Social Cycle

My husband and I seem to go through this social cycle. One weekend we're really busy and meeting up with friends/family every day. The next weekend it's just the two of us and we're relaxing together. Typically it's a lot cheaper when it's just the two of us, but of course, we love to spend time with friends and family.

We are going on an extended vacation in August, so these next few weeks are going to be pretty busy meeting up with everyone.

One problem is that a lot of our friends and family live 20-50 miles away, so for us to even get together to go on a hike is not free with the rising price of gas. The car we drive most often due to reliability get about 22 MPG and it takes the middle grade of gas. Since we live in the Bay Area, that means it costs us about $8-$10 for the round trip drive to a friend's house that's 20 miles away! That's the price we pay because a lot of things are more important than money. I know that we're lucky to have many friends and family somewhat close by, even if they don't live as close as I would like.