What constitutes a vacation for you and your family?

[CCooper]

My wife and I both have and or do travel a lot for work and loathe flying. Try to do a trip annually and hit a National Park we have not been to. We just jump in the truck and go, take paddleboards, fly rods, etc. This year was Teton as she had never been. Stayed in a nice resort at Jackson Village, toured the park, paddleboarded, did a raft trip on the Snake, fly fish trip on the Snake, hiked, and just decompressed for a few days. Spent the remainder of my vacation time hunting multiple states. I am lucky my wife loves to be outside as much as me.

 

[robby denning]

Because hunting takes me away for at least a month a year, I try to do vacations that don’t have anything to do with hunting, just getting some time with the family and doing what they like. When the kids were young, it always involved the outdoors but they’re all in their teens to late teens now so they want to taste the city life

Our vacations can be short, or long like Hawaii last year. Just breaking up the routine for us for two days to a week seems to be all we need. Totally recommend it for hard working hunting dads.

And because of this place, I can really never totally not work. But we have some great staff that covers my back when I’m gone, but I still bet I’m on rokslide 300 days a year for work purposes. I’m always up before the family on vacation so if I do have to work, I try to take care of that early.

 

[Laramie]

A vacation to me and my family is getting away to do something purely for enjoyment. That has lead us to a lot of amazing places and experiences. I'm lucky to have a family that all enjoy hunting and fishing so we usually incorporate one or the other in a new place once or twice a year. In 2022 that was a whole family hog hunt, a whole family shark fishing trip, and a Wyoming elk hunt. In 2021 we did an off shore snapper trip, a few days at the beach, and a Wyoming antelope hunt. 2020 was lame due to Covid but we still made it out for an elk hunt and a long weekend on a lake fishing for wiper and white bass. In the past we have also done plenty of trips that didn't involve hunting. All in average budget is 4k per year- we are thrifty and don't go overboard on unnecessary stuff so can experience a lot more.

 

[tony]

I wouldn't be caught dead in Disneyland/world. That's the definition of ick to me.

Friend of mine loves the place. A guy, early 50’s like me. Goes once twice a year with his wife and 2 adult kids.
So far he hasn’t tried to violate me at work

 

[Dos Perros]

Friend of mine loves the place. A guy, early 50’s like me. Goes once twice a year with his wife and 2 adult kids.
So far he hasn’t tried to violate me at work

I know plenty of people who go. Like normal non-hunting people, people my wife is friends with, colleagues, etc. They love it. And I love that they love it. I'm all for the consolidation of people who are not like us...we'll stay over here, y'all stay over there.

 

[mmayter9]

Vacation is somewhere where it's not mainly focused on my main hobbies. For example, hunting and fishing, a vacation wouldn't be just doing that but other things like sight seeing, trying new foods, tourists attractions. The other end would be a trip. Like, I'm going on a fishing trip, or hunting trip, or I'm going camping for the weekend; all my focus on on that topic and I'm zoned in and preparing for it. A vacation means I'm going to relax, not putting my focus on those things and being in the moment, more spontaneous events.

 

[SANDAN]

I'm in SENC on the coast and anywhere we can take our boat, dock and stay in a hotel then explore the area by water is it.

 

[Pony Soldier]

Can't help. I've never taken one.

 

[JavierBowman]

For me and my family, a vacation is all about getting outdoors and exploring new places. We're not big fans of flying either, so road trips are more our style. We try to make trips every year and love visiting national parks.

 

[Fireflyfishing]

I release them from their cage.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I have never had a vacation. As the kids were growing up, the wife would take them on trips but I would have to remain home to take care of the animals, put up hay or get my winter wood in.

My job put me in a tent and a remote camp during the week someplace in the west. I guess that could be listed as a vacation for many of you.

 

[Tuck_]

I or my wife will often take one or two of the kids on a trip catered to their interests and learning stages, or we'll take one with just the two of us.

I was taken to many far-off places as a kid and I remember thinking, in moments of clarity between temper tantrums, how sad it was that this amazing place was being wasted on me while I count the days until I can return to my plastic toys.

I feel it's better to foster a sense of adventure by teaching your kid to fully explore and appreciate his everyday surroundings, and then use that to get him fully engaged in particular trips when he's mature enough. Often we'll go to a place the kid has been reading about, for example.

This is only possible because we don't have a lot of family to visit, and we basically never do full-house trips.

 

[lak2004]

I or my wife will often take one or two of the kids on a trip catered to their interests and learning stages, or we'll take one with just the two of us.

I was taken to many far-off places as a kid and I remember thinking, in moments of clarity between temper tantrums, how sad it was that this amazing place was being wasted on me while I count the days until I can return to my plastic toys.

I feel it's better to foster a sense of adventure by teaching your kid to fully explore and appreciate his everyday surroundings, and then use that to get him fully engaged in particular trips when he's mature enough. Often we'll go to a place the kid has been reading about, for example.

This is only possible because we don't have a lot of family to visit, and we basically never do full-house trips.

This makes a lot of sense. One of my fondest trips when I was a kid was to the east coast. I was 10 or 11 and we visited DC and got to see the holocaust museum, Smithsonian, Vietnam memorial, Arlington cemetery, and so many other pieces of American history. At the time I was fascinated with all of it and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the memorials and pieces of history I had been reading about.

The trips I barely remember were to places like Disney land.

Good advice, thanks.

 

[mcdubbin]

Taking a week off work and flying somewhere

 

[Qholum37]

Most of our vacations involve hunting or fishing. Fishings trips are definitely more relaxing and stress free. We are in Oregon and have went to Idaho and Montana the last couple summers just to check things out which was pretty fun. Hit a couple rodeos and did some fishing. Have a Hawaii trip coming up this year after spring bear and I’m a little nervous about that. Not really my thing but she wants to go. I have also never left the lower 48.

 

[flathead#2]

I always try to include some kind of hunting or fishing in
all vacations. Otherwise, I'm highly reluctant to participate.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

My wife and I were just talking about this. We've been retired for a bit and I have no idea what is actually a "vacation" anymore.

 

[dreamingbig]

My wife and I were just talking about this. We've been retired for a bit and I have no idea what is actually a "vacation" anymore.

Don’t they become “trips” or “adventures”?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Yellowknife]

My family travels and recreates probably more than most. Weekends or extended weekends out of town are the norm in the summer and pretty frequent in the winter. We consider remote cabin trips, RV camping, hunting, hiking, canoeing, etc... as "Trips", as long as it's still in state (and Alaska is a big state). The long running joke is referring to our home as "base camp", because much of the time it's just a place to dry gear and re-pack the food box between trips. These types of trips are FUN but not necessarily RELAXING.

VACATION in our world is saved for over time, and involves leaving Alaska and doing something that is a major break from the norm. Much more rare.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Don’t they become “trips” or “adventures”?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yup, that sums it up nicely. Our latest adventure was a trip out to the coast to dig razor clams. Not what most would consider a vacation per se. Digging clams, cleaning clams, cooking clams, then repeat. We were a bit sore after 4 days of that action.