What is your opinion of vacationing right now?

[mommyoffive]

21 hours ago, pitterpatter said:

I've been trying to plan something for the past several days. The best I can come up with is to rent a travel trailer (and clean the heck out of it) and head to some state parks. We would take food and do all our own cooking. (We haven't eaten out or gotten take out since the beginning of March.) We would pay for gas at the pump and use the toilet in the travel trailer. We are limiting ourselves to driving to border states with similar infection rates as our own. The plan is to hike, which we do locally and enjoy, visit some outdoor historic sites and whatever other low-risk outdoor attractions I can come up with, and maybe some kayaking and horseback riding. I'm trying to decide how risky those last two are. I'm leaning toward the Tennessee state parks that are a couple of hours west of the Great Smoky Mountains. We might take a jaunt over to the mountains themselves one day. If we decide to stay a little closer to home, we may stay in the Land Between the Lakes area in Kentucky. We considered Indiana Dunes or Starved Rock State Park in Illinois but those seem too high risk due to being located so close to Chicago.

I've tried looking online for Covid vacation ideas, but I didn't find much. I was hoping some travel bloggers had come up with some creative solutions. Part of me says to just stay home, the other part says this may be reality for quite a while and to adapt.

ETA: Well, Tennessee may be out. The seven-day average for Covid cases there is outshining my state. Apparently, all counties except one are going up, up, up. I didn't realize that area was popular for east coast city dwellers. Looks like we might be back to the visiting state parks in our own state.

I am trying to figure out how safe I think horse back riding is too.  Or renting a boat.   

[pitterpatter]

I do wish there was some solid guidance out there. I would think spraying down a kayak and paddles/oars with disinfectant and wearing some kind of gloves (thin leather ones maybe) while horseback riding would be enough (or would hand sanitizing before and after be enough) as long as you could get on the horse yourself. I'd be ok with wearing a mask during a trail ride, if that would be safer. We wear masks all the time, although not typically while participating in outdoor pursuits. I suppose we could wear gardening gloves for kayaking (actually, for horseback riding too), but is it necessary? IDK.

25 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

I am trying to figure out how safe I think horse back riding is too.  Or renting a boat.

 

[mommyoffive]

15 minutes ago, pitterpatter said:

I do wish there was some solid guidance out there. I would think spraying down a kayak and paddles/oars with disinfectant and wearing some kind of gloves (thin leather ones maybe) while horseback riding would be enough (or would hand sanitizing before and after be enough) as long as you could get on the horse yourself. I'd be ok with wearing a mask during a trail ride, if that would be safer. We wear masks all the time, although not typically while participating in outdoor pursuits. I suppose we could wear gardening gloves for kayaking (actually, for horseback riding too), but is it necessary? IDK.

 

Yes guidance would be so helpful. 

I looked into stables around us.  They are sanitizing the helmets and saddles.   So I don't see the need for gloves.  But yeah getting on and of they are usually right there.   Especially helping kids, like I would be taking.  Masks are not required.   

[pitterpatter]

I didn't even think about the helmets!

I think I lack trust in employees doing what they are supposed to in regard to cleaning. Unmotivated employees aren't going to be motivated to do extra cleaning if they were already skimping before the virus. That's why we don't eat takeout. We have no desire to eat food prepared by individuals who don't believe the same as we do in regard to sanitizing and masking.

11 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Yes guidance would be so helpful. 

I looked into stables around us.  They are sanitizing the helmets and saddles.   So I don't see the need for gloves.  But yeah getting on and of they are usually right there.   Especially helping kids, like I would be taking.  Masks are not required.   

 

[pitterpatter]

How risky would you rate this vacation? Midwest. 3.5 hours from home. Secluded private cabin in the woods. Has a hot tub. We would primarily visit parks for hiking/outdoor sightseeing. We would bring and cook our own food. There's a dishwasher so I could easily rewash all the cooking supplies (or bring our own). I would spray/wipe down all nonporous surfaces before using. There's no washer and dryer, but we could bring or own linens, as we have the correct size.

We may or may not require a potty break coming and going. It looks like there would be 48 hours between the previous renters leaving and us arriving.

[mommyoffive]

3 minutes ago, pitterpatter said:

How risky would you rate this vacation? Midwest. 3.5 hours from home. Secluded private cabin in the woods. Has a hot tub. We would primarily visit parks for hiking/outdoor sightseeing. We would bring and cook our own food. There's a dishwasher so I could easily rewash all the cooking supplies (or bring our own). I would spray/wipe down all nonporous surfaces before using. There's no washer and dryer, but we could bring or own linens, as we have the correct size.

We may or may not require a potty break coming and going. It looks like there would be 48 hours between the previous renters leaving and us arriving.

Sounds low risk to me.

[linders]

We just returned from 5 days at a beach rental a 2 hour drive from home. Rented from a group we knew well who had implemented "deep cleaning." I still disinfected every conceivable surface as soon as we arrived. Took our own pillows and fleece blankets, put their pillows and bedspreads/blankets away since those don't get washed for each new arrival. We aren't actually lay-on-a-hot-beach people, we rode walked on the beach in the early morning, then bikes and kayaked the rest of the day - easy to social distance. Ordered take out from our favorite restaurants. Never needed to go into stores - had brought beverages, breakfast, and snacks with us. I'm pretty paranoid but felt good about it.