How Are You Planning To Keep Your Mental Cool Once School Is Out?

For many local school-age children, summer starts promptly on June 5th, when the final bell rings (if they even do that anymore). You can play this Alice Cooper song to unlock your memories of the start of summer glory when you were their age.  

So no school from June 8th through August 21st. If you’re a kid looking at that, you are probably ecstatic. If you are a parent reading that, you are probably having the humble start of a nervous breakdown. So we are both breathing into a paper bag at this time.  

That’s 52 days (not including weekends and holidays) of summer vacation you need to start planning for. And it’s not likely you have more than a few of those days off yourself, so you need to keep the kids busy somehow while you still get some work done. At least a version of your regular work, depending on how lenient your boss is this time of year.

Day camps help, but they aren’t typically all-day and aren’t always for the entire summer. There are exceptions to that, and they can be cheaper than day care. There are pros and cons to both options.

I’m sure you have your summer schedule sorted out by now, so it’s time to make sure you’re taken care of. Don’t wait until you need a break this summer; start thinking of one now, and make sure it’s early on. Ideally, the first weekend, so you are refreshed to start the long wait rather than waiting to see how far you can stretch your sanity before you snap. 

Parenting is a full-time job, but in the summer it feels more like three. Getting your day-to-day work in, finding time to transport the kids here, there, and everywhere, and finding some time to recharge before you run out of time – even if you never run out of daylight.

You don’t need a full vacation to start the summer, although kudos to you if you already have that on the calendar. I would prefer to have that later in the summer so you have a long break to look forward to, but if multiple trips are on the horizon for your family, that is awesome. For those of you on a tighter budget or with less time off – or both, keep reading. This is for you, this is for us.

Start shopping for cheap one-to two-night rentals on the coast or in the gorge. Even if you are only an hour out of town, it still counts as a trip; make sure it’s somewhere outside your ZIP code. It’s interesting how affordable places near destination spots are even if they aren’t right where you would prefer. As an example, we recently took a weekend trip to Hood River, but we stayed in White Salmon. The toll of going over the bridge between the towns was not ideal, but the views were stunning, and we had no issue being 10-15 min away from the heart of the city. And we got to see the charm of a small gorge town while we were over there, without losing virtually anything. There were Uber or Lyft options in either town, and we were willing to drive over the bridge if we had been interested. 

Finding hotels or motels in coastal towns can be pricey in the case of hotels and, in the case of motels, sometimes dicey, but occasionally you find a gem. The Atomic Motel in Astoria is a fine example if you want a beach-town stay and to feel like a time traveler, as they have perfectly captured the 50s roadside motel theme. 

The Inn at Haystack Rock offers a small-cottage experience, and while the accommodations might be on the extra-cozy side for some, the price is nearly impossible to beat for the setting and location. 

Ester Lee Oceanview Inn at Lincoln City is a fun spot very close to Inn at Spanish Head, so you could go budget on your actual lodging and still be close to the best amenities of the area, like a quiet beach and a restaurant (Fathoms) that features stunning views and is severely underrated in the area. If you want a nice dinner on the Central Coast and can’t get a table at Tidal Raves in Depoe Bay, you could do so much worse than Fathoms. 

If you can’t find a spot for the night in town, search the surrounding area. Might be a small house or tiny house you have to rent for a night, but if you need a place to sleep before getting back on the road, it’s surprising how little you and your family might need. If rollaway cots are an option, a hotel room with multiple beds might work. You spent all day together, so sleeping in close quarters might not be ideal, but sometimes that’s what the budget calls for. 

Don’t forget camping; if you can bring a tent and some sleeping bags, it might be cheaper to pitch your own tent for the night and chat around the campfire. This might be the one time you can get your older kids to stop being on their phones all evening and all night. But that might mean complaints about the lack of cell service or wifi on the ground, which I can’t be held responsible for. 

If you can snag a site at Mt Hood Village, you get the experience of outdoor tent camping at night, but with the resort atmosphere and amenities, including but not limited to restrooms with showers and onsite laundry. At a $50 price per site, you may not find a better option, but you could do much worse. 

If you have the means and time off from work to plan a full trip or to book a house or multiple hotel rooms to accommodate your family, that’s not a bad thing. But if you expect to be on a tight budget this summer, you can still get away for a night or two without going bankrupt or diving deeper into credit card debt and still give your family the experience they need and the memories you need. If you keep lodging costs lower, it will open up opportunities to spend a little more on local restaurants, shops, or experiences. 

Maybe go cheap on your lodging, but don’t go cheap on your experiences or memories. You’ll remember the moments that made the time special; you probably won’t remember what the sleeping arrangements were. But if you do, maybe it’s something to laugh about later or even in the moment if everyone is comfortable enough, even if they aren’t living a life of royalty.