We finally did it, our first family vacation ever! In truth my first since I was in high school.
It was super planned out, because well….autism. Also, budget comes into play when you’re a one-income household, there are some physical issues with my boys that make it hard for them to “hold it” no matter which end, so bathrooms, rest stops, etc., had to be planned for. Do I throw in my diabetic requirements if I wanted to stay on task with my sugars?
Here’s what I learned in this process:
Consider adding extra stops – Weather came into play with our vacation and we had to cancel, move around and alter our plans to avoid almost two feet of snow that was projected for several areas we were visiting. If I hadn’t had extra stops, we’d have literally had nothing else to do when three things had to be thrown to the wayside, the day off!
Be flexible – Something we always work on in our house. Despite this, I had planned things out exactly for various tour times, parks opening or closing, etc. I even planned for being at a stop for an hour or more, I thought I had it all set out well. Turns out, I didn’t! We spent almost four hours exploring the Badlands. I had only budgeted for one hour. We spent two in Jewel Cave, after our cave tour. Which meant we missed our after lunch tour in Wind Cave. Thank goodness only my husband and I knew the exact details of our itinerary, autism off schedule can sometimes not look very pretty. So, giving them a rundown of the big attractions/parks and no specific time was how we handled if something had to change the day off.
Roadside Attractions – A lot of folks think roadside attractions are too touristy, to cheesy. Well, guess what? They are and that’s the point! You only live once and some of these stops are actually interesting and a lot of fun. Did I mention that a ton of them are actually free too?! A lot of places are truly free, and yes, they may try to sell this or that to you, but if you know that this is going to happen going in, you can speak to the kiddos beforehand and tell them you’re not buying, it’s just a fun experience, or you can do like we did with the boys. We told them here is the budget, you can spend x amount of money each at so many stops (They never spent more than $3 a piece too!). OR if you’re lucky enough to have some rock lovers, we simply collected rocks at every place we stopped – where it was allowed.
National/State Parks – Did you know that a lot of state parks and sometimes national parks are actually free to drive through, or visit? You heard me. For example, Mt. Rushmore – FREE, you do have to pay a parking fee of $10 per non-commercial car/van, but it’s FREE. You can hike the trail around the mountain, visit the gift shop, museum, grab some ice cream and it you stay late enough, watch the monument get lit up at sunset.
Not just that but, a lot of parks only charge when you visit the visitor’s center/museums! So, you can drive through, hike in and take a million pictures for ZILCH! Check the websites before you go though to find out which parks do what.
*Also, a little tip I’ve picked up going locally and now to national parks on the off-season: On the weekends, you can often times get into the parks that do charge a fee free. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve pulled up to an entrance and there was no one there. Not suggesting this as a practice but, if you’re going to dip your little toe into your local state/national park, think about trying it on the offseason. That way if you have to leave for whatever reason (ahem – autism meltdown), you’re not out any money.
Invest in an air mattress – I know we all think hotels on vacation or even campsites. If you’re considering camping, first let me tell you that some of the campsites – especially those around a national monument/park fill up super fast, are closed during the off-season, and some are sometimes ridiculous in cost for one night there, or are too “rough” for some of our device-addicted kiddos/teens. So, invest in a van/car air mattress. They come with a pump and sit on the long back seat of most vehicles. They have legs to hold up the one end of the mattress that juts out passed the seat and you can find even cheap ones on places like Walmart.com or Amazon.
Here’s the bonus to an in-vehicle air mattress – you can sleep in the car, where all your devices plug in, your doors are locked and you can adjust the temperature to your needs. This was huge for my autism kiddos, who are not big on sleeping some place they don’t know. Still, sleeping somewhere other than a bed was a bit of a struggle for my youngest on the spectrum. With some patience and talking it out, letting him watch a familiar movie, or listen to some of his songs though, he was able to work through it each night. Yes, this was a problem every night!
Also, you can camp out in a Walmart parking lot with other travelers for FREE! Yes, before you ask, it’s legal. Which also means, if you need any snacks, drinks, toiletries, etc. You can grab them before you go to sleep, or before you head off in the morning.
Pack snacks, finger foods & sitting down to eat – So, we packed a ton of hand/finger foods for everyone to grab and chow down on all day, every day. My one son loves cold hot dogs. So, cold hot dogs were lunch, along with some of his chips, and gf/mf cookies on day one. My other kiddo (who only eats less than ten foods) loves pickles, marshmallows, pepperonis and meatballs. So, his lunch was pepperonis, pickles and a side of marshmallows. Every night though, we’d swing by a Subway, grab some meatballs and let my oldest eat them in the van. Then we’d drive somewhere else (even if it was a fast food place because we all know they’re super cheap) and we’d all go inside, eat some hot food, talk about the day, they’d watch their youtube videos and we’d discuss what tomorrow looked like.
The biggest thing, at least for us, was finding things that would interest everyone. I know that goes without saying but, some families I’ve met and worked with over the years plan a vacation that they’ve always planned or ones that they think their kiddos need to see. I think for any family, not just autism ones, finding places that are of interest to everyone is a HUGE bonus. It keeps them engaged, wanting to go on to the next stop and makes it fun for everyone.
Chronicles of The Chocolate Loving Diabetic Autism Mom 