Zibby Mag

By Karin B. Miller

Long before the pandemic, when my three kids were all under age five and my husband’s work took him out of town nearly every week, long days found me — and sometimes our kids — going a bit stir crazy.

What we needed was a trip beyond our four walls. What we didn’t have was the money or time for a vacation. And so we stumbled on what would become our new favorite family tradition: the adventure day.

It started simply. I wanted to visit a junk sale out in the country — you know, cool stuff like wire egg basket lamps, upcycled library card cabinets and weathered water ski decor. Plus, it was a beautiful sunny day.

“We’re going on an adventure day!” I announced while packing up the diaper bag. Then we hit the road.

“Where are we going?” my oldest daughter wanted to know. “It’s a surprise,” I said, “but we’re going someplace we’ve never been before.” Of course, I didn’t really know what we’d find there but I figured, whatever happened, it would be an adventure. With a little luck, we might even have some fun.

We stumbled on what would become our new favorite family tradition: the adventure day.

Amazingly, my kids were happily entertained by the market’s funky items; other shoppers graciously helped me manage my twins’ double stroller through the aisles, and I found a glass milk jug I now use as a vase.

The icing on the cake? Next door was a teeny-tiny drive-through coffee house so small that only one employee could work in the space. A latte for me and chocolate-chip cookies for the kiddos. Simple pleasures.

But my kids weren’t ready for our adventure day to end. So we made one more stop at a new playground that boasted European play equipment unlike any we’d ever seen before. We were enchanted.

Thus began our adventure-day tradition. Our first one established our expectations. First, we visit someplace new, whether a museum, a beach, or an entire town. Second, we find a restaurant, preferably new to us, as quirky as a houseboat breakfast café or as simple as an ice-cream cart. And third, we get out some energy at a playground — preferably, but not always, new to us. Bonus: With these parameters, adventure days are as affordable as they are fun.

Some days we stay close to home, visiting a museum, its interactive rooms constituting the playground portion of our day, plus a city café. Or we might bike to a lake and its nearby playground, grabbing Italian deli takeout along the way for a beach picnic.

Other days, we head farther afield, driving an hour or more from home. On one trip, we stumbled upon a restaurant that boasted a model train choo-chooing around the ceiling; our kids were mesmerized. Another time, we found a hilly playground with slides that were twenty feet tall and forty feet long. It’s not often I join them in sliding, but I made an exception on this occasion.

With this structure, adventure days are as affordable as they are fun.

Adventure day can last a few hours, especially when toddlers need naps, or an entire day for older kids. Regardless of its length, an adventure day takes us beyond our day-to-day routine and gets us out into the world. Rather than simply wait for a full-blown vacation, we create our own.

I like what the author William Bolitho says: “Adventure must start with running away from home.” In that case, we’re lucky that our family runs away together.

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Karin B. Miller is a Minneapolis-based writer and editor. Her latest book is Laundry Love: Finding Joy in a Common Chore, which she co-authored with Patric Richardson, star of The Laundry Guy on Discovery Plus.