World War I Flying Ace on his Sopwith Camel—or hilaaaaarious dog on a motorcycle/box? Man, 3-year-olds are awesome.

A couple weekends ago we drove about 90 minutes north to Bellingham and spent the day exploring. I booked the cheapest motel I could find, and between gas and food, we probably spent under $150 for a lovely weekend getaway.

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It isn’t practical for us to do this every weekend, but man, I wish we could. Now that the boys are older, little overnight vacations are my absolute favorite thing to do as a family. Even the relatively humble surroundings of discount motels have become appealing to me. I mean, I’d love to be pampered at the Ritz, who wouldn’t, but have you noticed the cheap places have all kinds of family-friendly things the nicer places don’t? Like free wireless that actually works, breakfast (with waffle stations!), and mini fridges in the rooms? Plus, they typically let you check in whenever, instead of 4 PM? Sure, their comforters may be slightly suspicious—I wouldn’t want to inspect each room with one of those body-fluid-revealing Dateline lights—but let’s be real, they’re probably not sanitizing everything every day at the 5-star joints either.

Do you ever do this—just hit the road with the family for an overnight trip? Where do you typically stay?

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