Sauble River - 2004

Lake Huron - 1994

Eagle Lake - 2005

Commentary from CottageLINK on Gas Prices

You can't pick up a paper or watch TV these days without seeing at least one article on the rising cost of gasoline and how it is impacting our lives. Recently, stories have begun to appear which indicate that people are changing their vacation plans accordingly. Now, I certainly realise that higher prices always put a pinch on people's wallets, especially when that wallet is supplying the cash for an entire family. It is my opinion, however, that a cottage vacation is now a better deal than ever...here's why:

Every year, families have a vacation decision to make. I expect my situation is similar to that of thousands around the country...we have the following possibilities:

• Long distance travel - Europe, for example. Sure, it's great if you can do it, but for the average family it is something that they may be able to afford once, or never. We were fortunate enough to take our children to Paris and London a few years ago and I don't regret a penny of it, but it certainly tapped the savings for a while.
• Day trips - you know the type - amusement parks, animal safari's, Niagara Falls (OK, if you live in BC that last one is NOT a day trip, but it was for us). Much more affordable than Europe or Disney, and you were putting your head on your own pillow each night.
• Cottage rentals - not surprisingly, this is the one we opted for most often, and in fact that led to the formation of CottageLINK back in 1996.

In terms of financial cost, the long distance trip is clearly the most expensive, so I'm going to leave it aside for now. I'd like to consider the cost of day trips. First of all, a day trip can run in the neighbourhood of up to 400 kilometres, depending on how far you are venturing. Doing that several times over the course of a week is certainly going be impacted by this year's contribution to the Oil Patch retirement fund. In addition, however, the meals you are having with the family are being eaten at restaurants and fast food joints - for a family of 4 or 5 (throw in good desserts...you ARE on vacation) and you could be easily spending $100 on a meal. That DOESN'T include the inflated prices you pay for snacks at tourist attractions (those $2.50 bottles of pop can really add up). Then throw in the "fatigue" factor. Days of driving can tax everyone's strength, not to mention patience. And unless you have a good size van, it will be a very tough sell to teenagers.

Now I'm not knocking the wonderful attractions we have around the country - we have some great family memories of day trips to many different spots, and I wouldn't trade those memories for anything - but I'm reading some stories about people deciding against cottage rentals due to gas costs. To me, this makes no sense.

For years, we rented cottages as a family in various locales around Ontario. Our first stop on our trip was usually the local fast food joint for breakfast, followed by a trip to the library (where librarians invariably gave us questioning looks when we left with 25-30 books, just enough to get the family through the week). Upon unloading at the cottage, we hightailed it to the grocery store for the week's provisions. This was always fun, as the kids knew they had a little more say in the selection than usual. Then with our week's supply of food (including a liberal supply of snack foods that were never bought the other 51 weeks of the year) we would head back to the cottage and start in on some serious relaxing. Total cost - $300-400 for groceries, a tank of gas, and whatever the cost of a week's rental for the cottage. Now, except for perhaps a rainy day ride into the nearest town, that was the total expenditure for the week. Easy to budget, easy to carry out. Even with a gas price of $2/litre (and no, I'm not privy to any insider info), the total cost of a cottage rental would not be impacted all that significantly.

It usually took a day or two for the kids, especially during the teen years, to get used to the sudden disappearance of all things urban, but after that, the magic invariably set in. Out would come a deck of cards, a crokinole board or a book of jokes written sometime during the 50's. Initial complaints of "boring" turned to "can we get the kayaks out again?". By the end of the week, it was typical to hear something like "do we have to leave already?".

Last summer, we realised that our children (ages 17, 20 and 22) were all getting ready to move on to new chapters in their lives, and the time for getting together as an exclusive group was nearing an end. We made a special effort to free up a few days together at a cottage on the Crowe River, and I will be forever grateful we did. It cemented in place for me the feeling that getting away from it all as a family was the best way to reconnect, and I hope it is an attitude that will continue a legacy that my own father started with my brothers and sisters and me.

My prediction for this year is that when people start to weigh the costs and benefits of their vacation choices, cottage rentals are going to come out on top, perhaps FURTHER ahead than ever. People have been a little hesitant to plan too far ahead, but I think that there could be a last minute rush when people reach the same conclusions I have. There are a lot of ways to spend your vacation. If gas prices are a concern, then seriously consider a cottage rental - the selection has never been better, and the time is now.

Have a great summer!...Craig...