FAMILY VACATION-CANYON LAKE-UNDER $500
Middle of the week we decided to take a random spur of the moment family trip. Honestly, I feel like we were all going a little crazy cooped up in the house. I needed more adventure in my life than just a Target pickup or a grocery pickup. All of our summer vacation plans were unfortunately canceled this summer due to COVID. So, I talked husband into taking a local quick family road trip.
If you are feeling stuck in the house… I encourage you to take a drive.. even if it’s just a day drive. Honestly, for your mental sanity. We started our virtual learning 2 weeks ago, and now I really feel stuck at home. After we returned home this evening from vacation… I feel so refreshed and motivated. I personally desperately needed that and honestly, I think we all needed it!
So, let me tell you about our trip and how you can plan a trip for UNDER-$500.
- STEP ONE- Start with your budget. Determining your budget will help you pre-plan and know what you can and can’t afford. One of the biggest costs, in my opinion, especially for a family of 5 is…FOOD. So, I planned to pack all the food for us except for 1 dinner. That alone easily probably saved us $120.
- STEP TWO- pick your destination. If you pick something local you might even able to go there and come home in one day and save money on the hotel. We choose Canyon lake. Here are a few reasons why. I have been seeing posts about this lake and how it was crystal clear and that it was! Canyon lake is located right near Texas hill country and if you haven’t been there… PUT IT ON YOUR LIST. Canyon lake is right in between a few cities… so I felt like it was in the middle enough we could venture off to different areas. We stayed in San Marcos and choose to venture off into Austin one night too. I just liked how the lake was centrally located and we had a lot of options.
- BEGIN YOUR RESEARCH- Once you have your budget and your destination you can start actually “planning” your trip. If you plan to eat out you can start to do your research on good restaurants. And with your destination in place, you can start planning what entertainment is local.
- HOTEL- If you do plan to stay overnight … do your hotel research. I booked our hotel with the actual hotel website. We found the hotel we stayed at on hotel.com but we found it cheaper on the actual hotel’s website. Depending on where you are wanting to venture too, look at all options. If you are wanting a house you can look on VRBO.com or airbnb.com. (hotels will be cheaper FYI). Some places will even have an all enclusive deal, so if you stayed at a water park you get free tickets to the park… so just look at all options.
CANYON LAKE TRIP- UNDER $500
- OUR BUDGET- I thought it would be fun to challenge ourselves to plan a family vacation for under $500 and I’m happy to say we achieved that… as long as we don’t count the fuel… my truck gets horrible fuel mileage.
- Food: Dinner: $120, Lunch- $18
- Entertainment: Movie- $97.54
- Hotel: Hilton Embassy- $123.32
- *****SUCESS… under BUDGET*****
2. ENTERTAINMENT- I usually like to do things that we don’t have local or can’t do at home.
- HILTON EMBASSY SUITES- We originally found this hotel on hotels.com but as I said above we found it cheaper on the actual HOTEL website. We like this hotel because of the location & the pool. I knew the boys were going to want a large pool to swim in, so that was a big factor. ANOTHER huge factor was the sleeping arrangements. My oldest doesn’t like to share a bed, he likes his space. So these hotel rooms had 2 divided rooms. 1 room had 2 queen beds and the other had a sleeper sofa and each with a TV… WE ALL LOVED IT. It also had a fridge and microwave, so we packed all kinds of snacks for the boys.
- CANYON BEACH PARK- Canyon lake was amazing, the water was beautiful but due to COVID the “Army” had shut down 99% of “public” parks on the lake. (Didn’t realize the Army owned/Runs this lake) We were able to find one thankfully and there was no entry charge, so that was a blessing. It was called CANYON BEACH PARK. You can bring your pets, your tents, canopies, chairs, food, drinks and enjoy the view company and water.
- CANYON OVERLOOK PARK- This is worth every penny… well considering it’s free, I’m talking worth the gas! Everyone of us enjoyed this view! Breathtaking view overlooking lake Canyon. Pictures don’t do this view justice. They also lake access for free for you to enjoy just like “Canyon Beach Park”
- REGAL MOVIE THEATRE- We decided to venture off into Austin Saturday night. We had the COOLEST movie theatre experience EVER! We saw a 4dx movie and I can’t even believe I’m about type what this theater offered. Are you ready??? This theater was very THEATRICAL! The seats moved like a rollercoaster, it shot water on you, it would shoot boosts of air on you, directly in front of the screen they would shoot off snow and had a fog machine. I mean we felt like we were at an amusement park… worth every penny in my opinion. The kids absolutely loved it. I will say if you get motion sickness easily … I don’t recommend it. It was very aggressive.
- Terry Black’s BBQ in Austin- We did research on YELP for a good restaurant. I will be honest… I’m not a big meat eater and I’m not a super fan of trying new foods or places. This restaurant had amazing reviews so I had to try! They were a little pricey but worth every penny. The meat was so tender & yummy. We tried a little bit of everything. We got: ribs, brisket, macaroni(my fav), potato salad(little bland), beans, sausage, banana pudding(hands-down best ever), and chopped beef sandwich.
- State Capitol- This is free.. unfortunately, due to COVID and everything going on we couldn’t go in or even walk the grounds. Just so you know, normally you can just walk around (no tour required). You can walk around and explore all inside the capital and the grounds. It was honestly one of the coolest things I ever did a few years back with some girlfriends and was so bummed I couldn’t show the boys.
- GOVERNORS MANSION- This is about 2 blocks from the capital and a beautiful view.
- The Guadalupe River- would be an awesome thing to take the kids to do too… but again due to COVID, it was closed. The river itself is open, but no shops are renting tubes and there are no shuttle buses. YOU CAN buy a tube and bring it but you have to figure out how to get back to your car.
- We looked into renting Jet ski or a ski boat on Canyon lake, but they were booked up. $100 for an hour is the average price.
- We tried to go to a couple of local parks in San Marcos & Austin but they were closed… but remember Parks and nature walks are free. San Marcos had a huge park called “Children’s Park” but again closed.
- We did just drive around the random roads and enjoyed the beautiful Texas Hill Country views.
Family trips and adventures don’t have to be expensive. My husband and I were just talking about it today, there is so much to do around us that we haven’t even done. So, if you feel stuck or need to get out… grab the kids, husband or your dog and throw them in the car and hit your local park, go for a walk and get some fresh air.
TAG me in your next budget friendly vacation! Instagram: @AshtonSedita
