Family Ski Holiday

The kids have a great holiday from school in November at Thanksgiving and we are thinking about taking the whole family away since we had to cut back on travel this summer. Now that the kids are older we have been wanting to take them on ski holidays. They love to travel as much as we do, and there are so many wonderful ski resorts that the hard part is picking just one.

I want to give them a chance to learn downhill skiing as well as snowboarding and have fun with some other winter activities, like sleigh rides and ice skating. We don’t get enough snow here in the South to even go sledding. So going someplace that is completely family friendly with a variety of winter activities for all ages is vital to our skiing holidays.

If we want to stay in the United States, I think that Killington is the most family friendly area and I’ve been reading the internet for more information on skiing in Vermont. But I have several friends who swear that we are better off going further north, into Canada and the Directline-skiing.co.uk/Whistler website seems to back them up. If we decide to go on up into Canada, we’ll definitely go to Whistler. From reading the website, Whistler is not only one of the top ski destinations in the world, it is especially great for families and beginners. There are adventure ski camps for all the different age groups, and the beginner trails take them through enchanted forests, past magic castles and there are even lifts dedicated to just kids. This is exactly what I have in mind and there are packages for every budget. This website is great for putting it all together and giving you all the details so you can plan the entire trip with just a few clicks of the mouse.

If we all have as much fun on their first learning to ski holiday, we can plan on a nice winter getaway next year, too. I’ve been wanting to ski France and Italy, and I’d love to bring the kids to Europe while they are young and appreciate being with their family. I’m afraid that once they turn into teenagers, the idea of a family vacation will not be met with as much enthusiasm. I intend to pamper and enjoy the kids as much I can while they are young and fun to be around. I hope that being a teenager doesn’t change that, but I’m preparing myself mentally for that, just in case.

Making it Harder to Get to California

Can’t believe that Southwest Airlines is starting to knuckle under. They announced today that they are cutting back on flights. Of course, one of the routes getting the axe is the one I take - the only nonstop from Nashville to Oakland. All the other flights add 2 hours to that trip and it’s long enough as it is. And changing planes always puts you at risk of missing that connection. To be honest, the most I am comfortable on a plane is the 4 hour flight to Las Vegas from here. Anything farther than that and I start feeling cooped up and get really restless sitting on a plane - especially when there are crying babies on board.

On a good note, Southwest is the only airline this year that is still operating in the black. All the others are in the red. That says a lot for Southwest’s excellent management practices and their customer service. They’ve always been good to me and I can’t say that for the other airlines, especially with some of the horrendous experiences I’ve had with American and Northwest. So I’m glad to see the good guys are still winning.

When I fly, I always check Southwest for an available flight first and it has to be an extreme situation for me to fly on a different airline. There are only a few cities that Southwest does not service from here, and most of the time I don’t have to go there, thank goodness. I love their website - its so easy to make reservations and check in online - I can’t believe we used have to make long phones calls and stand in line for everything that now just takes a few clicks.

Camping or Not?

We’ve been making an annual camping trip to Jackson Hole every since my junior year of college. We always go over Labor Day Weekend and we rent the same cabin and hire the same fishing guide every year.

But some of the guys are saying that they can’t get there this year. The price of gas, the mortgage crisis, the plant closings - all the bad economy things that have been going on these past 5-6 months are catching us all short on money.

I know I’ve had to cut back on spending and try to find ways to make my money go farther. I’ve never been a big fan of coupons, but now if I can save a decent amount of money it’s really worth it to look for coupons and deals on the things you plan to buy and save the money with very little effort. Got a honey-do list? Check for deals at Home Depot before tackling those jobs around the house. Saving money takes a little of the sting out of spending your premium weekend days on chores.

One of the best coupon websites is always putting deals on their page for the top stores. I just saved some cool cash on a pair of Nike’s from Footlocker. I wanted to get some new cargo pants and shorts for the camping trip and found some good deals at L L Bean.

The very best store with online catalog shopping for camping, hunting and fishing gear had some great deals at Cabelas. I was just about to get some new fishing gear when my buddy Jasper called to say he wasn’t going to make it. Now Jasper I can understand - he’s going back to school to finish up some classes and actually graduate this year. So you KNOW his budget is tight plus he goes back to class next week, so Labor Day doesn’t even work into a good schedule for him to take the days off. But the rest of the guys had better not let me down. This is a tradition - it must be honored!

Gas Prices Across the U. S.

Found a very cool internet tool on Gas Buddy that shows a map of the entire U.S. broken down into counties and color coded to show the current cost of gas in each county. It is amazing to see the huge disparity in the cost of gas, with the highest costs always seeming to be in California and along the west coast, including Washington, Oregon, Nevada and then over to New York on the east coast, and surprisingly, Maine is very high, too.

At the moment the three cheapest states include Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

There is also a map that show the cost of gas across Canada.

Check out the U. S. National Gas Temperature map for yourself - isn’t it cool?

Considering LASIK

My brother Dave called to tell me that he’s had Lasik surgery done on his eyes. He says it was quick and easy and the best thing he’s ever done for himself.

I wish I felt comfortable abut doing it - I’ve worn glasses or contacts ever since I was a kid in grade school and couldn’t see the blackboard even from the front row. It seems like every time I go to the eye for a check up I end up needing a stronger prescription and a new pair of glasses.

I remember my dad telling me that when you get older your eyesight reverses. He was referring to the way your eyes get worse for close up work and eventually needing bifocals. I have to admit I fought the idea of bifocals for a very long time, but eventually the headaches from not being able to read the newspaper or see the computer screen won out over vanity. So I have the bifocals where they blend the lines and you can’t see the different sections of glass.

Dave tells me that his LASIK surgery was done by the Eye Centers of Florida and sent me this link so I could read up on the LASIK infrormation on their site. He’s suggested that I come visit him this summer and he’ll take me there so I can get my eyes done.