Ladies Weekend / Week Out

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Ladies, do you sometimes take trips with your girlfriends?</p>

<p>How many are in your group? How do you know them? What have been some of your favorite outings? How do you manage when part of the group wants to do one thing and others want to do something else? </p>

<p>I just got back from a trip with a friend of mine - she invited along a friend of hers I hadn’t met before - and a “penpal” of mine joined us for a few days whom none of us had met in person before.</p>

<p>It all worked out fine, but I am already thinking of the next trip and wondering how one best plans things so that people have a chance to catch up with those with whom they are close, get better acquainted with the people they don’t know so well, and just relax as well.</p>

<p>(As a side note, I mentioned this trip to the check out lady at the grocery store and she - who is already a grandmother - said she and her girlfriends from high school still get together for weekends to play cards!)</p>

2

<p>My SIL does this every year. I think it a larger group she goes with 6-8 people, that she’s known mostly from their high school days.</p>

<p>They rent a condo or villa, and often split up to do different things (some are more athletic than others), and meet up for dinner, especially drink time :)</p>

<p>Even if some of your friends do not know each other that well, I think that an informal arrangement like this would work well. You can do things together, but go off and do your own thing too.</p>

3

<p>I do this every year with a group of friends. We’ve all known each other since our kids were in nursery school, so 25+ years. We started our trips when our kids were young so it was just for a weekend at that time. Now that the kids are all grown and some of us are grandmothers!, we go for a week. The numbers have changed over the years but there’s a core group of about a dozen who are always there. Some have moved away over the years but still fly in for the week. We have always gone to the same spot - a huge cottage on a lake with options for water sports, hiking, shopping in nearby towns, sitting on one of the many decks reading, etc., but the best part is always sitting around talking, eating and drinking with old friends.</p>

4

<p>DH and I get together with three other couples once a month. The four women from this group started doing a girls’ weekend away 8 years ago, and I think it will continue into infinity.</p>

<p>We always go away the weekend before the Super Bowl. The first year we went to Ocean City, MD, because one of us knew someone who owned a house there and would rent it to us at a very reasonable rate. We didn’t care where we went, we just wanted to get away. That year we discovered the outlets in Rehoboth, and our annual outings soon became shopping trips.</p>

<p>The last three years we have stayed in Rehoboth Beach, and have rented a house that was larger and nicer than any of us live in permanently. We found that we preferred to stay at the house rather than shop or tour. We take chick flicks, games, and Christmas decorations and gifts. (We do our Christmas gift exchange that weekend.) One of us is a great cook, so she brings a lot of food, and we tend to eat in instead of going out. My DH is the wine connoisseur of the group, so I take the wine.</p>

<p>The first year we all planned to take Friday off from work, so we could leave in the morning. I joked with them that if there was a snowstorm forecast for Thursday evening, we would leave that night to outrun the storm. Ironically, there was a snowstorm Thursday night, we left a little ahead of it, but drove through snow most of the way there. On Friday morning, one of the gals commented how nice it was that we were already there, instead of driving enroute. So we decided we would always leave on Thursday night.</p>

<p>Last year, Rehoboth had a huge snowstorm the Saturday of the weekend we were there. It caught us offguard. No snowboots or snow shovel. But it sure was fun!</p>

<p>These annual outings are something we all look forward to. We’d like to do it more often, but there doesn’t seem to be another time of year that works so perfectly for us. By next summer, three of the four of us will be retired, and I think we will attempt to schedule these outings more frequently.</p>

<p>I definitely recommend them!</p>

5

<p>I have a group of girlfriends who I travel with. We usually go somewhere close to home, ladies only. We try to make the schedule very light. For instance, once a year we go on a trip where we “camp” at a friends house. One gf parks her rv in the driveway of the property, I stay in the guest house with a few others…It is a large ranch.<br>
Friday night the hostess makes a simple dinner, we have our book club meeting, we build a fire and just chat. Some go to bed early, some read, some chat. The next day we have breakfast, swim, chat, some leave and come back. Some stay put. We have known each other a long time so the throughout the weekend the grouping changes…some don’t swim, some don’t read, some sleep. </p>

<p>We have also rented beach houses, and done other hotel trips. </p>

<p>For me the best part is the down time. We purposely make sure there is plenty of it. We are also very flexible. Not everyone has to stay together the whole time. For me, that is a vital component. </p>

<p>Basically what alwaysamom said. Ditto that.</p>

6

<p>Just did an overnight at Seascape Resort near Santa Cruz CA. One gal was turning 50–she hosted the room-9 of us cooked the food. Beach, hot tub, playoff baseball, wine and chocolate. I had not seen 2am in a long time. Just great fun—and 2 of the gals I did not know!
We also often do weekends away w/girlfriends at our small cabin 2 1/2 hours away.
I actually recently asked my girlfriends if their mothers ever did this…no from me. I’m not sure my dad would have gone for the leave him home to fend for himself thing. The difference in a generation!</p>

7

<p>One of the best weeks of my life was spent at a wonderful cottage in Michigan with 8 close girlfriends. We began our friendship as young moms, and now that the kids are all high school/college age, we are old friends. One friend was turning 50 and her husband rented the house, and the rest of us took turns “planning” a day of the week (meals, activity, and a craft). We were near Saugatuk, Michigan, and there are lots of little towns nearby with lots of shops to poke around in, and more often than not, that was our activity…we would shop a new town and eat lunch there. We broke up into little groups, so you always got to spend time with someone new. Some activities were even more fun (for instance, one day we all did spa treatments…some massage, some pedis, some facial). One day we did NOTHING! but hang out and craft…the birthday girl never even got out of her pajamas except to walk on the beach.</p>

<p>One of the nicest suprises was that each night, on your pillow, “something” would be laid on your pillow…a small token picked up at a shop like a jar of blueberry preserves, or a fancy soap…one girl had had matching shirts made for us all before she left!</p>

<p>We walked the beach, collected shells and stones, and one of the girls painted a rock for each of us with a simple scene and the date of the weekend as a momento.</p>

<p>We have since done some other more “high-energy” trips (NYC, etc.) but everyone looks back wistfully to that week of being with a big, comfortable group of friends and just relaxing. (Girls pitch in and clean up without being asked, they cook awesome food you don’t have to help with, and there wasn’t one towel left on the floor all week long.) :D</p>

<p>I felt kind of “anal” doing it, but all the advance planning really helped us have a stress-free week…there was no uncomfortable “hem-hawing” about what we were going to each day…it was fun to have everyone’s input and I enjoyed all of their individual flair in what they chose to do/make/serve. Can you tell I thought it was great!! :)</p>

<p>I am also luck enough to take an annual shopping trip with my mom, my aunt and a great group of cousins (and sometimes family friends). It is such a great way to reconnect with all of these wonderful family members away from the “Thanksgiving” table. Wouldn’t give up that trip for the world.</p>

8

<p>A couple of years ago an email loop I’ve belonged to for years visited one of the members. We stayed at a local inn, and took some walks, and went wine tasting in Connecticut. It was a really nice low key weekend.</p>

<p>A group of us that shared a house in grad school together have also had reunions in CT. We’ve rented a nice house that has a little pond you can swim in. It’s close to nice hiking and antiquing. (And probably some of those CT wineries.) One of the guys is a game aficionado and brings a huge number of strange board games. Cooking is always a big part of the event as the eating group was actually an even bigger deal than the house.</p>

9

<p>I have always done getaways with girlfriends. I have a few different groups, from different places and times in my life. My 2 college roommates and I went on weekend getaways for our 40th and 50th birthdays. We’re thinking we’ll plan for our 55th next. Why wait for 60? I have two very good friends who moved away a few years ago, one to California and one to Ohio. We did a trip to the Biltmore here in NC and we also met 2 years ago in Vegas. Next spring we’re hoping to meet in California. I’ve also done beach trips with local girlfriends.</p>

10

<p>I’m not so lucky to have vacation with friends. But each year when vacationing back East to visit family and inlaws I also get a bonus of meeting with high school pals that coincidentally have moved to the same area. Even a few hours with them is great!</p>