Summer Vacation

Ashley Sturgeon sat outside El Segundo High School on a hot August day, chatting with her sister and dreading the end of summer vacation. Ashley and her sister Amber, who is starting seventh grade, have been told that the summer break is a tradition born in rural society. But they see simpler reasons for the respite. "It's a good idea, whether you live in the city or on a farm," said Ashley, who will be in 11th grade. "Without the summer off, we might go insane."

Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer -- and of the summer vacation season. So what are you doing on your summer vacation? We're betting you'll be snapping a few photos. For the second year, The Times Travel section will run a "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" photo issue -- Sept. 23 this year -- featuring reader photos selected from among the dozens and dozens that are submitted. Our photo editors sort through them and will choose about six to eight to run in the print edition and more to run online.

Today's edition is the final Prep Extra for the school year. The weekly section is taking a break for the summer but will return in the fall when school begins again.

It's time for families to start finalizing their summer vacation plans. And those with high school football players had better ask one specific question of their coach: “When does my son get time off?” In the Southern Section, every school must declare when it will take a mandatory summer dead period of 21 consecutive days, in which there's no practicing or coaching and the only allowable contact is opening the weight room for voluntary workouts. The dead period has somehow survived for decades despite some dinosaur coaches' thinking teenagers should never get a break.

Dear Kids: We asked you for pictures of your best summer vacation ever. Here's what some of you sent: The best summer vacation I had was when I went to the pool . . . and learned to swim. --Miriam, 11, Hollenbeck Middle School, Los Angeles In Florida we got to go to a cool pool every day.

As the president tried to concentrate on his golf swing Wednesday, fierce fighting continued in Libya, officials surveyed damage from a magnitude 5.8 earthquake and Hurricane Irene hurtled toward the East Coast. The vacationing leader of the free world just can't catch a break. After a tumultuous year with a whipsawing stock market and U.S. unemployment hovering above 9%, President Obama and his family had tried to slip away for a 10-day retreat to Martha's Vineyard, returning to Blue Heron Farm, their secluded hideaway in Chilmark.

The cattle, sheep and horse herds are smaller these days on the 700-acre farm operated by Cal Poly Pomona in the rolling foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. Buildings and equipment need updating, and the farm and ranch depend more than before on volunteers and donations. State funding cuts that have resulted in tuition hikes and fewer classes at California State University and University of California campuses are striking deep at college agriculture programs in California and across the nation.

In honor of its 10th year, the travel website Orbitz is handing out extras to those who make hotel reservations in the next week. Book two nights at selected hotels and score a $25 dining coupon and a $200 coupon good for future travel purchased through Orbitz. If the dates work for you, this offer could be a sweet way to save money on a summer trip. The deal: The coupons are part of Orbitz's 10th Anniversary Hotel Sale . You have to stay at least two nights at qualifying hotels (they are marked on the website with special anniversary logos)

Grant Rohach, the standout quarterback at Moorpark High, just got back after spending five days in Iowa on his grandfather's farm, helping feed cows and goats. "It's very quiet," he said. "There's not a lot of people. " It was one of the few breaks Rohach will get this summer, because high school athletes simply don't have time to stop training. "You wake up in the morning. It's not, 'I'm going to the beach today.' I have football," Rohach said. "It's just a continuous thing.

It's August and you forgot to take a vacation, didn't you? We know better. You didn't forget; you're in cheapskate mode this year because of the economy. Unfortunately, when you think you can't afford a vacation, you've probably never needed one more. Take heart. We spent some time with Internet travel guru Bob Denier recently and asked him to clue us in on some cheap tricks. His tips will help you channel your inner tightwad into a late-summer adventure that's easy on the budget.

What are you doing on your summer vacation? Relaxing at the beach? Enjoying friends and family? Or are you checking your smartphone every five minutes? It's the essential predicament of the Digital Age. Even on vacation. It's tempting to blame our tools, the BlackBerrys and the iPhones that keep us so connected and busy. But the real problem isn't the technologies; it's us. We've convinced ourselves that the more connected we are, the better. We never give ourselves a break.

For Anaheim, the boys of summer should produce big profits in July. The usual crowds of summer tourists visiting Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure Park will swell this weekend to include thousands of baseball fans attending Major League Baseball's All-Star Game at Angel Stadium and a fan festival at the nearby Anaheim Convention Center. The annual game, part of a five-day celebration that began Friday, returned to Anaheim for the first time in 21 years. It's expected to draw 100,000 to 250,000 visitors — and an estimated $85 million in spending throughout Southern California, according to city officials and Major League Baseball.

The "staycation" is so last year. Americans who plan to vacation this summer will spend more money and stay away longer than last year, when staying home was more the norm, according to a new survey released Monday. Although the percentage of Americans who will travel this summer has remained about the same (51%), of those who will hit the road, 67% will spend more money than they did a year earlier and 74% will take the same length of vacation or longer, according to a survey of 2,000 Americans commissioned by American Express Co. The survey findings, along with improving hotel occupancy rates and rising demand for airline seats, suggest Americans are loosening their purse strings somewhat on vacation spending, in contrast to the penny-pinching habits of travelers during the economic slump of the last year and a half.