As we all know, COVID threw everyones’ lives off course in 2020 and family vacations were among the most-anticipated events that were the first thing to face cancellation. That is, unless you began to think “outside the box,” and do some online research to look for “unconventional” destinations, where crowds were unlikely, but with enough activities to keep both kids and adults entertained. Time spent in the outdoors was also an important factor.
Long before COVID hit, I had started planning our 2020 summer vacation but wasn’t feeling especially inspired. We’d done Florida and its various theme parks, as well as Boston and the Cape Cod region. My husband isn’t a huge fan of flying so anything that can be a road trip is preferable, and my two kids, ages 12 and 8, are old enough to manage longer trips by car.
In search of inspiration, I pulled up the Airbnb app. They have some search tools that make it easy if you don’t know where you want to go. Just enter the attributes of what type of lodging you are looking for and go from there! Well, that was easy… I knew how many beds and bathrooms were necessary, along with the need for parking, laundry, and A/C. With my preferences locked in, I could search by price and by rating. Then I realized I could search using the map, so I started to look at places that were within a 2-to-3-day drive. That feature added a whole new layer to my search and suddenly I found myself with a short list of options.
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Forest Gully Farms
Top of the list quickly became uncontested once I found the listing for Forest Gully Farms in Santa Fe, Tennessee and fell in love (https://www.forestgullyfarms.com/). I’m NOT a fan of camping, but my husband and kids are. This looked like a great “glamping” experience with an added bonus — my husband loves the Lord of the Rings books and we’d be staying in “hobbit house” style lodging! Only one family/group could book the property at a time so that took care of social distancing.
The “gully huts” are built into earth mounds and each of them has A/C! There are two that are for sleeping which can fit 3-4 people comfortably. Each is also equipped with power outlets, along with interior and exterior lights.
The third hut is the kitchen, and it would serve as our hangout place during the day. We’d be able to cook our own meals with plenty of pots and pans, along with an electric cooktop and a full-size fridge. There wasn’t any running water in the huts so we would need to carry it from the bath house/laundry building, to fill a jug that emptied into the sink, but that wasn’t an issue for us.
The walk to the bath house/laundry building takes about 90 seconds from the huts. The building housed a washer and a dryer (a must have for a trip like this), along with a “slop sink” and two separate bathrooms, with one of them with a shower.
After a few days of discussion amongst the four of us, we decided to go for it and booked 5 days. We’d make the drive there and back into part of the trip, and make some fun stops in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky along the way.
Months later, when COVID hit, we were worried we’d have to cancel our trip. Luckily, since we were driving and the location was so remote, we felt very safe about still going. The farm is an experiment in sustainable living, built around the goal of living off the land and guests immerse themselves in their own “homestead,” which includes a vegetable garden, orchard, and chickens.
The kids had a wonderful time checking out the creek and the waterfalls, getting eggs from the chickens, picking buckets of blueberries, and just lazing about with the two dogs that belonged to the hosts and were allowed to roam the property. We were 20-30 minutes away from a few different small towns, with enough options for groceries and takeout, as well as some parks we could go to for fishing and exploring.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
We thought for sure that we’d be able to go on a “normal” vacation sooner rather than later, but as the rest of 2020 proved, that wasn’t the case.
I am fortunate to be able to work from home, but the idea of having the kids bouncing off the walls over Winter Break in February 2021 wasn’t appealing. So back to the Airbnb app I went!
With work commitments and winter travel, we didn’t want to go away for more than a few days, so that meant the drive time had to be shorter. I found an incredible house in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for us to stay at and used TripAdvisor to find some outings that we could go on. The site had a ranking of top attractions, and each had been updated to clarify what was available with COVID restrictions.
We settled on the following and bought advance tickets:
The National Aviary
(https://www.aviary.org/) offered timed tickets and reduced attendance, in addition to requiring masks. My husband is a big fan of birds, and there were an impressive number to be seen. Memorable standouts were the penguins that were very active and wore bands on their wings with their names, and we also bought tickets to see a show where the birds would fly overhead.
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The Senator John Heinz History Center
(https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/) also offered timed tickets and reduced attendance, in addition to requiring masks. Our daughter is a HUGE ketchup fan and that, coupled with the Mister Rogers Neighborhood exhibit as well as a huge sports exhibit/Stanley Cup display, made sure there was something for everyone.
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In addition, we made stops at IKEA, along with two different eateries in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood — Gaby et Jules Patisserie (https://www.gabyetjules.com/) and Everyday Noodles (http://www.everydaynoodles.net/). The kids were big fans of all three, as each experience was something different from what we have access to back home.
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On our way home, we’d planned our route so that we could stop at Pinball PA in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania (https://www.pinballpa.com). For $40 our family of 4 could play all the games we wanted for 2 hours! That was just the right amount of time for our group and while we’re big fans of pinball and retro arcade games, there were many here that we hadn’t had the opportunity to see or play before.
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Closer-To-Home
Now that COVID restrictions have allowed attractions to open back up, there are some unique options in our own backyard here in Rochester, NY, and a short drive from Buffalo, that we’re happy to be able to visit again.
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Radio Social
(https://radio-social.com/) is much more than a bowling alley! Located in Rochester’s historical Stromberg-Carlson warehouse, the 42,000-square-foot facility features 34 bowling lanes, lounge areas, a variety of indoor and outdoor games (seasonally on their back lawn), two in-house dining concepts and two bars. Recently we were able to book a lane on a Friday night, and were able to get food and drinks delivered by our server. While there are standard kid-friendly options, their menu and drink list are next level (https://radio-social.com/food/). You can also rent equipment to play ping pong, shuffleboard, and pool. There are some oversized Connect Four sets that are available for sign-out without a fee.
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Livingston County Veterans Monument
Located at 5871 Groveland Station Rd., Mt. Morris, NY, makes for a nice drive and there are 250 metal poppies on display. My kids enjoyed running around and looking at all of the unique designs at the center of each of the poppies. The monument is free to visit. You can learn more about the project here: https://www.livingstoncounty.us/1163/Livingston-County-Veterans-Monument
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On the way home from your drive, you might want to stop at Colby’s Ice Cream & Bake Shop (https://www.colbysicecreambakery.com/) in Rush, NY for some treats!
Tip for Future Vacation Planning:
In pre-COVID times, it had become a family tradition to start planning our summer vacation (for the week of July 4th) in November/December/January. With our busy schedules, advance planning was absolutely necessary to make sure we had the downtime that both grownups and kids needed. By planning ahead in November/December, we could gift portions of it to the kids over the holidays, and/or take advantage of “Black Friday” sales for our destinations. Yup, those are a thing! If you’re eyeballing a resort or major attraction as your destination, get on their mailing list ahead of the day after Thanksgiving, and you might be surprised with how much money you save.
Jean Bezek is the multi-tasking mom of two school-age children and the daughter of WNY Family editor and publisher, Michele Miller.