The media buzzword of summer 2008 is “stay-cation,” a contraction for stay-at-home vacation.

“Stay-cation” is often used in print and broadcast news reports about $4-a-gallon gas. More people are reportedly resorting to homebound holidays to save money.

Contrivances like “stay-cation” make me want to consume Rolaids.

That said, I had a splendid, one-week “stay-cation” right here in Chattanooga earlier this month. I endorse the concept as a novelty, even if it’s not a necessity. Let me explain.

I grew up thinking summer was not complete without a trip to a sunny beach destination, aka a “ray-cation.” This year, though, my family decided to do lots of fun stuff right here in Chattanooga, creating our own “play-cation.”

Some highlights:

* Each morning of my “stay-cation” I turned off the alarm clock and slept until 8 a.m. This lolling about proved to be a much-needed “lay-cation.”

* At some point during every day of my “stay-cation” I did some channel surfing on Comcast, often landing on some piece of Food Network puffery like: “Asparagus: Friend or Foe.” I called these special moments “Rachael Ray-cations.” One day, while watching the Food Network, I even experienced a “flambé-cation.”

* On the Fourth of July, our family went to the Independence Day parade in Sewanee, Tenn., home of the greatest concentration of the Toyota Prius automobiles in North America. I called this patriotic sojourn our “God Bless the USA-cation.”

* One of the best things about a “stay-cation” is indulging in home cooking. One night we cooked steaks on the grill and celebrated a mouthwatering “filet-cation.” The next night we ate fried fish at the Piccadilly Cafeteria, enjoying a delightful “tray-cation.”

* One night my two sons decided to run through the lawn sprinkler, a poor-folks ritual I like to call a “spray-cation.”

* My wife celebrated her birthday during our family “stay-cation.” We swept down the Tennessee River on the Tennessee Aquarium’s new River Gorge Explorer (which I highly recommend) and later indulged in a piece of triple-layer chocolate birthday cake. It was a veritable “Queen for a Day-cation.”

* My 6-year-old son and I enjoyed the fireworks after a Chattanooga Lookouts game on July 3, a joyous occasion that you could call a “hurray-cation.” Although the Lookouts lost the game, their late-inning rally snuffed out when the traveling West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx executed a textbook “double-play-cation.”

* At one point during my time off, I surveyed the junk in the garage and considered launching an “eBay-cation.”

By now, you should be sufficiently sick of this pun. I, for one, vow to never utter the word “stay-cation” again.

Next year, let’s all agree to get back to normal. Let’s gas up our Suburbans and resume our “Chevrolet-cations.”

I’ll be quiet now.

A new book by Mark Kennedy, “Life Stories: A Collection of Columns,” is available at publishedbywestview.com. E-mail him at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com.

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