This purpose of this blog is simple. It is to get people like you traveling.
Whether you think you are too busy, it’s not worth it with young kids, or the effort it takes to make a trip happen is too great; I am here to help.
I promise you, once you are in the midst of your trip you will realise it was all worth it and hopefully never look back.
You will never regret memories being made from exploring and experiencing new places, either alone, with friends, with your spouse or significant other or as a family.
In this blog, I will share trips that I have planned. I will provide the details and the research I completed prior to the trip and have it neatly packaged for you to use to plan your next getaway.
The trips are separated into destinations and I provide all of the details, so you can use some of my suggestions, such as hotels, restaurants and unique places to visit or even recreate the trip yourself.
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Take a summer road trip from the Los Angeles area, through Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.
This trip went through some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. Here is what we did…
Day 1, we drove from the Los Angeles area to St. George, Utah. If you have never driven from California to Utah, the Gorge, guiding you into Utah is spectacular. We stayed in St. George and made sure to hit SWIG before hitting the road the next day.
Swig is a must stop with our California crew
On Day 2, our first stop was Zion National Park in Utah. I recommend getting in early if you are traveling during the summer because it gets HOT! Hiking the narrows is on the list for our next trip, as it looks spectacular. You can take a shuttle from the visitors center right to the beginning of the water filled hike. After exploring Zion for a few hours, we continued north to Bryce Canyon and Moss Cave. We hiked up to a refreshing waterfall and were able to take in the amazing views. After we cooled off in the water, we hiked back to the car and headed to Richfield, Utah.
Zion National Park Zion The WaterfallBryce Canyon
The next morning we woke up and drive about two and a half hours to Arches. This is where you will find the monument featured on the Utah license plate. It was hot and without much shade, we opted to take the shorter hike and explore the town of Moab a bit as well.
Arches
Our next stop was a little over two and a half hours and it was the cutest mountain town, Glenwood Springs. They are known for their hot springs and being the burial site of the infamous Doc Holiday. Ice cream at Sundae and breakfast at ColoraDOUGH were some of our highlights. If you like tequila, you get a free shot at ColoraDOUGH along with delicious breakfast burritos, bagels and of course, donuts. Rifle falls state park and hanging lake in Glenwood Springs are two spots I recommend. We also visited an old haunted hotel in Glenwood Sorings with amazing history of Teddy Roosevelt visiting for hunting trips and views. From Glenwood Springs, we headed to Ft. Collins, Colorado.
Glenwood Springs Doc Hollidays Grave Site The hike to Doc Hollidays Grave Colora-DOUGH donut and breakfast shop
From Ft. Collins, we had to visit Buc-Ees for their brisket sandwiches and my husbands favorite Philly cheese steak sandwich.
From there, we headed to Colorado Springs and the Garden of the Gods.
Then we rented a sand board and visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park and braved 140-150 degrees sand. I should say, my family did…I stayed in the shade. After our extremely warm adventure, we continued on to Taos New Mexico. We stopped at the Rio Grande Gorge bridge, which was an amazing site to see (but if you’re like me and not a fan of heights, know that it will make you dizzy looking down). That night we stayed in one of my favorite hotels of the trip, La Posada hotel in Santa Fe. There is amazing Mexican food and a relaxing ambiance at the resort.
Garden of the GodsColorado Springs Great sand dunes national park
The next morning we drove through the Petrified forest, the painted desert, along Route 66 and to the Meteor Crator, before our last stop in Sedona. As one of the murals stated it best, God created the Grand Canyon, but he lived in Sedona. The sunrise and sunset from our gorgeous balcony at Skyrock Sedona was one of the best views of the trip. After a wonderful breakfast of avocado toast at the hotel, we headed to our last adventure at Slide Rock state park. Our kids all three voted that this was their favorite park of the trip. You slide down natural water slides and cool off in the refreshing water.
View from the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge Rio Grande Gorge Bridge Petrified Forest National ParkClose up of the Petrified ForestMeteor Crater Slide Rock The natural waterslides of slide rock
Ya’ll come join us for a road trip through Texas to watch some baseball games and dive into some Texas history.
We started our getaway by flying into Dallas from LAX. You can find flights in and out of Dallas relatively inexpensive using Google Flights. We ended up on Frontier Airlines (the greenest airline) and are Discount Den members, making the flights for all five of us under $500 round trip. You do need to pay for luggage. On the way there we paid for 2 bags ($69 each) and coming home we added an additional bag. We each get one side of a suitcase and my son is able to use a backpack carryon. We have become efficient packers and it makes it easier on the trip as well, not having to deal with too much “stuff” and easily fitting into rental cars. We strategically put hotels in the mix with laundry in case we need to refresh our available wardrobe.
When we arrived in Dallas, we picked up a Chevrolet Tahoe from Enterprise (using Priceline) and headed north to Frisco. We wanted to check out the Frisco Rough Riders stadium and they were in town, so it was the perfect way to start the trip. At the stadium, there is a lazy river for guests, plenty of places to eat, fun shops and an overall fun environment. We stayed at a Marriott Springhill Suites that night in Arlington and were able to upgrade to two rooms using points. This hotel was on the trolley route for the Texas Rangers stadium, which is in Arlington. It is also right next to Six Flags if you wanted to add that to your itinerary as well. Although we didn’t go, we checked out kids passes from Southern California and they could have gone. The Rangers stadium was one of my favorites. You sing “Deep in the Heart of Texas” during the seventh inning stretch at both Texas stadiums, which was fun! We sat in the outfield and were able to catch two balls. The section we were in offered all you can eat hot dogs, burgers, chicken, nachos, popcorn and peanuts, as well as soft-drinks. Out of both of the Texas ballparks we went to this trip, the Rangers was my FAVORITE. Being a Dodgers fan, the Astros was not going to make the list, however I truly enjoyed the experience watching the Rangers much more. Houston did have some fun fans; shout out to our seat neighbor that was spreading his Dads ashes on the bricks of the stadium during the 9th inning. He kept reminding his crew (who had definitely pre gamed at a bar) that his Dad would want them to be respectful and they sure were! Your Dad would be proud! I hope your blur disco ball made it home safely;)
The next morning we booked family pictures in Ft. Worth. It gets busy so Larissa Frias Photography suggested a 9am start time. We parked in the paid public parking lot and took amazing shots all around the stockyards. That same lot is where we would park as hotel guests later that day, so it was perfect that I opted for the overnight parking option.
That night we stayed at Hotel Drover in Ft. Worth. It is an adorable hotel with an awesome western ambiance. If you have seen the show Landman, it was filmed there. After our pictures we watched the 11:30 cattle drive with the longhorns. Every day, there are two cattle drives at 11:30 and 4:00. Ft. Worth was the last stop before heading into a 600 mile trip to Kansas, so cattle drives were common here. It is a great photo op, a wonderful history lesson and on the weekends you can watch a shoot out, following the cattle drive. We were also able to meet up with my musician cousin Lauren here and explore an old record shop and see the folks she has played with and stop in at Billy Bobs to see all the handprints of the sold out shows. I loved placing my hands in Riley Greens and Lainey Wilson’s.
That night we celebrated our daughter’s 15th birthday at a cute Mexican restaurant in the stockyards. There are so many shops, restaurants, coffee shops and even a hat bar walking distance. My husband and I ended the night with a night cap at the hotel bar. The men were in cowboy hats and the lady’s looked like Beth Dutton. I loved it!
The next day we loaded up the Tahoe and headed to Waco. We stayed at the Residence Inn Waco in a two bedroom, two bathroom unit with a kitchen. They also offered breakfast, if you aren’t going to the Magnolia Silos for that! While in Waco we visited the Dr. Pepper museum and had Dr. Pepper floats, with the famous Blue Bell ice cream you see all over Texas. We actually had this ice cream at both stadiums, too. Of course we had to stop by the Magnolia Silos. While I shopped, the kids and my husband found a baseball diamond and used the wiffle bats and balls available to play. They also played corn hole and enjoyed the beautiful weather in the ample seating all over. That evening we went to the suspension bridge over the Brazos river and took sunset pictures (we have teenage daughters, if you know; you know). We had dinner at Terry Blacks BBQ and got the small family meal that serves six. It was so good, but much more than we could finish. Luckily, our hotel had a refrigerator and we had pork ribs and sausage as part of our breakfast. The next morning we grabbed a Dutch bros and headed to the Mammoth Fossil site. Colombian mammoths (not woolly mammoths) were discovered here by two boys trespassing and looking for arrowheads. When they found a bone, they took it over to Baylor University and realized there may be more and they found a group of mama and baby mammoths that may have been killed by a flood. It was one of the largest nursery burial grounds and was a short 30 minute guided tour and interesting. I feel like this museum was definitely much more worth the cost, than the Dr. Pepper museum, although it was a fun experience.
After the tour we loaded in the Tahoe and headed to College Station, but not before stopping at Buc-ees for some lunch. If you have not had their gas station pulled pork, you sure are missing out! We got some beaver nuggets, candied pecans, cherry sours and peach rings, along with our DIY swig style drinks (because that was too far off the highway) and kept on trucking! My husband even bought me a Justin cowboy hat at Buc-ees. It doesn’t get much more Texas than that!
Our next stop was Bryan, Texas where we stayed at one the of Historic Hotels of America, The La Salle. We had a gorgeous one bedroom with a separate living area (again, always a Marriott) and had the best bagels at the cutest market, zegmans. We played top golf and went into College Station to explore the Texas A&M campus. While in College Station we ate at Dixie Chicken, walked through Bottle cap alley, explored Davis Diamond and shopped in Century square.
The next morning we headed south to Galveston Island. That first night we stayed at the newly built Residence Inn. The rooms were spacious and easily fit our family of five. There was a kitchen, breakfast, pool/spa and fire pit for the cooler evening. We did some laundry here and purchased our detergent at H-E-B and extra suitcase at Marshall’s in the same lot. That night we ate at the Spot and had gorgeous view of the gulf after a day at Babes Beach. We finished the night off at the Rainforest Cafe river ride and called it a night before heading to the Grand Galvez the next day.
The Grand Galvez is one of the oldest luxury hotels in the US. It was built after the hurricane of 1900 to encourage visitors to come back to Galveston. They say it is haunted, specifically room 501. When we were walking to check out that room, the ice machine did release ice on its own.
The Grand Galvez offers complimentary beach service with padded chairs and umbrellas and a gorgeous pool, with amazing pins coladas, and chips and salsa. During the day, we sat on the porch at Murdocks and had pina coladas as we watched the dolphins in the gulf. We walked up pleasure pier, but it reminded us of a dirty Venice beach pier and charged $12 just to go in the pier, so we decided not to go. Instead we headed to the other side of the island, near the cruise ship terminals and had the best pizza. We happened to be there on a Thursday, which was $3 wine night. What a deal…and the house Cabernet was not bad!
We extended our stay here an extra day (reducing our time in Houston), to enjoy the gulf, go crab hunting under the pink moon and just relax.
We had tickets to the Texas A&M softball game against LSU for the night (and should have been in Houston), so not as far of a drive, but opted to relax and watch it on TV instead.
Our last hotel was in Houston and was the Marriott Marquis Houston. This is a huge hotel with a Texas sized pool. We checked in, went straight to the M-club for some waters and snacks and grabbed a tube and enjoyed the lazy river before heading to the Astros game at 6:10. The hotel restaurant opened 2 hours before the first pitch and the line was long. There is a great happy hour and the hotel is across the street from the stadium, making it an easy walk to and from the ballpark.
The morning we left, the “Tour de Houston” bike race was literally outside our window. I woke up early worried about the street closures affecting our ability to get to the airport and return the Tahoe in time, but as it always does, everything worked out and we were good to go.
I treasure these moments so much and realize as we have a high school freshman now and plan stops at colleges that soon enough we will not have as much time for these magical memories, so I am beyond grateful to have them now. Our lives are so busy and these moments of being together, exploring and learning about new places are so incredibly important.
Come along on a Fantastic Fall Getaway through New England. If you are like me, you love checking off states that you have visited, here is a trip that includes FIVE. We say it only “counts” if you sleep there and this adventure will take you through 5 states in 7 days, and I promise you don’t feel like you are driving too much. We used Enterprise and rented a Jeep Wagoneer for our family of 5 with 4 suitcases and a backpack for each of us and we had plenty of room.
We started our adventure with a direct flight on JetBlue from Los Angeles to Boston. Jet Blue offers free Wi-Fi, complimentary soft drinks, snacks and was a great choice for low fare airlines. Just do not forget your wired headphones if you plan to use the TV on the seat in front of you. Our plane had the MINT seats in the front and those looked amazing! Maybe one day, right JetBlue?
Once we landed, we stayed at the Springhill suites by Marriott on Revere Beach. It comfortably slept all five of us and had a free airport shuttle, as well as complimentary breakfast. The local enterprise picked us up in our Wagoneer the next morning to fill out the paperwork and rent our car. It was around 6 minutes from the hotel and extremely convenient. Once we had our SUV, we hit the road the Salem (with a quick stop in Saugus, because that is where my husband grew up; but the CA version). Salem was about 30 minutes from the Boston area, and we parked in the parking garage right in the middle of town for about $6. During weekends in October, this increases to about $40. This town is known for Halloween, so that makes sense. We walked around, following the yellow and red lines painted on the ground to take you to all of the hot spots. We ate at Dire Wolf which had delicious sushi along with American fare and drinks. We decided to take the hour-long ferry to see all of the sites in the town, including the Bewitched statue, a few Hocus Pocus sites and listen to all the history of the famous Salem Witch Trials. Did you know Salem has its very own Waikiki Beach? This is located on Winter Island and is a gorgeous place to take pictures with a light house in the background.
After spending a few hours in Salem, we continued on for 54 minutes to New Hampshire and stayed at the AC Portsmouth Downtown/Waterfront hotel. There is a rooftop restaurant and bar with igloos during the fall and winter months. Portsmouth is located in New Hampshire (there is also one in Rhode Island that we will drive through later in the trip). Portsmouth is the cutest New England town to walk around, visiting cute bakeries and coffee shops, boutiques and restaurants and right along the waterfront. The one thing we did not do here that I wished we had was the Seal Walk at the Sea Coast Science Center. It started at 11:30 and we were booked to take our family photos in Maine at 3:15, so I didn’t want to risk being late.
After visiting a few shops and enjoying coffee and croissants downtown, we headed up north to Portland Maine, which was just 52 minutes up the road. In Maine, we stayed at the Westin Portland Harborview. These rooms were on the smaller size, only full-size beds, so we opted for two connecting rooms here. It is in the heart of Downtown, walking distance to Otto’s pizza, famous for their Mashed Potato, Bacon and Chive pizza. My favorite was the Hot Honey pizza. After checking in and getting some appetizers and margaritas, we headed to Cape Elizabeth and the oldest lighthouse in Maine. Following our pictures, we headed to Freeport Maine, site of the L.L. Bean Flagship store that is open 24 hours a day. There are various shops and outlets to walk around as well as restaurants to dine in. The next morning, we headed to Kennebunkport, Maine and saw more adorable boutiques, coffee shops, the summer home of President Bush and his family and gorgeous coastal views. Maine may be one of the most beautiful states, I have ever visited.
Next, we headed to Vermont. This was the longest drive on our trip so far and would be a two-hour drive. The gorgeous, wooded area and a few trees still hanging onto the last of their gorgeous fall leaves, made it go by quickly. We pulled into Brattleboro and the kids enjoyed swimming and a fire pit, while my husband and I enjoyed Vermont Cheese, breadsticks and wine we grabbed at the grocery store. In Vermont, we visited The Retreat, which has beautiful hiking trails, animals and an adorable store/gift shop. You can’t miss the Vermont Country Deli, where we had sandwiches, treats for the drive and just up the road from a gorgeous, covered bridge. These were called the kissing bridges when they originated because of the privacy they offered. The most unique hotel in Brattleboro is called the Viking Villages. These are small viking style cabins that are perfect for families and about 15-20 minutes from town. We were originally going to stay there, but the kids wanted to be somewhere with a pool, and these were more secluded. From Vermont, we headed back to Massachusetts, with a stop at the battlefield of Concord and Lexington. Our son is in fifth grade and his teacher told us they would be learning about the minute men and that battle, so we made sure to stop by so he could see it.
We could not stay too long, as we had 3:00 tickets for the Fenway Park Tour. We headed straight there and lucked out finding street parking next to the stadium. We toured Fenway and were able to sit in the Green Monstah seats. We went into the Press Box and heard all about the history. This was one of the most fun games to see, because of the seventh inning stretch that included signing “Sweet Caroline”. The history at this ball park is amazing and we were lucky enough to catch a game here in 2019. After the tour, we were parked right in front of the Yard House and we were all starving, so we stopped in for their Happy Hour. Their happy hour is only for food and included their pizzas. I loved the $8 poke nachos that I ordered. After our late lunch/early dinner, we drove to our hotel, Boston Marriott Long Wharf. We used points and one of our upgrades to stay in a one-bedroom suite. This hotel is right on the water, walking distance to Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, the aquarium and is stop 1 on the hop on, hop off tours. Here we walked some of the Freedom Trail, visited Paul Revere’s house and enjoyed the views of the harbor. That night we stopped into Faneuil Hall for ice cream and clam chowder. The next morning, we rode the 2-hour full loop of the hop on, hop off bus to hear the history and see the city before we headed to Rhode Island.
We drove to Rhode Island, about 90 minutes from Boston and stayed at the Newport Hotel and Spa. It was walking distance to all kinds of shops, restaurants, has gorgeous views of the harbor and was another great Marriott property. While in Newport, we visited the mansions, The Breakers and walked a portion of the Cliff Walk.
We flew home out of Providence the day before Thanksgiving, and it was wonderful. No lines, no crowds, an open middle seat, and it was only 30 minutes from Newport (via the toll roads). We were even interviewed by their local news team (Channel 12 WPRI) for braving the holiday travel the day before thanksgiving.
We flew home on Southwest and I continued my streak of earning a free glass of wine for locating Chick Norris in the emergency pamphlet.
We spent the day walking around the Mall of America (MOA), our oldest was just asked to HOCO; so we were on the hunt for some shoes, riding the rollercoasters and the water ride and eating at https://wahlburgers.com/all-locations with their $5 shareables, $5 draft beers and $4 glasses of wine. As we finished up dinner and shopping, we grabbed the kids gloves from the room and headed over to Target Field https://www.mlb.com/twins/ballpark to watch the Twins beat the Blue Jays. At the game, we indulged in our favorite dessert soft serve in Twins helmets, the. best. https://www.mlb.com/twins/tickets/single-game-tickets
The next morning we rented a car back at the airport from http://www.sixt.com …a company we had not used; but will definitely use again, due to the convenience, price and vehicle. With our Toyota 4Runner in tow, we headed “up north” to Nisswa https://www.cityofnisswa.gov We wanted a resort style hotel that would have activities, including boating and was located on a lake. We found The Grand View Lodge https://www.grandviewlodge.com in Nisswa to be the perfect place to stay and checked all of the boxes on our wish list. We checked in Saturday afternoon and enjoyed happy hour at the Tanque Verde Cantina while the kids swam in the pool visible from the outdoor cantina and had a blast on the water slides. After our drinks and appetizers we walked over to the Boathouse to reserve a pontoon for the next day. They still had availability and it was just $225 for 2 hours on a pontoon boat. We also added an inner tube for some tubing fun on Gull Lake. We booked the Grand View Lodge using http://expedia.com and felt like we were able to get a great room and a good price for such a memorable weekend.
That evening we visited Zorbaz https://www.zorbaz.com where we sat outside, along the water, listened to live music and ordered pizzas (with enough leftovers for lunch the next day). Good thing our room had a microwave and refrigerator!
Sunday morning we woke up, sat outside on our porch while the kids played catch and enjoyed the crisp fall morning (it was September 1, after all). After our slow morning we rented bikes (complimentary) and checked out the state of Minnesota’s largest jacuzzi and a second indoor pool with water slides for the kids. The boat rental was perfect and we cruised around Gull Lake before ending the evening at one of the many fire pits (free s’mores kits at the Grand Outfitters store on site). We brought some wine down to the lakeside and the kids checked out the arcade. The kids also enjoyed corn hole, a playground and shuffle board throughout our stay. If we had more time; we would have loved to check out the tennis and pickle ball courts, golf simulator, golf and frisbee golf, horseback riding and the various lawn games available to guests.
All activities (kayaks, paddle boards, volleyball, banana tubing, fishing, pontoon cruises and beach chairs) are included with the resort fee. You may rent pontoons, boat slips, jet skis, golf carts and electric bikes for a reasonable fee.
On Sunday evening, (Sept. 1) the resort hosted a Hawaiian Beach party where everyone wore Hawaiian shirts and they offered food and drink specials, slushees, live music and a farewell to summer in the best way possible.
If you’re going for a girls weekend or a couples getaway, check out the Glacial Waters Spa https://www.grandviewlodge.com/spa on property. It looked amazing. I definitely want to return to try all of the activities that we didn’t have time for over this long weekend trip.
To preserve our memories in my favorite way, we took family photos with Kaptured by Kayla https://kapturedbykala.mypixieset.com I found her online and she met us at the resort. Her fee was $125 for an hour long session that included 10 pictures. For an additional $50 you can have access to all pictures taken, so we opted for that package.
I also found out the Grand View Lodge has a sister property in Tucson that is now on my “To Do List”; Tanque Verde Ranch https://tanqueverderanch.com If you know me and my loved for horses, this is right up my alley!
Monday afternoon we headed back to Minneapolis. It is about a 2.5 hour drive, but even with the “holiday traffic” it was only about 15 minutes longer than usual. Nice back in Minneapolis, we went on a hike down to the bottom of the Minnehaha waterfall. It was a beautiful area that was filled with trees, running water and a gorgeous water fall. It was only about 15 minutes from the Mall of America. Then it was then time to head to the airport and make our way back to reality.
We are headed back into the busy school and sports schedule with a stronger bond, a bit more relaxed and dreams of our next adventure on the horizon.
Lets jet set off to Boston from Los Angeles. First things first, we have to book our flights. You know me and my love of a good deal, and we found exactly that on Frontier https://www.flyfrontier.com/ . We chose Frontier due to their promotion of KIDS FLY FREE (up to 16 years) on some roundtrip flights (if you are a part of the Discount Den, $59.99/annually). This promotion worked perfect for our situation, as we were gifting this trip to my mom as a retirement present, so we had three adults and three kids flying and only paid for three round trip tickets. As a note for Frontier, you can find some amazing deals. I once flew from Los Angeles to Denver for $7.00!
On the drive to Chatham, we stopped at Pilgrim Memorial State Park for some slushies and to get a first hand look at Plymouth Rock. It is an actual rock you can view. It does have a fence around it so you are not able to touch it. Plymouth Rock is located next to a gorgeous harbor with boats and a river running near the town in the Brewster Gardens area. If we had more time, I think this adorable spot would be a wonderful place to spend the day.
We arrived to our Airbnbhttp://www.airbnb.com at grabbed some coffee at Monomoy Coffee Company, which is now called Chatham Perk https://www.chathamperk.com/ The entire downtown area is adorable in Chatham and had some cute shops and restaurants.
The next day we walked around fabulous homes in South Chatham and played “if we won the lottery…” and visited a beach with a library style shovel and bucket wall to share. The beaches have “Be Shark Smart” signs all over, which was a bit intimidating, but the water was amazing and we felt safe, even in the water close to the shore.
After our morning at the We ate lunch at Sandi’s Diner, where the motto is “Sandi’s Diner, Nothing is Finer”…however it too has now been sold and it now called Lily’s diner https://lilysdiner.wordpress.com/everday-menu/
After lunch we walked down to the beach near the U.S. Coast Guard Chatham. We found a spot at Chatham Lighthouse Beach and relaxed for the afternoon, building sandcastles, playing in the water and taking pictures with the lifeguards. Being from the west coast, the east coast ocean always feels so warm and refreshing.
That evening we went to Chatham Bars Inn https://www.chathambarsinn.com/ for Happy Hour and to take in the view. This is an absolute must see and was gorgeous! We sat in adirondack chairs, on a hill overlooking the ocean and then ended the day with ice cream and grabbed the http://vineyardferries.com map to plan the rest of our adventures. We would be leaving from Woods Hole, MA to Martha’s Vineyard, with a stop in Hyannis Port along the way.
The next afternoon we drove to Hyannis Port. I have a slight obsession with the Kennedy Family and wanted to see the Kennedy Compound. We were able to drive to the block on Marchant Avenue where the homes are located. Three homes make up the Kennedy compound and Ethel Kennedy still lives in 20 Marchant Avenue; however the “big house” located at 50 Marchant Avenue was donated to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the US Senate in 2013.
In Hyannis Port, we found shells, walked on the beach and headed to Woods Hole to catch the ferry. The ferry was an easy trip to Oak Bluffs where we sat on the top level to breathe in the ocean air and feel the wind in our hair as we made our way to Martha’s Vineyard. Once we arrived, we ate lunch at Fishbones Bar and Grille https://fishbones-mv.com/, walked around Edgartown, of course had to visit Lily Pulitzer and Vineyard Vines and made our way back to South Boston after our day trip. I have visited Martha’s Vineyard twice on day trips and would love to stay the night next time. My recommendation is for the Harbor View Hotel & Resort and Kelley House in Edgartown https://harborviewhotel.com/ I worked with the previous general manager at this resort and was able to visit and enjoy some wine and lobster rolls on the wrap around porch and would love to come back to stay. The resort was stunning and the food and beverage experience was first class. I can just imagine the rooms and service would be just as pristine.
Once back in the city, our Airbnb was on Atlantic Street in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester Heights. We were able to walk over to the location of the American Redoubts from our home, which compelled the evacuation of Boston by the British army. The area is close to public transportation and worked well for our large group. We also walked through Thomas Park and onto Carson Beach from our house, which is perfect if you have young kids that love the sand.
While in Boston we visited the Paul Revere House, walked along the Freedom Trail, caught a Red Sox game at Fenway Park, where the kids were able to run the bases and we all joined in singing “Sweet Caroline” for the seventh inning stretch. At Fenway, there is a bar (Bleacher Bar https://www.bleacherbarboston.com/ )that opens up to the field before and after the game that was fun to visit.
One of my favorite things to do in places with a lot of history in the hop on/hop off tour bus. We took it all over Boston, to MIT, Cambridge, walked around Harvard and had lunch at Cheers https://www.cheersboston.com/; which is also a family friendly restaurant. We visited the location of the Boston Tea Party, ate lobster rolls and found a rooftop bar on the water to have some drinks to complete our trip. This is my son on the steps of Harvard, on what should have been his first day of Kindergarten. Flights were best the next day and he is our third kid, so his “first day” of Kindergarten was everyone else’s second day. Life of a third child-ha! I absolutely recommend this area for a family vacation, couples trip or even to explore solo. It is a gorgeous part of the US filled with history and beauty. Safe Travels!
We had the opportunity to join friends for the weekend in Nashville, Tennessee. As always, we new it may be difficult to make sure our kids were where they needed to be, practice, games, birthday party’s…the typical weekend stuff, but with the Grandparents to the rescue, we are so glad we made it work.
We booked a few weeks before the trip and used our standard GOOGLE FLIGHTS. I was even emailed with a reimbursement to my google cash, when they saw the $7 price increase. I never signed up for it, but received it. Using Google Flights, I found a direct flight (on a brand new airplane, the A321neo, which basically means it quick, quiet and good for the environment), and had that new plane smell! Our tickets from Los Angeles on a Friday evening were about $60 each and we opted for the $40 upgrade to exit row. Check out this legroom!
Definitely worth the $40!
We stayed at the Westin Nashville https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/bnawi-the-westin-nashville/overview/and our friends stayed right next door at the JW Marriott https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/bnajw-jw-marriott-nashville/overview/. Both were amazing, but we had previously stayed at the Westin and knew we loved their rooftop pool. Both hotels are walking distance to the famous Broadway honky tonk bars, the gulch for shopping or brunch and those famous Nashville wings everyone takes a picture with, we could see Nissan Stadium from our room and watched people gather in their seats for Morgan Wallen’s concert.
Here are some of the restaurants from the weekend:
Assembly Food Hall is perfect for a group. There was live music, bars and so many amazing choices, we had tacos (it was cinco de mayo weekend, afterall) and they were amazing! https://www.assemblyfoodhall.com/
At Assembly food hall, we went to Velvet Taco, I had a Spicy Chicken Tikka taco which has chicken tenders, spicy tikka sauce, buttered cilantro basmati rice, raita crema, Thai basil, flour tortilla and it was amazing. We also shared a few other tacos and the nachos and everything was amazing!
After time at Tootsies, Kid Rock Honky Tonk, Redneck Riviera, Wanna B’s Karaoke Bar, Rippys, Ole Red, the Westin Rooftop Pool felt amazing to allow our feet to recover from all of that walking in boots.
This trip was just a weekend, but if you have an additional day or two in Nashville I recommend going to the Opry. We were able to see Jelly Roll there a few years ago before he became so popular and that is where I began my love of his music, but more so of him as a person. For that trip, we stayed at the Opryland Resort https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/bnago-gaylord-opryland-resort-and-convention-center/overview/ which was the perfect location, if you plan to visit The Grand Ol’ Opry https://www.opry.com/ It is good to know, they only have concerts on Tuesday and Thursday – Saturday.
Grand Ole Opry View of the Grand Ole’ Opry StageOpryland resort interior viewThat is the Westin Pool waaayyy up there on the roof!Can’t forget to shop for boots while you’re in Nashville! You will see party busses like this throughout Nashville…
The Capital One Venture Card is one of my favorites. Credit cards can be tricky, and if you use them…make sure you have cards that PAY YOU BACK in cash or travel rewards.
The Venture card allows you to get unlimited miles on every purchase and offers perks, especially for travel.
Do you have the desire to see our Nation’s Capitol? Having our oldest in eighth grade this year, meant her school participated in an annual class trip to Washington DC. I will preface this post with this tip; if you do go during spring time, you will likely see hundreds of eighth grade students. The cost of her school trip was somewhere between $3.5-4k and if my husband or I wanted to attend as a chaperone it was even more expensive than the cost of the student. With the cost in mind and knowing as a family, we could hit a few more baseball stadiums, we decided that all five of us could attend the trip for just a bit more than the cost of our daughter going alone. Most importantly, we could make it a family spring break trip to remember. I used GOOGLE FLIGHTS https://www.google.com/travel/flights about 3-4 months prior to the trip and started watching for deals for flights for the five of us. If you are planning on visiting Washington D.C., 3-4 months in advance is where you should start reaching out to your local congressman to get some behind the scene tours on your schedule. I went to https://www.whitehouse.gov/visit/ and https://www.congress.gov/members to contact my local congressman and arrange a tour of the capitol and a tour of the white house. I didn’t have this tip (start reaching out 4 months ahead of time), so we were unable to visit the White House this visit, but we definitely want to next time.
Back to the flights, I ended up getting one way tickets to Newark for about $60/person {on spirit…which I have never had an issue with, but do remind people to check your luggage rates as they can add up and it may be less expensive to go with a carrier that includes bags like southwest}. I was also about to find return flights {one way} for about $70 per person. I always leave the dates open on google flights and select a city rather than a specific airport so it shows you various options. Also always start with a one way rate.
My Grandparents live in Pennsylvania so that is where we started for this trip. We rented a mini van (remember, even if you have enough seats for your family, you need to account for your luggage) and headed to Muncy Valley, PA for a few days. Here we could ride ATVs, hang out with cows, horses, dogs, see family and relax after the red eye from Los Angeles. It was the perfect way to start the trip. After a few days with family, we headed to Gettysburg, PA. This was a little over two hours and we drove up after dinner. We stayed the night at the Comfort Suites https://www.choicehotels.com/pennsylvania/gettysburg/comfort-suites-hotels/pa553 {we always stay at Marriott, but this time this hotel worked out and it was inexpensive, large enough for our family, right in the center of town…and came with breakfast}. After a good night’s sleep and a warm continental breakfast, We started at the Visitors Center https://www.nps.gov/gett/planyourvisit/visitorcenters.htm, walked through the museum and cyclorama https://www.nps.gov/gett/planyourvisit/museum-film-cyclorama.htm and decided to do the free driving tour using an app on our phone. The driving tour on the app allows you to see each of the highlights as you listen to the history of the location and get out to explore, as you please. I recommend playing the next informational session as you drive to the location, or you will spend a lot of time sitting and listening. When you get hungry, The Four Scores Beer Co https://www.facebook.com/FourscoreBeerCo/ looked like a great place for lunch. We also visited the National Riding Stables https://nationalridingstables.org/home-1, but didn’t ride this time because it was beginning to rain. As a side note, for any of you that like to camp, have an RV or wish to experience this area while camping, the campground where the National Riding Stables were located looked amazing, with vendors, activities for families, fishing on site and much more. As we completed the driving tour, we fueled up on gasoline and road trip snacks and headed to Baltimore, Maryland.
This hotel was right next to Camden Yards https://www.mlb.com/orioles/ballpark, where we would be catching a baseball game the next day. That evening we rented an electric boat (just walk along the harbor and there are multiple rental stands with boats available) next to the aquarium https://aqua.org/ and walked around inner harbor. Baltimore has a lot of restaurants and food options, but we ultimately ate at a restaurant in our hotel, The Yard https://www.theyardbarandgrillbaltimore.com/ and it was really good! We visited chick fil a first, for the kids and ours was comparable in price as well. My husband had chicken tenders and it came with more than he could finish and I had a turkey wrap. There was also a pizza place that smelled amazing BricknFire Pizza Co. https://www.bricknfirepizzacompany.com/ , however the line was pretty long and we were hungry. The next day we walked over to Starbucks to get our Baltimore mug and Dunkin’ Donuts was also right next to the hotel. This afternoon we would be going to Camden Yards for our 15th {the halfway mark} MLB stadium as a family. Before the game we followed the Babe Ruth baseballs on the sidewalk to his birthplace https://baberuthmuseum.org/babe-ruth-birthplace-museum/ and watched the fans pre-game at the bars and restaurants surrounding the stadium. The game started at 1:35, so we made sure to be in line around noon to get in and went straight to Boogs BBQ in the stadium. It is best to go first thing because the line gets pretty long. You can easily share a sandwich with 2, even 3 people. We watched the Angels warm up and were able to get some autographs from the players. It was a Sunday game, so the kids were allowed to run the bases after the game. It was such a fun experience. The parents even get to walk out onto the field. After the game, we drove by the Francis Scott Key bridge to see first hand the devastation caused by the large cargo ship hitting the pillars of the bridge. It was all still there and many others joined us in walking up to the edge of the shore, close to the site of the crash. That night we headed to the Residence Inn Marriott https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/wasxr-residence-inn-washington-capitol-hill-navy-yard/overview/ right next to the Washington Nationals Field https://www.mlb.com/nationals/ballpark. It was opening day and our hotel was in the perfect location for the game. The restaurants surrounding the area were filled with fans and the weather even held out with the sun shining for a few minutes at the game. The Washington Nationals was an amazing 16th stadium to visit. After the game, we went to Pink Taco http://www.pinktaco.com Their chips and salsa was amazing and they even had my favorite wine, Meiomi. I had the chicken tortilla soup and loved it! It was the perfect way to warm up after the game. After dinner we checked into our next hotel where we would stay for the week in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington DC. It was the Residence Inn and was a two bedroom suite with a kitchen and fit our family of 5 perfectly ( https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/wasfg-residence-inn-washington-dc-foggy-bottom/overview/ ). We also had breakfast there each morning and would take up granola, yogurt and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from breakfast to snack on in our room after we returned for the night. The hotel was next to the Watergate Hotel {my husband and I of course had to have drinks there one night, just to say we had been there} and the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, which had an incredible exhibit about the Kennedy family. It was a 10 minute walk to M Street in Georgetown, a 5 minute walk to George Washington University and the metro, which was our preferred method of transportation. Once we arrived to this hotel, we returned our rental car to the Ronald Reagan Airport and easily rode the metro right back to our hotel. The metro is $2/person, so unless an Uber was cheaper than $10, we took the train and were able to teach the kids how to figure out the rail system. That was all my husband; I just followed his lead and always ended up where we intended to. Once we were checked in, we went down to try and meet up with our daughter’s class and view the monuments at night. The Korean War monument was my favorite, seeing the soldiers in moonlight with their weapons truly made you appreciate all they went through. The Vietnam and WW2 memorials were close by as well. It was sad to hear how poorly our Vietnam Veterans were treated upon their return from a war many of them had no choice in being a part of, as the draft was displayed on television and you had a certain time to report or you would be arrested. The youngest boy on the WW2 memorial enlisted when he was just 14 years old and was killed at 15. My daughter turned 14 on this trip, so I understood how young that truly was. My grandpa also enlisted when he was under 18 so it made me appreciate his sacrifice at such a young age as well. It is amazing how quickly these soldiers had to grow up. There were also 8 women’s names on the wall who died for their country.
The next morning was dreary and foggy. We had Family pictures at the Lincoln Memorial and I was worried they wouldn’t turn out well but the photographer {Taytum Wolfe Photography…who I highly recommend, https://www.taytumwolfephotography.com/ } assured me it was actually better to take photos with cloudy skies than in is in the sun. The pictures turned out amazing, she was absolutely correct. A tip that I have started doing is taking our family photos on vacation rather than in a rushed photo shoot in our home town around the holidays. I go on various Facebook pages to find photographers and message a handful of them and find the one that is available and within our price range. It is my favorite way to capture our family and retain the memories from our vacation.
The next day we were able to participate in a capitol tour by emailing our congressman, Mike Garcia. Emma; one of his staffers was amazing and even came out to find us in the rain when we didn’t know where to go. If you contact them 90 days in advance, they can also assist in getting you into the White House for a tour, both links are provided above when I mention planning your trip 3-4 months out. This trip we had to get pictures from the gates of the White House. When you’re in this area you can also visit the Library of Congress (you also need times tickets for this https://www.etix.com/ticket/e/1038417/timedentry-ticket-reservations-washington-thomas-jefferson-building)…we got them for the latest time on Thursday because they have a happy hour in the library that starts at 5pm and in our case, they had an Elton John dance party as well. We also walked over to the Supreme Court, and visited Fords Theatre https://fords.org/calendar/ where Lincoln was shot and the Peterson House across the street where he ultimately passed away the following morning. Later in the day we walked around the tidal basin to view what was left of the cherry blossoms and walked up into the Jefferson Memorial. The Roosevelt and the MLK Jr. memorial are also close by here as well.
The next morning we were able to land Washington Monument tour tickets. We went on recreation.gov right at 10am the day prior; had an account set up and secured the tickets to go up in the elevator and take in the views. If you are not able to get tickets to the Washington Monument, another option is the Old post office tower https://www.nps.gov/nama/planyourvisit/opot.htm, which is in the Waldorf Astoria. It also has a great view of DC for pictures. It is cold and windy; so bring a jacket. The headquarters of the FBI is also near here. You can sign up for the FBI experience https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/fbi-headquarters/the-fbi-experience 5 months in advance and no more than 4 weeks prior, but if you’re lucky like us, just walking by some of the FBI dogs may be out taking their bathroom break and you can say hi. That afternoon we also visited the Holocaust Museum https://www.ushmm.org/information/visit-the-museum/admission-tickets. There was an exhibit specifically for kids, called Daniel’s story which was powerful and showed how this awful part of history affected the kids and families of so many! This was my son’s, (who is in fourth grade) favorite exhibit.
The next day was our daughter’s 14th birthday. We took her to M Street in Georgetown to get a cupcake at the famous Georgetown cupcakes https://www.georgetowncupcake.com/ and to sushi at Bluefin Sushi https://bluefingeorgetown.com/ which is a perfect lunch spot, as you order at the counter and then find a seat, making it quick and efficient. It was so good, we went back down to place a second order. Our daughters enjoyed shopping at Sephora, Brandy Melville, Lululemon and other boutiques unique to the area. We also had Call Your Mother Bagels https://www.callyourmotherdeli.com/order#DC for breakfast on our way to Arlington National Cemetery and the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial. Georgetown was walking distance to our hotel, so it’s the perfect place to find some good restaurants and shops. We found the best Mexican restaurant, Guapos of Georgetown https://www.guaposrestaurant.com/location/georgetown-dc/ along the Potomac for our daughter’s birthday and walked back to the hotel after we ate. We had the fried ice cream and churros for dessert and I had the chicken tortilla soup which tasted amazing, especially because it was so cold out!
The next morning was our last day. Our flight didn’t leave until 6:30pm. We took the metro and the MARC straight to the Baltimore/Washington Airport; so we went to the Natural History Museum, which didn’t require tickets or reservations and walked around the National Mall and through a sculpture Garden.
During this trip, we visited Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey {where we initially flew into}.
The places we missed and plan to do next time include Mt Vernon (3200 my Vernon memorial hwy.Alexandria Virginia), a tour of the White House, the FBI experience, The National Archives (Book 1 month prior), Lafayette square, the National Aquarium , MLK Jr. Memorial, the Army Museum, the Washington Mint, the US Botanical Gardens, the Marine Corps Memorial, and the American History Museum.
It’s a good thing we plan to visit two more times with our 8th graders. #spiritairlines #8thgradewashingtonDCtrip #classtrip #familyvacation #washingtondcfamilytrip #todoinDC #tipsforwashingtonDC #springbreakinDC #traveltips
Have you been inside of the Washington Monument? Take a look here!
Take a tour inside the Capitol, the Supreme Court, Fords Theater and the Petersen House where Lincoln actually died, the outside of the White House and the Jefferson Memorial with some cherry blossoms still holding on.
The Smithsonian National Zoo was one of our favorites!
One of my favorite trips came about from finding inexpensive flights into Miami using Google Flights https://www.google.com/travel/flights and coming up with a plan of what to so with a family of five in Florida that would be exciting with pre-teen and elementary age kids.
So with our tickets purchased for around $60 each/one-way on https://www.spirit.com/ the planning began. During the time we went, a curfew had been in place for Miami. It was Spring Break of 2022, so everyone was back in full swing with travel. I knew Miami was beautiful, but may not be as appropriate for a week, with kids and immediately started researching our options. We had visited Disney a few years prior and wanted this trip to be relaxing and tropical.
I have had a life long dream of becoming a dolphin trainer, wrote journals filled with facts about dolphins in my spare time and have a background in environmental analysis of Geography, so the Keys immediately came to mind! After visiting, I can truly say this is one of my favorite places in the world.
So here is what our trip looked like, if you want to go on a similar vacation. First off, we flew into Miami (you can fly into the keys directly, but it is more expensive and the drive is beautiful). The first day we drove to Marathon Florida and stayed at Courtyard Faro Blanco Resort (2146 Overseas Highway, Marathon, FL, USA 33050) https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/mthmc-courtyard-faro-blanco-resort/photos/ It is a Marriott property and I am a loyal customer and advocate of Marriott. My husband and I both have the Bonvoy Marriott card and earn points, particularly for trips like this. This property was on the water, had a tiki torch ceremony, rock paintings for the kids (which we have kept pictures of, so we can find our rocks when we return again-hopefully SOON!) and so many amazing amenities. There was a restaurant on property https://www.bluewatersbarandgrill.com/ that was perfect for allowing us to stay in and relax our first night there, a pool that overlooked the gulf and white sands steps from the pool and best of all, it is walking distance to one of my favorite aspects of this trip; the Turtle Hospital https://www.turtlehospital.org/ (we will discuss a bit more about this, soon).
After a relaxing morning and having acai bowls and coffee for breakfast at the The Bistro inside the hotel, we packed our bags and headed thru the Keys to the Southern most point of the continental U.S., Key West. We walked around Duval Street, which reminded me of a mixture of Martha’s Vineyard, Front Street in Lahaina (what is used to be) and Nashville, where live music was playing in open air bars. The ocean was the prettiest I had ever seen, and we were even able to spot two nurse sharks and a manatee. The next day in Key West, we visited Smathers Beach, Fort Zach, Little White House, and of course, booked a photography session, which is another way I like to capture the memories of our trips and do so when we are all together, do not have our extra curricular activities planned and have beautiful scenery we want to remember. While in Key West, we stayed at https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/eywfk-fairfield-inn-and-suites-key-west-at-the-keys-collection/overview/ and https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/eywcy-courtyard-key-west-waterfront/overview/ The Courtyard has restaurants walking distance and was nice being on the water and the Fairfield allowed us to upgrade to a larger room (they were a bit dated inside) and had a great pool. Both were great options at reasonable rates.
After 2-3 days in Key West, we headed back up to Key Largo and stayed at Playa Largo https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/mthak-playa-largo-resort-and-spa-autograph-collection/overview/. This was my favorite hotel and we used points, because it was expensive; but absolutely worth it! There were private fire pits on the sand, shaved ice in the afternoons, an amazing pool, easy access to swimming in the ocean and lots of resort activities. This is one of those resorts that you never have to leave. The dining and activities are all right there and amazing!
On the way to Key Largo, we broke up the trip and visited the turtle hospital in Marathon https://www.turtlehospital.org/. This turtle hospital is the largest in the world, helping to protect through research, veterinary services and education. We were lucky enough to be able to observe a surgery happening while we were there. You need reservations and it is absolutely worth it, such a cool place and you can watch a turtle surgery if they have a patient. In Key Largo we went to Dolphin Plus Marine Mammal Responder https://www.dolphinsplus.com/dolphin-plus-charities/dolphins-plus-marine-mammal-responder and swam with dolphins. Being an animal advocate and lover, I am always selective, visiting places like this. This organization had rescued 685 marine mammals as of Spring 2022, when we were there and the dolphins they have at their center are unable to live in the wild, which is why they are cared for at the facility. The dolphins participate in research and education and are given the option to interact or not with every program offered. If they decide they are not up to it, as displayed by their behavior, they are never forced to do so. It was an incredible experience and I hope to return one day for a period of time to volunteer for this organization.
Back in Miami we went to a beach called Surfside, took a day trip to Everglades Holiday Park, which are the closest everglades to Miami to do an airboat ride, see crocodiles and go for a sunset cruise around Miami to see some of the amazing homes on the water. I cannot wait to return to the Keys!
Trip Trek Go 