 This Fourth of July, the average family vacation cost $1,150 and, for the second year in a row, many families skipped going away altogether, choosing instead to just stay home.
 And that’s too bad, because, given the stress of jobs, family, and the current economy, a family vacation this summer may be more necessary than ever before.
That said, if you’re one of those families planning not to vacation this year, perhaps it’s time for a staycation: A week or two in your own hometown or backyard. Sometimes, quite literally.
Done properly staycations -- where individuals and families take an extended vacation at home, rather than travel to a destination -- can offer all the benefits of a trip out of town, at far lower costs. Since staycations should be truly a vacation -- without the prospect of airport delays -- they can help relieve the stress of work and social planning. As with a vacation, staycations can help families feel more connected with each other, sans car sickness.
For his part, world traveler turned staycationer Ed Coumou says anyone can have a fun and memorable staycation with just a little research and planning.
"If you have any tourism at all nearby, you’d be surprised at all the fun things you can do and see that most locals miss," says Coumou, of Seattle. This summer, instead of going on a regular vacation with the usual travel, food, and lodging costs, he and a friend from Texas chose to do a series of day trips that were within a day’s round-trip drive of Coumou’s home. "You can have just as much fun as an out of town vacation at nowhere near the expense."
Over the Internet the two compiled a list of destinations and set an itinerary for their 10-day vacation: three full-day roadtrips and a series of nearby activities, all broken into two categories: "good weather," for outdoor activities and destinations, and "bad weather," for museums, restaurants, galleries, and indoor stadiums. Over their 10 days they dabbled in nearly all the tourist activities, from sightseeing at Mount Rainier to dinner on the waterfront in Seattle.
"I have just had the most wonderful 10-day staycation that competes with any regular vacation I have ever had," said Coumou, who counts among his historic trips Europe, Asia, North Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific.
So, how do you build the perfect staycation that both fits a tight budget and a demanding audience like children? Start by thinking of it as a vacation, not more time at home. That means scheduling the housekeeping for before or after the holiday. This is supposed to be a vacation, after all. The only reason to stick your head in the oven should be if you’re trying to get away from the kids. And that’s a different issue all together.
 While you’re at it, don’t forget to turn off the BlackBerry and turn on the vacation email notice. Perhaps it’s time to go so far as changing the message on your voicemail. Letting the world know you’re alive but on vacation will make it less tempting to pick up the phone and pull yourself back into your routine. You wouldn’t schedule soccer practices, play dates, and doctor’s appointments from the beach in Maui, so why do it when you’re kiddie-poolside in your own backyard?
And how do you find the activities to make a vacation out of a week or two off work, even just in your own backyard? Start by thinking of the things you might do in someone else’s city. From the arts to sporting events to recreation, most communities have many hidden, and obvious, treasures. Finding them can be as close as the local used bookstore or library.
Books such as "Lonely Planet" aren’t just for foreign travel, they can introduce staycationers to familiar and off-the-beaten-path tourist activities as well as unusual festivals and events. While all New Yorkers may be familiar with restaurant week, how many have June’s Mermaid Parade or July’s Howl Festival on the calendar? Picking up a travel guide to your city or state may give you a jump on planning your itinerary.
Then, there are those books that give vacationers, well, stranger advice. "Haunted Hikes," for example, might inspire even a 10 year old to leave the Wii long enough to go for walk with the family. And "Weird U.S." lists everything from ghostly sights to strange rock formations to places to catch a glimpse of mummies and "big hairy men." If, for example, you live in Alabama and have never been to the Ave Maria Grotto -- a miniature stone city built by a Bavarian-born hunchback, with 25 buildings, including replicas of the Tower of Babel and the Alamo -- a staycation may be the time to see it.
Books, of course, aren’t the only way to find entertainment in your own community. Most every city, town, or county has some sort of tourist bureau which can give staycationers the scoop on everything from popular to strange sites, offer up information on forthcoming festivals, and more. And, they know what’s free or cheap. The Washington D.C. tourism bureau lists 100 free or almost free things in the city, while Chicago’s CVB lists activities that are either always free or free on certain days. Some cities offer coupons or discounts to events, and residents of at least 10 cities, including Atlanta and Boston, can purchase a CityPass that provides discounts or free admission to such attractions as museums and amusement parks.
Take those tourism bureau tips to a whole new level, and the family could spend the staycation staging its own "Amazing Race" across the county, city, or state.
Travel Oregon is hosting one such summer-long event. As part of the Oregon 150 Challenge, Oregonians can visit the challenge Web site and create trips from five categories -- events, outdoors, food and drink, attractions, and "you pick." Upon proving they’ve visited or experienced all five categories (by uploaded photos, for example) contestants are entered to win one of seven prizes from the tourism board.
 Which is not to say that staycations even require leaving town. Good fun can be found in most backyards. For every adult longing to pick up that long lost game of Capture the Flag, there’s a neighborhood kid ready to learn the rules. Luckily, the Web makes remembering those rules, and the rules of other summer games easy as pie. Sites such as FunByTheYard.com, the Boy Scouts, and Streetplay.com have the rules and regulations, as well as ideas, for countless games, such as Kick the Can, Skully, and Stickball.
And because summer wouldn’t be complete without pie, there’s culinary boot camp. Across the country chefs, sommeliers, and bartenders are hosting one day, multi-day, and weeklong crash courses in everything from fine wine to frosting. In Seattle, Waterfront Seafood Grill offers a $35 wine boot camp that covers everything from understanding an AVA to tasting a 100-point wine. Meanwhile, up the street legendary Chef Tom Douglas hosts his five-day culinary camp, complete with guest chefs, cooking demos, field trips, culinary challenges and, of course, meals.
Grills are just as hot in the Midwest. In Milwaukee, the Braise on the Go cooking school takes place on the very farms, and in the very fields, from which food comes. And you can consider other tasty prospects, such as a creamery tour and dessert class being held at a creamery in Columbus.
If food is an art, and art is an art, what is the local park in summer? A grazing ground for theater lovers. While Midwesterners have long traveled to Stratford in Ontario for the famous Shakespeare festival, increasingly the bard can be found in neighborhood green spaces. Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and National City are bringing "Romeo and Juliet" to green stages, such as Cincinnati’s Mt. Echo Park and the Boone Woods Park in Burlington, Kentucky. Zilker Park in Austin, Texas, is home to both the Zilker Summer Musical and Shakespeare in the Park, to name a few. Meanwhile, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival offers classes, including a weekend warrior course that teaches hand to hand combat and how to wield rapiers and daggers.
Regardless of whether this year’s staycation happens on the nearby roads, around the neighborhood pool, or in the backyard, one thing every summer vacation needs is a good book. Summer vacation is a time when many people feel far away from their hectic, everyday lives, and when it’s ok to read, says famed librarian Nancy Pearl.
For staycationers in search of a book that will take them on vacation, Pearl has advice.
"Ask yourself where you’d want to go, or where you’d be, if you were on vacation, and then find a book that is set in that part of the country," says Pearl. "Or, you could seek out books written by authors from that part of the world. A lot of people who are going someplace do that, but I think it’s just as valid if you’re staying at home."
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