Category: The 50 States

Categories
California Daily Life

We Randomly Decide To Go Camping – El Chorro Regional Park, San Louis Obispo

We Randomly Decide to Go Camping

We don’t general consider traveling around in an Airstream to be “camping”. Camping involves a tent, a backpack (preferably), lots of open space, yummy food, a campfire, snuggling in a sleeping bag, and waking up to the sound of the birds chirping, and sunlight streaming through the slightly open, zipped up window. It also involves lots of playing, exploring, hiking, and generally not worrying about “real” life. I know this is not everyone’s definition, but it certainly is ours. Because we tend to do “real life” kinds of things on a daily basis (school, work, grocery shopping, laundry) no matter where we are, we feel more like we are living in a house with wheels than we are camping out.

We got to El Chorro Regional Park just outside of San Louis Obispo around lunch one day. Its beautiful. Lots of camp sites spaced fairly generously apart, full grown trees and bushes, rolling hills surrounding the park. We knew it was going to be good. Add to that we had full hook-ups (a rarity among campgrounds like this) and we were in heaven. Our site had enough space and we were staying long enough that the kids convinced me to set up the tent for them to play in. One thing led to another, and suddenly we were shopping for hot dogs and s’mores ingredients, buying firewood, and pulling out all the sleeping bags. It was so fun.

I really have missed camping. There’s just something so relaxing about sleeping in a tent. The kids did great – tucked them in and for the most part, they went right to sleep. Sam and I did hang out in the trailer for awhile at night just to get some work done, but then we joined them in the tent as well. I seriously have the most comfortable sleeping bag. Ever.

I’m hoping this will become a more regular activity as the weather warms up and we can sleep outside more. Well, more regular for the kids anyway. Sam and I both woke up with pretty sore shoulders. Apparently we are getting older? I don’t feel older. Anyway, good times. We all went to sleep smelling like smoke and I didn’t even have to wash the sheets afterwards.

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Categories
California National Parks

Cabrillo National Monument, California

This National Monument was quite a fun surprise! Comprised of various activities, the National Park can definitely take all day to explore.

When We Visited: February 25, 2014

Where We Stayed: Mission Bay RV Resort

Ages of Kids: 8, 7, 3

Earn a Jr. Range Badge

We definitely pick up our books first thing at the Visitor Center. How difficult the book is totally depends on the park, but we found this one to be enjoyable and fun! We also met up with our new Airstream friends, @repairstream! We had talked on Instagram and were both in the area, and it was great to meet them in person (more on that tomorrow!). Earning badges with friends is twice as fun!

Tidepooling

We timed our visit with low tide (you can always check the schedule online), so we headed down to the tide pools first to do a bit of exploring. This was our first experience and it was a lot of fun! Rachel started out a bit hesitant, but quickly warmed up to exploring more on her own. Touching the sea anemones and watching them curl up while sticking to our fingers was definitely a highlight!

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Explore the Visitor Center

The visitor center has some great exhibits so we spent some time learning about Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. He led the first European expedition to explore the west coast of the United States. The kids loved trying on the old Spanish armor!

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Old Point Loma Lighthouse

Lit for the first time in 1855, this lighthouse was one of the first 8 constructed on the west coast. Located 422 feet above sea level, it was thought to be in a perfect location. They soon realized that fog and clouds often obscured the lighthouse from view, and in 1891 the light was extinguished and the keeper moved to a new, lower location farther down on the point.

Along with the historically significant attributes, Point Loma is just a beautiful place. IMG_5273-EditIMG_5271Whale Watch

We also walked along the Whale Watching path, where, during migration visitors can see Gray Whales. Unfortunately, none were in sight but we definitely enjoyed the view. Looking across the bay, the kids thought it was pretty awesome that we could see mountains in Mexico!IMG_5292

Visiting this park was definitely a highlight of our stay in San Diego, CA and we definitely recommend visiting!

For other family friendly activities in San Diego, check out this post: Beyond Sea World: 13 Other Things to Do in San Diego

Categories
Washington DC

Getting Around Washington DC & the Best Places to Park Near the National Mall

Getting Around Washington DC and the Best Places to Park Your Car

Getting around Washington DC was a bit nerve racking at first. I remember the first time we drove in, just praying we could find a parking spot that was anywhere near the National Mall. After a few trips in, I started to relax and didn’t worry about it anymore. Over the three months we were in the area, we always drove in and found either free or paid parking and then walked.

While researching our options, a lot of websites and blogs I found recommended taking the train in. Although it can be fun and convenient, I also found it cost prohibitive with a family of 5. It was much cheaper to pay $20 for all day parking at a garage than to pay to park at the park-and-ride lot (seriously?) and then also pay the train fare. There are different fares for commute time vs. non commute time as well and the whole thing was just confusing. Hence, we opted to drive.

There are a couple of streets you can park on for free: Madison Dr., and Jefferson Dr. are both limited to two hours. There’s also the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway NW behind the Lincoln Memorial that has 3 hour free parking right along the river, as well as Ohio Dr. closer to the FDR Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial,

All of the paid on-street parking its pretty great and convenient. If you download the Park Mobile App (Apple, Android) before you go, you just need to type in your parking zone and the app will easily start a parking session. They charge you a little bit extra as a credit card fee, but being able to add more time to the meter from inside the museum was really convenient. The app will also send text reminders that your parking session is expiring.

Just be aware that they do restrict the on street parking on many of the streets during commute times. You can park between 10am -4pm, and then again after 6pm I believe. We did lots of little short trips into the city, so this usually wasn’t a problem. Just make sure your car is off the street before 4pm.

For a map and how to bike the national mall with your kids, see THIS post that I wrote a few months ago.

We did ride the metro once, but it was mostly for fun. After our tour of the Capitol Building, we jumped on the metro and rode it up to the White House and then back to our car. It was fun, I just don’t know that I’d ride it all over the city with my kids.

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Have you had experience parking or taking transportation in Washington DC? I’d love to hear about it!

Categories
California

Mormon Battalion Museum in San Diego – California

We took a Sunday afternoon and visited the Mormon Battalion Historic Site in San Diego. We had heard it had just been remodeled and they had done a fantastic job! We were greeted by the LDS Mormon Sister Missionaries and invited into the foyer for the beginning of the tour. We followed a video of some of the members of the battalion through their journey from Iowa to San Diego with the US Army.

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End of the tour artifacts and other activities.

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Outside in the courtyard they have places where you can “make” bricks, pan for gold, pump water, wash laundry, and climb the tower for a view of Old Town. Although the Mormon Battalion never had to fight with the Mexicans, they did provide stability to the area by introducing brick, and digging wells.

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We loved this place! The building itself is incredibly beautiful, and we definitely highly recommend if you are in the area. Lots of history and great hands on activities for kids!

If you are looking for other things to do while in San Diego, check out Beyond Sea World: 13 Other Things to Do in San Diego

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Categories
Florida

The Florida Aquarium in Downtown Tampa

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The Florida Aquarium in Downtown Tampa wasn’t on my list to visit until my mother-in-law emailed and told us it was one of their favorites in the entire country. Then it went straight to the top of my list of things I wanted to do in the area. It didn’t disappoint.

When We Visited: December 2, 2013

Ages of Kids: 8, 6, 3

Parking Costs: $6 for all day

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Knowing that aquariums are notoriously expensive, the night before I bought a seasons pass to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City Utah as they are both members of the Zoos and Aquariums reciprocal program. This allowed us to get in at 50% off instead of paying the full admission price. Even though I only had my emailed receipt as proof of purchase, the staff didn’t hesitate to extend the discount. I was grateful.

This aquarium also taught me an important lesson of traveling the country – never pay for anything extra. A few weeks previous at the Jacksonville Zoo, my kids BEGGED to pay the extra fee to pet the Manta Rays. Here in Tampa, petting the Manta Rays was included. See? Money saved.

Although not extensively large, the Florida Aquarium did have some good exhibits and trainer talks. We watched a keeper feed the playful sea otters, and another few talk about and show various other animals. We walked through and marveled at the large tanks full of jelly fish, and my kids were brave enough to “pet” the sea cucumber. They also have a HUGE shark tank with divers who talk to you through a speaker system while they are in the water. Tampa Aquarium Florida_003Tampa Aquarium Florida_004Tampa Aquarium Florida_006Tampa Aquarium Florida_008

They also have a large outdoor splash pad that I’m sure is extremely popular in the summer, but was very vacant on the 60 degree day we were there. My kids were so disappointed I hadn’t brought their swimming suits, but I let them run around as long as they didn’t get soaking wet.

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Definitely a good day and I would recommend visiting if you are in the area.