Mom's Summer Survival Guide: Cheap 1-day family vacations

The kids are nearly done with school and family vacation season has arrived. As WSBT end its series, "Mom's Summer Survival Guide," we check out family vacations you can take on a tight budget.

We asked WSBT staff and viewers to write in with their suggestion for cheap vacation ideas. Here are some of their ideas:

• HESSTON STEAM MUSEUM 

http://www.hesston.org/

The Hesston Steam Museum in LaPorte County has several real steam locomotives that you can ride.

The trains take you through the 150 acre park which consists of deep woods, lakes and farm fields. The Hesston Steam Museum doesn't only have trains, there are also other steam powered machinery exhibits including a steam-powered saw mill, railroad steam crane and steam-powered electric power plant.

CLICK HERE for WSBT video tour of Hesston Steam Museum

The museum offers free admission. Train rides cost about $5 for adults and $3 for kids. 

• GEOCACHING

http://www.geocaching.com/

A WSBT staff member made this suggestion. Check it out ... you are going to think you hit gold!
 
Its called geocaching. Eddie Niziolek of South Bend walked WSBT through a search to find the "cache."

Here is how it works:

Somewhere in the world, someone hides a water proof container. That person has already noted the GPS coordinates and then logged those on the website www.geocaching.com.

You go to the website get the coordinates and use either a GPS or smartphone to take you there. You'll have to do a little searching once you get there but the reward is treasure of different kinds ... called ... the cache.

"(You will find a lot of) foreign currency," says Niziolek, "I love finding foreign currency cause I love finding out where it is from and what it is worth."

Important: You take something from the cache and then leave something behind.

"I like to leave key chains cause a lot of people that do this collect key chains," says Niziolek

Also, you can't forget to sign the log book letting everyone know you were there.

"You could spend a whole day doing it," says Niziolek, "line up 10 in a row or if you have a half hour" that works, too.

Niziolek has found a lot of different treasure, but for him, it isn't the treasure, it is the search to get there.

And it is a great one to do with the kids. Niziolek says ... By the end of about 10 hunts, the kids are exhausted.

• THE BEACH

http://www.berriencounty.org/parks/?dept=1&pid=193
http://michigancityparks.com/index.php/washington-park-and-beach
http://www.bridgman.org/weko.php

• POTATO CREEK STATE PARK

http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/2972.htm