<p>Shout out to Iamsoconfused (Post 21) and to AnudduhMom (Post 84) - The pro-bono counseling idea and the Parent Corps idea are wonderfully interesting. Are you going to pursue these ideas? How?</p>
<p>I guess I have a broader definition of travelā¦for us it doesnāt necessarily include an overnight trip. Thereās lots of places within a 2 hour drive here that are worth visiting.
Weāve biked on rail trails, visited the shore, toured historic sites, and went on hikes in the forest. Weāll also do cheap overnights at a bed and breakfastā¦certainly not slumming it but easy on the budget. We visited Falling Water a couple of weeks agoā¦what a treasure. Went to NYC and did the Circle Line Tour. Went to AC and saw a comedy show. Soaked in mineral waters in a nearby art town. For us, it doesnāt need to be a week at a fancy beach. And itās a load of funā¦although I donāt expect all would agree. It helps that I like playing travel agent!</p>
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<p>As you travel west, there are considerbly fewer places within a two hour drive worth visiting! However, an advantage to traveling without kids is that you donāt have to go places āwhere thereās a lot for kids to do.ā I could easily spend a weekend on the porch or balcony of a lovely place reading a good book.</p>
<p>Toneranger, those are exactly the kind of trips DH and I enjoy.<br>
We love going to festivals of various types in different areas of our state that we can do in a day. Last weekend we went to the Blue Ridge BBQ and Music Festival. Admission price $6. Although, we did spend more on all the BBQ!</p>
<p>We already have a 4th of July day trip planned to the Red,White and Bluegrass Festival. Tickets $10.
We went last year and loved it. Less than two hours fr. home. Any Cherryholmes fans out there?</p>
<p>Toneranger,
I visit NYC every year for about 1 week. I hate the place, but that is where my Sās family is and we certainly happy to see them. We visit museums, go to Broadway shows, but I would not have gone there more than once if it was not for family, do not like NYC or any big city, not relaxing at all. I love to go to my local museum, would do it every weekend and we do it much more often than most others. That is one of my favorite entertaiment. Sometime we go further, like couple hours to drive, but it is getting harder, since we both tend to get very sleepy behind the wheel, dangerous.</p>
<p>MiamiDapā¦I actually agree with you on NYC. I worked there for years, so itās hardly an escape for me. My DH really wanted to do that Circle Line tour and I have to admit it was fun and different.<br>
We too, generally like quiet escapes. We like the Jersey shore in the off season (too crowded in the summer!). One of our favorite places to go has a quiet deck in the forest where we can sip coffee and listen to the woodpeckers (our regular house is near a highway so itās not exactly peaceful). We also keep activeā¦lots of hikes and bike rides (we did 40 miles on our last outing!). </p>
<p>I have to say some of our friends think weāre a little strange since we like to spend some weekends alone together, doing all sorts of things. I think weāre lucky to enjoy shared activities and each others company after all these years. Our empty nest has been OKā¦we survived and are thriving.</p>
<p>"quiet deck in the forest where we can sip coffee and listen to the woodpeckers " - you just described my house, including darn woodpecker who for some reason doing his job on the wood of my house every single year, not the tree. I hope, we do not have some bugs there. We are not in a forest, but we do not see houses around us because of our trees, evergreens and blooming bushes.<br>
What is Circle Line tour? Is it in NYC? Is it possible to take it in December? We usually visit close to New Year, some NYC new year celebrations are fun, but we would not go to Times Square for apple going down, that is too crazy.</p>
<p>miami - Itās a tour around manhattan on a boat. Hereās a link with some pics. Lots of fun - and yeah, they do it in the winter I think.<br>
[Cruising</a> on the Circle Line on a Clear, Crisp, Winter Afternoon](<a href=āDomain Suspendedā>Domain Suspended)</p>
<p>Our tour guide was VERY entertaining and really knew his stuff! </p>
<p>Sounds like you have a great outdoor space! We love our house but it IS noisy around here. Our quiet place that we escape to sometimes is set in the mountains, lots cooler than around here and close to lots of fun things. It helps to have a retreat once in a while!</p>
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<p>I think thatās a huge factor in how people view the approaching empty nestā¦whether you enjoy your spouse or just tolerate him/her.</p>
<p>I coped fine with the girls being away because we stay in close contact with cell phones, but as a stay at home mom with nobody at home to āmomā I found that I was bored out of my mind.
I applied for and obtained a part-time job working with children with autism. What a joy!!
I have something regularly scheduled to do with myself, I feel that I am making a difference in the world, and I am earning a bit of money to help pay for the two college tuitions.
Being around children really does help with the empty nest syndrome.</p>
<p>I am looking forward to travel during non school breaks as well, where costs are cheaper and hopefully venues are less crowded. </p>
<p>For instance, husband and I went on our honeymoon to Disneyworld, the week Epcot opened, 27 years ago. That was my one and only real time to Disney. The other was with my family where we spent most of the day looking for my five year old twin brothers who got themselves lost in the park. I would have been 10 at the time. Son and husband went on a Father-Son trip there at the end of middle school.</p>
<p>So Iām looking forward to seeing how Epcot has expanded, and maybe do Universal or MGM, seeing Disney from the adult side, since Iām too big for rides now. Definitely looking forward to the Animal Kingdom.</p>
<p>Weāve always dreamed of staying at the Contemporary, with the monorail running through, and back in the day, you used to have to book a year in advance, but with the addition of resorts, donāt know if thatās the case. Saw some of the luxury villas on line that looked like they were a treat, especially those on lakes, but looked like too far from the park. But without impatient kids around, might be something we can do. </p>
<p>My husband hates to fly, so I envision a lot of solitary weekend trips. I am counting on those Southwest free flights and Marriott points. </p>
<p>We drove to Houston to take care of Mom over the weekend, about eight hours each way, and these old knees and bad feet just canāt handle those long trips, much less have the time to spend days just driving. </p>
<p>I agree with the, now that you have the time to vacation, you canāt because of work. I have been a freelance court reporter for over twenty years now, and while itās been great to have the flexibility of schedule, especially as a āswim momā, I yearn for a job that I can leave at the office. But if I get one of those jobs, I will have to be limited to the week vacation, if Iām lucky, and that will probably be spent bringing son to and from college. So thereās a give and take. Iāll probably work more, as I wonāt have to take off so much time, and thus, maybe be able to earn more income, because no more school and sport obligations, but I would really like to take that newfound free time to see some of America. Always wanted to go to Pacific Northwest.</p>
<p>We have done a boat tour few years ago.</p>
<p>Ah, if you donāt have to pay attention to the school calendar:</p>
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<p>Trips are no problem. Itās the every dayā¦coming home from work, eating, working out, watching TV, going to bedā¦whereās the purpose in all of that? How is the world being benefited? (Maybe I need to dust off my unread copy of Rick Warrenās book.)</p>
<p>āItās the every dayā¦coming home from work, eating, working out, watching TV, going to bedā¦whereās the purpose in all of that? How is the world being benefited?ā</p>
<p>Itās up to you what you do in that time. If youāre interested in benefiting the world, there are many individuals and organizations that would benefit from your contributions. My evenings are filled with things like volunteering for my political party, spiritual community, nonprofit groups, as well as doing things that I enjoy that are pure fun, and get me out of the house like performing in community theater, being in book groups and going to arts classes. My problem has been selecting each night which activity to do as many of the things that I enjoy meet on the same nights.</p>
<p>If youāve enjoyed volunteering with your kidās activities, you may enjoy things such as being a volunteer with Girl Scouts or other youth groups, even by helping out the PTA at your kidsā former schools.</p>
<p>āItās the every dayā¦coming home from work, eating, working out, watching TV, going to bedā¦whereās the purpose in all of that? How is the world being benefited?ā
- I felt the same way except that I hate TV, reading, shopping, cleanning house, cooking, gardenning, so it was absolutely nothing for me to do after work and exersice for couple hours, then what? Then I found hobby that I absolutely love and was completely new to me andnow I am looking forward to do every evening. Besides, my job is still the greatest entertainment of them all. </p>
<p>Find some new and exciting activity which will make you feel awesome.</p>
<p>Think about things that you enjoyed doing as a child and teen, but didnāt have time to do when you were older. Think about things you were interested in doing when you were young, but were too chicken or otherwise couldnāt pursue. Then dive into those activities. Iāve done that with acting, dancing, drawing, and other things, and I feel like Iāve been born again. My whole life has opened up. Donāt worry about being too old to do these things. The most interesting people whom I know are those who keep trying new things. The world welcomes such people, too.</p>
<p>My original inspiration for this occurred 30 years ago when a friend told me that her mother ā age 70 ā had taken clowning classes, and had become a popular clown at kidsā birthday parties. I loved hearing about that womanās spirit, and I promised myself that when I got older, Iād be like her. So thatās how I ended up today preparing for opening night in a community theater cabaret where Iām playing a drag queen. Life is fun!</p>
<p>Well, in 12 hours the nest will once again be fully populated - the kids get back from choir tour. We have another five years before our youngest graduates from high schoolā¦everyone has given me great ideasā¦hopefully I can plan for it and not feel like Iāve driven off a cliff when she leaves. (Or will Son be living at home again by then?)</p>
<p>I am so glad that someone started this thread. I just read the whole thing & at times I cried & then other times laughedā¦
I am a single parent & my D will be leaving in August for our state public university. She is very excited & Iām very proud of her but will miss her terriblyā¦ I have been anticiparing this for the whole year. Hopefully the anticipation will be the worst of itā¦ Itās great reading all your prespectivesā¦ Iām not sure what I will do but you had some great ideasā¦ I actually considered the peace corpsā¦ a little extreme but apealing.</p>
<p>Packmom - BBQ & Music Festival - H & I were there, too!! Weād dropped D off at a weekend FCA camp and stayed nearby because the drive from home was 6 hours. Found this festival and had a really nice time. You werenāt the couple two-stepping, were you??</p>
<p>Iād love some opinions -</p>
<p>Iāve been a stay-at-home mom since we sold our businesses 10 years ago. H became an elementary teacher and I volunteer in his class, as I did in kidsā classes throughout elem & middle school years. Iāve been on the county media committee and provided FCA snacks for six years and on a high school curriculum committee for four years. My degree is obsolete - was a computer programmer in the 80ās before helping H run our businesses.</p>
<p>Iāve always been hands-on and proactive with S&Dās education in and out of school. 4-H, scouts, school and service projects, etc. have always been the focus of our household. </p>
<p>When S finally got excited about a college last summer, a tremendous reach school in the northeast, we researched and realized that many that seek admission to this type of school have years of preparation and even private college consultants. I half-seriously-half-jokingly told him since I couldnāt afford to hire a cc, I would become one. Thanks to this board, reading stacks of books, and the internet, in general, I learned enough to help him get into his dream school, get good financial aid, and earn more scholarships than he can use (weāre working on deferring).</p>
<p>Almost everything that I love doing involves kids, so as I try to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, examine my new skill set, and consider the schedule I want and need (with a school-teacher H who is off when my own kids will be off), Iām wondering what kind of job I can do in the school system that doesnāt require years of schooling to get started. Has anyone on here had any luck parlaying their newfound knowledge of college admissions, financial aid, and scholarships into a paying job, specifically for a school system?</p>
<p>Busy weekend and week ahead!</p>
<p>Last two nights of the cabaret that Iām performing in as a drag queen.</p>
<p>Helping a friend transform a disheveled buildling into an art gallery that will show some of my photographs.</p>
<p>Helping facilitate a free stress reduction public workshop that my spiritual group is offering.</p>
<p>Taking a free workshop in Shakespearean acting.</p>
<p>Doing the invocation for a rally commemorating the Stonewall Rebellion, which was the beginning of the gay rights movement in the U.S. </p>
<p>Getting together with some friends whom I havenāt seen in a while.</p>
<p>Taking my drawing class. Last week, I drew a flower that people compared to Georgia OāKeeffeās work. Amazing! I havenāt drawn since middle school, and then I struggled to earn āCsā. </p>
<p>Remember, you can have a full deck with an empty nest. :)</p>