March 29, 2004

9:37 AM

Since my wife went on a woman's weekend retreat and I stayed home with the kids, she told me that I could go away for a weekend sans children. I can't think of anything to do. Can you all?
posted by grefo to (21 comments total)

(Where are you located?)
posted by silusGROK at 9:38 AM on March 29, 2004

(And how much money you got?)
posted by black8 at 9:49 AM on March 29, 2004

I'll assume you'd like answers that don't include "Vegas, Baby!"

How 'bout a trip to see you fav MLB team on the road. I'm thinking about it.
posted by rschroed at 9:56 AM on March 29, 2004

easy. you come round to my place, watch my kids, while me and my wife go out to a great restaurant, check into a really nice hotel and cavort all night in a jacuzzi full of Guinness. We'll send you a postcard!
posted by Pericles at 10:00 AM on March 29, 2004

Organize a "boys only" weekend. Go camping or white water rafting. Paintball. Find a place where you can pay women to take off their clothes. Gamble. Drink. Shoot guns. Basically, do all the stupid stereotypical crap that men are supposed to enjoy doing when they're aorund other men.

I've been a dad for two years now and there's nothing I'd rather do than spend time with my son. But it is nice to get a day off here and there.
posted by bondcliff at 10:04 AM on March 29, 2004

A convention related to a hobby or other personal interest, perhaps? Many of these are two day affairs with great speakers and such like.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 10:18 AM on March 29, 2004

Two days of camping and hiking sound pretty good to me. I don't have any friends, but if I did I'd be all over it. The problem with a road trip is you'd probably spend 10 hours driving. You could priceline a cheap ticket to somewhere cool.

San Francisco is a great town to visit--really. I don't know if I'm capable of travelling alone any more and enjoying it.

I'd like to go see Survival Research Labs live. Or you could do something experiential, like go up in an ultralight or glider.
posted by mecran01 at 10:30 AM on March 29, 2004

rschroed has a good idea... it's spring training season (isn't it?) : maybe now's the time to go catch a few pre-season games. Or maybe you have an old friend from college that you've lost track of since getting married : maybe there's the trip... or, if you have a good relationship with your brothers or father, that might help stir your mind. Or, perhaps, you've thought of actually participating in National Write a Novel Month? Maybe you could save up, do a little research,
find an ideal cabin-by-the-lake and kick-off the project in style on the first weekend of November.

My suggestion : do something she _doesn't_ enjoy doing, find someone to do it with... then go away and do it.

Better yet : tell your wife thank you, give her some flowers, and tell her you couldn't think of any place that wouldn't be better with her, there, beside you.
posted by silusGROK at 10:31 AM on March 29, 2004

i know what you mean. if there's anything worse than hanging out with a bunch of guys doing guy things, i've yet to find it.

i think for me it would mean being able to visit a (academic) computing conference - icfp. i'm no longer in academia (and when i was, it wasn't computing), but i'd love to attend one (and suspect i could persuade me to accept them, if i coughed up the regsitration fee).

i'm sure it's not what you want, but i guess maybe it's an example of the kind of thing that's possible.

i also like silusGROK's idea - i'd be quite happy to hide out somewhere in the middle of nowhere and write code.

ah, the simple things of nerddom.

of course, not having kids i can do these kind of things anyway. [smirk]
posted by andrew cooke at 11:06 AM on March 29, 2004

Personally, when I take a boys-only holiday I like to go to lands that my girlfriend has little interest in visiting, usually because of weather, e.g. Scotland, Holland, Iceland.

When she takes a vacation she prefers the warm-and-sunny relaxing type of vacation, while I sort of appreciate getting rained on, taking long bus rides to remote places, tramping around the hinterlands, etc.

And a weekend in Amsterdam makes for a great boys' holiday. I'd take Amsterdam over Vegas any day.
posted by hashashin at 11:16 AM on March 29, 2004

savor the silence.
posted by goethean at 11:56 AM on March 29, 2004

I am located near Seattle, but on the west side of Puget Sound.

Not much money (looking for work actually).

It just struck me that I have strung my fly rod for a long time...and fishing season opens soon....hmmm.....
posted by grefo at 12:16 PM on March 29, 2004

My vote is to take the kids again, and let her have another weekend off.

You'll be gold forevermore.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:21 PM on March 29, 2004

i have six weeks in the summer to myself when my daughter visits her mom. two years ago i went to europe, last year i went to NYC, and this year i'm not going to do much, i don't think....probably go to some theme parks and ride roller coasters. not much help, but if i didn't live in florida, i'd prolly do the hiking/paintball/rafting thing....but seeing as how i live just a few hours from orlando, well. the choice is obvious, for me.
posted by taumeson at 12:41 PM on March 29, 2004

You'll be gold forevermore.

Nah, you'll only be gold up until the first time you do something stupid or six weeks, whichever comes first.

Go fishing.
posted by sageleaf at 12:51 PM on March 29, 2004

My vote is to take the kids again, and let her have another weekend off
I second this - either that or the flowers and lies suggestion. It may only be good until the next time you do something stupid, but it will soften the inevitable blow when you do.
posted by dg at 2:18 PM on March 29, 2004

I'll second the suggestion to think about things that you like to do that she doesn't, even if that's just hanging around in the house. My experience is that in the long term, it's really important to a relationship that you keep your own sense of yourself and what you like, independently of what your wife likes. If you can't imagine what to do, maybe that's a sign that you need more time on your own to figure it out.
posted by fuzz at 4:49 PM on March 29, 2004

Or how's this... why not cash in the offer for a weekend where she takes the kids to her mom's : you get your _own_ pad to yourself for the weekend?

Just an idea.
posted by silusGROK at 4:55 PM on March 29, 2004

If my wife gave me the weekend off, I would go on a trip somewhere with my girlfriend. In your case, however, you may want to hire an escort.

Alternately, you can go fishing or camping... maybe rent a Harley and go for a long ride. Go to a hot tub/sauna/hot springs... be sure to get an hourlong massage too. You could always take classes on something that interests you -- gardening, maybe?
posted by insomnia_lj at 6:32 PM on March 29, 2004

Doing stuff is over-rated, and the forced need to do something for the sake of doing something is probably more stressful than it is relaxing (must. have. exciting. weekend.) If you can't think of anything thats probably a sign that you don't want some white-water rafting/paintball/spelunking or whatever-the-hell adventure weekend. SilusGrok has it right, why not have your wife and kids go find a hotel or tent to sleep in for a couple of nights instead of you, and you can walk around your own house in your underwear for a weekend, maybe have friends over dripping nacho cheese over everything, watching ESPN and cussing loudly late into the night.
posted by dgaicun at 6:40 AM on March 30, 2004

Go to the National Gallery of Art, Western Bldg., on the Mall at D.C. Very profitable...
posted by Pressed Rat at 9:43 AM on March 30, 2004