my summer vacation

[flea]

The nanny has asked for June 6-10 off, so that's the date of our summer vacation. So we will not be free for the traditional August week on Martha's Vineyard with my mother. We're having trouble deciding what to do.

Option 1: Fly to Boston, and mix staying with family and visiting friends with some car camping, possibly up the Maine coast, or if things work out spend some time in the house in Woods Hole (still not for sale, still awaiting septic system estimate; right now my mother is thinking of buying it.)

Advantages: see family, see friends, get some time at the beach, possibly see childhood Maine haunts. mr flea likes the idea of the last.

Disadvantages: Cost of airfare ($425), need to borrow car from family (probably not a big deal), need to plan if we decide to camp.

Option 2: Car camp in the mountains, maybe go up into WV. Possibility of visiting WV friends, meeting up with Ohio friends who like to camp.

Advantages: cheap, see friends, see mountains.

Disadvantages: no beach, even more intensive need to plan.

Advice? Am I insane to consider extended camping with a 1 year old? My plan is to buy a new cheap big tent from Target that's big enough to hold us and the pack-n-play. My parents certainly camped with small children.

Part of me thinks that Casper is such a horrible sleeper in new surroundings that going anywhere will be more trouble than its worth in term of my exhaustion. But I hate the idea of being here all summer with no break. There's not that much to do in the vicinity and it's so hot, even by June.

Comments

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

I have camped several times with a children Casper's age, or even younger, and I don't remember anything horrible. I figured as long as the raccoons didn't get them, we were doing pretty good. I do recall that the one child who rode in my car for the entire 7 hour trip from RI to Acadia Natl. Park and then back again was good as gold and then some. That impressed me no end.

If you do decide to camp in this neck of the woods, you're certainly welcome to borrow my tent. It's an 8x10 upright tent, with plenty of room to stand up. I also have assorted other gear like lamps and such that you're welcome to borrow.

[theodosia.livejournal.com]

Any chance you could borrow a tent and try a weekend overnight at a local campground? That would give you a good baseline as to the practicality of your camping idea....

Message from E in WV

[(Anonymous)]

Please accept our open invitation to come visit these WV friends in June! I think it's a splendid idea. And camping with a small child would be fine--I've heard that small children/toddlers like it because they are so near Mama and Papa at night in the tent. We've been thinking about taking our little wiggler camping this summer (although preferably in the walking, rather than crawling stage). She likes to look at the stars at night, after all, and eat bark and other ground-dwelling things when possible.