My Vacation with My Puppy Guts.......

We had nine and a half days of vacation to ourselves (with one where Lucky spent unencumbered and focused quality time with his children)and a very limited budget to do so, but we managed to have the greatest time of our lives. It turns out that one does not need to go far or spend a whole hell of a lot of money to have a great time. We've proven that in spades in our lives when we are able to spend time together on our "dates" and we proved it once again on our vacation. We scoured the internet for things to do, every bargain we could find, and figured out the perfect way to plan out our vacation by not planning it out at all. We flew by the seat of our pants, not sticking to some schedule of what to do when and rolled with the punches and took each day as it came at us. It worked out well. We accomplished much, made time to spend with friends as well as made sure that we had plenty of time to spend with each other engaged in serious activity both in and out of the bedroom. It also seemed to work well with the budget we had as well.... Let's break it down:

Our first night was spent in a hotel (finding a bargain AND a coupon online) at a pet friendly place and had a White Trash Garden Party with Mitchie. Price? $45 for a room, $24 for hooch, diner noms at $30 and some groceries for about $25. We kicked off our vacation with a hoot and a holler and spent time with our bestie. A great time had for $124.

Our second day/ night we went back to Lucky's parents house, cooked up some food bought at the grocery store at $ 20 (to bring to a party), another room at a different hotel in a different town (again, found at a bargain AND coupon online) at $55, and we went to a party at a friend's house for food and drink. Another great time for $75.

The third day/ night, first thing in the morning, we shot down to my parents' house and since mom is in Japan and the cranky old git is always holed up in his fortress of solitude all the time, hey why not. Then we hopped onto a train to go into the city for $37 (round trip for the both of us). We had purchased a bottle of whiskey for a friend for his birthday at $26. Once in the city, the only thing we paid for was lunch at about $50 for the three of us as we mostly walked around and toured the city, which was the best time! When we got back and walked Otis. Chinese take out for $13, ate in bed in our jammies, in a bed we call "ours". An awesome day for $126. We went out to get some snacks for the next day's adventure for $11 too. No need for hotel costs, we went on the cheap and stayed "home". Total this day? $137.

Day/ night four turned into a rather blah day. We hadn't gotten much sleep the night before and we were up at 5AM to attempt a fishing trip. We got to the boat and it turned out to be a wash... No fishing that day. We went to "home base north" (A.K.A. Lucky's parents' house) as it was closer than "home base south" and ended up napping for about four hours. When we got up, we shot back down to my parents' house, watched a movie, and we decided to go to the grocery store and buy stuff to make for supper (since we were staying at my parents' house again) for about $15. Supplies to make wraps for a light dinner. We watched another movie and decided to attempt a second go at fishing the next morning. It was a nice relaxing and unencumbered day including mutual footie rubs and back rubs that we would have paid an arm and a leg for somewhere, but we got it all for $15.

Day/ night five brought another failed attempt at going fishing, so we went zip lining instead. Since we weren't scheduled until the afternoon, we went fishing for free at a lake nearby, had a light lunch for $14, and went zipping through the tree tops for two hours for $94 for the both of us. For supper we bought different innards for a different kind of wraps at the grocery store at $10 and spent another night at my 'rents' house. Unbelievable day for $118.

On day/ night six, we finally got to go deep sea fishing. A local party boat at $50 a head. THAT was a hoot! We caught our supper and cooked it up, spent another quality night at my parents' since the old git was nowhere to be seen for the most part. Ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery for $10... We rocked that day for $110.

On day/ night seven, it was a recoop day. Life needed to be handled and Lucky needed to spend time with his children since they had returned from vacation the night before. He had things to do to be ready for them and I had laundry, dishes, garbage, bills, cleaning, and all around general shit that I HAD to get done. I drove up to see Lucky and the kids at his parents' house. Another bottle of hooch was purchased for $24. We did a little WTGP with Mitchie after the kids went to bed. Another fun night for $24.

Day/ night eight,we went to an indoor water park with Lucky's children (with coupons) @ $19 a head totaling $76. We had lunch at McDonald's with coupons and gift certificates, with money left on the gift certificates, so no money spent there... Dinner with Lucky's family chipping in $10 for pizza and ending off with a quiet evening back at "home base south". It was hard to see who had the better time at the water park... The adults or the kids... It's still rather up in the air  for a total of $86 spent on what turned out to be another AWESOME day!

Day/ night nine, our last day was spent deep sea fishing again on the same boat we went on some few days ago. Another $100. Lucky caught a rock... Yes... A rock. Hey! Anyone can catch a fish! It takes a real special sort to hook a rock AND reel it in to the surface! Yes, we took it home. We named it Kevin and he lives outside in the yard under a bush. It was about the only thing we caught, but we still managed to have a great time on the boat. Both of our lily white selves ended up with  very nice tans too! Dinner at our favorite Thai food restaurant for $45 and ended the evening off with a DVD marathon.Total this day was $145 for a nice relaxing day AND a great souvenir named Kevin!

In the morning when we woke up, we ate a hearty breakfast at our favorite diner totaling $20, fixed a door in the house, managed to get a few other things accomplished, a few things around the house that needed some muscle and Lucky had to go back "home" to get some sleep before his shift later in the evening. I met him at his parents' house late in the afternoon, picked up his children and went to a family function at his aunt's house and thus concluded our vacation. Total spent? $20.

Total in gas for the week topped out at about $120 since we stayed pretty local (and Lucky's vasectomy was probably the GREATEST investment EVER! We didn't have to worry about prophylactics... (And considering the fact that we were on vacation, that could have eaten WAY into our "vacation funds"...) and adding up the odds and ends from "stray receipts" that totaled $23. Total spent on/ for our vacation? $997. The most perfectly relaxing, non-stress, exciting, fun, perfect vacation that I had EVER had for an RCH less than a thousand dollars. We managed to accomplish everything that we wanted to do on our list, spend amazing quality time with each other, and had an absolutely phenomenal time with each other no matter what we were doing. Otis got the care he needed from us rather than from a kennel and we were never really far from the "creature comforts of home". Like I said, perfect.

It seems to me that it boils down to a couple of things here... There really is no need to spend an outrageous amount of money in order to have a good time on vacation AND it really is about the company with whom you go on a vacation with. I went on a vacation with my partner in life, my soulmate, my best friend, my ultimate lover, my backup in any situation, my support system physically, emotionally and mentally,and lucky me, he's all that in one. We could have taken on the world last week and won.
Thank you Puppy Guts, for the hands down, most awesome vacation, bar none. It was the most incredible week and change! And thank you for everything that you are to me, including the incredible things that you don't see in yourself, but I do. I will come to make you see them too. Even if it takes me a lifetime. ♥