More Outrageous Prices And My Solutions.

All the snow has melted. Temperatures are warming up and this past cruel winter is nothing more than a bad dream. This is when I start making plans for the spring and the summer. First up, getting out our RV and hitting some of our old camping grounds. I logged onto our multi-year KOA membership and proceeded to book our usual week-long spring camp site in The Outerbanks in North Carolina. Our normal fee for the week was $65 a night, bringing the total for six nights (seven days) to $390.

Enter heart attack here!!

I know most everything has risen in price BUT I wasn't expecting a 215% increase in pricing!! KOA raised a one night fee to $205. Yup. You read that right!! A week at this resort would now cost $1,230!!! The camping spot isn't even paved. It's messy grass! And to make matters worse, they only had one site left!!! Am I the only brokester in the RVing world? Needless to say we won't be staying at many KOAs campgrounds this spring or summer. Thankfully there are oodles and oodles of state and federal (almost free!) campgrounds available. Granted we won't be getting many amenities, like WIFI or cable, sewer service or running water, but this is camping, isn't it? We will survive.

Next up, I was scouring outdoor concerts that hubby and I love to attend over the summer months. It's been a while since we ventured up to Tanglewood, out in the Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts. Last time we were there, we attended an outdoor concert of Harry Connick Jr. given out on the lawn. We brought our own beach chairs, packed a picnic and for $6.50 per ticket we had a lovely time. 

I logged onto the Tanglewood website and discovered that Bonnie Raitt was scheduled to close out the 2025 Season in August. I chose the lawn section again and discovered that the tickets now cost $89 per person. I was at first a bit shocked but decided it would still be a great evening out and proceeded to buy the tickets anyway. By the time Tanglewood added in their service fees ($18 X 2) and online service fees ($8), two tickets to "hear" Bonnie Raitt in concert (you can't see the stage from the lawn) cost a whopping $222. That's two hundred and twenty two dollars to sit in a beach chair and hear Bonnie sing. I'd get the same results if I sat in my backyard and played my radio loud. Needless to say, I scrapped this disappointing non-event.

That orange band across the bottom of the stage shot is the lawn area. You bring your own beach chair and scout out a decent spot. If the theater overbooks, oh well. 

Back to the internet. I surfed some more and found a great concert deal! Bard College (click here) was sponsoring a free concert starring the West Point Band at their infamous Fisher Center Theater. When I looked at the seating, I was able to score two free tickets, orchestra center on a Saturday night. I'm not much of a West Point fan but hubby is, so he is looking forward to en enjoyable, FREE night out to a concert.

The Fisher Center at Bard College is an architectural achievement. The Fisher Center was designed by the distinguished architect Frank Gehry, whose other projects include the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Experience Music Project in Seattle, and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Concerts are given both outside on the lawn or inside the fabulous theater!

Thankfully, our local community offers 14 free concerts over the summer at two of the local parks here. Granted the bands aren't famous BUT it's good music, at a beautiful outdoor park and the price is right. Lastly, in addition to our camping trips, outdoor concerts and local community pool ($75 season senior membership fee), I'll be starting up my veggie garden again. I got a great deal on Burpee seeds. Normally they sell between $2.50 and $3.50 a packet. I got them for $1.50 per packet at Job Lots. Paid $15 for all these seeds rather than my $35 directly from Burpee. Good deal!

looks like good eating this season!!

Hubby (and me) relaxing at a campground in Rhode Island (within walking distance to the ocean)

Our community pool. Very rarely crowded!

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