Archive | August, 2010
Most people think of the Alamo when they think of San Antonio but luckily, thanks to the blog Wandering Off, I discovered that there are several other missions located in San Antonio. Beautiful missions that still hold church services surrounded by beautiful plant life. If you do visit San Antonio Missions National Park, be sure to stop at the Visitor Center which is located at Mission San Jose and pick up a Junior Ranger Booklet. As you visit each of the missions, your children can fill out the booklet and bring it back to the Visitor Center at the end.
You can take a guided tour but with our small children we decided that it wasn’t wise to sign up for an all day guided tour. We just grabbed a booklet and did a self-guided tour. You do have to drive to each Mission because they are not close enough to walk. We did see lots of bike riders as well. One thing I would like to note here is that there was a lot of road construction going on when we visited. We found the first three missions quickly and easily but it took us about 30 minutes to find a way to the fourth mission because of all the detours and closed roads.
Stop by one of my favorite travel websites, Trekaroo, for Spotlight Thursday to read about other destinations!
PS. Please don’t mind the mess as we update our categories. A lot of the posts are still uncategorized. While I work on it, please use the search function if you are looking for something in particular! I have been ignoring the category section since I moved to my own domain and it has got to be fixed. Since I am stuck on the couch with my broken foot, I am going to use this time to update the categories!
Last week my husband took his annual trip to Brazil for a Brazilian Juijitsu camp. His black belt instructor resides in Brazil and one of the perks of studying under this instructor is the chance to train in Brazil. While they were there, they had the opportunity to indulge in many of the local dishes served. Some of Daddy J’s favorite things were requeijao (a cheese), guarana (in carbonated form), and Skol (his beer of choice).
But one of the favorite parts of the culinary side of the trip? Visiting the instructor’s mom’s home for home cooked meals several times during the week. They were able to immerse themselves in the language and food for the week and loved every minute of it.
The dish in the middle is a mashed potato and chicken type casserole that he said was amazing. I think the men are trying to get the recipe! Rice and beans were served with every meal. The bottle in the back was called pimienta, an incredibly hot hot sauce. Apparently the bottle was full when the week started out. (Please forgive me if I named or spelled anything wrong!)
This is where I write that I am jealous that he spent a week in Brazil!
Stop by Wanderfood Wednesday to indulge in some amazing food photos, descriptions, and recipes!
Posted in Sharing on August 17, 2010
I wish I had a fabulous story to tell you about how I broke my foot, but I don’t. I fell walking into the garage on a rainy day. I see an orthopedic doctor today to find out exactly how long I will need to be off of it and whether or not it needs a cast. One would think that if I were lounging around the house, I would have plenty of time to catch up on my blogging but instead I have been catching up on my travel blog reading. Living vicariously as I sit on the couch!
For Travel Blogger Tuesday this week, I am going to share some of my favorite posts from this week and last:
Amie at Ciao Bambino shares her pictures of the Matterhorn with Photo Friday: The Many Faces of the Matterhorn. Seeing the Matterhorn was in my top five on my “bucket list” and I got to fulfill it a few years ago. I liked seeing the views of the Matterhorn through her eyes.
Amy at The Q Family Adventures shares her favorite stops along the BTS Skytrain in Bangkok with Bangkok with Kids: Family Friendly Stops along BTS Skytrain. This is an area of the world I have yet to visit and am fascinated by it. Bangkok wouldn’t have been on the top of my visit with kids list, but Amy shows it as a wonderful family friendly destination.
Mara at Mother of All Trips shares her experience on the London Eye with Mondays are for Dreaming: Views of London. This was one of our favorite parts about our short 24 hour trip to London. I know she was a little worried it would be too touristy so I was thrilled when I read she really enjoyed it!
I always love visiting Dominique over at Midwest Guest for her beautiful photographs and the history lessons about another area I haven’t been to. Northern Michigan’s Port Oneida Rural Historic District revisited has gorgeous farm pictures and I love her photos of the Chicago Bean at Photo Friday: The Bean and Me in Chicago.
Kara, as ColoradoGal, shares a review of a book called Halfway to Each Other: How a Year in Italy Brought One Family Home. Her review has made me add this book to the shopping list I am currently writing for my husband!
Mike Barish over at Gadling wrote an article called On long-term travel, snobbery & judgmental blogging. While I don’t necessarily agree with everything in the post, I am glad that he said what I have wanted to say for a long time. Just because I am traveling with my two kids does not make my travel any less important than if my husband and I had traveled the world before we settled down and had kids. Watching my kids eyes light up when they meet Cinderella at Disneyworld for the first time, slide down the water slide in Gatlinburg, TN or zoom across the German countryside on their first train ride, to me, is way better than any travel my husband and I did pre-children. It is travel for me and my family and that is what makes it right.
I have two favorite food tips when traveling as a family. The first is to pack a lunch and when that is not possible, order pizza for a treat!! You can eat it in your hotel room if you want. You don’t need anything but a napkin to eat it (unless you have to have a fork!). You can feed a family of four for 10-18 dollars, which I can’t even do at McDonald’s anymore.
After a long day of sightseeing and running around, we were exhausted. Our kids were showing every sign that they were done and were not having any more Forced Family Fun. We decided to get a pizza but the pizza place that was recommended to us was closed so we had to come up with a backup plan. I came across a link to Alamo Pizza. The website said that it was recently awarded San Antonio’s Best San Antonio Style Pizza. How could we not try it?
We were surprised when we pulled up to this little building because the website made me think it was a chain type restaurant. Had I explored the locations link, I would have seen that there were only two locations!
As soon as the door opened, we heard knew we had picked the right place. It was teeming with locals speaking several different languages but acting as one community. We walked up to order our pizza as the customers smiled at our children. That is when my son chose to punch his little sister, thus ensuing a meltdown. My husband took the kids out to the car while I ordered the pizza to go. While I waited in the restaurant, my husband waited in the car with the kids. I was asked several times if we needed anything during the 20m we waited for our pizza.
The pizza came out and I was given several little packets of red peppers and paremsan already pre-packaged. That made my heart sing!
We made the quick trip back to the hotel while the car filled with the smell of pizza. When we got back to the hotel, we knew that it was totally worth the trip:
This was one of the best tasting pizzas I have ever had. Ever.
Hungry? Check out the other food posts at Wanderfood Wednesday!
Posted in Reviews on August 3, 2010
When I was given the opportunity to review Kids Love Interstate 75 by George and Michelle Zavatsky, I was so excited to read it because we travel I-75 lots! We mostly travel the section of I-75 that goes through Florida (although we have traveled many parts of it throughout the years) but this summer on one of our road trips we traveled through a section of I-75 Tennessee. We loved having this book with us in the car. It came in handy several times (especially since we haven’t stepped into the SmartPhone world yet!).
The book travels along the interstate from Michigan to Florida. Each state has an Activities at a Glance section that lists the different museums, animals and farms, history, and much more. My favorite part of the book are the road maps that show the different exits and the various stops. The best part is that this is not just a list of activities and stops. For each activity, there is contact information, times, cost and a description.
When we traveled from Florida to Tennessee, we saw the Lost Sea Adventure advertised right around the time we were ready for a potty break but we weren’t sure what it was and if it was worth the stop. That is where Kids Love Interstate 75 came in handy! I quickly looked up the information and we decided that it was worth the drive off the interstate. We were also able to check the hours and knew that they had food and restrooms available. We referenced the book for several other stops along the way: the Mayfield Dairy and the Sweetwater Valley Farm.
In September, we are making two trips to South Florida. I can’t wait to throw this book in the car! I am already researching different pitstops! We have traveled this road so many different times and there are many activities listed in this book that we didn’t even know about or had seen advertised but weren’t sure if it was worth the stop. This book answers those questions!
The best part? I just saw on their website that the book is on sale right now! I can’t wait to get my hands on Kids Love Florida!
Disclosure: I received this review copy complimentary with no expectation. My reviews are based solely on my opinion with no outside influence.
