We vacationed just an hour from home. It was more relaxing than our bigger trips.

• After a packed spring, I didn’t have the energy for an elaborate family vacation.
• We rented a house an hour away and deliberately made almost no plans.
• My older kids loved the slower trip and unanimously said they’d do it again.

My family had an exceptionally busy spring. This year, we threw in an early college graduation, a high school graduation, and a wedding. Each week was full of senior events and wedding plans. I was tired. My kids were tired. As much as we wanted a family vacation, the idea of planning something felt overwhelming.

Instead of our normal weeklong road trip to someplace like Niagara Falls or Maine or even the adventurous cruise we took to Bermuda, I decided to plan a vacation that would truly feel like a rest. I’d never done anything like this.

We needed a place that felt like a break

I started by deciding what we needed. I’d be traveling with my husband and my three kids, plus a spouse and a girlfriend. A trip with five kids aged 17 to 21 is not for the faint of heart, and there were a few non-negotiables.

Everyone needed their own bed and enough space to decompress without getting on each other’s nerves. I also wanted a place with on-site activities. If we had to get in the car every time we wanted to do something, it would just mean more running around.

We wanted to be away from home without a long drive, but the most important thing was avoiding a tourist area. I knew if there were too many attractions nearby, we’d spend the whole trip running around. I didn’t want to come home more tired than when I left.

I found a vacation home one hour away that checked all the boxes

Leading up to the trip, I worried we would miss out on that vacation feeling. The house was only an hour away, and we weren’t even leaving Connecticut. But I kept reminding myself and my family how much we needed to rest. Thankfully, everyone was on board.

Before we arrived, I made a few decisions. I sent out a family text outlining the sleeping arrangements and expectations for meals and cleanup. Getting that out of the way ahead of time ensured we were all on the same page and prevented bickering when we arrived.

Our days were filled with simple things

We cooked burgers and ate watermelon. I played volleyball in the pool with my kids. My son caught two bass in the pond. I even took afternoon naps. We played games of pool, tossed some darts, and learned to play shuffleboard in the game room.

I finished a book I’d been meaning to get to. There was even time to sit and scroll without feeling guilty about it. There was no pressure to be somewhere or do something. On our last night, we sat around the bonfire roasting s’mores. There was no deep conversation, just laughter and the comfortable feeling of being together.

We did leave the house each day, mostly for ice cream or coffee. We drove through woods and farms, and we found a hike with a river to swim in. We only ate out once when we went to a favorite spot from my husband’s college days that we’ve taken the kids to before: takeout calzones eaten at a rickety picnic table by the horse farm at UConn.

There were no bucket-list activities

There was no big attraction, no bucket-list activity, and no dramatic vacation story to tell. Mostly, we just spent time together. As my kids get older and our schedules pull us in different directions, time together takes more work.

This trip may not have been epic, but it did give us what we needed. After we got home, I asked everyone the same question: Would you do this again? Everyone said yes. Even though they felt the pressure of busyness, the trip gave them a break they didn’t even know they needed.

Before the trip, I worried a vacation one hour from home wouldn’t feel like a real vacation. By the end, I realized distance had very little to do with it. What made it perfect wasn’t where we went. It was that for a few days, nobody had anywhere they needed to be. We could just be together.