Vacations Too Expensive? Can I Interest You in a Day Trip?
by Katy on August 23, 2025 · 48 comments
My husband and I visited the Oregon coast yesterday. Not an expensive vacation where we’d have to fly and pay for accomodation, just a simple two hour drive from 100° Portland to seventy-some degree beach breezes. We enjoyed slightly overpriced fish and chips overlooking a bay and then shared a burrito before heading home.
We saw orange starfish.
Purple starfish.
An unfortunate starfish.
And a flock of maybe 80 pelicans. Okay, this was amazingly cool, as we’ve been to this sepcific beach maybe twenty times through the years and this was a first. Sure, we’ve seen pelicans here and there in the past, but such a large number at once was new. It’s hard to give a sense of how big they are in a photo, but compare their size to the also-not-tiny seagull!
We also stopped into the Tillamook Goodwill, where I picked up what looks to be a complete Yakima bike rack for $7.99. I’ll clean it up today and either list it on Facebook Marketplace or bring it to the used bike rack store.
A perfect getaway for a couple of lucky Oregonians.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
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{ 48 comments… read them below or add one }
I think you can promote your day trip as “marine nature safari”. Looks fab and I’d like to book a trip with you!
The bird with the starfish also had a lucky day.
True. I guess it’s about which animal you’re considering.
1) 2 loads of laundry (including towels and sheets) washed and on the clothesline. Supposed to rain tomorrow. (Found $.30 in the washer, too!)
2) Got 6 fresh peaches from 3 of my Amish kids yesterday. Gave 1 to my bus contractor, 1 to his secretary, and ate the other 4 for lunch today.
3) Picked up an end-of-season tank top regularly $12.98 for $3.
4) Dug 2 haddock filets out of the freezer yesterday for tonight. Making baked corn to go with it as that’s what I have ingredients for. DH wants venison.stroganoff tomotrow night. Only had to buy 1 bag of egg noodles and 1 onion.
5) Trying to get DH on the frugality page. He said he “needed” to get a suitcase for when he “travels.” He “travels” about 14 miles to the next town to dogsit while our friends go to their doctor appointments in Philadelphia. There is no “traveling” in the budget for a very long time. He has mental health issues and doesn’t fully comprehend not buying something for a 1-time event. Pray for me.
Do you have a relative or neighbor who could “lend” you a suitcase? Somehow, the person heard your husband wanted one, and brought one over for him to use, which basically means you would store it until the person needed it back.
Or this just might make him more focused on traveling. I hope a solution presents itself soon. Secondhand stores often have luggage, of varying degrees of usefulness.
We have friends (a couple) who have several and told us previously that we could borrow if needed. I reminded him of that tonight. I just have to keep redirecting him when he wantd to buy something we don’t need. It gets exhaisting. And, it’s more of a problem when I’m not with him. He recently bought a big bag of dark, sweet cherries for me as that is one of the fruits I have been eating in my morning oatmeal. He was trying to be nice and, while I appreciated the effort, I had bought a bag myself the day before. I don’t want a lot of any one particular fruit on hand at a time so I can mix it up and not get bored. Now I have cherries out the wazoo. Been eating cherries like crazy! Today he wanted to buy blueberries. Fortunately, I was with him. Had to remind him we needed to eat the 3 pints we have at home first.
@Melissa N, I can hear how tiring it all is for you! I love the idea of ‘borrowing to store’ someone’s suitcase, and as for the cherries, PITA though it is, you COULD freeze them for a midwinter joy?
Argh
I LOVE that you ate 4 peaches for your lunch. I have a box with 8 peaches in it and was fussing about ‘what to do with them’. HA! EAT them! (I used half in some mixed berry/stone fruit crumble, which was spectacular, but this remaining half box was needing time to ripen. the time is nigh)
Our favorite way to celebrate vacation days! Looks like you had a nice time!
An excellent day, all around!
When I realized that my grocery spending for the past eight days consisted of one onion, and that my larders are still full, I decided it’s time for a pantry challenge. Anyone else interested? I’ll try not to bore you with too many details as I check in. (Aiming to go to the end of September by keeping rules and enforcement lax.)
So, though I started emptying my shelves a week ago, I’ll be keeping track as of today. I won’t be religious about it: if I can use up a bunch of ingredients by buying one or two items, I’ll count that as a win. AND…I’m planning to buy a whole lot of sweet corn to freeze, also tomatoes, because it’s now or never with those.* And I will judiciously stock up if I find things I always use on an excellent markdown.
Luckily I’m the grateful recipient of late season garden surplus from my sister-in-law, and that will keep spending down. I try to reciprocate somewhat by cooking things for her, and freezing excess produce to share later. (She doesn’t have the time or the freezer space to preserve foods.)
This summer has been expensive with family visiting, construction ongoing, heat making me feel like what-the-hell, and I’ve completely fallen off the frugal wagon (in terms of groceries and paying the workmen; I haven’t spent otherwise.)
I kicked off today by making a big pot of minestrone with SIL’s veggies, random can goods, and my homemade stock.
* Tomatoes: between farm labor getting scarce because of you-know-who, and tariffs on imports, I wonder if I’ll SEE a fresh tomato this winter.
“heat making me feel like what-the-hell”. Yup, I can relate
I love your idea of a pantry challenge starting now – not some random time in the future. And the flexibility in the ‘rules’ around fresh produce available now is just plain smart. I’m challenged with these challenges however I will follow along!
Emoter–I feel you about “the challenge of challenges.” I’m thinking of calling it a pantry cleanse instead.
I don’t know why that printed as “emoter”…
@Cynthia, I have been called worse (and I am known to emote, so perhaps your computer knows more about me….)
I’m at the other end, as I need to buy fresh produce.
Ohhhh! I might be a bit jealous of your coast trip. I need a trip, soon. This heat, ugh.
The last time I went ocean fishing with my cousin, the pelicans were tagging along on the stern of the boat. Very big birds.
I was recently telling an out of town friend about different beaches to hit, but I also explained that there are “No bad Oregon beaches!” Ocean fishing sounds like fun.
What a fun and refreshing trip. My older granddaughter was delighted to see pelicans fly by when we took her on a day trip to SF right before school started. DH and I are planning a partial day trip after Labor Day to enjoy some different scenery.
My not so frugal few days –
Took the same granddaughter out for dinner and chat while her parents had a date night and little sister stayed at Kid’s Night Out at her nursery school. Worth every penny to here about the first few days of 3rd grade, her thoughts on having homework and being a big sister.
Realized we hadn’t had a lettuce salad for a while and sure enough the lettuce was molding in the frig. Add a couple of not so great produce items Hubby picked up, etc. and it was a higher than usual food waste few days.
However we keep plugging along with our routine frugal living habits so all is well. I did submit our info for potential class action payment from the Capital One lawsuit. I hope to be surprised and actually get it some long time in the future.
OK,is this frugal?— You KNOW you’re gonna have a glass or two of wine on your own patio for happy hour some evenings. NOT at a pricey bar. So, when Kroger does the buy 6 bottles get 25% off, you buy your wine?I did that today.
Bought petite sirloin steaks on big sale.I am eating more protein and feeling much more energy. And a friend taught me how to air fry the small sirloins (just 5.99 a pound) and keep them tender.I tried it and yay they came out great. I serve with a pile of carmellized onions over them. I often make 2, and the second time in the week we eat them,I slice thinly over a caesar salad with croutons and ranch dressing.. Not rib eye but really good! Bought a fam. pack and froze a bunch.
Made a pot of lentil stew and froze some.I eat legumes or cottage cheese/fruit or tuna,mostly,for lunches. AT HOME!
Going out of town for 3 days so I froze the berries in refrig that we have not yet eaten.
Can you share your method of air frying sirloin?
I’m happy for you and your husband that after all of your years of marriage, work, child raising, etc, you still find the time to love life and spend it together. Wishing you continued blessings.
Aww, thank you! We were together for a long time (eight years) before we had kids as well.
1. I won a 4 pack of dill pickle dressing from a local salad dressing company (for liking them on Instagram). YAY! I love dill pickles so I suspect I will love the dressing, and free is great.
They asked me for my address, and I think they were going to mail it to me, however they really are LOCAL to me. I came out my front door to find a sweet box with the dressings sitting on the porch. Have already made a quick IG post thanking them, and a dipping tray of hardboiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, sliced baby cucumbers and a sliced ‘ugly’ yellow pepper. Sat on my back porch and relished my winnings.
2. I cashed in my latest Prolific earnings. Whatever 33 plus British pounds will convert into will soon appear in my paypal, and I will transfer it to my random money bank account. The surveys are often someone’s master thesis, from what I can figure, and I have done enough that I can do more picking and choosing as the number of surveys I am being offered has increased.
3. The purple plums are starting to come in and I am sharing with family and friends. I suspect I will get at least 100 pounds off the tree, since I have already picked 15 pounds and not made a dent. Good thing they are freestone, so will be easier to process (those that aren’t eaten out of hand).
4. The mashed potato rat treatment seems to be making a big dent in the critters. I have just put out another big pile of dehydrated spuds, with fingers crossed that it all will be eaten tonight. GAH
5. Went to renew my driver’s license (every 5 years). Turns out I get a discount due to an upcoming birthday (um, yay?). One more advantage to getting older, I saved more than $50 I think! The new license will arrive sometime this week, meanwhile I have no picture ID, only paper.
6. I needed new runners (the shoe-goo repairs weren’t keeping up with the tears in the lacing of my old pair; they don’t owe me anything, lots of ground was covered, but it is retirement time).
Took my mom with me as we were already doing errands, and she proceeded to charm the staff. Until Mom moved, her favourite neighbours were good friends with the owners of this running store, and she recalls the friends visiting a lot when they were just starting out and struggling (they have become a fixture in the running community now, on my lovely island).
Mom clearly had made an impression at the store when SHE was in earlier this year to buy new runners, the young man helping me out remembered her!
Anyway, due to the charm offensive of my 95 year old mom, when I was mentioning sighning up for the Birthday Month 15% off discount (my birthday is in September), the young man graciously and unexpectedly offered it to me, a whole month early!
I did have to show him my temporary paper driver’s license, which made us all laugh, but he accepted the birthday as printed. Whoot! Never forget the unexpected benefits of cheerful 95 year old moms!
Ecoteri, I’m so glad to hear that the instant potatoes are working for you!
Ecoteri, I’m smiling at your “relishing” your pickle dressing.
@MB in MN – ah, you caught that! I smiled when I wrote it…
I love plums and plum jam is so pretty!
We had a frugal trip to Houston to pick up a framed poster from my late FILs estate. Drive of course, 4 hours. Got a hotel using points. Went to a free museum, the Menil collection. We were exhausted and ended up going to HEB to pick up something we could eat in our hotel room (big salad, guac and chips, and beer). We got up early the next morning and drove home. It was nice to get out of the house and see a relative we don’t get to see often since she lives in NY.
Note: HEB is a local to Texas grocery store chain that is beloved by Texans
I have family in Houston and have always enjoyed my trips there.
Wow! As a FL native we see pelicans often but I’ve never seen starfish like that at the beach! I’ve only seen them in the aquariums. Such a cool adventure you two had!
We’ve just been home on this rainy day playing board games and eating leftovers.
Up the pacific coast a few hundred miles, the starfish have all been dying off to a starfish wasting disease. and when I say ALL, it is at least 90%, particularly the lovely big sunstars that can have many legs. Some wunderkind scientist folk have just figured out the virus (bacteria?) that is doing the deed, now they are trying to find starfish that are fighting it off, and also trying to find other ways to combat it. Very sad, my youth was spent on boats up here and there were usually so many starfish clustered under shady rocks at low tide you couldn’t see the rock. Purple, red… glistening. Fascinating for kids!
That’s so sad!
Board games and leftovers sounds like heaven!
My son recently vacationed with his family on the Oregon coast, and his pictures look a lot like yours!
1. Today I went to the local farmers market. It was disappointing, because everything was so expensive. I settled for just one thing on my list — apples! Not at all cheap, but they are sweet and good. I resisted some very attractive items, so that’s the frugal part. And I made sure I got a paper receipt so I could scan it to Fetch.
2. A funny frugal fail — I rode the train to the market, because it’s free — but I grabbed my Discover card instead of the ride-free card and didn’t even realize until I got home and put it away. So I checked my Discover account and sure enough, $5 was charged. I had no idea a credit card would work that way — I thought I had to use a Ventra card, if paying — who knew? Going forward, I will be more cognizant of what card I grab.
3. I found two pennies on my journey.
4. Also on my journey, I saw some snack-size packages of cookies on the sidewalk. They looked like they were sealed and someone had just dropped them. I was interested, but I was in a crowd and just couldn’t embarrass myself by picking one up. I know others were eyeing them too, but nobody made the grab. Not a frugal fail, exactly, but an opportunity passed up.
5. Another fail — I found a receipt that was quite wrinkled and once home decided to press it with my flat iron. That doesn’t work. Fried, unreadable receipt. At least I didn’t start a fire.
6. One more — yesterday’s beach walk yielded a boy’s swimsuit, a yoga mat case, and a small rug that fits nicely by my back door. (The rug wasn’t on the beach, but by a dumpster — but very clean!) I am trusting that the boy who lost his suit was properly clothed for the trip home.
Sorry about the $5 fail, but you balanced it out with your free finds!
I paid the procrastination tax today by accidentally letting my dog run out of the arthritis supplement she takes every day for her bad back. As she quickly starts feeling bad, I paid $10 more in a store than I would through Chewy, from which would take several days to arrive. *sighs*
However, I mended a shirt for my son, did some touch-up painting on the ceilings in several rooms, brushed out our extremely fluffy cat, walked the dogs, and drank a lot of fridge-brewed tea made with tea bags bought at the clearance store. Supper was cheese, crackers, and some watermelon that needed to be eaten.
Thanks for the reminder to make a fresh pot of iced tea!
Got yet another Ollie’s Outlet coupon, my third one in six weeks, and used it to get a small appliance I’d seen last time around. My kitchen oven hasn’t worked in eons, but this is a tabletop convection oven/toaster oven/air fryer deal for $69 before coupon. Figure it’s cheaper than a 24-inch wide built-in oven special order….although I sure wish I could get one of those. We’ll see how this little gizmo works. If it doesn’t, I have 30 days to return it for a refund.
Meanwhile, my frugal tip for everyone: if you are building a house or remodeling a kitchen, do not get a built-in oven! A regular kitchen stove is best. If it fails some day in the future, you can more easily swap it out for another one.
And shame on whoever decided to change the standard width of built-in ovens to 30 inches!
My sister and her husband built their house (in the mid 80s) and she put in a wall oven. They elected to go for a narrower one, and boy howdy has she regretted it as when it was time to replace they first couldn’t find one, and then paid through the NOSE.
I am happy with my lowest-price induction stove with convection oven – it isn’t top of the line, but neither am I, and it replaced a regular old stove that was on its last legs. fit right in the same spot, no trouble at all…
As for your toaster oven with air fryer and convection – I have had this style of toaster for at least 15 years, and essentially got rid of my pop-up toaster due to counter space and the serious usability of the toaster oven. Not only toast, but baking (in a 9X9 pan and even a 9X 13, although you MUST cold-test that before filling with cake, don’t ask why I know), baked potatoes, a whole tray of chicken thighs/drumsticks. Fish in many forms. heating up leftovers (I am without a microwave on purpose). air frying lots of things including tofu and potatoes and breaded meats. broiling.
Noted, thanks!
1. Much to my dismay the House of Mystery trip today was cancelled! We looked up the hours last night and they closed on the 19th for emergency maintenance so we’ve missed our chance this year. Saved the $44 admission fee that we would have paid. Maybe next time :/
2. Called ahead to Kid to Kid consignment shop and found out they DO take some board games, depending on how many pieces are in the game and condition, so I added a large stack to the trunk. They’ll donate whatever they don’t buy.
3. Got lunch at a local bakery and opted for half sandwiches rather than full, saving several dollars each. The half sandwiches turned out to be the perfect size for both of us.
4. We switched gears and tried going to two museums. The first closed for the day before we arrived, the second seemed deserted so we looked at some of the informational signs outside before giving up, no money spent.
5. Returned our library books, thankfully they were still open! and took advantage of their AC while we laughed about the misadventure of the day. My husband and I read for a while, enjoying the very rare trip without our small children. I checked out two books that should last me until our next visit with the kiddos, hopefully when the weather is back in double rather than triple digits.
Library to the rescue!
Katy, whose toes are in the 1st pic?
1. We created our own “free pile”. My husband & his helper cleaned out the garage. A lot of things went on the curb. In 24 hours, most of the items were gone.
2. Inspired by Katy’s blood donation, I donated a unit of whole blood. Unbeknownst to me the blood center was offering an incentive for O+ which is my type. I got a nice burlap type tote bag, a Chick-Fil-A gift card, & a free appetizer at the restaurant the blood mobile is parked at. I will also get a GC for 50$. I’m a bit tired but don’t have to go to work until next week.
3. I was out in my car curb shopping. I saw several boxes of out-of-date canned goods. The food bank won’t take them so I guess we will eat them Many cans of
tuna, some in date cans of salmon, and veggies & fruit.
4. A lady on Next door poster had a case of biscuits to give away. I got 12 cans. They are 10 days out of date, but I think they will be fine. I thought perhaps I could make a chicken pot pie w/ one or 2 cans of them plus breakfast food.
5. I also got a 40-count box of surgical gowns from the lady who gave me the biscuits. I will take these to school for the Anesthesia Aide program. The program director was happy to get my last donation of face masks. I think he will be glad to get these too.
Whoa, that’s a lot of incentives for donating blood!
Lost my darling daughter, Tammie, early gourds Saturday morning, she died holding my hand after fighting cancer for almost 2 years. Don’t neglect your tests and check ups, and enjoy your children!
I’m so sorry to read this, may her memory be a blessing. Sending a big virtual hug your way.