When I was a kid, we didn’t have much money and so we never took a real summer vacation. Sometimes, usually on the Fourth of July or over the Labor Day weekend, we would drive over to Conway, Arkansas, to visit family members and go crappie fishing.

When Susan and I started having kids, we tried to take some summer vacations that would be memory makers.

One that springs to mind is when we took a family camping trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado. We packed up the camping supplies and the kids and started driving toward the mountains.

We spent one night in a tent at Black Mesa State Park and that was fun. When we got to Colorado, we found a camping park in Cascade, near Garden of the Gods. This was an area that gets very little rain but it was a downpour our first night. It rained so much that we put our two sons in the car while we slept on a inflatable mattress in our tent.

Most of the time, we tried to make it out to Florida for a summer vacation. Susan’s folks, who now live in Tulsa, lived the Orlando area.

There’s a lot to do and see in Orlando.

We took the kids to Disney World and Sea World and Gatorland. Disney is terribly expensive but it helps if you are staying for free at Grandma’s house instead of paying for a hotel suite.

And while in Florida, we would head to the coast – almost always the Gulf Coast. We liked to stay at Madeira Beach which is close to Tampa Bay. My in-laws generously sometimes paid to rent a condo right on the beach and it was great fun.

For me, it’s very relaxing to sit at the hotel pool and just watch the ocean. I swam in the ocean but it’s not my favorite thing to do. I would rather swim in a pool by the ocean.

One summer, we met Susan’s folks in Breckenridge, Colorado. Because we publish 51 weeks a year, Susan and I can’t take off for a whole week in the summer these days. (We always take off the week between Christmas and New Years.)

Breckenridge is where we spent our honeymoon in 1982. It is cool and refreshing in the summer. I just love looking at the mountains (although I hate to drive through the mountains.).

And the prices at the ski resorts in the summer are cheaper than during ski season and that’s a nice aspect. Plus, the restaurants aren’t as crowded.

I like to sneak over to Branson, Missouri, for a long weekend in the summertime. That’s the busy season but there is so much to like about Branson.

When the kids were little, we took them to Silver Dollar City and made the mistake of starting with the log ride in the water park section. We got soaked. We had to go into a restroom, take off our shirt, socks and pants and wring the water out of them. We weren’t dressed to get wet but we did.

A great way to spend a summer evening is on the Showboat Branson Belle, the enormous paddleboat that is a dinner theater. The show is always entertaining and the food is terrific.

I used to take our kids and some kids from church camping at Natural Falls State Park – which is just off Highway 412 west of the Oklahoma/Arkansas border near Siloam Springs, Arkansas.

It’s a fun place to camp. The kids like sleeping in a tent and cooking outdoors. The park charges a fee to get in and that’s good because it cuts down on traffic. There’s a 70-foot waterfall, a catch-and-release pond and hiking trails.

One summer, again when our kids were young, we signed up for family camp at New Life Ranch, just down the road from Natural Falls State Park.

I went to New Life Ranch as a camper in the 1960s and all three of our kids were campers there. Family was only four days then. It was short but sweet.

Now New Life Ranch has purchased Dry Gulch USA and operates two campuses – one on Flint Creek and one on Lake Hudson.

We may make a couple of weekend trips this summer but we have no giant plans. Our story is that when we have had the time, we didn’t have the money, and when we had the money, we haven’t had the time.

And Disney World is not as much fun with adult children plus we can’t stay for free at Grandma’s house anymore because she lives in Tulsa.