My Personal Favorite Vacation Spots From My Fourteen State Trip

This summer, I had the joy of experiencing a road trip. My father, son and I set off on a 10 day trip across 14 states. The only planned stay for the trip was a hotel in the French Quarter for 2 nights, the rest were spontaneous stays wherever we ended up at dusk. From my travels, I picked my top 5 favorite spots we stayed or explored, and the reasons why I would visit them again!

5. Ormond Beach, Florida

Outside of Florida’s amusement parks and party spots, there are places like Ormond Beach. The northern neighbor of the well-known Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach is a quiet suburban, yet touristy, area with a beautiful view of the Atlantic. Ormond Beach reminded me of everything I remembered Florida being as a kid: lovely beaches, amazing wildlife and the quiet neighborhood feeling of home. While in Ormond, we stayed at a hotel on the ocean, with a breathtaking view. The area we stayed in was quiet, while just up the road there were plenty of great restaurants and shops to enjoy. Ormond Beach is a great family spot that will have you feeling at home while keeping you on vacation!

Ormond Beach, Florida

4. Land between the Lakes, Tennessee/Kentucky

The Land between the Lakes is an amazing adventure with so much beauty and scenery to offer. While driving through this area, we encountered everything from buffalo to butterflies along with lovely scenic views. While passing through we were able to stop at information centers and learn more about the area we were in. The history in this area was awesome to learn about, considering my grandmother (father’s mother) had family from the area. However, anyone can enjoy the beauty of nature from hiking and bike trails to fishing and parks, The Land between the Lakes is a wonderful place to visit.

A bush covered in butterflies in the park.

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3. Galveston, Texas

Galveston is an awesome tourist oriented island filled with everything from haunted mansions to boardwalks. This area of Texas is a great place to spend time with the family. The streets of Galveston seem to always be filled with smiling faces at least that is what I remember most from my visit! Friendly locals loved to chat, while the beaches and sidewalks were filled with people enjoying their visit. Galveston’s board walks, beaches and swim up bars made this city an all-around fun place to be for people of all ages.

The view from our deck at the Commodore Hotel in Galveston, TX.

2. St. Augustine, Florida

St. Augustine, also known as the oldest city in the U.S, is an awesome place for anyone to visit! From history tours through Castillo de San Marcos to a fun visit at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, there is so much to see and do in this historic city. People of all ages can enjoy the amazing history of St. Augustine and the awesome attractions it has to offer. Fine dining, beautiful beaches and history at every turn, St. Augustine is a city I would gladly go back and visit again.

Alligator at the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, FL.

1. New Orleans, Louisiana
The good ole Big Easy! New Orleans offered so much fun and history to our trip. From taking a tour of the Mississippi on a steam boat, to walking the famous Bourbon Street, New Orleans was an adventure for everyone in our family. I loved the fine dining offered by so many restaurants in the French Quarter, and of course the energy of the streets that never seemed to sleep. New Orleans was an experience that I hope everyone gets to enjoy in life. The locals were so friendly and the neighborhoods were full of beauty, I cannot wait to go back again!

A snapshot of Bourbon St. New Orleans, LA.

While my trip lead us to many more adventures then the above mentioned, these spots will forever stick out to me and I truly hope to revisit them all someday!

Vacation Crafts: A More Personalized Souvenir

A painted 10x10 canvas decorated with
photos and leaves from a camping trip.

I'm not sure about you, but one of my favorite parts of any trip is the souvenirs! As much as I enjoy my key chains and fridge magnets, I found a way to make my souvenirs even more personal and fun by crafting them up myself. I have always enjoyed crafting and making personalized gifts, so it is no surprise that you will find crafty seashell or rock projects in my home from places I have traveled. I have posted photos of some of my own personal projects to show some ideas for those random pretty leaves you see or rocks and shells you collect. Crafting souvenirs makes for a great way to remember your special trips!

A small decorated mason jar filled with
seashells.

 There are plenty of ways to get creative with these types of crafts, from doing them with children to making something special to give as a gift. I found a couple of videos for craft ideas that I would love to do in the future; this seashell caterpillar and this seashell owl were a couple of my favorites to keep in mind for my next collection of shells.

A small decorative glass bowl filled with
scent beads, seashells and a painted rock.

Scrap booking is another way I love to make memories last a lifetime. However, after a long trip I barely seem to have time to get myself organized, more or less photos and memorabilia organized into a book. I recently began taking up offers from sites such as Snapfish and Shutterfly for free photo books. This was an easy and inexpensive way to organize my photos into a fun book. My son loves looking through his own personalized picture book from a trip. They are also a great way to show off your trip without a pile of photos or scrolling through the tons of pictures on your phone.

While buying a key chain or magnet is simple, crafting your own souvenirs makes for a much more personalized memory of your trip. All of my travels are special to me in their own way, so I enjoy putting things together to help keep those special memories alive. So, next trip you are on, collect those random items and get creative with them!

How Google Maps Made My Family Trip Easier

Traveling is always an adventure, but there are many things that could make it a bit easier. For example, wouldn't it be nice to know every hotels rating around where you plan to stay without having to do extensive online research? Or how about finding gas prices at the next town you plan to stop and fill up in, long before you get there? These are just a couple of features that Google Maps offers to make your travels easier.

Before this Summer, I used to only use Google Maps as a map. I would put my destination into Maps and follow the GPS to get there. Exactly what Google Maps is for, but with this Summer's travels I discovered that Google Maps offered so much more than just basic GPS. On our cross country road trip we had no exact destinations, our plan was to drive and explore other states then stopping when we got tired. This meant we had no reservations at hotels lined up, we would just stop when we saw a town that looked like a good stop for us. Of course, we still had many hotel options, but we also knew very little about the towns we were traveling through. This is where I would turn to search Google Maps; it gave me an instant listing of every hotel around with their ratings, prices and a link to their website. This "around me" feature was great for dining as well, especially while traveling with a child, a kid-friendly restaurant was a must!

Another awesome feature I discovered during this road trip was the timeline. I have a Google account that my phone uses and so every photo I took was recorded on a Google Map Timeline. This was very exciting for me to discover because I love to scrapbook my family vacations, and  now I had an organized timeline of my photos and locations right in Google Maps.

Google Maps has always been a go-to app for me, and discovering some of these newer features is making it even better! Below is a link to a video that further discusses some of Google Maps features, enjoy!


Click here for the video!

How to deal with a long drive and a young child

My son and I spent our summer traveling.. in a car. From traveling through our native state of Michigan to going across the country, we have been keeping on the move. Everyone I talk to about our travels is quite impressed with the distance we have gone. Being that my son is only two, the first question I usually get is "how did he handle the drive?" Ah yes, the drive. No matter how long the drive, kids will get impatient.

 ARE WE THERE YET?

Through my travels with a two year old, I have found some common tips and tricks that help ease the "suffering" of a child on a long drive. Of course, every child is different, but I hope that some of my tips from my personal experiences can help others to discover what works for them!

Electronics

You have the cell phone, the tablet, the Gameboy and other electronic devices to turn to as an instant babysitter for your antsy child, but how long will that last? For some kids, maybe a whole trip, but how do the parents feel about drowning their kids face in a screen for hours on end? It's typically frowned upon to have too much electronics time in a small child's life. Lucky for me, my child gets bored with electronics rather quickly. However, I found that putting on his favorite movie and watching it with him kept him much more entertained than if I just handed him a show to watch on his own. All of my trips are with another adult, my husband, father or a friend, so I was able to get into the back seat and watch a show with him, or at least the other person I am with can. He enjoys to talk about what he is doing or watching, so I take the chance to talk with him through his movies or games. I limit the time he gets on his electronics, one movie, a couple episodes of a show or just a time limit on how long he gets with games. This helps break up the screen time. Most importantly, I pay attention, because no matter what the show or game is, if my son is interested, he wants me to be interested too. While electronics are not a go to option for every parent, if it is for you, just make sure it's not all your child is doing while traveling, after all, the new sites and scenes around will be entertainment as well!

Road Trip Games

While my child is only two, road trip games are still a fun way to pass the time. A simple game that I found my child at only two could enjoy was the "what do you see?" game. This was just simply me asking my child to look out the window and name off things he saw. The license plate game is a great one for the older kids, keep track of each state you see and see how many you get to total. My personal favorite as a child was the alphabet game, look out the window and find an item starting with the corresponding letter of the alphabet you are on. While there are tons of road trip games out there, you can always get creative and make up your own games to help pass the time. 

Activities 

There are so many options in this category of entertainment. Some of my go-to options were coloring and activity books. Using just a big solid book as a lap table, my son was able to get creative on the move. Car caddies that hang on the back of your front seats are the best for these types of road trip activities. I also brought books that were related to the states that we were traveling through so that we could read a bit about where we were. For the toddler age, ABC state books are awesome. They list off fun facts about the state with the corresponding letters of the alphabet. These types of activities are great for learning basics and also getting more in depth about places outside of your home!

These were some of the best ways I found to pass the many hours in the car, of course there were still tears and that's where welcome centers and rest stops came into play! We kept a small football in the car to play catch with while we stretched our legs at different stops. Also, stop at the welcome centers that each state offers. Many offered free activity books about the state for children. Just remember, while the drive to the next destination can seem brutal, it is also a learning experience. Take the opportunity to talk to your child about where you are and what the places around you are known for. Kids love to talk, use that to your advantage and make the best of the moment!