy ourselves immensely in our childless state.

Problem is, we're not sure what we're going to do. There are some limitations to our fun, of course. We should probably be "on call" in the event that Micah is asked to leave camp. (Doubtful, but still.) And we do have to report to camp mid-week as helpers, so we can't go on a week-long cruise or anything like that. Which leads me to the big stipulation, which is money. This will happen shortly after we get back from family vacation, and I suspect that we're like most families and come home from vacay with a drained bank account. The goal on our few-day childless state is to have a grand time on no money.

Being an avid biker (in my mind), I want to take our bikes and go somewhere. My first thought is Gettysburg. We can do a day trip down and back and give ourselves a bike tour of the historical landmark. I love history. I love biking. What would be better?

Except maybe a day trip to Lake Erie. Presque Isle State Park is teeming with bike trails, and those trails are near the lake. Awesome. When we're done biking, we can sit and watch the waves crash on the shore. Even more awesome. I'm loving Option 2.

Option 3 would be a zero money one, which is a bonus. There's that bike trail near our house that runs from Pittsburgh to DC. One stretch of it runs from our house to Ohiopyle, which is an awesome recreation area 30 miles down the trail. Yes, I said 30 miles. Despite being an avid biker, I've been at this all of 3 weeks now, so I suspect that it'll take the better part of a day for us to traverse 30 miles on bikes. That's okay though, because we won't have kids or responsibilities. A packed lunch would travel well in my wicker basket, too.

Oh, the fun to be had. We've got a month to contemplate the possibilities, but you can bet your bottom dollar that it'll be fantastical.