All DH and I have planned so far this year now is a little three night stay in St. Genevieve, MO in October, just an hour an 20 minutes away by car near a nice state park and nature area, that has cute little restaurants, historic homes, and little museums. It's the oldest French colonial settlement in the US. lol - not exactly Paris.
My son, 24, has some time off work from when we were going to do the Paris/Belfast trip (was able to renege on some, but not all of his vacation), so he's going to be visiting his favorite cousin in Idaho who will be a new school teacher (just finished grad school and has a job lined up in the fall) so has the time off. For DS it's a five night stay -- direct flight to Salt Lake City and renting a car for the three hour drive from there to Idaho Falls. It's pretty country out there and I know he'll have a great time. My brother lives out there too.
THanks for the positive spin and kind words. My email box floods daily with all these amazing deals and I feel like I am missing out! On a positive thought though the money saved is substantial taking small drive trips so we will have more justification for a longer stay in Italy next May for DD grad.
What is funny though is I have taken my vacations for granted in a way. Something I am fortunate to do 6 weeks a year. We were sitting on our balcony on 3/15 at OKW and I said I will never just assume Disney will be here and I really want to appreciate my trips day to day instead of cramming stuff in and going 100 miles an hour. So I have vowed to enjoy every minute of these weekend trips b/c they are with my family and that is what it is all about. I can have a wonderful time at a local resort (2 hours away) as I can on a plane trip 10 hours away. Practicing the teachings of Brene Brown on the daily I have decided!
Your trip sounds delightful and sometimes we find hidden gems in our backyard!Hope you go overseas next year!