The sour economy can result in some good deals on a house, especially if you are a first-time buyer.

But the economic state of the nation affected how we spent the summer of 2008. We asked some residents of the Mon Valley "What did you do on you do on your summer vacation?" and found a mixed bag of answers.

"I didn't do anything this summer. I will fly to Tampa in the fall to visit my son, but I booked the airfare during a sale. If he didn't live there I would not be going anywhere -- just making short trips."

-- Dorothy Zewe, 56, Elizabeth Borough, an assistant at the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society

"I went to Ocean City, Md., with my family. We drove so the gas was the worst part. It was six hours from Pittsburgh. I haven't gone on a family vacation for about 10 years so it made a great summer for me."

-- Amanda Ehrin, 21, Duquesne, who works in guest relations at Kennywood amusement park in West Mifflin

"It was just awful! I took a bus to Syracuse N.Y. to work at a carnival. Then the [carnival company] didn't give me my final pay so a friend had to drive me home to Pittsburgh.

-- Darlene Mainacci, 45, Lincoln Place, unemployed

"We went canoeing near Dawson. And we bought a house. Because of the bad real estate market we were able to get an excellent deal on our house."

-- Kelly Williams, 26, White Oak, a teacher in the McKeesport Area School District

"Despite the economy, [for me] it was a blessed summer. I went to Myrtle Beach for a week and will be going to Jamaica in the fall. I did have a [car] accident, but that forced me to grow up a bit."

-- Paul Collins, 21, Homestead, a supervisor for Parkway Industries in the Strip District

"I did my usual work around the house, things such as cutting the grass. If they did something about the gas prices I'd be able to go somewhere."

-- Robert Dillinger, 58, Munhall, a guard a the Allegheny County Jail

"It was a good summer. We were married on July 19 and went to Las Vegas on our honeymoon. We saw Cirque du Soleil and stayed in the honeymoon suite at the Bellagio. We hung out at the pool and went to fancy restaurants."

-- Ashley Quist, 27, Homestead, a homemaker

"We combined several trips that we would have taken separately. We visited family in Boston and friends in Vermont. We went in my wife's car because she gets 33 miles per gallon."

-- Rich Betters, 58, Munhall, associate dean of academic affairs at CCAC

-- Compiled by Dev Meyers