My Green Vacation

August 25, 2008

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

By the time you read this post, I will be on vacation. Every year, my husband and I end the summer with a vacation at the lake with the kids. I am looking forward to going, and by now, I am probably relaxing on an internet-less, phone-less private beach.

I have to admit, when we first started this vacation tradition, we weren’t thinking about the green aspect of it. We just got lucky, because we really do have a very environmentally friendly vacation.

1. We stay close to home. The cabin we rent each year is about 2 hours from our house. We choose this spot because it is quick to get to (who wants to spend half their vacation driving?) and that saves us both time and money. Last year, it cost us about $60 round trip. Not only does this location save us money, but limiting gas usage also makes it a green vacation choice as well.

2. Most of our vacation activities are green! There is no internet. No telephones except in the main lodge. There is electricity in the cabins and a tv for rainy days, but most of the week will be spent canoing, hiking, fishing and relaxing on the beach. No big attractions, amusement parks or shopping locations either, which is not long great for the environment, but also removes a lot of the stress and busy-ness of many vacations. Sounds boring right? That’s what I thought to - until we tried it. Not only did we have a great time, but we actually came back from vacation relaxed and refreshed! How many moms can say that at the end of a family vacation.

3. It’s a green - education opportunity! We don’t live in the country. “Nature” for my children is the odd bunny that finds its way into town and onto our back yard. Our yearly vacation has become a great chance for our children to really develop an understanding and appreciation for the beauty of nature. That is an important aspect of teaching your children to live green - after all, why would they want to protect something they don’t understand?

There is one down side to our yearly vacation and that is the packaged foods. In past years, we have brought quite a bit of packaged foods and created a fair bit of garbage during our stay. This year, we have made a few changes that will help us cut down on the waste:

Last year, we brought cases of bottled water. That amounts to A LOT of empty plastic bottles! This year, we have opted for bring a sports bottle for each of us, along with two large, refillable water jugs. That will elimanted about 48 plastic bottles over the week (the water there doesn’t taste great).
Changing up snack foods. Last year, we brought bags and bags of chips for snacking, lunches, etc. This year, we have looked for other options. For example, a small bag of popcorn will make dozens of bowls of popcorn and dozens less chip bags in the trash.
No more plastic bags. Instead of taking all our food for the week in plastic or paper grocery bags, we invested in a large cooler and those green bags the grocery store now offers. Reusable - and no garbage.
Get a cooler! In the past, we’ve brought items that we could but things like milk we bought in the lodge. These were only available in small jugs, we we went through a few. Now that we have a cooler, we can buy one large carton and take it with, again cutting back on the garbage.
Another big garbage item has been paper plates, cups and paper towels. We use them for picnics or at the beach so we don’t have to take stuff from the cabin. This year, I brought with cloth washcloths for wiping up and plastic plates and cups. While these are still disposable, they can be washed and reused over the week - so instead of 5-10 in the garbage each day, we’ll use just 5 all week!

So there you have it! I hope you are enjoying your week as much as I know I am enjoying mine! I will be back next week with more great green living advice:)

More From Crystal