My Summer "Stay-Cation"

By Drew Scott

I had a blast this summer with my wife and my grandchildren Ellison, Hallie, Mackenzie, Priscilla, and Isabelle!

This summer with gas at nearly $4 a gallon, rather than packing all the gang into the car and driving to Orlando or Amish country in Pennsylvania, I decided it was more cost effective to vacation at nearby Cupsogue beach in Westhampton and take day trips to the Outlet Malls or go to the Polish Town street fair or the Scottish Games at Old Westbury Gardens! Here we made a ginger-bread house at home.

Some have dubbed this the "stay-cation". 

We've got so many free or low cost attractions here on Long Island, I haven't even missed going out of state this summer! Think about it, Splish-Splash and Atlantis Marine World in Riverhead are great... Adventureland in Farmingdale is always a real hoot...  The Children's Museum in Garden City was fun. We had a ball watching the Jones Beach air show featuring the Blue Angels precision flight team! And the list of fun places to visit goes on and on.

We also saved some cash by packing lunches and drinks, and we avoided traffic jams by going AFTER rush hour and waiting until after the evening rush to go home.    

So all told, according to my auto mechanic, I saved at least 2,000 miles on my aging SUV and held onto  more than $500 in gasoline savings by not going off the island. How about that!

I think I'll use the extra savings to buy a brand new HDTV, but don't tell my grandkids.