Plenty of summer travel— or staycation— options
Now that the frantic race to get your Real ID is over, you’ re ready to travel. I mean, you did get it, right? If not, you’ ve got a passport, so all is well, at least for foreign travel. Otherwise, a motor trip may be on your agenda this year for domestic destinations. Let’ s talk about two of the biggest hot spots for families this year.
Disney and Universal compete head to head every year, all year long, for family and group travel. From 5K to 10K races, cheer competitions, flower and garden festivals, music festivals and Halloween-, Thanksgiving- and Christmas-themed events, they want you there. Ever changing and improving, it’ s almost a competition to see who can one-up the other.
Universal Orlando has added Epic Universe to their repertoire of parks and it is appropriately named. Volcano Bay is a good water park, too. They also took a cue from Walt Disney World and added a shuttle service to / from Orlando International, for a fee. They’ ve also added more resort-like accommodations too.
Not to be outdone, Disney has added back their dining packages, as well as restoring the possibility of checking luggage at your resort and not seeing it again until you get to your home destination, leaving you time to enjoy the parks before heading to the airport.
Disneyland in California will celebrate it’ s 70th anniversary with all the hoopla we’ ve come to expect from Disney.
All of these are great for families and groups, but not everyone wants to rise early for rope-drop and run all day at a theme park.
For some, the sound of waves on a beach, some sun— or shade of the umbrella – with a refreshing beverage and a good book are just what you’ re looking for. And there’ s plenty of options right here in the United States.
From Clearwater to the Destin / Gulf Shores area, Galveston and South Padre pretty much cover the gulf states. Eastern Florida and South Carolina get the East and California pretty June Bates much takes up the West. If you’ re looking for a beach and can’ t find one, that’ s on you. But there’ s plenty of options in the Caribbean and Bahamas, too. So many I can’ t name them all.
Don’ t like the beach and all that sand? Let’ s go to Colorado for some hiking. Don’ t want to be that active? Get a place with a mountain view and remember that phrase above about a refreshing beverage and good book.
History buffs have many options across our continent. The Smithsonian Institute is almost a week-long destination in itself. Museums in New York are pretty amazing, but there’ s tons of museums across our country. From the giant sequoias in California, Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Bryce Canyon in Utah, Yellowstone in Wyoming, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and all our other national parks as well, there’ s something for everyone.
Those of us who have been on multiple cruises on multiple cruise lines to multiple destinations can vouch for how different they can all be. From the food, the entertainment, the types of staterooms available as well as differing ports at the same destination, it’ s all a matter of preference, and sometimes budget.
A CruiseTour is probably the best way to see Alaska. Choosing to do the land portion first, you would fly in and get on a train to the Denali National Park for a couple of nights, then go south to a port( Seward or Whittier) and sail south to Vancouver making stops at Talkeetna, Glacier Bay, Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan( not necessarily in that order) and others.
You can also do a shorter round trip from Seattle and see most of sites mentioned. All of them offer excursions so you can get a more in-depth look at where you’ ve stopped.
Budget not allowing you to spend money on a trip this year? How about a staycation? There’ s enough to do right here in Cleburne and Johnson County than you can do in a week. You can visit Splash Station, take in a Railroaders game at LaModerna Field, enjoy water sports on Lake Pat Cleburne, have a round of golf and the Cleburne Golf Links, picnic at Hulen Park, take a hike at Cleburne State Park, participate in one of the myriad activities available at Chisholm Trail Outdoor Museum, take in a show at Plaza Theatre Co. or Carnegie Theater, enjoy a concert by the Brazos Chamber Orchestra... getting the picture? I haven’ t even mentioned our Historic Downtown Cleburne and all it’ s many diversions of food, entertainment and shopping as well as some of the best museums in Texas!
Can you have a good time this summer? Oh yes you can!
June Bates is the owner of BATES etc. Travel in Cleburne. She can be reached at 817-517-4422.
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