Need a Cheap Getaway? Try Your Public Library

With gasoline and food prices soaring, most people have severely curtailed their summer travel plans. As a result, many parents are scrambling to find activities for their kids and themselves that will be fun yet inexpensive, preferably free. One destination that fits the bill is such a constant presence in our lives that we often overlook it: the public library.

Before you roll your eyes and move on to another article, consider how much the library has changed since many of us were in school. Gone are the old card catalogues (everything is on computer now), dusty ancient tomes, and an absolute rule on silence. Most libraries of even moderate size now have Internet connections, activities for children, and a wide variety of DVDs for far less than you'll pay at your local video store (free is much, much less).

If you haven't done it in a while, a few hours spent in a good library looking for nothing in particular is never wasted time. Simply walking through the shelves of books will rekindle memories as well as sparking interests you didn't even know you had. Don't confine yourself to the areas you normally have interest in; if you're a fiction fan, spend some time in the science or biography sections. But if you have children with you, always start in the kids' section.

There's nothing better that browsing the titles in the children's section with your kids, only to stumble upon a book you read in fourth grade (the same grade your daughter is in now). Sharing something as cool as "The Three Investigators" with a whole new generation certainly beats walking through a crowded mall being tempted to buy stuff you can't afford and don't need. Simply watching what books your kids naturally gravitate toward will give you more insight into what interests them; you can then look for opportunities to encourage and build on those interests.