Category : United States
Now that the bad memories of our trip to Yellowstone have somewhat faded, I think I am ready to begin sharing some tips and things to know before you go. There wasn’t any major event that made the trip a traumatic experience for all of us but there were many incidences that added up quickly.
I am also thinking about making another trip back there some day. Now that my kids are older, I know they would love to explore and see the buffalo. My husband probably thinks I am crazy since the trip through Yellowstone qualifies as our worst trip ever.
Stop by Delicious Baby to see other Photo Friday submissions.
Posted in Destin on February 7, 2012
White sand beaches, deep sea fishing, and family friendly activities make Destin, Florida a great place for a family beach vacation. Destin is located on the Gulf Coast in between Pensacola and Panama City Beach. We live in Pensacola so a drive to Destin is just a short hour away for my family. We day trip over often and go shopping. Sometimes we play in the sand or meet up for a lunch with family. Every year, my husband and I talk about spending a week in Destin but we always seem to find a reason not to. I am hoping that this will be the year and I have been dreaming about getting a vacation rental right on the beach.
A Beach Rental to Call Home for a Week
The vacation home that we stay in doesn’t have to be huge, but I want it to be the perfect beach house. My dream family vacation will be spent in one of those beach homes with a large wraparound porch and a fun name like Tangerine Dream or Take me to the Sea. I want to wake up to the sun shining through my open balcony doors. I want to watch my kids run just a few steps from our door to the shore to splash in the water and build sand castles. After a long beach day, napping in a hammock would be the perfect way to spend an afternoon. I want to fall asleep late at night to the sound of the waves crashing.
One Way We Save While on a Dream Family Vacation
All of that seems so dreamy but expenses for a trip like this, even for a long weekend, can add up quickly. One of our biggest expenses when we travel together as a family is food. Now that my kids are older, sharing a meal between the two of them or eating off of my plate is no longer an option. We can’t get out of a fast food restaurant for less than $25 lately. If we are enjoying a nicer sit -down dinner, it usually costs us twice that. These meals can add up quickly.
To help defray the costs of our meals, we look for a vacation rental when we are choosing our accommodations. Most all rentals come with a fully equipped kitchen and a large refrigerator to hold all of our supplies. Purchasing our food at the grocery store and cooking it in the vacation home helps us save some money. But, who wants the same old meals on vacation that you cook at home?
Eating in Doesn’t Have to Make it Less of a Vacation for Mom and Dad
Use the vacation as a time to experiment with new meals. Give each day a different theme and make meals that go with that theme. Visit the butcher or fish market for a local delicacy and learn how to cook it just right together as a family.
Meal time is a family affair and being on vacation is no exception. We have fun cooking as a family and everyone is in charge of the cleanup. This helps me feel like I am on vacation too and not just cleaning dishes all week! We can grab a quick breakfast of cereal and milk and get out to the beach. If we have more time, we can cook an elaborate breakfast with all of our favorites like pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Picnic lunches can be packed to take with us on hikes or boat rides. We can enjoy a leisurely dinner on that wraparound porch while watching the sun set.
When we stay in a hotel, we often find ourselves choosing the least expensive food options and we miss out on a lot of great restaurants. We save money by eating in for many of our meals and that enables us to splurge on a nice dinner out. Eating our meals at home also allows us to try things that we might have otherwise skipped due to cost. While on this dream vacation to Destin, Florida, we would have room in the budget to try some new activities. I would like to take the kids on a dolphin cruise. We could rent a boat and cruise out to the popular sandbar at Crab Island, where we can dock and let the kids play. We might finally take them to Big Kahuna’s, the local water park on Hwy. 98, that we drive by at least once a month with the kids pointing it out from the backseat.
How do you think I will look in a parasail?
This post is sponsored by HomeAway, which offers the world’s largest selection of vacation rental properties online.
Home Away offers the world’s largest selection of vacation home rentals that provide travelers with memorable vacation experiences and benefits, including more room to relax and added privacy, for less than the cost of traditional hotel accommodations. Make memories where you stay, not just where you go. HomeAway.com – let’s stay together.
Posted in Atlanta on February 6, 2012
Touring sports stadiums began as a way to make it up to my husband because we were in a city that was home to a sports team playing an away game. We live in a smaller city, that despite its size, offers some college sports and this March we will welcome a minor league baseball team to a waterfront stadium. When we travel, we try to attend as many sporting events as possible but as luck would have it, we always seem to be visiting while the team is playing an away game. One summer we even had the unfortunate luck of visiting three cities that had baseball teams playing against each other, in the city we had just visited all three times.
When we can’t see the sports team in action, we visit their venue and take a tour. On our weekend getaway to Atlanta, we realized that our hotel, the Omni at the CNN Center, was just a short walk from the Georgia Dome where the Atlanta Falcons play football. We were excited to discover that tours of the Georgia Dome were starting back up that morning and we got there just in time for the next tour. It was also fun to note this close to the Super Bowl that the Georgia Dome is one of the stadiums of Super Bowls past.
The Georgia Dome tour starts with a bird’s eye view of the whole stadium on the Observatory Deck. This is where the coaches and officials watch the game in the highest seats in the house. The roof of the Dome is the world’s largest cable supported roof. During the tour, visitors get to see one of the largest press boxes with prime real estate right on the 50 yard line.
One of my favorite parts of the tour was seeing this great art installation made up of helmets from all the different high schools in Georgia.
Visitors get a look at the suites but unfortunately for us, they had just finished a Monster Jam event so the suites were sealed up tight with plastic so as not to let any dirt in. We weren’t able to view the suites because they had not finished cleaning up the dirt. One thing that was interesting to note is that the Georgia Dome has their own dirt pile that they house throughout the year and bring into the Dome for events like motorcross or truck jams.
We got a sneak peek of the lounges that we could only dream about visiting during a game. When we finished sitting in the bright red comfy chairs in the lounge, we were taken to the lower level where visitors get a great view of the field. These would be great seats to watch the game. If you aren’t sitting in your seat during part of the game, don’t fret because there are televisions everywhere…even in the elevators!
After visiting the lower level, we headed to the part that we were waiting for-the locker room and field! The locker room was much cleaner than I had anticipated. The locker room certainly didn’t look like some of the high school locker rooms I have been in! The kids got to see where the players hang their jerseys and get ready for the game.
Unfortunately for my daughter, the cheerleaders’ locker room was locked up tight but we did get to see it before we got to walk out on the field.
Before you go, be sure to read my tips for touring a stadium with children.
Things to Know Before You Go:
- The Georgia Dome offers tours on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in between ten and 2. The tours typically leave every hour on the hour.
- The tour cost is $6 for adults, $5 for college students, seniors and military personnel with valid IDS, and $4 for children.
- The Georgia Dome accepts both cash and credit card. You pay when you arrive for the tour.
- Tours are not available on all scheduled days so call ahead of time. Tours are also unavailable on event days.
- You do not need a reservation to take the tour but I recommend you call ahead of time to confirm the tours are being conducted that day.
- For more information or to check and see if tours are being given on a certain day, call 404.223.8687.
Posted in Atlanta on February 1, 2012
Have you ever been so excited to visit somewhere, but when you visit it just didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to? Is there a city or an attraction that you really want to love but just couldn’t for one reason or another?
I really, really want to love the Georgia Aquarium. If there is an aquarium nearby, we visit it. We love wandering around and looking at all the fish. There is so much to love about the world’s largest aquarium from the beautiful displays to the hands-on activities. It is one of the few places to see whale sharks, there is a dolphin show that the kids love and a 4D theater. We have been to the aquarium several times and I just can’t love-LOVE-it…until now. Sort of.
The number one reason that I just can’t love the Georgia Aquarium the way I want to is because it has always been ridiculously crowded when we have been. It is crowded with grown adults who are acting like they don’t see the little children all around them just wanting to catch a glimpse of a fish swimming through the water. People are pushing and shoving to get past you. Just when you get to a viewing window, someone jumps in front of you. I have been to the aquarium during holidays, the middle of the week, early in the morning, and late in the afternoon but it is always packed wall to wall with people.
On this visit, though, we took one of several behind the scenes tours that are offered. We were able to see the top of the Ocean Voyager exhibit which houses the whale sharks. We got there just in time for the 10:30am feeding where we watched aquarium staff float on top of the water dropping the whale sharks their mid-morning snack.
We also saw the top of the live coral reef exhibit, the commissary where they prepare the food for the fish, and the veterinary clinic. We learned how you can look up to see a water wonderland and not this:
There are several options for Behind the Scenes tours for various budgets.
Here are a few of our tips to help you make the best of your visit and enjoy it.
Book a Behind the Scenes tour in advance if it is in the budget. This will give you a look at some things you might have missed and tours are limited in size. The Quick Dip tour is only about twenty minutes in length and costs $14+tax per person.
If you haven’t already booked a time, head to Guest Services as soon as you arrive to pick up your show times for the Dolphin Tales Show and the Deepo’s Undersea Wondershow. Both are included in your ticket but times are limited and are first come, first serve. We got our movie times booked at 12noon and the next available show was 4pm.
Get in line early. Ticket entry is done on a timed basis. You will choose your time when you purchase your tickets. If your entry time is 2pm, do not expect to walk up to the aquarium at 1:59pm and be inside by 2. We waited in line for almost 30m before we got into the aquarium.
Save money by visiting during off-peak times. Ticket prices vary and they are lower during the traditionally off-peak periods.
Leave the strollers at home unless absolutely necessary. Because the aquarium gets crowded, strollers just get in the way. Consider wearing your little one in a sling or something similar. There are a number of places where you have to leave the stroller to enter an exhibit.
Leave the guns, knives, matches, lighters, and fishing poles (yes, it really does say fishing poles on the website) at home. This may seem silly but my husband had to turn in his pocket knife, which he carries everywhere. You aren’t surrendering it forever; you check it, and get it back later. When we were picking up the knife at the end of our visit, we saw the box of lighters that had been collected during the day. There must have been 1000 lighters in the box!
Know that there is a security check. Purses and bags are all checked before you are allowed to enter the aquarium.
See the Dolphin Tales show and get there early. I thought the Dolphin Tales show was a little bit Sea World meets Las Vegas and my kids adored it. They loved the storyline, the dolphins jumping in and out of the water, and the performers swimming with them.
You can not bring food into the aquarium. There is a small restaurant, but it is pricey. We needed a snack so we bought a brownie, a bottle of soda and a bottle of water for 10 dollars. If you are buying your ticket online, you can purchase one of three meals ahead of time, Cafe Aquaria Combos, for $10 each (at a savings of up to 17% compared to regular pricing). A sample meal is a hamburger, french fries, whole fruit and a fountain drink. No substitutions can be made at time of purchase.
You will have to pay to park. You can also purchase parking ahead of time with your ticket. We walked from our hotel during the visit but we have parked in a nearby parking garage during past visits.
Have you ever had an activity or city that you wanted to love but something prevented it? Was there something that made you change your mind (like the Behind the Scenes tour changed my mind about the Georgia Aquarium)? Share with us in the comments!
*Thank you to the Omni at the CNN Center for providing us with tickets to the Georgia Aquarium. As always, opinions are mine with no outside influences.
Posted in Atlanta on January 20, 2012
This past weekend we went to the Georgia Aquarium. Even though we have been to the aquarium two other times, this weekend, we got a Behind the Scenes tour that was amazing and worth the visit. More on our visit later but I leave you with the one reason I highly recommend the Behind the Scenes tour if you are headed to the Georgia Aquarium…
Visit Delicious Baby to see other Photo Friday submissions!
*Thank you to the Omni CNN Center for covering our cost to the Georgia Aquarium. As always, opinions are always my own and not influenced by any outside influences.
They stood in front of a screen that was bright green but they were confused. My kids could see that they were standing in front of a green screen but when they looked at themselves on the television, the monitor showed them standing in front of a map of the United States. Both of their heads swung back and forth from the television to the screen behind them and looked up at our tour guide, Kimberly, with questioning eyes.
From the front row of our tour, I could almost hear them talking to themselves. My son would say, “Hey?!? How on earth does that work?”
“This is totally freaking me out,” my daughter would exclaim. That is her new favorite saying and as she looked for me in the small crowd I could see it in her face.
This was the second stop on our Inside CNN Tour at CNN’s World Headquarters, the largest of 48 worldwide. The first stop was a brief introduction and a little bit of information about how the shows are produced. It was interesting to me after teaching Journalism I, which included a 6-week unit of broadcasting. It seemed to hold my husband’s attention because he is actually a CNN (of the Internet variety) junkie. Surprisingly enough, my five and seven-year-old children were captivated. When I first found out that we were scheduled for this tour, I was a little concerned that much of it would be over their heads and not entertaining enough. Well, that is what I get for worrying.
My kids were beyond thrilled when our tour guide called them both up to show everyone how the green screen worked. She grabbed a matching green sheet and threw it over their bodies so that only their heads were showing. Then, she pulled the sheet up over their heads so it was almost like they were hiding under Harry Potter’s invisible cloak (at least on camera!).
As I stood there watching two of the people I love most in this world, I couldn’t help but get teary-eyed. I know it sounds cheesy and I am typically not prone to emotional bouts but while they stood mesmerized in front of that green screen, my mind was racing a million miles a minute as I fast forwarded through their lives. The mental picture included them in high school journalism and then behind a broadcast desk much like the one that we saw Kyra Phillips sitting behind. It brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face as I wondered if this would be the one experience that clicked.
We are working hard to teach our children that they can be anything that they want to be (and that a backup plan is a healthy part of career planning as well!). I wonder which of these things we expose them to will be the one thing to stick. Which one of these travel and life experiences will make a lasting impression and guide their career choices later in life?
Who knows? Maybe it will be that one trip to Atlanta where we got to pretend to be on CNN.
*Thank you to the Omni Hotel at CNN Center for covering our tour cost. As always, all opinions are my own with no outside influence.
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina consistently ends up on top family vacation hot spot lists every year and for good reason. The hotels and attractions are reasonably priced and there seems to be limitless activities that children of all ages can appreciate. The one downside to a visit to Myrtle Beach is that although everything seemed reasonably priced for the most part, you will pay for everything. Besides a visit to the beach, we didn’t find too many other free activities. Our ticket admissions and meals added up very quickly.
I have to admit that this trip was not my finest travel moment. I think that is why I haven’t been able to bring myself to post about any of the fun we had and we did have fun. This trip was a week-long road trip that I took with my children by myself. This was the first time I had traveled this long by myself with the kids when we had no extra help in the form of grandparents, my husband, or friends. We went from Pensacola, Florida to Cashiers, North Carolina to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and then back to Pensacola, totaling about 1400 miles. I would consider the whole trip a success but by the time we made it to Myrtle Beach we just wanted to hang out in our beautiful condo unit or by the pool at the Holiday Inn Club Vacations South Beach Resort. We did finally pull ourselves out of our beach chairs to do a little bit of exploring. This was our three day itinerary.
Day One – A Round of Mini Golf and Lounging by the Beach and Pool
We arrived at the Holiday Inn Club Vacation South Beach Resort, got checked in, explored the property and spent the rest of the day at the pool and the beach. There are many different types of properties to choose from in Myrtle Beach. I highly recommend the South Beach Resort because you get both condo and hotel amenities in your room. The only downside is that it is not directly on the beach but that wasn’t an issue since the South Beach Resort offers a shuttle service.
After living on the Gulf Coast for the past fifteen years, we are spoiled when it comes to beaches. As my kids ran out on the sand excitedly, they were shocked at the dirty, rocky sand! I have to admit we weren’t fans so we only played at the beach for about thirty minutes before returning to the pool. That being said, if you are visiting from a landlocked area you might want to spend more of your vacation sitting on the beach.
Myrtle Beach has more miniature golf places than I have ever seen in one place. Well, it sure seems like it! We spent the late afternoon playing a round of miniature golf at Jurassic Golf, where we were surrounded by water, fog, and dinosaurs!
Day Two – Alligators, Fish and Shopping
We devoted day two to exploring some of the more touristy areas of Myrtle Beach. Spend the morning wandering around Barefoot Landing where you will find a number of shops, attractions, and restaurants. The kids love walking across the boardwalks and spying turtles and fish. Alligator Adventure, one of the world’s largest reptile zoos, is located at Barefoot Landing. Although adult tickets are $17.99 (children’s tickets are $11.99), the second day within seven days of your first visit is free. If you love alligators, bats, komodo dragons, and more, it is probably worth a visit.
After Barefoot Landing, we headed to Broadway at the Beach to spend the rest of the day. We started our visit at Ripley’s Aquarium. We love aquariums and if there is one available we make sure to visit. I have to admit that I was disappointed in the size of the aquarium (especially for the cost of the tickets). The exhibits are wonderful and there are several hands-on interactive areas but the aquarium is very small. We received tickets courtesy of our property stay but if we had paid for the visit ourselves, it would have cost me more than I would have been willing to spend. It is only $3.99 for children ages 2-5 so if your children are young that could help offset the cost but adult tickets are $21.99 and children ages 5 and up are $10.99. A pricey attraction considering we were only there for about an hour.
We spent much of our Broadway at the Beach time in Pavillion Nostalgia Park, an area made up of different rides perfect for kids! There is also a Wonderworks, a NASCAR Speedway, a water park, a theater and so much more. Check the schedule before you go because there are often different events like fireworks and festivals. Though my kids loved the rides in Pavillion Nostalgia Park, they especially loved walking the boardwalks and feeding the fish (albeit scary looking ones that attacked each other for the fish food…this is probably why they loved it so much!).
Day Three – State Parks and Beautiful Gardens
On day three, we checked out a garden and two state parks. You would think that my kids would have enjoyed the rides, fancy candy shops and aquarium the most, but this was their favorite day of the trip. We spent the morning wandering up and down the beach at Myrtle Beach State Park. We also walked down the pier to see if we could spy anything in the water (we didn’t). When the kids were ready for a break, we had a picnic lunch in the car as we drove down the road to Huntington Beach State Park.
We explored, Atalaya, the home of noted sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington. It cost us a dollar per person to see the home. We only spent about fifteen minutes exploring the home which is just a shadow of what it used to be because the kids were ready to head to the beach for lunch and some play time. After lunch we drove just a few minutes to Brookgreen Gardens.
When we checked into our hotel, the concierge recommended Brookgreen Gardens if we wanted to get off of the tourist path. If you ask my kids what their favorite part of the trip to Myrtle Beach was, they would say Brookgreen Gardens. The gardens are absolutely beautiful, full of blooming flowers and sculptures. There is also a zoo located at the gardens where visitors can learn more about animals that are native to the Carolina area. Begin your visit at the Visitor’s Center to pick up Activity Booklets for the children. The booklets are full of questions that the kids can answer as you all wander the gardens. Once the booklets are finished, take them back to the Visitor’s Center for a small prize.
Overall, our visit to Myrtle Beach was a good one. A pricey one, but a good one. Over the next month or so, I will post more in depth write-ups about each of the places we visited.
A few weeks ago, my family and I got the chance to drive to Orlando and meet Shrek and his pals. It isn’t often that you can see snow and ice in Orlando, Florida but you can if you visit the Dreamworks Experience at the Gaylord Palms. I was honored to represent Travel Mamas, a site that I love and read often. Hop on over to Travel Mamas and read about our visit to the Gaylord Palms Resort Dreamworks Experience!
When you walk around LEGOLAND Florida, you will spot lots of figures made from LEGO bricks. The kids love spotting them everywhere they turned.
Stop by Delicious Baby to see other Photo Friday submissions!
Over 50 million bricks were used in the building of LEGOLAND Florida. You can find those bricks all over the park but many of them are in Miniland USA. Miniland USA is exactly that…a mini-land made out of LEGO bricks. Though you would think my kids wanted to hop on as many rides as they could, they chose to spend time in Miniland USA every time we walked past it. There were buttons to push, things to watch and buildings to recognize. We loved spying landmarks that we have seen in person and I was so excited when Big S spotted the Washington Monument, something he remembered seeing on a previous trip.
My LEGO-loving son couldn’t get enough of Miniland and I could see the wheels turning in his head about the different structures he was going to try to build with his own LEGO bricks when we got home!
See my other posts about our visit to LEGOLAND Florida:
One Adult and Two Kids at LEGOLAND Florida
LEGOLAND Florida in Winter Haven – A Weekend Getaway from Pensacola
