The day after Christmas was a big day for my family as we got in a rental car and headed south for quite a long journey. You see, last year when my Dad was diagnosed with ALS and we were in Fort Worth discussing with him his final wishes, he said he wanted to cremated and he wanted to have his ashes spread in the keys. So on the anniversary of his death, we started our trek down to the Keys. We had an itinerary that would allow us to not have to drive more 3 hours of total driving…
This week for Travel Tuesday, I’m sharing our stop in Jackson, MS. When we travel to Fort Worth, TX we often use Jackson, MS as a mid-way stopping point. Back in 2005, we stopped there and planned to spend the night and go to a Mississippi Braves Game. The Mississippi Braves play in Pearl, MS which is just a few miles outside of Jackson at Trustmark Park. I love going to minor league baseball parks, because they are so easy to get in and out of; more like a college ball park than a major league park with 1,000s upon…
On one of our Texas adventures, we were headed from Fort Worth down to Houston, but took a few detours along the way. One of our stops was at the Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco, TX. The museum is housed in the 1906 bottling building, which was turned into the museum in 1989. Now if you’re comparing this to the World of Coke, Dr. Pepper’s got nothing on Coke! However, you will still find this museum to be rich in the history and memorabilia of this most popular drink.
A few months ago, Rob and I were in Atlanta for a few days. He was at a work conference so I was on my own during the day. I was excited that we were staying in Midtown, because I knew I wasn’t far from Piedmont Park. Piedmont Park Atlanta, GA is the Central Park of Atlanta; just not nearly as big, it’s still a really cool place. It’s nestled just a couple miles northeast of downtown Atlanta. The park runs along 10th Street and Piedmont Avenue in Midtown Atlanta. 5 Things to See at Piedmont Park Atlanta, GA One…
Today for my Places I’ve Been… series, I’m taking you Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. I’ll admit that the home of the Astros is not the most picturesque ballpark I’ve ever been to, but it does have a couple of cool features. Out in the outfield is a train that runs along an 800 foot long track, which is always exciting for the kids to see when it moves from one side to the other. Lovers of the Minute Maid park also enjoy that this stadium has a retractable roof. When we were there is was 100+ degrees outside,…
This Fall Rob had a work conference in Atlanta. I decided to take a couple days off and go with him. His conference was right near the campus of Georgia Tech. We enjoyed our stay at the Renaissance Atlanta Midtown. This is such a great location for site-seeing by foot, which is what I did during the day while he was working. The hotel had all the necessary amenities as well as some other perks, like free wine every afternoon and a concierge that was more than helpful in suggesting unique places to eat. After arriving Sunday afternoon, getting checked…
I’m starting a new series to take my Thursday spot, since I retired Kent-ography. A few weeks ago I came to discover back when I started my blog, I didn’t post pictures or really talk about trips much. I decided I want to have all those memories on here and share all the “Places I’ve Been!”
Well, it’s taken me forever to finally wrap up my Atlanta Staycation posts, but I’m finally getting to it. Yay!! If you recall, this year instead of doing our typical mountain trip we decided to stay closer to home and just spend a couple days in Atlanta. We stayed busy the 2 and half days we were there.
The last of our stops on our Atlanta Staycation was at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. It’s quite impressive when you walk around the corner from the parking lot when you see the Dinosaur Plaza that shows off 3 dinosaur replicas.
Another item on our to do list in Atlanta was the zoo. We’ve never been to Zoo Atlanta, well Rob has, but it’s been years ago. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Here’s some highlights from our afternoon there. The zoo covers 40+ acres of which most of it is has nice shaded areas with lots of trees. I enjoyed the fact that many of the exhibits could be viewed from several different angles. That’s always important when you’re trying to find where some of the animals may be hiding.
Another excursion on our City Pass while in Atlanta was a CNN Studio Tour. We knew that this would be a great activity to squeeze in between other events. They start a new tour about every 10 minutes and they last about an hour. Up until a few years ago they didn’t allow small children, but we found out while on the tour that they have lifted that restriction. We kinda wished for our tour, they’d bring it back.
While we were on our little staycation trip in Atlanta, one thing on our list to do was ride the Skyview Atlanta, ferris wheel. Its located right in the heart of Atlanta on Luckie St. beside the Tabernacle. Although, a bit pricey, its one of those things you say you could live without doing, but it’s well worth it. You get beautiful views as you leisurely, move through 4 complete rotations of the wheel.
Over the 4th of July we took a trip to Atlanta for a little staycation. We got the City Pass, which was a great deal and gave us plenty do. We had a great time at the World of Coke back in 2007 and found it to be even better this time. Your tour starts by getting an introduction by a super enthusiastic guide, who shares lots of amazing facts about Coke, as well as pointing out many of the sings and memorabilia around the room. From there you go into a theater and watch the video called Moments of…
If you missed Day 1 or Day 2 recap of our trip with the Cub Scouts to the North Carolina mountains, please catch up on those first. Day 3 of our trip consisted of another hot breakfast, chapel, clean up, hike, and drive home. Waiting for chapel to start.
Friday morning we got up early, gathered up a few last minute things, and hopped in the car on our way up to the Nantahala National Forrest for our last Cub Scout Summer trip ever.
Remember a few weeks ago, when I wrote about the Wednesday that Rob and I had a free day from work? Well, we ended up taking a day trip up to Birmingham, since Drew was going to be playing in a soccer game that afternoon. We headed up towards Birmingham and ended up stopping for lunch as we were too hungry to wait till we got to B’ham. We txted some good friends who gave us some suggestions. So stopped at Big “B” Bar-B-Q in Alex City.
If you missed my post about Day 1 & 2, you should read it here first. Sunday we got up pretty early so we could hit the slopes before the crowds. We ate breakfast at the hotel, rode the tram back up the mountain, got our ski boots and skis, and then it was time for ski school for most everyone. Waiting for our lesson to begin Not long after we took this pic we saw Drew as well as most of the other boy scouts, flying down the mountain like they’d been skiing for years. The realization hit that…
Friday we headed out in a caravan with Drew’s troop towards Gatlingburg for a weekend of ice skating, snow tubing, skiing and more fun. We got in around 1am, handed out keys to boys, and found our way to our cozy little room. Driving through downtown Gatlinburg to our hotel Saturday morning we got up and shoved down some hotel breakfast before hitting the town. Who can’t go to Gatlinburg without drooling over the caramel apples, taffy, and handmade candies?
This past weekend we went to Birmingham for our Cub Scout Winter Trip to McWane Center. We did this back in 2012 and had such a good time. It is such a fun trip and is so easy for the leaders. As the Cubmaster’s Wife, I am so happy when there’s less work for him! Laying on a bed of nails. Watching how the shape changes as it begins to spin Drew got the High Cycle stuck! Alex waiting for the IMAX movie to start About to work on a Belt Loop We got placed on the 3rd floor this…
The end of our long trip culminated with visiting of 2 more families. Saturday we enjoyed a visit from Rob’s sister, Jill and her husband and their new baby girl. So exciting to get to meet our newest niece. Alex had fun playing with his new cousin.