【】Credit: geraria/shutterstock

A summer vacation doesn't need to cost you a month's salary, but you'd be forgiven for thinking that it should. Between May and August, Instagram becomes a minefield of people you don't know sitting poolside at The Ace Hotel in Palm Springs or whatever. Suddenly, your Brooklyn staycation seems lacking.。

I know that nothing is what it appears on social media. It is possible to know this at your core and, at the same time, wish you were 。 I know that nothing is what it appears on social media. It is possible to know this at your core and, at the same time, wish you were
。also 。

lounging on an expensive pool float shaped like a hot dog.。

In moments like these, I ground myself with the knowledge that the best summer vacation I ever took cost very little and was focused on the singular goal of eating a slice of pie in every state in New England.。

SEE ALSO:The ultimate American BBQ road trip 。

In the final weeks of my senior year, my college roommates and I sat around our living room contemplating a post-graduation road trip. We hadn't yet landed jobs, so it had to be cheap-- no hotels, no shopping. We were also really into pie at this point. Why not focus the entire trip on pie? A plan for a humble food-themed road trip emerged. We called it Pie Tour 2013.
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Credit: geraria/shutterstock 。

For four days we drove across New England with a list of bakeries and not much else. In Connecticut, we ate towering lemon meringue slices. In Massachusetts, we bought a mixed berry pie with stars cut into the crust. We ate it straight from the tin on a nearby park bench. In Maine we had my favorite-- a slice of blueberry pie from Two Fat Cats Bakery that I still go back for whenever I'm in Portland. 。

In between pie slices, we'd park the car and walk around for hours, figuring out where where we'd sleep for the night (in a family member's house, a cheap Airbnb and a tent, to be specific).
。

It was the most cost-effective vacation I've taken, and, in truth, the most memorable. And trust me when I say that you will have a better time spending money on gas and really good pie (or barbecue; or doughnuts; or french fries) than you will spending it on a hotel room you hardly hung out in.。

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Plus, pie looks great on Instagram.。

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Plus, pie looks great on Instagram.。

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View this post on Instagram。Featured Video For You 。This little robot is like a Roomba for your garden。